leaving on a jet plane

above text by textanim

I will be gone for one week. I will be spending quality time with family (Mr. Mar's side) and friends in Northern Germany: at the Baltic Sea and in Hamburg. I will be busy catching up and having fun with real people! and I am so thrilled about it that I will dedicate all my time and attention to them. Blogging activities will be resumed soon enough early in June.

The flight lasts a bit over 2 hours, maybe the clouds move away to allow us to see the Alps from above. Last January I flew home to Chile (I have several homes in my heart) and I had a fantastic window view of the Andes in summertime and particularly of the mighty Aconcagua mountain. At 6,962 metres (22,841 ft), it is the highest mountain in the Americas, and the highest mountain outside Asia.

I am adding my link to window views although I can only interact with the early birds before leaving and won't be able to look through your window until I get back. I have mixed feelings about linking and leaving, though... Thanks for keeping this place alive by leaving your friendly and much appreciated words below.

idioms: I and J

It's time for Jientje's A Thousand words in Idioms. "The idea is to pick an idiom, or a saying, (even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet". Here are my choices, pulled -again- -from the archives. Which means idioms are carefully selected to match my pictures... although it seems the meme is intended the other way around, bear with me!

If you'll pardon my French
(UK) This idiom is used as a way of apologising for swearing.



Jack Frost
If everything has frozen in winter, then Jack Frost has visited.

happy 1st anniversary, Ruby Tuesday!

Ruby Tuesday

Celebrating one year posting a little red or lots of red on Tuesdays. Thanks, Mary, for hosting such a fun (and wonderfully ruby) meme. I actually didn't have a picture for today but it's a special date and my red bandana, a Xmas-tree candle and some red ribbon from the drawer quickly rescued me this morning.

make a wish

macro monday

plastic fantastic

A little crocheted plastic thingy , made out of plarn (plastic yarn or yarn made out of plastic bags), a recycling idea I learned through blogging. Quickly done in a few minutes specially for the theme, using a plastic crochet hook (8mm) and placed over my plastic shopping bag. Which means everything on this picture is made out of plastic! And for once I did something with my very ungifted little hands and it even got posted. I am pleased :)

photohunt is hosted by tnchick

Creative things made out of plarn can be seen here

heart to heart

true colours thursday : grey || window views

It's meme time!

It's time for Jientje's A Thousand words in Idioms. "The idea is to pick an idiom, or a saying, (even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet". Here are my choices, pulled -again- -from the archives. Which means idioms are carefully selected to match my pictures... I guess the meme is intended the other way around, bear with me!

Greek to me
If you don't understand something, it's all Greek to you.
(it's the way I felt in Athens...)



Have a heart
If someone has a heart, they are kind and sympathetic. If you say, 'Have a heart' to someone, you are asking them to be understanding and sympathetic.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

Tagged! Thom tagged me with the following meme: 6 unimportant things that make me happy. Thank you, Thom, I haven't been tagged in a while, that's probably because I follow my own rules :)

Here is how it works. 1) mention the person who tagged you. Well, that was Thom.
2) THE list: 6 unimportant things that make me happy

Since I am a visual person, I need pictures for my list:

Hearts. Heart-shaped items | Wild flowers |Dark chocolate|

Coffee with a friend| Candles|Playing with my camera: self-portrait.

As usual I am skipping the last part, which is to tag 6 people. Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play along and let us know about it in the comments. It's wonderful to remember that small things can make a big difference!

my red capris rock

Rock of Ifach

The Peñon de Ifach (Rock of Ifach) is the largest single rock in the Mediterranean called the Northern Rock by the Phoenicians to distinguish it from the Southern Rock at Gibraltar. It has been a Nature reserve since 1987 and provides a shelter for a number of rare plants and home to over 300 species of animals including colonies of sea birds that use it as a nesting ground.

Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Work of the Poet.

Butterflies are free to fly

It's springtime and butterflies are busy. I have never seen such big ones like the butterflies pictured here, decorating a balcony for safety reasons. They are butterflies, aren't they? they almost look like an Indian goddess to me (click to enlarge).
Picture taken in Barcelona. Pulled from the archives as it is Monday and I am still not truly awake...

painted

PhotoHunt is hosted by tnchick

Humble rural shutters. They probably wouldn't have caught my attention. But they were painted in bright colors.

soap and bulbs

True Colours Thursday is hosted by Blue

True Colors Thursday is brought to you today by the wonderful color turquoise. Little did I know earlier this week that a (much needed) trip to the car wash was going to place turquoise soap dots in front of my very eyes. I didn't have a newspaper to read so what else was to do at the car wash but snap pictures of a colorful windshield. Only to discover afterwards that it actually shows some turquoise. Or doesn't it? Somehow it looks like an insane piece of automated modern art to me...

The joy of an amateur gardener follows below.

