Mid week post

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week is going well. It's still pretty warm here, although not as hot as last week, and we are still waiting for the promised rain. The earth is so parched, leaves are falling off the trees and the grass is brown and scorched. This is the second summer  that it has been so dry.  The climate is changing!

This A3 mixed media piece was made last week in my sleepless nights. I just had fun playing about with colours, stencils, scraps of netting, sewing and bits of old paintings which I have  cut up to use as embellishments or paper for die-cuts etc:

I started off with this painted, textured and splattered background, which had been used as an underlay while working on other pieces:

The moon face is from Dina Wakley, and was stenciled onto an old piece of painted paper and fussy cut, as was the sentiment,  dress and legs:

I love the cheerful mix of colours and materials:

I am linking to Simon Monday challenge, bright and cheerful, TIOT, splatters and splodges, to Soma's Wandering camera
 and to Paint Party Friday.

Yesterday I went on a walk across several of the bridges here, as it always cooler along the Rhine and over the bridges. Here I am looking back from the Theodor-Heuss Bridge. The little town where I live is round one of the river bends, so can't be seen from here:

Big shadows - I'm the little spot right from the centre:

Looking towards the Oberkasseler Bridge:

(Spell-check suggested 'Bookseller' instead of Oberkasseler!)

I sat down for a coffee in the 'Cafe de Paris' in Oberkassel:

Then I went on along the shore towards the next bridge, the Johannes-Rau Bridge:

The bridge leads over to the Altstadt of Düsseldorf:

Lambertus Basilica has a crooked tower. The square around the church is always a place of peace and tranquility:

I will show the photos taken inside the church in my next post.

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

T stands for a new challenge aT Tag Tuesday

Hi Everybody!

The weather here has cooled down for the time being, for which I am very thankful. I hope my apartment soon cools down, too, it's hard to get rid of the heat in here, but I'm hopeful! This week should be 'normal' summer, so that sounds good. We are still waiting for rain here, though. We had a sprinkling yesterday, but it didn't even wet the ground, so am hoping for the rain 'they' keep promising!

Today we are starting a new challenge at Tag Tuesday, and this time our lovely Joan is hosting. Her theme is summer fun, and she has some lovely examples on our blog. Hope you feel inspired to join in! I have a summer tag, I've evidently been dreaming of being able to fly away like a bird and find somewhere cool and refreshing....I made a hybrid tag using my photos and some elements from Serif on a hand-painted background: 

Tuesday is also Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday linky party so here a warm welcome to all of the nice ladies of the T Gang who visit here. As always, I had lots of cappuccino to drink:

Here I had a veggie and fried onion roll laced with mango curry sauce, delicious, to accompany my huge mug of cappuccino:

 And here drinking with my friend Nelya:

I saw this wonderful car outside a shop last week, so just had to have a photo of it. It brightened my mood on an extremely hot day:

Some window photos from my little town -

 The stationer's, which has been selling from this house for 150 years:

Holiday themes at the book shop:

Summer shoes and sandals:

One of my delicious salads that I have for lunch every day:

Walking by the Rhine:

Feeding time in Hofgarten:

Here are 2 very short videos taken in Hofgarten:

That's all for today. Have a great week,

 keep cool and take care!

Too hot to handle....

Hi Everybody!

Today is the hottest day ever measured here in Germany. It was 40° here in our little town, and other places it was even hotter. The asphalt on the roads is cracking and blistering, and some of the tram-tracks are bending in the heat. I think people will have to re-think a lot of things if these temperature extremes continue. I took a photo of the weather page in my tablet PC, not very clear but readable:

And this pic was snagged from the RTL TV news, with a 42 on it for the hitchhikers....

I spent a few hours cooling off in various stores and in the beautiful glass museum. It's now almost 10 p.m. and it's still 37° outside so I'm staying home and not going on an evening walk - it's only 34° in my apartment!

I hope the weather will really break at the weekend and allow us to cool off!

I have another A3 mixed media journal page in which I once again tried to depict the Rhine and the houses and bridges along it. On a painted, textured and splattered background I collaged paper scraps and some chiffon material for the river. I bunched the material together and sewed it across the page adding scraps of silk, gold mesh, green burlap, threads and feathers. The birds were stenciled, and I sewed the edges with my usual crazy stitching. It didn't turn out quite as I would have liked it, but I suppose that never happens! But I enjoyed making it in the too warm nights when I couldn't sleep:

I am linking to Paint Party Friday and to Soma's wandering camera

I made myself a big salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red currants, cheese and cashew nuts - delicious!

And some more photos from Hofgarten and here along the Rhine:

I think the poor crow was feeling the heat, too:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!