The last of Europe

Another foal this morning, the girls had one of their major hack shows and our ponies did extremely well so that was a bonus, perhaps we can sell some for hugely inflated prices.
Any way although this little mare was a maiden she did all the right things and had a filly and it was up and drinking when I saw it so a huge sigh of relief.
I think I have finally sorted out almost all of the photos from the trip it has been a major task, especially as a lot of them are for me to use in my textile and other 'stuff'!
So here are the last three Europe sketches, one from the train as we headed on eurostar for London and the other two where we had our last lunch in Paris, sitting on the pavement watching the world go by and a bycycle that was chained to a tree so was going no where. This area was near a university so lots of students and lecturers.
John went fishing today, the cat is happy with what he caught but we will have a pretty meager meal.
No haiku tonight, I am too tired.

in the place des Vosges

Are you getting sick of Paris? I am afraid there is not much after Paris so make the most of it.
I have spent a very tiring day with first of all two mares foaling and no Sarah to help as they were at a show.
I had to sit and wait for ever before the foals would drink as I coudnt catch either of the mares, and stupidly I had walked down and it was stinking hot. It has cooled a bit now thank goodness.
I didnt get in to shop, I forgot a heap of things I should have done but I do now have a curtain up in the sitting room as John put some new alsinite (clear plastic stuff) in the verandah roof and now the sun shines in just at about 5 pm when I want to sit in my chair and it was terribly hot and I couldnt see. I just hope it works. I really dont like curtains as we dont need them here and I cant see out but these are net ones so not too bad.
The place des Vosges is a lovely park with lots of seats and supposedly the best proportioned square in the world, not sure about that but it was a lovely place to sit.
tonights Haiku is byBasho.
A crow clings silently
to a bare bough,
cautiously
watching the sunset.

Paris again

It has been terribly hot here today, over 32C and my garden is wilting. I need to get at the hoses which are not ready and we had a leaking pipe that meant all water was turned off.
I have had a bit of a tidy up outside as well and got very hot and horrid. I think this weather is supposed to go on for a few days. The joys of summer.
These two sketches were done while again sitting after a long days walking over to the Jardin du Plantes and a lot of other walking and a much needed coffee was consumed.
I sketched and wondered about who lived in the apartment with the open window and the curtain blowing in the breeze over the very busy Rue St Antoine. I then turned my attention to the building a bit further down the road.
What bliss, I wish we were back there, I really dont much like the heat and there is so much to do around the place.

Paris sketches

More sketches, the first is of the gates into the jardin de ecology, we sat for quite a while while I recovered from a lot of walking and I quite liked these gates into a very wilderness place that was all locked up.
We finally made it to a coffee shop in a back street after walking for about 6 to 7 hours and I took the opportunity to sketch a bit of the back street we were on and the massive door.
I took lots of photos of doors, there are some fascinating different styles and these I will do later from the photos, well i hope I have time to do them.
Hay fever has struck now I am home, no wonder I dont do as much gardening as I would like, I feel terrible. I would happily live in autumn for ever.
It has also got remarkably hot.
Thank you to every one who have said such nice things about my pretty ratty sketches, but they do actually make me remember things more than the photos and I had fun doing them when I could.
Of course now I cant remember which haiku I have put up so you may have to suffer from some repeats.
this one is by Takarai Kikaku
On the face of the sea
a swallow
has erased a rainbow.

Paris sketches

Gargoyles and bits off Notre Dame, I just love the gargoyles and could have spent all day sketching bits and pieces but of course when you are walking and have limited time you dont spend a lot of it sketching, usually only when i needed to draw breath and rest the aching knee.
The day we went to the Musee de O'rsay it was wet so there was a huge crowd wanting to go in so this again was a quick impression of people under umbrellas which some enterprising young men were busy trying to sell umbrellas to, when the sun came out it was bottled water!
Then the view from the little bistro we tended to have dinner at, just the very typical old french style houses which are so charming, and which John tells me are the optimum height for a city, anything higher is not nice and lower doesnt utilise the land properly.
I loved the chimney pots too, infact I loved the whole bit about our stay in Paris and would recommend the Marais area to any one, close to so much and not too expensive.

Eltville and Mainz

I have been looking at photos and scanning sketches and now I feel totally cross eyed!
Poor John has had to get on with so much paper work and he is complaining that everytime he looks at a computer it hates him and something goes wrong!
Here it is cold and windy, but the garden looks fabulous, all the roses are flowering and there is colour every where, unfortunately there are also huge numbers of weeds.
These sketches were again done in Germany, the first is another barge but with a river setting, bother bother, this the same one as last night and I have forgotten how to delete it.Oh well you will just have to see it again.
the next one is of the bits and pieces I saw on top of the Dom in Mainz, I love all these added little bits, every tower top was different.
The window was done while we were listening to a free concert in the church of St Stephan which has Marc Chagall windows in it, we went in there to see them and stayed to hear the oldest cello in the world being played by a husband and wife, well I think the cello was played by the husband but as the stuff I have is all in German I may be wrong. The players were Julius and Hyun - Jung Berger.
really lovely.
The last sketch I did is of the Dom in Mainz which I did sitting outside the Gutenberg Museum while waiting for the others.
Gutenburg spent some time in Eltville and we saw the house he lived in, John had just read a book about him called the Justification of Johann Gutenberg by Blake Morrison. He was of course the inventor of the first printing press and we saw a couple of them and also in this wonderful museum a copy of the Gutenberg bible.
The area devoted to binding books was incredible.
This day in Mainz was my actual birthday and we went out to a late lunch at a wonderful Moroccan restraunt and ate our way through the menu and felt over filled after wards!
We walked and walked and although we were only there from the 30th of September and left on the 5th of October it was wonderful, relaxing with friends, walking, wandering through gardens and seeing a few new things including the little red squirrel who was most insistent on leaving his stash of nuts in Virginia's pots.

Sketches from Eltville, Germany

I am gradually getting over the jet lag, and thank you so much to all those who have welcomed me back.
I will gradually get around to replying to you all, and to Pat who I tried hard to see but ran out of time, I am sorry, everything from phones to time conspired against us!
I did these sketches just after we arrived to stay with our friends, the barges went past all the time, and I found them fascinating, I hope one day to find the time to convert them into more than sketches, I really had a struggle to find time to sketch at all and some are pretty rough and ready.
We arrived in the Rhineland early on day one of our trip after a reasonable flight and we walked along the tow path and then made it back to bed and slept through dinner. I drew Virginia's plants on her balcony, the pencils didnt translate very well, I was fascinated in her blush pink, almost apricot datura, most of these plants have to be covered for the winter or brought inside, how different to here.
The last sketch I did while having a very decadent cake in Limburg from out of the window of a two story cafe. This area has the half timbered houses and a fascinating Cathedral, all half timbered and perched on a hill, it is not terribly old but was very interesting to see.
We have had 6 foals, 3 colts and 3 fillies since I have been away.
I am still struggling a bit but the washing is done, the animals are fed and fin ally we have managed to get some photos up so if you want to see what we did look here.

I am home

We left North Wales early on Thursday morning and arrived back here this morning (Saturday) so we are not thinking straight, very tired but had the best trip ever. Didnt manage to fit in everyone we wanted to see, or places but did have a pretty good try.
Lots of sketching but no painting and about a 1000 photos, aren't digital camera's great when you are away.
More when I stop feeling like a zombie.