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Monthly Archives: September 2013

Day Out in Barcelona, Gaudi and Pavements

1. By train and Metro to Placa Catalunya, a walk in the park, people watching, admiring the fountain and being amused by the squawking trees. I eventually spotted a beautiful parrot by his nest.

2 Back down to the Metro where a keyboard was being played by a busker – I’ve never seen that before. It was very lovely to listen to. I liked the nearby sculpture too and we came up right by Sagrada Familia. What a wonderful creation and still being worked on! The organic nature of the architecture makes you gasp with wonder at every turn.

3. Another underground ride and up onto beautiful pavements made of tessellated and decorated slabs to discover more of Antoni Gaudi’s masterpieces, Casa Mila and Casa Batilo, more amazingly quirky and beautiful architecture to enjoy.

A fabulous day!

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 4, 2013 in architecture, Barcelona, Beauty, nature, photography, Postaday2013, sculpture, travel

Tags: Antoni Gaudi, Casa Batilo, Casa Mila, Catalan, Sagrada Familia

Birthday Breakfast, Fabulous Food and Thieb Bu Djen

03 Sep

1. We are in Barcelona to help celebrate our daughter-in-law’s birthday and brought with us presents and cards from family in England. We bought some beautiful French tarts from a cake shop yesterday and had those for breakfast after our croissants! We cooked a birthday dinner last night as D and A have to go to Madrid tonight re A’s visa to visit us at Christmas.

2 This week we have eaten Spanish food, D&A’s Moroccan neighbour has brought in beautiful breads and cakes for us each day (see the photos below), last night’s dinner had one English course, (Prawns in a Marie Rose sauce), one French (Confit duck with saute potatoes and peas)and one Italian ( Tiramisu) and this evening we are having a Senegalese dish,Thieb bu djen( chebugen) which I have had a hand in preparing! For D&A’s arrival back tomorrow evening, the lovely neighbour is cooking us a Moroccan couscous dish.

Birthday breakfast.

Beautiful biscuits, all home made
3. Our Senegalese supper was super delicious and reminded us of our trip there for the Wedding last April.

Thieb Bu Djen

14 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 3, 2013 in Beauty, Celebration, Food, photography, Postaday2013, Senegal, Wolof

Tags: birthday, Senegalese food, Thieb bu djan, Wolof

Weekly Photo Challenge – Sea

03 Sep

I love the sea in all its moods, tide in, tide out, early morning and evening. When I lived away from the sea I felt a visceral need to be at the coast and had a poster of John Masefield’s poem, ‘I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky….. ‘ on the wall in my office.

I am away from home at the moment and have only a few sea photos available to share, taken from the same spot, a daytime tide out shot and some evening at sunset, tide right in shots where the sunset appeared to be setting the sea on fire.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 3, 2013 in Beauty, Cornwall, photography, Postaday2013, Sea, Weekly photo challenge

Tags: Weekly photo challenge-sea

A Wedding, A Dedication and A Celebration

02 Sep

On this day in 1939, my Mum and Dad were married.They were to have honeymooned in Paris but given that WWII broke out on September 3rd they had a weekend in Blackpool instead before my Dad went off to the army for five years.

My Mum at her wedding in 1939

My Dad retired early to write and dedicated his first novel to my Mum ( using a nom de plume as advised by the publishers as it was thought that women read more historical romantic fiction and that they like to read books written by women!) The novel is set in Cornwall in the late 1800’s and its background is the tin mining industry that was so important to the Cornish.

Dad’s first novel, published in the US and the UK by Weidenfeld and Nicholson, in paperback by Sphere

The dedication

Their Golden wedding in 1989 was a great big family reunion in Cornwall as by then my older brother and his wife and two children were living in Munich, Germany, my younger brother and his wife were in Atlanta, Georgia and my sister and her growing family were in Phoenix, Arizona and I was in Yorkshire with my family. The advance for Ellen Bray paid for everyone to come to the two week long party!

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 2, 2013 in Beauty, Celebration, family, family history, photography, Postaday2013, Wedding

Tags: Ellen Bray, Jane Julian, nom de plume

Hibiscus, Festa Major and Clock Tower

01 Sep

1. This beautiful Hibiscus and the resulting Okra are growing on the balcony in Granollers near Barcelona where we are visiting for a week with our son and daughter-in-law.

2. Yesterday evening we strolled about the town in the midst of the crowds enjoying the last day of the Festa Major. The streets were full of happy families enjoying the music and dancing, the puppets and the fireworks and the shopping.