Bridges

Whilst driving around Scotland on our trip in late August/early September 2017 I became fascinated by bridges. 2 in particular took my interest.

We happened to be in Scotland when the new long awaited and no doubt very expensive Queensferry Crossing Bridge opened.

The 1.7 miles (2.7km) structure is the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world and also by far the largest to feature cables which cross mid-span. This innovative design provides extra strength and stiffness, allowing the towers and the deck to be more slender and elegant. 

(https://www.theforthbridges.org/queensferry-crossing/)

The bridge and its opening was mentioned to us by several people whilst we were in Edinburgh and it was pointed out to us from the top of the castle when we were there. Several people told us that their aunt/mother/friend had been lucky enough to get tickets to be pedestrians on the weekend when it was going to be open for pedestrians to walk over. We didn't think much of it. 

On the 30th of August we left Edinburgh heading north to visit FG's cousin in Canoustie. We put the address into the GPS and off we went. What we hadn't realised was that the bridge had actually opened to vehicular traffic that day - as a trial run - before it was closed again for pedestrians to use on the weekend and then be officially opened by the Queen the following week.

 SO.... we got to drive over the bridge on the first day that it opened. The traffic was pretty slow as lots of drivers were deliberately out for a drive that day to cross the bridge. They slowed down to admire the view and so we had to crawl along for some time. 

I snapped away madly as we drove over the bridge

 I love these massive swooping cables and the extended towers. 

The following day we continued north up the coast and near St Cyrus we turned off the road to explore a little by-way. In particular we had spotted a beautiful bridge which turned out to be an viaduct that is now part of a cycle path. The contrast between this old bridge and the railway bridge also visible from there was so very strong

A week or so later we drove across the Humber bridge

Once again I loved the cables stretching up, making their unique patterns agains the sky

http://www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/images/HIGH11698_976529.jpg

At Kralupy, in the Czech Republic during our river cruise we had moored near a bridge built in the 1920s that was inspired by the Bauhaus movement. 

Texture and Form: Shadows and Staircases

I am not sure if shadows are really texture but they do make for visual texture and that will do me. Perhaps they are more form. 

On our recent trip I became fascinated by stair cases. Australia is a young country and also a big one. Space is not really a problem, certainly it wasn't when our country was formed and so our houses went out more than up. I loved visiting places in Europe which had the extended stair cases - yes even when it was our hotel and we were on the 3rd floor and there was no lift. 

I also became fascinated by shadows. This might have been because we appreciated it when we got days with lots of sunshine in them. We were blessed by the weather on our trip but not all days were sunny. Just because it wasn't pelting down rain it didn't mean it was sunny. I really appreciated the sunny days and the shadows they bought.

this is my favourite shadow picture. The staircase on the outside of the round Water Castle Tower in Bavaria (purported to be the inspiration behind the story of Rapunzel as the Grimm Brothers were guests here at one time). I love the shadows the ironwork steps cast.

The shutters at the Water Castle aslo cast beautiful shadows

Somehow our shadows are quite as beautiful or intricate as the other ones

Texture Pavement and stones

Australia is a young country. Most of our roads are bitumen and our footpaths cement. I found the cobbled streets and pavements of the historic cities we visited in Europe endlessly fascinating. The shapes they made, the patterns, their texture. So beautiful (but not so great for riding bikes on or wheeling luggage)

The standing stones we saw in Scotland had a beautiful patterns and features too

I loved the rockwalls that ran up and over the hills and beside the road. Many were crumbling and falling down, with wire fences to keep the stock in built beside them. But there were is a growing interest in reconstructing them in the traditional way and this was in evidence on our travels.

Texture Manhole Covers.

When my children were little, we had a film camera. When we got a film developed my husband would look through them and then would comment if I had taken any that DIDN'T include one of the kids

These days I am far more interested in scenery than  I was when the kids were little. Back then if there was a view to be seen I would stick a kid in front of it. 

The famous Australia Sign at Expo 88 was interesting in itself but much more interesting with Fixit Guy and our oldest 2 kids in front of it.

But these days my kids don't travel with me and like I said... I am more interested in those scenes around me.

Its not just scenery I like but textures. A friend looking at some of my photos on Facebook of our recent trip asked me why I was taking photos of pavements, man hole covers and bricks. And my answer was.... texture. I love the textures. I was originally going to put all the pictures into one post but instead I will spread them out over several days. 

On a guided tour I took once the guide pointed out that Manhole covers are fascinating works of art in themselves with much social history behind them

The Czech Republic seemed to have the most interesting manhole covers.

 Germany

 Norway had an interesting one as well

Over the years I have had a variety of cameras both film and digital but at the moment I only have my iPhone so that is what I took overseas with us and I was more than happy with the results. I know some people love their big cameras with long lenses and they get some amazing photos but the conveinience of it fitting in my pocket or handbag does it for me.

