Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Saturday, 28 November 2015
Handy household tip
"Maaamaaaaaaa, the stud button has just come off my jeeeeeeans!" My fourth child would sing down the stairs at 7:10 in the morning.
"No problem, I have a spare one in my sewing box. I 'll just come upstairs and find it. You can replace it while I get the sandwiches ready for school."
Three hours and a different pair of jeans later...
With at least fifteen different pairs of jeans of all shapes, colours and sizes I couldn't possibly know from a glance what was what. Do you find yourself in the same predicament? Even if you do have time (lucky you), you still have to sort out which little bag of extra buttons/studs/sequins belongs to which jeans/jacket/dress shirt, etc. This can take up so much of your day that you start to wonder whether it's really worth all the hassle... would be quicker to go buy...just sew anything... nobody's going to look, bla bla bla...
So I have recently come up with a very obvious solution. As you take the bag off the newly purchased item, pop a little note in with the spare parts, mentioning the colour, item, size, brand or store from which the item was bought, add the name of the person to whom the item now belongs and keep it in a safe place.
The only comeback with this, of course, is that you now have to remember where that safe place is! I keep mine in my sewing box which is actually a big tool box. Something big and bulky enough not to lose easily!
You will notice that there is no name on two of the packets. That is because I am the only person likely to wear a black blouse or a dress cardigan in this establishment, especially if it's from Mango!
Have a great day : )
"No problem, I have a spare one in my sewing box. I 'll just come upstairs and find it. You can replace it while I get the sandwiches ready for school."
Three hours and a different pair of jeans later...
With at least fifteen different pairs of jeans of all shapes, colours and sizes I couldn't possibly know from a glance what was what. Do you find yourself in the same predicament? Even if you do have time (lucky you), you still have to sort out which little bag of extra buttons/studs/sequins belongs to which jeans/jacket/dress shirt, etc. This can take up so much of your day that you start to wonder whether it's really worth all the hassle... would be quicker to go buy...just sew anything... nobody's going to look, bla bla bla...
So I have recently come up with a very obvious solution. As you take the bag off the newly purchased item, pop a little note in with the spare parts, mentioning the colour, item, size, brand or store from which the item was bought, add the name of the person to whom the item now belongs and keep it in a safe place.
The only comeback with this, of course, is that you now have to remember where that safe place is! I keep mine in my sewing box which is actually a big tool box. Something big and bulky enough not to lose easily!
You will notice that there is no name on two of the packets. That is because I am the only person likely to wear a black blouse or a dress cardigan in this establishment, especially if it's from Mango!
Have a great day : )
Thursday, 9 July 2015
Many a true word is spoken in jest!
My daughter sent me this earlier today. We laughed so much I thought I would share it!
Friday, 6 February 2015
Lovely song... Oh, so true
Please, dear bloggy friends, pop over to my daughter's blog and listen to the song she posted some days ago.
http://www.dreamymaygirl.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/we-have-this-moment-today.html
http://www.dreamymaygirl.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/we-have-this-moment-today.html
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Montblanc and Siurana
The weekend before last we took my husband's sister and brother-in-law to visit this end of Catalonia. It was a very cold day with a biting north east wind making it difficult to stand still for too long! Having said that, we all had a NICE time. Here are some photos that were taken by E. and D. I actually had my camera with me but only realized this once I had arrived home!
We went first to Montblanc. Montblanc has a rich history, starting even before the Ibearian settlers who came during the 4th to the 1st centuries BC. Apparently, Hannibal came through with all his elephants during this time, on his way to conquer Rome, the year 218 BC. In 711 AD it was invaded by the Moors. There is plain evidence of Roman life from 2 BC to 2 AD. Montblanc has very well preserved medieval buildings and can boast of having had three different names over the course of it's history - first Duesaigues, because it lay between two rivers: the Francolí and it's affluent, the Anguera. It was later called Vilasalva because the villagers were exempt from taxes for a time and, finally, Montblanc which refers to the complete lack of natural vegetation in the area!
The first two photos are from internet, the rest are a selection of the ones D. and E. took.
From Montblanc we travelled towards Reus and then across to Siurana for an afternoon visit to the dam and then the village. There were some amazing sights to see: rock formations, birds, vegetation and sometimes simply how the pinkish, late afternoon sun shone on everything. Beautiful.
Hope you have enjoyed this as much as we did... The only difference is that you didn't freeze whilst looking at the post!
