Catch-up

The weather here today is foggy and cold with drizzly rain so I'm leaving that outside and thinking of more pleasant things. The above photo is instantly recognisable for anyone who has seen 'Les Miserables' and as soon as we took our seats in the theatre and saw this on the curtain screen, well, hearts started beating faster - oh, it was wonderful.

Our long weekend in England was very busy; in two full days plus a half and a bit(!) we managed to see my parents and brother, spend a day shopping with my eldest daughter, the afternoon at the theatre, an Indian dinner with all of us plus my daughter's boyfriend's father and we crammed two birthday cakes in as well. A calorific weekend but fun. The best food was a lunch we had with eldest daughter in a French brasserie in Cambridge - perfect steak/frites with home-made mayonnaise and a crisp French apple tart with good quality vanilla ice cream. The very best food is always simple but perfectly cooked and this was.

I have now finished at work ready for the half-term break. Yesterday, the quilt group didn't meet - instead, I joined one of the quilters and her German neighbour, who were going to Marburg for the day. It's about a two hour drive from Bonn and Marburg is the neighbour's home city. It is one of Germany's old university cities and very beautiful. As you can see from this photo, the weather was extremely foggy as I waited for a ferry to cross the Rhine to meet the other two: You would think this was a storm in the North Sea instead of our friendly river.And this was the weather in Marburg two hours later - you wouldn't believe it was the same day.
Instead of going inside the old buildings, we decided to make the most of the sun and walk up to the castle on top of the city and then enjoy a good lunch in the sun. I just love to see the old buildings and the chaotic roofline with the old tiles - such beautiful colours and textures. So instead of panorama shots from the top, of course, I took lots of roof photos.



And, as usual, chose my favourite house - I love this one because it has a complete little house as part of the roof:Unfortunately, after climbing hundreds of steps up to the castle, the restaurant we were hoping to eat at, with a wonderful view, was closed for renovation. We found a nice place near the Town Hall, however, and had lunch and a glass of wine while basking in the sun. It was a lovely day and a great start to half term holiday.

As for my daughter's crescent and star quilt (don't yawn - the saga will soon be over...) I'm done with the quilting - Hooray!!! While this is good news as finishing is near at hand, I also feel I'm losing an old friend as it has been so easy just to pick it up and quilt without having to think about anything. I just need now to put the binding on this afternoon and then make some little circles for decoration. Photos soon.