frayed at the edge

Carvoeiro by night

For my last look at the holiday photos, I thought I would show you the town by night - this is the hotel

 

some of the restaurants

 

general views of the town

 

we rarely take photos of ourselves when on holiday, but one evening our waiter insisted on taking a photo of us

 

we have been gradually settling back into our routine, so today I headed for patch'n'chat.  Margaret has done some more work on her rabbit quilt ......

 

we were delighted that Kay was there today, so that we could congratulate her on her success at the Scottish Quilt Championships.  You can see her stunning quilts here.  And of course there was CAKE ...... and hooray, it was our favourite apple and sultana cake

 

on holiday, we saw a lot of these plants - the spikes are about ten feet high .......

 

...... just a little bit bigger than this one on the "fitness room"windowsill (the flower spike died when we were on holiday)

 

as always we are hoping for good weather on Sunday, so that we can go for a walk (and possibly some sconnage!), and no doubt I will be plugging in the sewing machines and getting back in the groove.  Now that the winter is almost here, I have had the urge to knit, so I will have to look at my yarn stash and decide what to do.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

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On the rocks

So why was I  clambering up and down all those scary steps?  One of the days towards the end of the holiday was a bit cloudy and a bit cooler, so we decided to go for a walk along the coast, to explore the next two bays.  On the way we saw these beautiful flowers

 

as we walked down to the bay, we saw this enormous hotel - I don't think I would want to stay here!

 

having braved several flights of stairs, we were rewarded with the sight of waves crashing in on the cliffs

 

after the stairs, my resolve was further tested when I had to cross this small bridge.  I know it's not that much of a drop, but as there were no rails, I immediately felt that I would fall off! 

 

I had to lean out to get this photo of the cave - Malcolm was hanging on to me!

 

having struggled back up all those stairs, we then headed for the next bay, stopping to look at this unusual plant

 

when we got to the next bay, it was rather windy, and we were concerned for this pair ....

 

....... if they were to be blown over the edge, they had a long way to fall

 

the cliffs are fascinating, as they are full of shells

 

Malcolm shows the scale of the cliffs

 

we had to dodge the occasional wave as we walked along the sand

 

I may have added the feather and grass to the little bit if rope .......

 

I was concentrating on getting this photo in focus, when Malcolm shouted a warning - an extra large wave was racing across the sand and was about to soak my feet!

 

we popped in to the beach cafe for lunch - and I didn't expect to be given this teabag for my cuppa!

 

as we continued our walk, we looked back down on the bay

 

of course being on holiday means eating all sorts of food - here is a quick selection

the most wonderful tapas

 

chicken piri piri

 

chicken jalfrezi

 

mixed fish kebab

 

there are still so many photos left, I'll show you a few more tomorrow, then it will be back to normal posting from Monday!

Happy birthday to me!!

I know you are much too polite to ask, so I will tell you that I am 29 today (what do you mean, you don't believe me!!??)  Malcolm's cards were still on the mantlepiece .......

 

........so had to be taken down to make way for mine

 

I had lots of super presents, including three books - the top two from Malcolm, the bottom one from Stuart and Alison.  As I am about to redecorate/reorganise the studio, I will be studying the Studio book for ideas

 

I have been known to enjoy a glass (or two) of wine - the cocktail napkins are from Malcolm, the wine bottle stopper from Stuart and Alison

 

Malcolm took me out for lunch.  I had a coronation chicken baguette

 

and Malcolm had egg mayo

 

we then shared a treacle scone.  It was all delicious

 

I was too busy enjoying my birthday dinner to take photos - Scottish mussels in a cider, bacon and leek broth, and gnocchi with gorgonzolla and pancetta (courtesy of Waitrose!!).

So, back to the holiday.  As always, I bought some magazines.  But these ones aren't just Portuguese.  The top ones are Spanish, the middle ones are Brazilian, the bottom left one is also Brazilian and the right hand one is Portuguese

 

this one is also Brazilian, with some super recycling projects

 

I also bought two sewing machines ........ or should I say, two miniature model sewing machines!  They are similar to the machine I learned to sew on at school when I was thirteen, and the machine which was given to me by a friend of my Mum's when I was seventeen

 

I always buy a present for Malcolm when we are on holiday ...... but this time it was really a present for both of us - some poppy-embellished dishes for the kitchen table (sorry, there are nasty shadows in the photos .... it was such a dull day I had to put the light on!)

 

little bowls for salt and pepper

 

a big bowl for a candle and pot pourri

 

and a split dish - just because we liked it!

 

all I have to do now is make a runner to match!  To finish, a couple of photos to show what I go through to get brilliant photos for you  ...... I don't like heights, I don't like stairs (I have spent most of my life living in one-level houses/flats/apartments).  Come back tomorrow to see what was at the bottom of this assault course!!

Home again!

It's wonderful to go on holiday, but it's great to be back home!  Thank you for all your comments on the "out of office" posts  - I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to them, or answer questions, but we had a bit of a dodgy wifi connection in the hotel.  I was able to keep up with my favourite blogs (using my Kindle), but I was only able to leave a couple of comments.  I'll catch up over the next few days.  Just a quick post tonight, as I am somewhat tired after a long day travelling (our flight was delayed), and I'll be back with a quick post tomorrow, as it's my birthday ....... so you will have to wait until Thursday for a full report!

So. to whet your appetite for Carvoeiro, a random selection of photos ....

