What Katie Did

Normal Service Resumed

Thank you for your patience. This latest absence is explained by a combination of

1. me getting ill
2. Owen 'needing' part of my computer to make his work and me being too soft to object
3. Easter visitors occupying the computer room, which is after all, Martha's bedroom, so no complaint there!

So now all of those things have been resolved and we are ready to continue our trip round Europe. If you remember, we left off in Spain with the Alhambra and some fantastic Gaudi architecture.
John and I took the sleeper to Milan and from there we went the same day to Verona and that's what today's post will be about.

Big Train Adventure Part Two - Italy

Imagine sleeping through a whole country! We travelled through Spain, France and a bit of Italy largely horizontal and unconscious!

to Verona, to the House of the Capulets and Juliet's balcony, though how Romeo managed to climb the wall remains a mystery unless he was a bit of a Spidermen. I hung around on the balcony for a bit, but no-one showed up.

Far more tangible were the coffee shops.

the fresh pasta

the markets and the ancient streets and architecture. It was cold in Verona. I managed to catch some sun in the Arena, enough to sit and read for an hour or so. Below me a couple of people tried the acoustics with some bursts of opera. It sounded wonderful!

The city sits in a loop or river, we stayed in the Youth Hostel perched at the top of the loop. We spent three days pottering around this ancient city, eating well and enjoying the relative peace of the place as the tourists were not yet in evidence in large numbers, although a bus load of Japanese people seemed to be following us all through Europe! I'm sure it wasn't the same bus?

But in February it was a bit too cold for the throngs I suspect crowd the narrow streets in the summer.

Here is my impression of those days.

Everywhere we went, I was aware of patterns - in the floors, railings, walls .... and took dozens of photos of them for inspiration for ... not sure what - but I was inspired!

The city walls were very grand and I found myself remembering the 1968 Zeffirelli version of the film with Leonard Whiting who made such an impression on me as a teenager! I studied the play for 'O' level and learned whole screeds of the dialogue by taping it onto an old reel to reel tape recorder - I messed around with the speed so that Juliet was very high and fast and Romeo s-l-o-w and deep!

So I wandered round the walls and narrow streets muttering to myself in this way. Also - let me tell you what I was wearing. I was carrying everything in a back pack so had very few options. I took a huge jumper made from Noro Iro and no coat. I was working on the principle of 'layers' and had a lightweight waterproof (purple) if it rained.

So there I am, wandering round the streets of Verona wearing my multi coloured Noro, my red skirt and green tights, muttering bits of Romeo and Juliet to myself in high and low pitches. Add to this image the fact that all ... and I mean ALL ... the women of Verona - nay - Italy - are so incredibly elegant in black or fur, half of them have tiny dogs on delicate little legs wearing clothes that have more style than me.

This will be my abiding memory of Verona.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode which will not be so long in coming - I promise!

Big Train Adventure Part One - Spain

Thank you to everyone who has welcomed me back! You are a lovely lot. I have been trying to decide how to share this amazing journey with you without boring the pants off you all. I will create a set on Flickr with hundreds of photos from the thousands I took - and post instalments with a few of my favourites from each place we visited.

Part One - The Journey Begins!

John - or should that be Hans Yanson (?) had been working on a farm near Orgiva in the south of Spain since last November. This is about an hour from Granada and the Alhambra. What an amazing place. I was fascinated by the floors walls and ceilings. Every tile pattern made me think of my Mum and how she would want to create a quilt out of every one!

this one is the same shape - black and white - amazing!

one more

I love the way the shapes tessellate (how posh am I?)

Here too are the geckos living under the mirror in John's room! Arrrggghhh!!!

This part of the holiday was lovely as we were staying in one place and Geoff was with us for a few days. When he went home, John and I embarked on the Big Train Adventure - with a Eurorail Ticket. This meant we had 22 days and the whole of Europe ahead of us with the chance to travel on ten of them. This is called the Global Pass. Very Good Value.

We went to Barcelona and spent the day there. Gaudi - that's what I'll remember about Barcelona. Oh and the really good coffee.

No straight lines, so much colour and materials doing things you would never imagine they could do! - wood, glass, tiles, metal - all behaving like fluid things to give the impression of the flow of waves and water.

on the roof

and then his amazing Cathedral still under construction.

Look at those lizards!

Oh - go - and see this all for yourselves if you can! You'll get neck ache though! We were only there for a day. We took the night train to Milan.

And that will be part two of the B.T.A.!

I'm back!

Phew! Here I am back after a month away - have I still got any visitors? I will post a full and comprehensive report when I have time to do it justice - but be warned - there are LOTS of pictures and lovely memories! We had a MARVELLOUS time!
And it is so nice to be home!

This time tomorrow.....

I will be on my way to Spain!
For the next few weeks I will be Away From Home, Away From the Blog, A-W-A-Y!!
Yesterday I took the train into Newcastle (practice?) to get the few things I thought we might need. Look what the romantic train people are doing for valentines day...

there is a sneak peak at my train knitting too - well - some of it - I can't decide what to take!
Here is the start of me being organised

dates, days and numbers of days on the move. Who knows - I may be able to show you this all filled in in a few weeks time!!!
But for now, I have to go and get even more organised which involves having tea with Anne?? She is sewing up the jumper I plan to take with me (layers!) in the most expert fashion!
I will leave you with some valentine magic and wish you all - each and every one of you - the most loving valentines day ever!

