Weekend in the country

I just returned from a three day girl's weekend at the cottage. It was the height of the Autumn leaf colours - beautiful . Here are some photo highlights of the weekend taken with my iPhone.

Riviera Maya - Day 5

Every day when we return to our room we are greeted by a new towel critter.
This is today's cute critter and a scene from yesterday:

A Couple More Journal Pages

 
This was my first train trip on my own. I recorded my observations of the ride under the ticket holder on the top of the page.

 
My little room in Paris that I had all to myself. it was so cozy and warm.

I learned a lot about my scrapbooking style from doing this journal. I have dubbed myself The Slap-Happy Scrapper because I don’t measure anything, preferring to cut or tear, eyeball and glue! 

Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been …

 
Well, I didn’t go to London, but I did go to The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany!  It was a complete surprise when my friend invited me to join her on her trip to visit her sister in Holland. They planned to tour by car into Germany to attend some of the German Christmas Markets.

Encouraged by my family to take advantage of the opportunity, I booked my flight and began to pack my bags.  And to research the places I had to visit while based in The Netherlands.

Paris, to which I’ve been longing to return, since my first visit there in 2006, was first on my list.  Also, Bruges or Brugge, in Belgium. 

I did get to both Paris and Bruges and many other cities as well. Here are some photo highlights of my trip. I still pinch myself when I look at the photographs I took; I just feel so lucky to have taken this trip.

Leuven, Belgium - above

Downtown Maastricht, The Netherlands

Train Station, Liege, Belgium

 

Paris …. sigh

I have hundreds more photographs, that I will post on Flickr or Picasa. Watch for my next post where I will be showing Men’s Shoes of Paris.

Storm Clouds

One morning during our week away,
the forecast called for rain but we weren’t expecting such a dramatic storm front of clouds rolling toward us from over the lake.

In this next one, I like the silhouette of the lighthouse against the deep blues of the clouds.   When the storm had passed and all  was calm we walked to the small pond for a local music night and I snapped this shot of the pretty swan. I couldn’t resist playing with it in FotoSketcher using the Watercolor option.

There are so many historical houses and cottages in the town of Southampton. I’ll share some photos with you in my next post.

A Week Away

We rented an apartment unit for a week on Lake Huron in one of our favourite towns. Our unit was on the water with a fantastic view of the beach and lake from our front window and deck. The view faced West so each night we were treated to a glorious sunset. Here are some examples.

I'm off !!

Today is the day I leave for Spain! One week in Barcelona

then by train to the Perpignan
area of France for another week. (I didn't take the photo here, I got
it via a friend of Bruce's - thank you).

Hard to imagine that I will be taking this same route
tomorrow. Our plan is to hop on the red tourist
bus first thing to get an overview of the city.

I have packed my journals and journaling tools so I can make up
pages on the spot.That's the plan, we'll see if I get side-tracked from it.
I will definitely make daily notes, otherwise each day blends into
the next and the week becomes a blur.

My four friends and I plan to promote the local economy
of each area we're visiting by drinking our share of vino tinto.
And those two words are the extent of my Spanish vocabulary!

I promise to share photos when I return!