We went first to Montblanc. Montblanc has a rich history, starting even before the Ibearian settlers who came during the 4th to the 1st centuries BC. Apparently, Hannibal came through with all his elephants during this time, on his way to conquer Rome, the year 218 BC. In 711 AD it was invaded by the Moors. There is plain evidence of Roman life from 2 BC to 2 AD. Montblanc has very well preserved medieval buildings and can boast of having had three different names over the course of it's history - first Duesaigues, because it lay between two rivers: the Francolí and it's affluent, the Anguera. It was later called Vilasalva because the villagers were exempt from taxes for a time and, finally, Montblanc which refers to the complete lack of natural vegetation in the area!
The first two photos are from internet, the rest are a selection of the ones D. and E. took.
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| The main street |
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| Looking up a side alley |
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| Irresistible |
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| We decided on meringues in the end! Mmmm... |
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| The church facade |
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| The legend of St George and the dragon |
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| Apparently, St George killed the dragon right here! Of course, it wasn't paved over then and the rose grew quickly in such rich soil... |
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| The Siurana Dam - looking right... |
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| ...and looking left |
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| Sorry, no bananas for scale - just our Micra! |
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| The road we came along to get up there |
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| Siurana High Street! |
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| The view over the dam - where we were before |
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| Looking back towards the village, 180º turn on where the previous photo was taken |
Hope you have enjoyed this as much as we did... The only difference is that you didn't freeze whilst looking at the post!
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Our holiday
Here is the promised post about what we did over the holiday season. Those of you who have been following my blog will know that our second daughter was married last June and went to live in Romania. Well, the long and short of this is that we went to see them!
We set out from Tarragona at just gone midnight on the 23rd of December, on a coach that would take us to Bucharest, where my daughter lives. We passed through the whole coast of Catalonia, on into France, then Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and finally across through Romania to the capital, where we were met by our son-in-law at 8.00 pm on the 24th. (44 hours)
A. and D. have such a lovely apartment in the capital, a little back from the main road. It has lots of light and not much need for heating as the apartment is extremely well insulated and the heat from the apartments which are joined to theirs is enough, although the temperatures were very low outside. At the back there is a kiddy park, black squirrels running up and down the trees and A. has a pet dove that she feeds crumbs to every day.
The very next day we went to visit D's parents, an hour out of the city, in a town called Ploiesti. We had a wonderful day with some of his family. D's mother is a fantastic cook and she made us some good traditional food:
The second day we were there, in the evening, it started to snow... and snow...snow... and more snow. Here is a photo of that aforementioned kiddy park taken the next day:
On the Saturday we took the underground train and visited downtown Buchuresti in the late afternoon/evening. Awesome city. Here are some photos that I have actually taken from internet because it was already too dark for my camera to do a decent job.
Sunday was Sunday. We spent the day once again with D's parents and plenty more of his family and friends. We felt welcomed by almost everyone and by now we were picking up a good quantity of Romanian words. That evening we had supper with D's brother and his wife who live in the converted attic above his parent's house.
On Monday, 29th of Dec. we travelled to the Transylvanian area of Romania and visited Bran Castle. This is where Frankenstein used to live. An absolute must if you visit Romania. I took very few photos. Why? Because that day it was 18º C below zero and I really did NOT want to take my hands out of my pockets or take my gloves off too often! I'm sure my daughter has some better ones.
On the Tuesday we had an early-ish lunch and then headed off once more for Ploiesti where we were going to spend the rest of the year! There was lots of yummy food - in fact we had a barbecue! These were the star of the show for me:
Apparently, we had the coldest end of year that Romania has had for fifty years, with the lowest temperatures registering 23.5º C below zero. At 11.30 pm a bunch of us wrapped up warm and went to see a spectacular firework display in the centre of Ploiesti. We all hugged, cheered and wished each other a happy New Year. Then we headed back to the house for chocolate cream cake and more blackberry tuika (pronounced tsueekuh). My, if that stuff doesn't warm you up then you have a problem!
New Years Day was spent at my daughter's place. She prepared a traditional Catalonian dinner and then we did our invisible family present giving thing in the afternoon. Fun, fun, fun. After, we 'skyped' with family back at home and in England and also wished Iaia a very happy 86th birthday. Then, all but Hubby decided it was time to go out and have fun in the dark, in a park, in the snow. So, that is exactly what we did. Unfortunately, it ended with the youngest member of the gang slipping on snow-covered ice and breaking his arm.