Baron Jonno McKarl

Does anyone read comments on other blogs? I tend to read a few if I am going to leave a comment just to make sure what I am going to say hasn't been said a dozen times already.
I really loved the comments on this last post. Thank you all for your reassuring words and lovely thoughtful wishes.
All this talk of grandchildren and then my daughter - 'Just to clarify however, grandchildren? not yet.' this made me smile!
I have all the grandparent fix I need from Hester (6 months), Nancy (one), Cala (three), Thea (four) - all girls and all delightful! No pressure from the 18, 20 and 22 year olds!
But if anyone is in the habit of reading my comments they can't have failed to notice a very bizarre person leaving weird messages from time to time. This could be 'Peter T Wintergreen', or 'Corlucka the strongest man in Belarus', sometimes 'Olga the Russian fool' and 'Captain William W. Avaril of the West Virginian Hussars' . He has been Mr. Watergate and Bosshog, Big Paul Smith, Ranald Sigmundson, Colonel Muscardo and the Wolf of the Sea. I know him best as John (or sometimes - Baron Jonno McKarl)

seen here sitting in my shed (with his mad 18th birthday mat to the right of his head)
John has been making names up for us, himself and his friends for as long as I can remember. He was 'Twigget of the Green (hardly ever seen)' when he was little. Owen has been 'Chad' for as long as I can remember, Martha - what was/is yours? (Mink?) Geoff is Fader Coram, from the Pullman books (just Fader most of the time) and I have been Miln for many years.
His comments never relate to the post. I think he regards this blog as my Facebook and has never understood blogs and comments.
Well, he and I are about to have an adventure... though as you may have guessed, just having John in the family is an adventure.
This time next week Geoff and I will be on our way to Spain where John has been living for the last few months. We will have a week of lovely rest and recuperation until Geoff comes home on his own and John and I embark on our own return journey. We have Inter-rail tickets and 22 days to explore Europe. (Is Europe ready I wonder?)
We are setting off from Granada and will be going to Verona and then to Slovenia. I don't know why, but we decided we would head east rather than come up through France. We are ending up in Amsterdam.
So - here is the request please. Has anyone got any thoughts about the places we might visit - towns with a bit of a textiles history, wonderful cafes in strange locations,  fantastic places that we might miss without a personal recommendation. We can go ANYWHERE on a train. Our deal is - 10 trips in 22 days - and we would like to find some interest off the tourist route. Any tips? What to take? Survival tips for long train journeys? Thoughts please!
Oh - and we are going to do this the cheapest way possible because neither of us has any money! Hence the YHA Guide. (Youth? 52!)

getting excited!
Peter T Wintergreen's Mum

No more 'children' ... its official

Today, Owen is 18. I am the mother of adults. I have been remembering the night of his arrival, he was born at 5.00 am about twenty minutes before the midwife arrived. He was born into a stormy day with winds that brought down some of the old scots pines in front of the house. This cut off the electricity for hours and provided some interesting entertainment for Martha (4) and John(2) as the whole lot was cleared and sorted out with emergency vehicles and Jack from the saw mill, right in front of the bedroom window. No-one paid much attention to the baby brother in all the excitement.
Today it is sunny. He has gone off to school with a Full English Breakfast inside him. This is one of his favourite meals and he was as pleased with the mat I made for his wall as he was with the real thing.

eggs, bacon, sausage, 'shrooms, toast and tommy K. Knife and fork (you can just see) and checky tablecloth. It has been fun to make, and Owen thinks it is 'mental' - this is good apparently.

I had a request from someone who flies by the name 'willywagtail' (you couldn't make it up) for more information about mat making. I am going to ask my friend Annie if she will come and help with photos and we will host a little tutorial. Very soon I promise!

For now, it is sunny and mild. The snow has gone and I am going to walk the dog, reflecting on my new status. I am a little sad.

Another Day Another Birth...day

Here I am another year older - it happens every year with a sort of relentlessness regularity.
52 this time - and at 52 a girl needs plenty to read

I've been wanting to read this one since I read the reviews

I heard parts of this serialised on the radio and laughed a lot, so I think this will be lots of fun and then (on the Waterstone's two for three offer)

don't know this one - anyone read it?
Martha sent her aged Mother a book to inspire me to more creative and secretive acts of random art. I have been after this book for ages

The most startling present of all was this digital photo frame from Geoff (seen here modelled by Poppy)

I was a little taken aback as Geoff is not famous for his interest in technology! I have loaded a few photos onto it and will read the instructions (novel for me) to discover what else it will do. Then I have A Plan for where it will go!
So I am off to cook birthday food for Annie and Geoff and Geoff and Owen and me tonight but here are a couple more gifts I got to ponder

I'll be careful how I use these

This map is going to be very useful when we GO AND VISIT JOHN IN FEBRUARY!!!
Happy my birthday to everyone, and thank you all for being so friendly even when I am a grumpy old so and so.

How to lift the January Blues!

Wet, cold, dark outside. But there is fabric inside! On May 13th 2006 we last did this. Why so long to do it again? Our village hall - twenty or so women - SO much fabric - mat frames - simple tools and imagination!

(this is the back of the work! scrumptious or what?)

the little sparkly bits are the packets of her son's favourite snack!

Valentine's day round the corner - Ali getting ready. I love what printed cotton fabric looks like when hooked like this.

Elmo - born in 2007 - this is about two feet square

this stuff makes my mouth water.
If you have checked out the last time we did this, there was food today too

All good - very very good.

WKD

I have writing!! Thanks to Annie my banner has proper writing and is the right size. Who would have thought that Typepad could be so complicated!
Thank you Annie!
.........

..... until the end of the week - I am off to Preston!