Our trip to Madrid.

 We had a great trip to Madrid.The flights were on time,the hotel was great ,the weather was good and most importantly my knee stood up to the walking.Above is the Royal Palace,seen from the open top tourist bus.

 This the famous Plaza Major.

 There were lots of these "ham museums",shops selling a huge range of hams.

The main purpose of our visit was to visit the three main art galleries.We booked all our tickets online before we left the UK.Our first and favourite museum was the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza which had a special Impressionism and Open -Air Painting exhibition.

 A photo of me and Mr H at the entrance to the exhibition.We were first in and so had a great view of all the art.It was mindblowing.So much to take in.
Our second day we went to the Prado which was our least favourite.The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch is in here,lots of Rubens,Goya,Raphael.
Our third day we went to Museo Reina Sofia.This had a special Dali exhibition but I am not into Surrealism so it didn't do a lot for me.
Photography is not allowed so below are some photos of postcards we brought back to remind us of our trip.

 This is the famous Picasso painting of Guernica(1937) one of his greatest works.It is huge and takes some time to take it all in.

 Dali's The Persistence of Memory.This was much smaller than I expected.

 These are my favourite paintings by Van Gogh.He is my all time fave and these were two we hadn't seen before.The pc's don't do it justice.It is titled Stevedores in Arles(1888).Idid have another picture but it has disappeared.Another Van Gogh.I'll show you that next time.It was a short trip but very memorable and enjoyable.Away again in 3 weeks to France for a week.Have to make up for lost time.

Does your cat do this?

 This is Ziggy, our lovely cat but he can be a bit naughty.His latest trick is to pull the washing off the line!Does your cat do that?He is an amazing jumper and just leaps into the air ,grabs the washing and keeps going until it falls on the lawn.He has also learned that if he knocks his munchies packet over and keeps knocking it eventually some will fall out but we are on to him now.

 This is a pastel portait of Ziggy that my friend Sheila did for me.It is in pastels.What an amazing talent she has.

This is another portrait of Ziggy done by my 5 yr old granddaughter Ruby in about three minutes.Pretty good I think.
We are off to Madrid tomorrow until Saturday.We have tickets booked for the three main art galleries,one each morning.Other sightseeing in the afternoons.This will be a real test for my knee.Back soon!

Assessing the damage.

 When we finally got rid of our 14 inches of snow after 3 weeks(.Yes, it took 3 weeks for it all to go!) we had to assess the damage the snow had done.The tree above is a weeping pear.A huge branch has broken and we are weeping!

 This is a lovely cotoneaster tree which we put in 18 years ago.It is always dripping with berries in the winter and a super source of food for the birds.The trouble is the branches go horizontally and it  just couldn't cope with the weight of the snow.We have tried to prop up where we can but now it is a waiting game to see what happens.We filled a builder's cube three times with debris and carted it off to the tip.

This is a bit of a new start.A sunny day yesterday got me planting seeds and buying bulbs.My sweet peas on the window sill are doing well.It's fingers crossed that everything else reappears.

Show and tell.

 I thought it was about time I showed you what I have been up to yarnwise.This is a stole I started on March 15th.The pattern is Knitspot's Japanese Feather Stole.It is a lovely pattern to knit with a 28 row repeat but it is done on 5mm needles so grows quite quickly.The yarn I am using is 100% cashmere (Posh Yarn Josephine) and is soooo soft and gorgeous.It is a beautiful deep pink/cranberry colour which is not showing up too well.It is good that a simple pattern appears on the reverse side.I do love Knitspot patterns.This one is for me!

 This my latest blanket using up all my odds and ends.I have no idea what size it is going to be.I just keep going.

This is a bag I made a while ago.Very quick to make.It is Lucy from attic 24's pattern.

I wasn't going to mention the weather but our lawn stll hasn't reappeared.Bad news yesterday in that my car broke down and cost £200 to repair.

Happy Easter Everyone.

Happy Easter.Sorry there are no photos but I have left the camera at my daughter's.We were invited over for lunch.Mike's mum was staying so Ruby and Emily had two Grans and a Grandpa to play with.They did an Easter egg hunt and then we had a wonderful lunch.After lots of games etc we came home ,back to snowy Mold.The snow is going down but very,very slowly.C has managed to dig our other car out but the mounds of snow are huge.In the town centre they were loading lorries with snow and taking it away!!I am sure Spring is just around the corner and when it comes we will so appreciate it.

14 inches of snow!!

 It really is incredible here in Mold ,North Wales..We have 14 inches of snow and it is still snowing!it is deeper where it has drifted and we can't get the cars off the drive as the snow plough has piled it up across gateways.I can't see us going anywhere for a few days.Why is it you always want chocolate when you can't have it.Fingers crossed the power stays on.

8 inches of snow

Following on from this morning's post we now have eight inches of snow and it is still snowing.We tried to get the car out bit it was so dangerous we retreated back home and after much digging from c he managed to get the car back on the edge of the drive.He then walked down to Mold to get some essential supplies(having an empty freezer!).We are not venturing out to the theatre although the performance is going ahead.Being only five weeks on from major surgery on my knee it would be rather risky.What a great excuse for lots of crafting over the next few days!