w is for wine & wishes

 ☀ ABC Wednesday  ☀ PhotoHunt  ☀ reflections

 Sparkling wine, because it's the season.  And this one is crafted from the classic blend of 

indigenous white grapes Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel.lo in Catalonia, Spain.

Wishing you all  a very merry Christmas and  a  happy New Year!

This blog will hibernate for several weeks. Cheers!

V is for volcano

 ABC Wednesday 

*neu: Blick Dienstag

A wonderful view from the (active) Osorno Volcano   (2,652-meter /8,701 ft high) in Southern Chile by my  sister (thank you, dear sis!)  We were both there last February, she hat the right seat to capture this magnificent summer view.

T is for tower and triangle

Detail of the Belem Tower near Lisbon, Portugal, the triangles are way on top of the tower (see picture below). " It is  a fortified tower built in the early 16th century and located in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (...) because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries (...) The tower was commissioned by King John II to be part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus river and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon" . Source. From my archives for ABC Wednesday

 

Q is for quadrate (square)

The people who built our present home in the early 1960's had a mouth-blown glass factory, that explains  this hand-painted  quadrate tile in one of the walls at the entrance.  ABC Wednesday 

P is for pretty petals

 ABC Wednesday ~ Today's flowers ~ Wordless Wednesday

O is for oysters

   
ABC Wednesday

Oh, two months without blogging! summer was very busy and I didn't seem to find time for posting. And therefore I missed this blog's 9th anniversary in late September. Let's celebrate now with some oysters, one of my husband's favorite treats, I must add that I am not crazy about them. 

E is for egg

Not edible, but still an egg...
  ABC Wednesday

This egg is made out of combarbalita, a Chilean semiprecious stone that presents a great range of colours which depends on  the predominance of some minerals or mineralogical associations within the rock. So there. Happy Wednesday!

Y is for yeast

Brewing yeast,  that is. There are many varieties of brewing yeast to complement the beverage of choice. Each variety of yeast has advantages, such as champagne yeast, a variety of wine yeast, which will yield more bubbles than other types of wine yeast. Source. Cheers,  ABC Wednesday.

T is for ... tea time

                                                  ABC Wednesday ~~  Wordless Wednesday

S is for ... street lamps

The peculiar street lamps designed in 1906 by Pere Falqués i Urpí  found in central Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona. For   ABC Wednesday

R is for rose

This is a tiny rose glued to the card of a very special gift shop I once encountered. I no longer have the beautiful card but this picture from my archives to remember it.  

                                                Ruby  Tuesday  ~   ABC Wednesday

Q is for quo vadis?

                                                                       ABC Wednesday

Quo vadis? ( Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going")  My destination in a few weeks is Hamburg, Germany. What about you? Pictured here is the charming suburb Blankenese, photoghraphed by my husband many years ago from the Elbe River. 

P is for...

                                                                     ABC Wednesday

My son took this  pretty picture with his phone while skiing off-piste.  I prefer the groomed slopes. 

O is for oragious

Oragious: stormy.  And an orange ornament ...! From my archives for  ABC Wednesday

N is for noses

 ABC Wednesday

Side wall of a museum in Barcelona. An  invitation to the young generation to go inside?  I love the contrast. And the idea.

M is for mulberry

Wonderful shade for the hot sommer months. From my garden for ABC Wednesday.
M is for Marcy @ Mischmasch  

L is for Lake Llanquihue and lavender

From my recent visit to South Chile: Lake Llanquihue and lavender fields. A lovely combination for  ABC Wednesday 

Opposite to this view there is an inviting tea house.

K is for king

                        From my archives for ABC Wednesday 

K is for King:  And this is King Fernando II's legacy: the Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal. The Palace dates back to 1839, when the King Fernando II  bought the ruins of the Hieronymite Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena and started to adapt it for use as a residence, according to his Romantic taste. Source.  It was unfortunately very foggy the day I visited the palace some years ago, as you can see.

King Fernando II (1816 – 1885) was an Austrian lord who married into the Portuguese nobility and ruled Portugal with his wife, Queen Maria II, between 1837 and 1853. King Fernando II was a champion of the arts and shunned politics leaving his ministers to deal with the daily running of the country , this is why he is commonly referred to as the Artist King. More on the king here.

J is for jar

                                                   Alpine scene  for  ABC Wednesday 
I know, this is a re-post, my justification is lack of time as well as lack of inspiration for J... 

I is for irregular (La Pedrera in Barcelona)

Here is yet another Gaudí masterpiece, built between 1905 to 1910. Although officially called Casa Milà - as the name of businessman who commissioned it -, is known as La Pedrera by irregular gray stone front view that enters in the form of wave to the Provença Street. A raw sculpture carved and moulded into Passeig de Gràcia. Source  (plus detailed information on the building). It is always fascinating to admire the irregular and intricate embellishments too.  

Time surely flies by : first post of the year for ☀ ABC Wednesday