Marion's Vineyard

Yesterday we had our work's end of financial year function. We did a wine tour and our first stop was Marion's Vineyard on the Tamar River. This is a rather quirky vineyard with lots of interesting bits and pieces on the property.

This first mobile might give you some ideas to put your old cutlery to good use!










I like this view of the river through the lattice work.









The sun was setting behind this interesting piece of sculpture!












Another view of the river from further up the hill - they are planning to build a stage up here and have concerts in the Summer months.









I thought this piece of bark on one of the uprights for the proposed stage was very attractive.












And the clouds were starting to turn pink after the sunset.

The Garden in Winter

Today was the perfect day to rejig our garden. Because our house faces South the front garden doesn't get any sun in the winter and that, combined with peacocks and wallabies nibbling at the plants, makes it difficult to find suitable plants. I forgot to take a before photo but this morning we transplanted a heap of polyanthus and bought some flax and dwarf japonicas to plant out the front - then we laid some pebbles around them all. Hopefully it will be successful.

I then planted the polys in one of our back gardens and my husband covered everything with mulch which actually means that those bulbs who were poking up above the ground now have to gain some more strength to pass through the mulch!







Another of our little gardens.










And I decided to plant some polyanthus in this pot - I would love it to be pansies but so would the wallabies! All in all a very good morning's work.

Winter Day in Launceston

This morning was the first time for a few days that we've woken and there was no frost. I took the camera when I went down to get the bread for breakfast and caught these snaps of the sun poking up between the mountains and the clouds - note the reflection in the river.

Webs and Things

Since returning from overseas I seem to have continued travelling. In May we flew to Melbourne for a special dinner party. I went for an early morning walk along Southbank and captured this image of one of the bridges across the Yarra.

And last week I had to work on Flinders Island - this is taken at Whitemark looking inland with the swans enjoying the lake. Flinders has just been declared a drought area and, since then, have had some lovely rain.







And this was what I discovered whilst hanging out the washing the other day!

Scenes from Above

I love flying and it's a great way to see the world. Of course the best photos would be those just after take off and before landing but the powers that be deem that you can't use digitals during that time. The first photo was taken over Iran after we had departed from Dubai.









This was over the Swiss Alps - 2007 was not a good year for snow as you can see.










The next images were taken while flying over Indonesia - we had a great view of the volcano which was quietly smoking away!

Singapore

The last few days of our trip we spent at Singapore - such a complete contrast to Europe. This tree reminded me of one of the statues in Mainz.









And yes another place of worship - how different to the cathedrals of Europe.










We briefly visited the Botanical Gardens.











And spent time at the Changi War Museum - this was particularly moving as my Great Uncle (who was more like a grandfather) was a POW on the Burma Railway.

Burgenstock

The view from Burgenstock was magnificent - from one side of the ridge you could see over the Lake Lucerne.










And from the other side over the Alps and the valley - this was our view at lunch and the sound of the cow bells drifting up the valley took me back to one of my favourite childhood books - Heidi.











Once back at lake level you can see how crystal clear the water is.

Lucerne

A perfect day - a trip to Lucerne. We took the ferry and saw Mt Pilatus.

Everything was like being in a fairytale.




































We left the ferry to travel up to Burgenstock seen here at the top of the ridge.




















This was our mode of transport - a very steep climb.

Zurich

On Sunday we left our cruise ship/barge and travelled by train to Zurich. I loved this creation which greeted us at the train station.







Zurich is a beautiful city and we were lucky to be staying in the old part of town surrounded by restaurants and just a short distance from the river.









Europe has such a sense of pride in their heritage.









I was fortunate to be in Zurich when they had a Rodin sculpture exhibition which had come from the Royal Academy in London. His "Gates of Hell" is a permanent fixture outside the Kusthaus where the exhibition was held - I was in seventh heaven as we hadn't had the chance to visit many art galleries.

Black Forest

Our last day of touring was at the Black Forest. We visited Folklore Village Museum which still has the original houses dating back over 400 years. We were able to go through these buildings and see how the people lived - as some still do today - sharing with the animals.









And of course there was a sewing machine.









This would look lovely in my house - filled with quilts of course!

Alsace

The afternoon we went to Alsace and toured a vineyard - this is one of the old barrels.






And then roamed around one of the villages whose name escapes me at the moment!

Strasbourg

This day we crossed the river into France and visited Strasbourg.

And yes there was another cathedral - pity they are so big that you can't fit it all in one photo!










I could feel a couple of quilts coming on with these images.










And they do some fascinating things with the downpipes!












Our group was very amused by the name of this bus company - glad we weren't driving around in it!

Heidelberg

That afternoon we drove to Heidelberg - a beautiful city with a huge castle towering over it.
I loved this embellishment on one of the houses








Part of the castle











Elizabeth's Gate to the castle built by her husband Frederick - Elizabeth was one of the Stuart's of England.










The view from the castle.










And one of the old doors.