Iceland day 2

If you have followed my blog for a while, you will know of my long lasting love affair with the Isle of Skye. Well, Iceland is like Skye on steroids, only more volcanic and with fewer trees! We only saw a small fraction of the country, but it had the majesty of Skye. It is mountainous, bleak in places with vast stretches of volcanic ash deserts.

On the second full day of our holiday, we took a coach trip- which turned out to be a minibus- along one of the tourist trails to see some of the natural phenomena in the area.

 Part of me struggles with doing the touristy stuff along with a load of other people, but the bus driver was quite funny and interesting and I guess it was the easiest way we were going to see some of Iceland's amazing places.

At Pingvellir National Park we walked through a rift where the Eurasian and North American continental plates are separating. (I was a bit bamboozled about what we were actually walking on in that case and what was underneath :S. I didn't take Geography as an option at school!!)

We drove on to where a natural hot spring feeds into this lake. You can see in the picture below that the water at the edge of the lake was actually boiling, which again was a bit mind- boggling!. The chef from a nearby restaurant wraps and buries food in the hot sand and leaves it to cook.

This whole area is a geothermal region where heat from the earth's core is close to the surface. We went to the original hot water spout, Geysir which has been active for around 800 years. It spouts water up to 80 metres in the air.

I have to confess to being a little disappointed when we first arrived here. It felt a bit "theme- parky" with restaurants and a gift shop. There is a paved pathway leading up to the Geysir, which is roped off so that visitors form a circle around it, "oohing" and "ahhing" as it spouts and it felt as though the awesomeness of this as a naturally occurring wonder was a bit lost. However, from a particular view point, you can see the water broiling away, then bubbling up into a pressurized bubble before whooshing up in a huge spout. The deep depression in the ground then sucks the water back in. That really IS awesome!

(Sorry, my daughter's arm kept photobombing my pictures!)

These pools are HOT and the blue colour is due to dissolved silica.

The next stop was Gullfoss, a raging, powerful waterfall with rainbows forming in the spray. It was chilly here in spite of the sunshine and we quickly became soaked by the spray, but it was refreshing!

On the return journey we stopped at a much smaller waterfall which was interesting as a fish ladder had been created on the left to help the salmon return upriver to their spawning grounds.

Our final stop was at the edge of a dual carriageway (!) where thick (and I mean THICK) moss grows on the lava fields. It is like walking on a sheep's fleece. We were very careful to tread lightly as the moss takes hundreds of years to grow and the landscape can be scarred if it is damaged. The bus driver pointed out areas where people had picked out their names from the moss over forty years ago and they are still very visible.

More to come soon....

Reykjavik

We are back from our family holiday and I am gradually easing myself back into normality.

We were very fortunate to spend a fantastic week in Iceland.

Our accommodation for the week was on the third floor of this apartment block (you can see our balcony) in Reykjavik.

It was a relatively quiet street and at this time of year there is almost 24 hours of daylight in Iceland, so I enjoyed spending time on the balcony early in the morning or late at night watching the world (and occasional drunks) go by.

I spotted this little guy on the back of our street sign as we were waiting for an early morning pick-up for a coach trip. Can you see him?

Here's a closer view...

There was quite a lot of yarn bombing in Reykjavik as well as street art and graffiti- it is a creative, laid-back sort of place!

I'm not sure what the homeless situation is in Reykjavik, but we did see someone sleeping in this hammock which was just up the road from the apartment, though it could have been a traveller! The economy is gradually improving, largely due to tourism and there is a LOT of construction happening in the city.  Many hotels are being built to accommodate the rise in tourism. I really hope they get the balance right and don't change the nature of the city, particularly for those that live there.

We were so lucky with the weather. apart from a rainy day on the Monday, the rest of the week was mostly sunny with beautiful, vast blue skies.

You know how I love to use houses as inspiration for my textile art. Many of the buildings in Iceland are functional, concrete blocks, but there is a lot of corrugated iron and some amazingly vibrant colours, which may just be featuring in some patchwork in the near future.

We saw so many wonderful things so I am going to make several posts over the coming days- pop back often! I'd love to hear some of your summer adventures too....

From Black Holes to a Gaping Hole!

