Blogtoberfest-Day 3, What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday we visited our near by town

I had read that there was to be a regional market on there this weekend.

When we couldn't find it,

I called at the tourist office

and was told that it was on,

today!

So we sat for a while by the river.

It was a grey day,

not very inspiring,

but I took some photos from where we sat.

Mainly of buildings,

and I do like window boxes.

The buildings are so lovely and ornate.

I was surprised at how many people there were.

You can see from the first photo

how full the pleasure boat was.

I noticed a large group of people with their dogs

come along and cross the road.

The dogs were all so well behaved.

I couldn't get all the dogs on the photo,

there were so many.

From where we sat we could watch the river traffic come and go.

I was surprised at how low down in the water this barge was.

It was nice to see

one of the men

who works on one of the pleasure boats

feeding some swans

whilst the boat was moored up. 

And so from a grey day yesterday,

to a lovely sunny, warm day today!

And we went to the market,

though I don't think Mike was impressed.

It wasn't very big,

or that interesting,

though the majority of what there was to see

was quite different to what you would see in an English market.

Such as this Federweiss,

which is the new wine before it is properly fermented.

I was surprised to see some rabbits and chickens in cages,

similiar to what I've seen in France many years ago.

When I saw the trailer below,

I thought it would be serving up wild boar sausages,

but instead it was a taxidermy stall!

It wasn't long before we hopped back on our motor bikes

and went on to a village where I had seen posters for a flea market.

But when we got there,

there was no sign of it.

I'm sure it was there somewhere,

probably back on the other side of the river.

So after a saunter and a sit

under some trees,

we went back home

for some tea and cake.

I've made a few cakes over the past couple of days,

and soup,

and bread,

but no photos I'm afraid. 



After tea and cake,

we went off up the valley to walk the hounds.

It was a lovely evening.

We went to see how the work is progressing on the new road.

They have dug deeper so that the slip road is not as steep,

and propbably so that there are steep embankments to drown out the noise from the traffic.

It's still nice up there away from the road.

I hope the rest of it remains unspoilt,

and that the wildlife still retains it's habitat,

and doesn't get frightened off.

I think

Jewel has her eye on something here,

probably a mouse.



I hope your weekend was a sunny one.

You can see what other people are doing for the Blogtoberfest

over at Tinnie Girl.

Blogtoberfest-Day 2, A Great Sentiment

I love the sentiment in this cross stitch.

I love the design.

But most of all I love it because it is a present from my daughter,

and made by her own fair hand.



A Walk on the Wild Side

It's a while since you joined me for one of our walks,

and despite today starting off grey and damp,

it turned into a rather nice afternoon.

So why don't you join me and Mike,

and the hounds,

for a sunny walk amongst the vineyards?

These fine looking fellows

posed for a few photos.

They're quite photogenic

don't you think?

And how do you like the new car?

No just kidding.

The hounds would never all fit in it!

A bit further on and we stopped to admire these friendly ponies

who came over to see the hounds.

A lot of the grapes have been harvested,

but not all.

The majority of the Mosel wines are white,

so it's not often you see black grapes.

I always see some wildlife on this walk.

Can you see the hare?

Click on the picture to enlarge it

to make it easier to see.

And I think you will need to enlarge this photo

to see the deer

peeping out from where it is lay.

Last week when Mike was away and I was doing this walk on my own with the dogs,

I was lucky enough to see two wild boar

running across the rows of vines.

I was transfixed.

I have seen where they sometimes snuffle up the earth,

and I have even heard them snorting,

but to actually see them was something else.

Needless to say

I didn't get a photo,

too quick!

Or rather I wasn't quick enough.

And here we are on the way back.

If I look down to my right,

I can see our village beyond the rows of vines.

The river Mosel is just beyond the village.

If I look up to my left,

there is an area of uncultivated land.

There's lots of these areas dotted amongst the vineyards.

They offer rich habitat for birds and insects,

as well as offering shelter for

the hares and deer,

and wild boar.

I expect that's why there is so much wildlife here.

Well, once again

I've joined Blogtoberfest,

hosted by Tinniegirl.http://tinniegirl.blogspot.com/

The idea is to post every day throughout October.

I thought it would help me keep on track with my blogging.

So I should be back tomorrow.

Have a great weekend.

Bunting, Bells and Boats


I've found it very difficult to get back into the way of blogging

after being away for what seems an age.

It's been doubly difficult just trying to post the photos in the order that I want them!

So here goes with some photos I took last weekend.





I took a drive along the valley to a town

where I thought there would be a wine festival.

Yes it's that time of year again.

There are wine festivals every weekend at the moment

somewhere along the river.

 

A nice way to see the river is on one of the many pleasure boats.

Particularly on such a lovely sunny day.

 

I walked up from the river into the town

which in places seemed quite deserted.

I could hear some bells

and rounded a corner to see the cause,

and this is where I found the wine festival,

tucked away in a small square. 

It was quite low key,

but I imagine that it would come alive in the evening.

 



As I left the square

this pretty window caught my eye,

and these colourful flags.

Back down to the river.

A lone fisherman,

and one of the many bridges across the river.

 

Looking across the river,

one lone tree was quite striking

in it's autumnal plumage.

I was quite tempted by this cafe,

maybe next time.

I had to get back home

to take the hounds out for their walk.

And what a lovely walk it was too.

 

Well, that took longer than usual,

looks like I need some practice!

 

Now I just need to get back to visiting all my blogging friends,

which I've sadly neglected.

Hope to see you soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Spiderman and Friends

Or should I say family!

Yes the family arrived.

Let me introduce them~

Grandson, otherwise known for today's posting as

Spiderman!

Spiderman's grandma,

who I think you know~

yes it's me on that wire.

'Does my bum look big in this?'

And here comes Spiderman's uncle

zipping into the picture!

Here is Spiderman with his Daddy.

So where is Mummy?

Well, she was the official photographer with at least 3 cameras

to document our adventure amongst the trees!

When we went to this place near to where we live.

 

It was something we hadn't tried before.

As Spiderman is only 5 years old

we thought it wise for there to be two people

up amongst the trees to assist him.

That would be his uncle

and yours truly.

Spiderman was excellent,

even if it was 'scary' at times.

He showed a lot of skill, bravery and sensibility.

It was a lot of fun.

I would certainly do it again.

In the photos above we were on the lower courses

as they were the easy ones

and most appropriate for Spiderman

and myself.

I know that for a fact as later on

I joined my son on a more difficult course

and ended up being rescued!

Well when I checked the course out

apart from looking higher,

it didn't look too difficult to me.

WRONG!

It was a struggle,

and unbeknowns to me,

I had an audience watching me grappling with ropes and

wriggly, awkward bits of wood strung from ropes

making it very difficult to make any progress across a gap some

6 metres above ground.

Fortunately I was oblivious to the small crowd watching,

or indeed the photos they were taking!

Yes, at my expense!

My daughter got a really good  bad photo of me in a most ungainly position.

Fortunately I can't show it to you as I don't have it.

Suffice to say,

it was an excellent activity

even if Grandma did make a fool of herself!

Anticipation

The vineyards are looking green and lush,

more so than in this photo which was taken a while back.

And the wine festivals are in full flow,

complete with sausages~

But I am busy,

busy,

busy.

My family arrive today!

Son, daughter,

grandson and his dad!

Then on Saturday,

my sister and her family arrive!
So I won't have much time for blogging.

What did you say?

Oh, I haven't been blogging much anyway?

Well maybe I'll be out and about more with my camera in the weeks to come,

and have some great pictures to show you.

I'm sure I will!