Reading My Way Around the World

Friday 29 June 2018

June Photos

Here we are at the end of another month and it's time to join in with Hawthorn and the merry band of photo scavengers from around the world.  This month we were happily (well, a bit grumpily, but mostly happy) out travelling again, so the photos are from various places.

Yellow

We stopped in Amsterdam on our way back to the ferry from Germany earlier in the month and had a day pottering around, mainly to allow me a visit to the wonderful Stephen and Penelope Wool Shop (- if you're a wool person you'll probably know of Stephen West - really out there  knitwear designer - fab-u-lous darling.  More of that in a future blog.)  Some of my friends here can't believe I dragged Tom into a huge city, two days before his birthday, to go to a wool shop on the pretext that the day out was his birthday treat!

There's lots of yellow around Amsterdam - bicycles, flowers, clothes etc.
But this one had to take the prize ... the Amsterdam Duck Shop
and who was out in front only Donald - it was a real laugh-out- loud, stop-and-point sort of shop, with lots of great characters represented as bath ducks.





Starts with a ... T 

We're in the middle of the most wonderful spell of sunshine here - (there's not a bit of work being done inside and the garden is finally getting in to shape).   And these little flowers are all over the place - our lawn (or what I lovingly call our moss) is full of wild flowers that miraculously bounce back again after each cut.  Watching a video on Aril's blog this morning I discovered that it is called Birdsfoot Trefoil - (we'll ignore the B bit of it and just go with the T) -  I was having trouble finding a suitable T so this just came up in perfect time.



Lilac

I called in to the wool shop in Rheinberg in Germany - it's called Die Strickleiter (the Knit Ladder - a play on words of rope ladder).  Her bicycle was outside and the ladder covered in wool was a real hook to get me in.  Cute isn't it?


Starts with a ... G

I was looking for an AirBnB in or near Amsterdam before we left home and nearly took one on a houseboat - I wish I was more courageous to try these things - we couldn't gain access until 8pm which is way too late and had to be out by 10am which is way too early so the idea got passed on, but as we walked along the Amstel I spotted this garden which is right up my street of potted gardens, although when I looked closer it's just as much a mess as my own at the minute.  

Gardening Amsterdam style

Silver

I loved the stillness of this boat at the mouth of the river Erne at Ballyshannon 
and the silver of the water around it.

My own choice

Beach huts at Harwich in Essex.   I just love this sight any time we're on the East coast of England.  And this was a huge row of very well maintained huts.  We had an hour before we needed to queue for the ferry and after a feast of fish and chips I dragged a reluctant husband out to face the bracing cold to get a closer look.





So that's it from me for this month.   Thank you as always Kate for hosting this really enjoyable monthly challenge.  I'm going to check in on everyone else's blogs over the weekend.   If you fancy joining in or just seeing what's going on, check out the link here.  

26 comments:

  1. Thankyou for taking me on your travels, the duck shop is a hoot. The birds foot Trefoil has another name don't ask me why but when I was young my dad used to call it Fingers ,Thumbs ,Bellies and bums. Hmm still not sure lol. I love the row of beach huts too.

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    1. Hehehe love that name - henceforth they shall be called that :)

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  2. a great collection of images. Photographing a line of colourful beach huts is on my list of things to do but I so rarely go south it may be a long time before I do.

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    1. Ah they're just stunning Penny and with your photographic skills the photos would be amazing

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  3. One of the things I like most about Hawthorn's photo hunt is you always learn something. A Duck shop, well fancy that. The beach huts are lovely and it is my favourite photo, just ahead of the yarn ladder!

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    1. Yes, that ladder was great - I wanted to take it home, but it was firmly locked to the wall :)

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  4. The beach huts are glorious. I'd have taken a photo of them too!
    Arilx

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    1. Wouldn't you just love to spend time in one of them! But apparently you're not allowed to sleep overnight in them

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  5. Hi Fil - love the Birdsfoot Trefoil ... and seeing all your photos - reminded me of my WEP post. I can't wear wool ... but fun to see you dragging Tom around to cold east coasts and into woolly wool shops - lovely, cheers Hilary

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    1. Poor long suffering Tom lol - Yes I loved your yarn yarn Hilary :) Wool can be hard to wear, but there's lots of other non wool fibres now Hilary - gorgeous linens and silks ... in fact most of those high end shops have so many different ones, it's hard to choose.

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  6. A varied and interesting collection this month :)

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  7. Lovely pictures ...fancy that, a Duck Shop. Is that a Donald Trump Duck in the front of the last one? Love the beach huts. There is something very British about them.

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    1. Exactly - the beach huts are so English and I love seeing them. Yes that was a Donald Trump duck at the front, stealing the limelight from the blues brothers ducks among others :) Very funny.

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  8. I love the idea of the duck shop but the beach huts are my favourite. As the comment above says, there's something so very British about a line of colourful beach huts :)

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  9. Lovely photos. Love the beach huts.

    Julie xxxxxxx

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    1. Those ones were really well looked after and a great variety of colours

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  10. Great photos - silver and your own choice are lovely:)

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  11. The duck shop is so funny.
    Beach huts ..... nothing nicer.

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    1. I wonder how many of those ducks actually end up in baths lol

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  12. I always delight in having a peek into your month Fil. I love Barb's alternate name for the Trefoil. I've heard it called Crow's Toes as well. I'm hard-pressed to imagine Tom could have any complaints about his birthday treat - visiting yarn shops and chilly photo opportunites sounds about perfect to me. :-)

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  13. Lovely photos! I loved the silvery river and rowing boat - beautiful! But 'Stephen West' ooff how nice!! I have knitted a couple of his shawls (about my limit) and love them x thank you for joining in xx

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  14. Well that yellow bike would look great by the yellow gate I found and your still silver water is such a contrast to my wind vane boat in a storm. I loved your photos and was surprised by the curious connections to mine.

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  15. Love your photos Fil & I found more lilac in your ladder photo. Looks like the doorway surround is lilac too. I adore the beach huts, as they always make me smile and want to be super rich so I could buy one. (just kidding). Have a good week & take care.

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