Excuse me while I get my breath back... goodness, that's better! A friend, Debbie,
made um, persuaded me to go line dancing this afternoon in the next village. Despite having lived in the States it is something that I've never done and since I have NO coordination whatsoever I had no great expectations for the afternoon. We learnt three sets of steps, the Electric Slide, the California Freeze and something else that I was hopeless at so am obviously blocking, very Freudian! Much to my surprise, it was fun and by the end of the session I was sort of, kind of, almost doing it properly. We'll see how much I retain by next Monday. There are quite a few videos on the ubiquitous YouTube and they were quite helpful, I had a look when I got home.
I sent off the giveaways and Elaine has already received hers. Someone remind me NOT to put magazines on ever again, it is not cheap to send to the States!
Well, what's been happening? Working backwards, a trip to an LNS just in Wales but with a Shropshire address. A lovely day was had by all, visiting
The Nimble Thimble, The Mill, Llangedwyn, Oswestry.
Tel: 01691 780 088.
Owned by Chris, a most hospitable lady who had coffee, tea and biscuits waiting for us. Despite not being on the Internet Chris has been in business for thirteen years, stocking cross stitch and needlepoint as well as framing your masterpiece. If you are going to be at Harrogate this year stop at her stall and see what treats she has brought.
Isn't it lovely? Such a good day and definitely worth the drive as I was in need of a cheer up as the WT had flown off to the States that morning for a week, sigh. I was fairly restrained, only three charts, a couple of threads and, okay, I admit, a fair bit of linen which my chum, Mouse, is kindly serging for me. I'll put up a picture when that arrives.
The week before was the Norley Garden show..... what do you mean, you've never heard of it? It is famous in this part of the world. Very sensibly, the organisers hold the event behind the pub, the Tiger's Head, which means that there is plenty of liquid refreshment available. A beer or cider goes down very nicely when you are admiring the prize onions and dahlias, I can tell you. They have a needlework section so might think seriously about entering next year.
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Not part of the show, just a rather wild but pretty garden
that we walked past on the way to the pub |
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| All shapes and sizes of onions! |
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| A lovely old steam engine, beautifully maintained |
And finally.......... to Helsinki, where the WT worked and I played, or rather walked and ate delicious food, well,in fact we both enjoyed some lovely meals. A very walkable city and only armed with the hotel map I found my way all over the city, and on three of the days I clocked up 22,000 steps each time which I felt was fairly impressive!
Kauppatori Market is down by the harbour and is so colourful with its heaping amounts of fruit and vegetables, huge mounds of chanterelle mushrooms and peas.
Not sure why the flag was at half mast. The picture above made me laugh, the knives are a sort of ungrammatical afterthought!
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| Salmon soup is good! |
Eating in the hotel one night and there was creme brulee on the menu, obvious choice as it is one of my favourite puddings, but wait, no, surely not, LIQUORICE? All I can say is don't knock it until you've tried it, absolutely wonderful accompanied by lemon ice cream.
To finish, a small piece of stitching, my version of
Carol's SAL with which I am keeping up! So proud of myself, lol! I'm using SNC Vintage Brown on an unknown piece of 40 count.
Enough of the tour and we haven't even left the harbour! I'll be back with part 2 of Helsinki and some pictures of ongoing stitching, but, alas, no finishes yet. Thank you to all my new followers and emails I have received. I appreciate each and every one of the comments so if you stop by, let me know, don't steal away!
love, gillie x