And Sew to travel

Our recent overseas trip was just over 6 weeks in duration. I didn't have time to organise myself a hand sewing project to travel with. The time leading up to our departure was taken up with sewing items and getting organised for my stall at Comic Con which was immediately after our return. I'd posted a status on my FB page stating the number of projects I had completed and was promptly bombarded with requests to see the items. I was delighted to oblige although it necessitated the photographing of all the items and loading them up on facebook. That was followed by a flurry of orders from my friends (and their friends) for various things which I then had to package up and send off all over the country.

That's a long story to say..... no hand projects. I was content though. I had a project to do on my computer - (well my husband's computer since I didn't take mine) - sorting and labelling a bunch of photos that I had scanned from my mother's negatives. That would entertain me sufficiently I felt on the long flights we were undertaking. 

So I had resigned myself to 7 weeks of not sewing at all. 

However - that was not QUITE the way it turned out. Our first stopover on our trip was with our Japanese host son Sho and his wife Yuri (and our beautiful host granddaughter Suzu). 

In the corner of their living room I saw a treadle sewing machine. 

Yuri's treadle machine. It was a Janome. I have never seen a treadle Janome before. Usually the machine was  kept packed away because of their 2 cats whom they felt might damage it.

Yuri had bought it second hand because it was such a beautiful piece of furniture. She had sewn a couple of things but during our stay asked me to help her sew something for Suzu. A dress perhaps she suggested. Now I am not much of a garment sewer and wasn't sure that we would be able to manage it in the time we had available but was game to have a go. However Yuri saw the photos of bandana bibs that I had made for stalls and we decided to have a go at those. 

I love those bandana bibs. They are simple and affective and quick to sew. In about half and hour we managed to print the pattern, cut out the fabric and sew them up. 

Yuri did the machine sewing and the ironing and I did the hand stitching - sewing on the press studs and sewing closed the opening left to reverse the bibs. 

It was perfect and so much fun to sew with her. The memory still makes my heart sing.

And of course the model was extra beautiful!

A few weeks later we were in Norway, visiting the home of our host son J and his brand new wife (we had attended the wedding just days before) M had a sewing machine but it wasn't sewing properly. She had hand sewn her wedding gift (called a Morning Gift in Norway) for J as her machine wasn't working. 

J is wearing the apron that M had hand sewn for him as a Morning Gift.

 Fixit Guy had a look at the machine.

 It was all siezed up. A trip into the city to buy machine oil and he had it running again. I then had to take over. It wasn't sewing properly but after I found that the machine needle was in backwards all was good. 

It had gotten too late to do any sewing by the time we had the machine operating properly but since our return home I have been sent a photo of M using the machine and the message that it is working beautifully.

Back again

Hello! And I am back! Its been a while hasn't it! Since I last wrote we have been overseas for 6 weeks. I had planned to write whilst away but I didn't take my computer with me and decided it was too hard to write on my ipad (which I took with me specifically to write blog posts) so that was pretty slack of me but I am in truth rather unapologetic.

We had a brilliant time overseas. I outlined our travel plans in a previous blog post here and I can now tell you that our plans worked out perfectly and we had an absolute blast. We got to meet our Japanese host son's wife for the first time and also our beautiful granddaughter. 

Our barge boat cruise in the Czech Republic was so much fun. We made some good friends and really enjoyed the daily cycling. I managed all the rides without any problems.. well I did walk up a couple of hills but so did a lot of people. Mostly the ride was alongside the river and was pretty flat so easy riding. I did pike on 2 rides. One was on our rest day. 

There was an optional 50km ride (25km out and back) but I took the opportunity to explore the town of Litomerice that we were moored beside. Fixit Guy rode it. We had done a 10km ride in the morning, into and around a nearby town of Terezin, so I wasn't completely slack. The other ride I didn't do was the last ride back into Prague. It was raining and forcast to rain more. I chose to stay on the boat but Fixit Guy and one of our new friends braved it. They got thoroughly soaked so I felt justified in not riding.

We had a lovely time in Germany with our host daughter from 2006 and her family and then had a weekend in Amsterdam en route to Norway. 

The reason for our trip was to attend the wedding in Norway of our host son from 2005 and that was a wonderful experience. We spent a week with him and his family and fully immersed ourselves in the whole event which was just wonderful.

The final leg of our trip was 12 days in the UK, mostly spent exploring Scotland. We were able to catch up with some of FG's extended family ( An aunt and cousins on his dad's side). 

Whilst we were in Scotland we got the news that our Japanese grandson was born. I couldn't resist this treasure from the Edinburgh Castle gift shop

After almost 7 weeks of travelling we arrived back in Australia. Tired but thoroughly delighted by our wonderful time. I have lots more photos and experiences to share but for now.. this will have to do it.