I bought two amaryllis (the bulbs) for the first time ever last fall and I enjoyed the beautiful red and white flowers...of one of them! the second bulb produced green leaves but never a flower, I waited for a plain white amaryllis which never showed up. I stopped watering them in December (I think) and placed the dormant bulbs away, just like the net told me to do, hoping for colorful beauty sometime in the fall again.

To my surprise one of the plants showed a green tongue about 10 days ago:


and it's growing!! I am watering both plants again. I didn't mark the bulbs so my next surprise will be to discover which one of the amaryllis is the one growing now. Is it most likely the one which didn't bloom last fall? Place your bets!

idioms: e and f

It's time for Jientje's A Thousand words in Idioms. "The idea is to pick an idiom, or a saying, (even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet". Here are my choices, pulled -again- -from the archives.

Every cloud has a silver lining

People sometimes say that every cloud has a silver lining to comfort somebody who's having problems. They mean that it is always possible to get something positive out of a situation, no matter how unpleasant, difficult or even painful it might seem.

Fit like a glove
If something fits like a glove, it is suitable or the right size.

I realize I have only worn my lace gloves for the blog and never in public. I bought them a while ago although my lifestyle does not require this kind of accessoire, but I love them! Any dead bodies in your wardrobe, too?

urban ruby

This (tapas) bar was recently opened downtown Barcelona...
Ruby Tuesday * * Show your world

cloud nine

Friday morning at 7 am . The clouds were delicately kissed by the early morning sun, the colors were magnificent, it was a beautiful show to wake up to. After that I went into town and had a delightful meet up with Oreneta and Diane (curious minds wanted to know!) We had wonderful male company too, Charlie, with the most gorgeous eyes, and this time I have a snapshot to prove it!

weekend snapshot

an orange a day

This is Valencia's Central Market, one of the oldest running food markets in Europe (according to the net), although the building itself was constructed in the beginning of the XX century, in genuine Valencian style, with lots of colors, ceramics and mosaics. It was marked as a "must see" while in the city so I headed to the market last Monday. It was more than what I had expected to find, the magnificent dome was a wonderful surprise to me:

Details of the decoration follow below. Valencia is known for its oranges!

More info here. And now I have to go meet a nice fellow blogger (whom I haven't met yet!) at this place . Isn't this exciting?? I will take my own pictures of the café (it's a very known one and it is very centrally located but I have never taken pics there, it is always crowded...) and fresh shots of the city. I am ready for a fun morning!

cerise

This week's color is CERISE, a bright shade of PINK. I needed help from the net to find out all about the cerise color. The hexadecimal code that matches this color is DE3163 and it was named for a French word that means cherry. Of course there are different shades of cerise, which makes the whole issue even more complicated and I am still not sure about my choice, I hope it looks cerise on the screen too.

True Colours Thursday is hosted by Blue

Next week's colour is TURQUIOSE.

a thousand words in idioms: C and D

It's time for Jientje's A Thousand words in Idioms. "The idea is to pick an idiom, or a saying, ( even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet". Here are my choices, pulled from the archives: shadows on "my" beach after a storm and cristal clear Alpine mountain water.

Cast a long shadow

Something or someone that casts a long shadow has considerable influence on other people or events.

Dip your toes in the water

If you dip your toes in the water, you try something tentatively because you are not sure whether it will work or not.

a thousand words in idioms is hosted by Jientje.

gothic towers

The old city of Valencia was surrounded by a wall of which today there only remain two of its original entrances and a few bits and pieces scattered about. One of the two entrances are the impressive Torres de Serranos, pictured here. The towers were commenced in 1394 and although built with a clear defensive function in mind, they never came to be used as such, cruising through history as a flamboyant trade gate of Valencia. Between 1586 and 1887 they were used as a prison for the nobility which is why they survived the liquidation of the city walls in 1865. That's what the net told me.

I intentionally waited for the red light for the picture to qualify for Ruby Tuesday...!

The picture below shows the gate into the old part of the city.

And once I went through the gate, I turned around to photograph the towers from the "inner side" and wouldn't you know it: there was a ruby red t-shirt too!

This is a scheduled post as I have been away. Which should explain my "silence" for the past couple of days. I will get home tonight to resume normal blogging and commenting activities!!


Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Work of the Poet.

giant chair

... with a broken leg. I took this picture from the car (I wasn't driving, though) and thanks to go*ogle I know now it is more than just a chair.

The 12 metre high 5.5 tons monumental wood sculpture by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset represents a giant chair with a broken leg and stands on the Place des Nations, in Geneva. It symbolises opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians visiting Geneva. Source

walking on the bridge

Serreria bridge, a project in Valencia by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and situated next to the City of Arts and Sciences. Built between 2005-2008 , the bridge is sustained by cables tautened to a mast that rises 125 metres /410 ft from the old riverbed of the Turia River. I enjoyed walking here last weekend.

PhotoHunt is hosted by tnchick