 

to finish ....... look what Malcolm made me drink - wine with a CAT on the label!!

Oceans

More holiday photos.  This was when we went to Western Australia, when we were living in Indonesia.  We recently saw someone on a tv programme posing beside this very sign - huh, been there, done that!!

Bravery

Only two photos today - Malcolm wasn't brave enough to have his photo taken with a snake!  We were in Florida in 1990 (you might have noticed my hair was a somewhat different colour back then!)

Plums

I had today all planned ...........hooray, yippee, woohoo, we are going on holiday tomorrow, so today I was going to do the washing and ironing and pack the cases.  But that was before our neighbour JimtheFarmer popped in yesterday to give me a big bag of plums, which had blown off his trees in the high winds on Saturday night.  So I had some extra tasks to do ....... what's that you're shouting at your computer - oh, you want to know where we are going!  We are off to Portugal (a late bargain), to the resort of Carvoeiro, for two weeks of R&R.

So, to return to the plums.  The first job was to wash them thoroughly

I halved and stoned about a third of them, put them on baking parchment on trays and popped them in the freezer (having consulted a book about freezing fruit)

 

once they were frozen, I popped them into a freezer bag. 

 

then this morning, I made jam and chutney.  You'll see that the label says HOT plum chutney ....... I was a bit too generous with the cayenne pepper!

 

and that's not all!!  Yesterday Malcolm made a crumble.  We had some after dinner last night, we will have some later (at the moment we are too full after a delicious beef curry for dinner) then the remaining portion will go in the freezer

 

it was too miserable yesterday to go for a walk, so we popped out to get the papers and went for a very tasty cheese scone.  I cut it open so that you can see how much cheese was in it

 

it was very windy again through the night, and a slate came off the roof ........

 

........ unfortunately, it hit my car!  We have informed the insurance company, but it will have to wait until we get back to be repaired

 

I am going to schedule some posts to appear while we are away.  Hopefully the hotel will have wifi, or if not I am sure I will be able to find a coffee shop where I will be able to use my Kindle to read your comments (I do enjoy reading your comments!), however, I may not be able to reply.

 

We now have to stay awake until 2am, to leave for the airport.  We will probably find a film to watch, or some reruns of comedy shows.  I could also tackle the backlog of magazines that are sitting beside me!

Back home!

We've only been home about 90 minutes, so just a very quick post tonight.  On our travels, we saw the crooked spire of Chesterfield Parish Church

 

the splendour of Chatsworth

 

and the Jacobean Eyam Hall

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots more photos (we took almost 300!!) and lots of history.  But now we are about to open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate our anniversary!

 

Trees and boats

One of our favourite places on holiday is the Pine Walk in Puerto Pollensa.  I am sure if I look back through my photos from the last few holidays I will find photos of the same trees!

 

sadly, one of the trees was being cut down.  We watched fascinated as the tree surgeon simply sawed through sections and let them fall

 

this house on the Pine Walk, which we called the Elephant House, was for sale for several years, and was slowly growing more dilapidated, so we were delighted to see that it has been sold and is being restored

 

 there are all sorts of boats to take photos of

 

Malcolm had his eye on this one, which was for sale

 

given the price, I think it is more likely that we would end up with one like this!

 

Friday means cake, and this week it was Annette's beautiful chocolate sponge

 

before we went on holiday, Malcolm had ordered my new car, and it was delivered at lunchtime.  I LOVE it!!!!!!

Beware of dragons!

The second Saturday of our holiday was a bit cool and wet, so we decided to visit the Caves of Drach ...... the Dragon Caves.  Our friends Lee and John in Sydney had recommended that we go to see them, as they had visited them when their cruise ship called in at Majorca.  We knew from their description that the caves were going to be amazing - but we hadn't imagined just how amazing!!

 

the lighting shows off all the stalactites and stalagmites to great effect, and you can easily imagine dragons lurking, waiting to pounce on unwary travellers!

 

we wandered on, oohing and aahing

 

we arrived at a large chamber with a lake in it.  We were directed to rows of benches, and after everyone was seated (probably several hundred people), we were told that boats were going to appear, carrying musicians who were going to play some classical music pieces for us.  The lights were dimmed, and three boats appeared.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos during the perfomance, but I was able to snatch a quick snap as the boats left

 

it was an amazing place to visit, and I am sure we will go back next time we go to Majorca

 

on our way to the caves, we had seen a sign for a restaurant, which said that it was in an ancient monastery.  We decided to call in on the way back for a late lunch. 

 

there didn't seem to much evidence of old buildings, but we didn't mind, as the food was so good.  We decided to share a "mixed meat grill"

 

just as we manfully (and womanfully?) put the last helping on to our plates, the chef appeared with more!

 

I had to admit defeat, so the delightful waitress took my plate away and came back with a doggy bag ...... whch we enjoyed for lunch the next day!  While we were eating, we could see this fine fellow

 

but when we left, he had tired of strutting about the branch, and had settled down for a snooze

 

to finish, my holiday sewing.  I finished the applique and embroidery on the April block for Lucie's "A is for Applique" challenge, and as I had decided to "quilt as you go", I made a start to the quilting

 

I had asked Lucie what the theme for May's block was, so that I could work on that one too.  It didn't take long to think of a block for "happiness is ....."

 

I'm off out this evening for Abbey Quilters monthly meeting - hopefully I will be able to take some photos to share with you tomorrow.