On the Friday D. and A. treated us to a meal in a beautiful restaurant in the centre of Buchuresti. The food was well priced and most awesomely delicious! (Photos from Google images)
We spent the Saturday home and then on Sunday we said goodbye to S. very early in the morning as he had to return home a day earlier than the rest of us. Sunday was Sunday and we went to Ploiesti in the morning, had lunch with D.'s parents, said goodbye to everyone there and headed back to base. We packed and had an early supper as we had to leave on our coach at 4.00 am the next morning.
The journey home took 48 hours. We were stopped a long time on the Hungarian border, half the time in a snow blizzard. Then again we were stopped by Italian police who were checking passports on the Slovenian/Italian border and once more when we crossed over into Catalonia. We arrived at our own home at 7.30 am on the 7th of January. We spent most of the morning picking up on sleep as we only slept about 4 or 5 hours during the whole voyage. Even then, we never got to sleep more than hour at a time because the coach stopped too frequently for much more!
Here are some more snow photos:
Well, I really hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed reliving all these beautiful moments. One thing is for sure, I'm going back as soon as I possibly can. Now to learn a few more words...
We set out from Tarragona at just gone midnight on the 23rd of December, on a coach that would take us to Bucharest, where my daughter lives. We passed through the whole coast of Catalonia, on into France, then Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and finally across through Romania to the capital, where we were met by our son-in-law at 8.00 pm on the 24th. (44 hours)
A. and D. have such a lovely apartment in the capital, a little back from the main road. It has lots of light and not much need for heating as the apartment is extremely well insulated and the heat from the apartments which are joined to theirs is enough, although the temperatures were very low outside. At the back there is a kiddy park, black squirrels running up and down the trees and A. has a pet dove that she feeds crumbs to every day.
The very next day we went to visit D's parents, an hour out of the city, in a town called Ploiesti. We had a wonderful day with some of his family. D's mother is a fantastic cook and she made us some good traditional food:
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| Ciorba |
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| Sarmale - meat and rice wrapped up in a pickled cabbage leaf |
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| Mamaliga - a stiff dough made from corn semolina |
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| Strudel cu mere for desert, I think, in total, I ate at least seven of these things. They were soooo good |
On the Saturday we took the underground train and visited downtown Buchuresti in the late afternoon/evening. Awesome city. Here are some photos that I have actually taken from internet because it was already too dark for my camera to do a decent job.
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| Arcul de Triumf |
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| The Dambovita river |
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| Casa Poporului or, literally, 'House of the people' |
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| Casa de economii si Consemnatiun |
On Monday, 29th of Dec. we travelled to the Transylvanian area of Romania and visited Bran Castle. This is where Frankenstein used to live. An absolute must if you visit Romania. I took very few photos. Why? Because that day it was 18º C below zero and I really did NOT want to take my hands out of my pockets or take my gloves off too often! I'm sure my daughter has some better ones.
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| One of the castle towers |
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| Centre patio with well included. It was here that we stood still just long enough to hear D. tell that joke about Dracula and the tower. |
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| View out over the snowy countryside from one of the castle windows. |
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| Romanian sausages or mititei |
New Years Day was spent at my daughter's place. She prepared a traditional Catalonian dinner and then we did our invisible family present giving thing in the afternoon. Fun, fun, fun. After, we 'skyped' with family back at home and in England and also wished Iaia a very happy 86th birthday. Then, all but Hubby decided it was time to go out and have fun in the dark, in a park, in the snow. So, that is exactly what we did. Unfortunately, it ended with the youngest member of the gang slipping on snow-covered ice and breaking his arm.
On the Friday D. and A. treated us to a meal in a beautiful restaurant in the centre of Buchuresti. The food was well priced and most awesomely delicious! (Photos from Google images)
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| The street sign |
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| Inside |
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| The wooden staircase |
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| The menu |
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| Ciorba served in a hollowed out loaf of bread |
The journey home took 48 hours. We were stopped a long time on the Hungarian border, half the time in a snow blizzard. Then again we were stopped by Italian police who were checking passports on the Slovenian/Italian border and once more when we crossed over into Catalonia. We arrived at our own home at 7.30 am on the 7th of January. We spent most of the morning picking up on sleep as we only slept about 4 or 5 hours during the whole voyage. Even then, we never got to sleep more than hour at a time because the coach stopped too frequently for much more!
Here are some more snow photos:
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| Icicles |
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| Roadside stores. The thermometer in the car registered 8º C below zero here! |
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| The Carpathian Mountains |
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