I Blame Facebook!

I seem to spend more time on there and then get drawn into following links and by the time I've caught up with the blogs I read, another evening has gone and I havn't blogged.  Even when I go through the day thinking 'I must blog this when I get home' it slips through my fingers and another day passes.  So, where were we?  

I seem to remember I was telling you about our trip to Iceland and Norway.  Iceland was an experience all round, such a different exotic country (not in the tropical sense but in the 'I've never experienced this before' sense).  We have visited Norway before but went to some new places this time.

First on the agenda was the city of Alesund on a very wet and breezy day.  We took refuge in the beautiful parish church which has a wonderful fresco.  Our visit was perfectly timed to enjoy a short organ concert which sadly I can't show you as it won't upload.  If you click on the link to the organist's page you can select several snippets from his CD, not least Bach's Toccata, one of my all time favourite pieces.

Our second port of call was Olden which we had visited several years ago.  This time we took a trip out to the Briksdal Glacier and were extremely thankful that we had chosen to take a tractor/gator ride for part of the trip up the mountain rather than attempting to walk.

 The Gaters were manufactured by John Deere, a company we are very familiar with in our rural part of the country. 

 After we left the transport we had a not inconsiderable walk to reach the viewpoint for the glacier and were treated to the sight of some impressive rocks that had been left behind as the glacier shrunk.

This is still quite a distant shot of the glacier which was still impressive.  It has many colours within it and many wonderful cracks and shapes.

The glacier used to extend way down the mountain but is now reduced to this restricted size although it does go back further into the mist.

You can see why we didn't walk up, although some from the ship did!

 And yes, we got very wet going past the waterfall!

Our last port of call in Norway was the beautiful Stavanger.  Adjacent to the berth where we docked we could see the Stavanger Konserthus.  This modern building created fascinating shapes and reflections.

The most beautiful part of Stavanger is the old town where people still live and work.  

 

The town is almost dwarfed by the close proximity of cruise ships.

Back on board ship the cruise winds down with the traditional march of the chefs which gives everyone the chance to thank the guys who provide the excellent food during the holiday.

On a personal level I had to thank one particular crew member for saving my life.  

It sounds dramatic and it was very frightening but this wonderful man, Clay, the headwaiter, appeared out of nowhere to help me when I made the mistake of talking and laughing while I was eating and started to choke.  A colleague had already tried to help and failed and Clay took over and swiftly and calmly freed me of the obstruction.  Not only that but he gave me good advice to help me through the next few hours while my throat calmed down.  I am eternally grateful and would love to meet him again at some time in the future.  Thank you, Clay.

I'm back but not quite here yet....

We've just come back from a wonderful two week cruise visiting Iceland and Norway.  We escaped the current steaming heat in the UK and enjoyed the cooler, cloudier climes and amazing experiences that a cruise brings with it.  We took hundreds and hundreds of photos and so far I have loaded mine onto the computer but havn't adjusted them so I will be a bit longer before I can show you them here.

As a preamble to Iceland we stopped off in Dublin Bay and DH had his fix of the black stuff.  

Yes!!!  I think he enjoyed that!

Since we've been home I've made the finishing touches to my quilt for Festival of Quilts and got it into the post today just in time for the deadline.  

The eagle eyed among you may be able to see that my original design got turned on its head, literally and I am pleased with the final result.  

All rolled up and waiting for packaging.  I'm looking forward to seeing it hanging at the NEC in Birmingham, although I think it may be a bit wavy along the vertical edges which is frustrating.  

I'll be back when it's cooled off a bit with some pics of our holiday and the beauty of Iceland and Norway.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

This gorgeous and plucky little bear, who you can read about here is preparing to go on a great adventure which will end in the most northernmost Teddy Bear's Picnic later this year. He is going, with some other bears, to have a picnic 700 miles away in North Cape Norway. This plucky little bear is helping to raise funds for specialist children's bereavement srevices at St Theresa's hospice in Darlington. Edmund is being sponsored by my friend Mrs Nesbitt who you may remember I met up with in York before Christmas. Good luck Edmund! Keep warm! (It's all right Bertie! You can come out now! You don't have to go!!)