Herculaneum

Herculaneum.....wow, what a wonderful place, far better than the much more famous Pompeii imho.  While Pompeii was buried under volcanic ash after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, nearby Herculaneum was sealed in volcanic mud and is much better preserved.  It was a settlement of about 5 000 inhabitants and not so big that it was overwhelming.  We had a guided tour and were able to see all of the town in half a day, another time it would be lovely to spend even longer.  It amazes me that were were able to walk on the mosiac floors and that the site is open to the elements.  I wonder how long it will survive in the blistering heat and winter wet and with the many visitors that it gets.  Again, I'm just going to post a series of pictures, without any more words, they speak for themselves, enjoy....

Picture Tour of the Amalfi Coast

No need for many words today, just a lot of photographs that I took as we explored the Amalfi Coast.  We stopped in Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, all pretty towns.  We were particularly keen on Amalfi and Saz bought some veggie seeds for her garden.  So, here we go, enjoy.....

Ciao

We're having a wonderful time in Italy where we are currently sitting in the shade, sheltering from heat of the day after a great trip to Herculaneum this morning.  More on that later, we'll start with a tour of the small town of Sorrento which is where we are based.  We had a walk round on Saturday and discovered some lovely places and one particular treasure, the cloister of St Francis.  It was cool and tranquil and the plants were wonderful, we sat for quite a while watching the geckos.
It is absolutely amazing to see how Mount Vesuvius dominates the landscape here, it's so close.  No worries about eruptions, it is very carefully monitored these days (so they tell us anyway).
Little Sam has been coping very well with early starts, late dinners and everybody speaking Italian.   He is bellissimo!  He can say "ciao" and amazed DD and me by knowing the word "statue", how?  He was delighted to find that there are baked beans here (although the hotel toaster leaves much to be desired, is that a universal hotel failing?) and has had some delicious gelato.  I have only had one pizza so far!

Yes, these people are sunbathing!  Off to see if it's cool enough to take Sam swimming, more another day.

Another One to the Fold

Hooray, hooray, my DD has been "bitten", please pop over to her blog, tulipsandcherrytrees and see what she's made.  Clever girl.

Mother and Daughter Delights

I had a lovely day yesterday when DH and I went over to visit DD and do jobs for her.  Al put a new electric socket in her bedroom, fixed her lawn mower so that it doesn't electrocute her again and fixed a gate between the garden and the car port to keep DGS Sam in (or out, depending how you look at it).
I had the better part of the deal imho, I helped her make the final drape for her bedroom storage (no photo as I reckon a lady's bedroom is something that shouldn't be shown on the internet) and then we sorted out clothes for our holiday and she gave me two dresses that no longer fit her but do fit me, woo hoo!!  A little gentle weeding and then Saz cooked us a delicious lunch including her very FIRST  POTATOES.  She is over the moon with her veggie garden and is having great success.  We sat in her garden and saw the Thunderbirds fly over!  (no, not the Tracy brothers, FAB, the US equivalent of our red Arrows display team, the Waddington Air Show is on this weekend)

When I was at the Quilters' Guild day in Norfolk last week Steve from Sewing Machine World just happened to be there and just happened to have a second hand Janome for sale that was very tempting so I sent DD a text, "would you like a sewing machine, yes or no, no conditions?" and the answer came back a very excited "yes please".  So, I got the machine from Steve and yesterday I gave my little Janome to Saz.  Last night I get a telephone call about the thread breaking....golly, she's already using it.  A Skype video call later and I've guided her on threading the machine properly and next thing I know she's making a bag for our forthcoming trip to Italy (burglars need not make notes, DH is house sitting, he's not keen on the heat).  Wow, you grow girl and you sew girl!!  I can't wait to see what she's made and she wants to go to the LQS asap, look, look, look, see the smiling Mummy doing a happy dance.
Today I'm packing.  It seems to be more difficult to pack for a week than when we got to NZ for months and months.  We are going to Italy on Friday, staying in Sorrento and doing all the classics things - we've justified it as a study trip for Saz, yeah right!  I love this Mummy/Daughter stuff.  We're going to Pompeii and are very excited.  Sam has been signing and saying "aeroplane" for weeks and putting clothes in his Very Hungry Caterpillar trolley.  I hope to be blogging from there so you can share our trip.  Right, back to the suitcase, now where did I put that suncream?

BritQuilt Swap Arrived Today

I had a wonderful parcel in the post today, a quilt from my secret partner in the BritQuilt Swap.  Wow, thank you Ethne, I am absolutely over the moon with the gorgeous quilt you made for me and all the lovely goodies you included in the parcel.  During the swap we have been posting "work in progress" pictures on Flickr and I have to admit to coveting this quilt but I never dared to expect that it would be for me.  When Ethne posted a picture of the quilt all finished I commented,
"This is absolutely gorgeous and I have just the right place for it in my little house, I wish! Beautiful stitching and such a great palette and design, all yummy."

Here is "Tranquillity" already hanging in my house, it's in my guest bedroom which has a Japanese theme so it fits in beautifully.
I've taken some close up pictures so that you can appreciate the wonderful quilting that Ethne has done, in fact DH was with me when I opened the parcel and he immediately exclaimed, "Now that's what you call quilting".  Ethne has painted with the thread to create wonderful texture and movement in the picture, clever girl.

 Here's the lovely label that Ethne printed for the quilt:

Here are the extras that Ethne so kindly included with the quilt, chocolate, mmmm gorgeous (but DH saw it in the parcel so I will have to share) and these wonderful fabrics that she dyed including the shibori piece.  I am planning to do something very special with that.

I am delighted with my side of this swap and I've just read on Judith's blog that she has received the quilt I made for her and is also pleased, phew!  Many thanks to all the organisers.  If you're a Brit quilter why not join the Flickr group now and be ready for the next swap?  Thanks to Teresa for getting me into this.  Have a great weekend everybody.