Jonathan & Denise > Christmas Day – walking on the Atlantic shore at Askernish. Dendritic patterns in the sand.
Continue reading →
Jonathan > We knew the terrace leaked : the sum we offered for the house – the offer that was accepted – took account of that fact. That was nearly two years ago, and with each winter’s damp and frost the bare concrete slab of the terrace could only get worse. So that’s the most important job I’ve been attending to during my two-month stay here in Navarra, at Casa Los Fueros. Now Denise and I can think about adding more plants and pots to our terrace garden – the next time we’re in Navarra together.
Continue reading →
An Garradh Mor : Dusky, the office cat
An Garradh Mor : The office at midwinter sundown
Left : Old UK Passport issued 2010 – now cancelled.
Right : New UK Passport, just received.
The old passport has been cancelled by cutting the corner off the cover. Other than that, what difference can you spot?
Continue reading →Denise > Here’s a scarf that I finished making today. The handspun warp is made with wool from Masham sheep – which are native to a certain district in northern England. The weft, too, is handspun, with wool from Merino sheep (dyed purple and lavendar), white Shetland sheep, and just a few grams of Angelina – a synthetic fibre that sparkles with the colours of the fibres it is spun together with. Used sparingly, it adds a touch of magic to a winter wardrobe. I wove the scarf on our Glimåkra floor loom, then washed and tented it, before finishing it with my ‘handwoven’ label.
Continue reading →
J > This year my time in Navarra has been much cloudier and wet than last year : in fact it’s been exceptionally wet. But yesterday was a cheerful day of clear skies, warming sunshine, and – if barely above freezing, it was defnitely dry. Perfect for a day out exploring : I’ve scarcely more than a week left before I must return to Scotland. I headed to the Basque far north east of Navarra, about an hour’s drive away, a land of jagged sierras, soaring viaducts, dry barancos, narrow twisting gorges, vultures, circling overhead, roads switching sides across roaring mountain rivers …
Continue reading →Denise >
I’ve been making two new designs of cushions in Harris Tweed weaves.
They differ only in the colour/pattern of pure new wool tweed fabric. In both designs, a plain tweed in the centre third of the front is also used for the back. A quality cushion pad, sewn-in, is filled with goose feather and down.
Continue reading →Textbook Spanish only gets you so far. ¡Hola! ¡Adiós! ¡Buenos Tardes! ??? Hereabouts, in the Zona Media of Navarra (Estella – Tafalla/Olite – Sangüesa, roughly) – and northwards, the universal hello/goodbye seems to be … Well, until a few days ago, I just couldn’t make out what word or words were being said, by almost everyone, so casually and at any occasion. But then I was in Estella …
Continue reading →Napal is a tiny hamlet at the head of a very narrow valley hemmed in on both sides by steep wooded slopes and cliffs. Above the hamlet there is a remarkable rock formation – a slab of limestone half a kilometre long, fifty metres wide, and perhaps twenty to thirty metres high. The south face is impossibly hot in summer, so now that temperatures are milder, that’s where Catherine and Ion would be climbing today.
Continue reading →Enaut’s birthday – and he’s twice as old as he was this time last year. That’s right – he’s two!
Continue reading →
English
Basque
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Scottish Gaelic
Spanish
Welsh