Last Saturday saw the start (or should I say "blast off"?) of the Barnaby Festival in Macclesfield; 10 days of events celebrating "Space" including music, talks, art installations and performance.
The Festival kicked off on Saturday afternoon with a space-themed parade through the town and the good people of Macclesfield rose to the challenge to create costumes and floats.

There will be events taking place all week until the grand finale of the Barnaby Festival on Sunday 26th June when there will be a special Treacle Market, (always a treat), a "Big Brass Bonanza", music and art.

                                               Treacle Market

On Saturday 25th, the cool and talented Marc Jackson from Makers' Place will be hosting Macc-Pow Comic-Art Convention in the the Old Sunday School Macclesfield, celebrating comic art from around the world. There will be some big-names from the world of indie comic book art so it will be a great opportunity to meet some of your super heroes!

The Makers' Place (where I work alongside fellow artists and sell my pieces) will be open in the Old Sunday school for the duration of the Barnaby Festival and beyond.

There is also a lovely, friendly cafe - The Tea Kitchen- serving great food so you could make a day of it!

Don't miss visiting this hub of culture and fun! I really enjoyed taking a break from stitching to watch the parade go past.

After a productive day, I was fast asleep in my bed on Saturday night when we were woken by an almighty crash! We dashed downstairs and were confronted with this sight and water dripping through the kitchen ceiling!

 It took several moments to comprehend what all the mess on the kitchen floor was and to register the gaping hole in the ceiling! It turns out there had been a build up of water leaking through the bathroom floor and with no warning it suddenly burst through the ceiling. Not the best start to Father's Day for Mr Dotty!

The dog sleeps in a crate just to the left of all this debris! Thank goodness it didn't land directly on top of him! As it happens, he was sitting very quietly in a wet, rubbly bed and he needed drying off and a cuddle. We turned the water off at the mains and had a calming cup of tea before settling the dog in another room and heading back to bed (not that we slept much after that).

Sunday was mostly spent clearing heavy, wet plaster and dirt (3 bags full) and mopping  and cleaning the kitchen. I guess the rest of the week will be spent dealing with insurance, plumbing and builders.

As I lay in bed on Sunday morning though, I really did think how lucky we are. Many people are suffering the effects of flooding to their homes and many more have no homes at all. A temporary lack of water can't compare in any way to the thousands of displaced people who are having to cope with poor shelter and little sanitation.  I am going to remain cheerful, counting my blessings in spite of the gaping hole and damp-plaster smell pervading my home, (well, at least for now!)

The rest of the week has to go better, right? Hope your week goes well....

 (He's fine!)

Chicks And Classic Cars

Boy is it hot!

Looks like Summer has arrived and it is lovely, though my brain seems to have turned to mush. That is partly because of the baby birds who are growing up in my chimney pot, waking me up at 5am because they are hungry! Their parents arrived late in March and since then there have been weird scrabbling noises and lots of squeaking at unearthly hours. I like birds, but I am beginning to wish they would hurry up and grow feathers, learn to fly and go off and find their own worms! As soon as that happens I'm getting a roofer over to cap the chimney pot! Weirdly, this hasn't happened in the 20 years we have lived here, but there is a lot of major road construction going on locally so the birds have probably lost some of their habitat.

All because we humans like our cars!

We visited Tatton Park in Cheshire at the weekend to see the Classic car Show.

 It's amazing to me just how much some humans LOVE their cars.

 I do enjoy the convenience and freedom my car gives me, but to be honest, I am a bit car-blind. I have been known to walk past my own husband in our car and not recognise that it was him. So it was all a bit lost on me, but Mr Dotty does like to take photographs (mostly of the people with the cars).

 I enjoyed sauntering around in the sunshine, taking in the sights.

 We haven't been to Tatton for a couple of years so it was a treat to mooch around the gardens.

It is difficult to see from the photo, but this lady was wearing a beautiful floral dress and hat that perfectly matched the oranges of the flowers.

The Italian garden is very beautiful and has a view that reaches beyond the garden itself. It would be a fabulous venue for a cocktail party and I like to imagine sweeping down the steps in a floaty gown and banging a dinner gong to call the kids in for their tea!

I was a bit worried that this lady was going to topple over the wall as she looked quite precarious and had already almost fallen into the little box hedge as it wasn't strong enough to be sat on!

How have you been enjoying the sunshine?