Tuesday is T Day

Hi Everybody!

Today is Tea Stands for Tuesday over at Elizabeth's blog, so I

will be sharing some of my food and drink adventures later in this post,  and I would like to welcome all of the T Gang.

For Art Journal Journey, Back to school, I have another hybrid piece. The background was painted and textured, the kiddies were taken from a 'back to school' prospect here:

And I would like to remind you that our 'children' challenge at TIOT is still running for another week, so hope to see YOU there!

A lot of people asked me about Erika, and how her life went on, and I have another journal page about her scheduled for Thursday, so will tell more then.

Here are the rest of the photos taken in Duisburg on Saturday. This is the Mercator Fountain, named after Gerhard Mercator, the cartographer, who died there in 1594. Here you can find out more about him:

This was taken on the Kuhstrasse - Cow street. After passing the fountain above, you go through Kuhtor - cow gate, where I suppose the animals were driven along back in the old days. Today it's a busy market, with lots of stalls, street artists, and of course, lots of people milling about. This man was playing wonderful music on his piano::

The lady in white:

A balance act, which was very fascinating. The one underneath was holding the other one just by his shoe. I watched for 5 minutes, and they never moved or wobbled - they must have iron muscles:

And Niki de Saint Phalle's wonderful 'Lifesaver' Fountain was the main reason

for going there. It is HUGE, look at the lady in the background:

Here I have been taking my usual walks, which often end up on the Market Place, even when it's raining:

But I like it better when it's sunny:

And need I say? My drink is always cappuccino. I don't even need to speak - when they see me, they bring me a cup!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Memories of school and more

Hi Everybody!

Hope you have all enjoyed the weekend.

We had cool and rainy weather here today, which was great after all the heat, and I enjoyed walking under my umbrella by rain, thunder and lightning, and drank a coffee at the market place. I sat outside under an awning, so was sitting in the rain but didn't get wet, that was fun!

For Art Journal Journey, Elizabeth's theme of 'Back to school', I have a hybrid page made using a photo of Erika when she was at grammar school in the late 1920s. This was her sport class, the teacher is on the left, and she is second from the right. They all have long plaits except for Erika, who was evidently daring enough to have a fashionable, short bob. The school was modern, and the girls were dressed in their short sport dresses. She had to leave school in the 1930s

when the anti-Semitic laws did not allow Jewish students to be taught together

with 'Aryans'.

Yesterday  I went by tram to Duisburg, a neighbouring town further down the Rhine. It has the largest river port in Europe, and I hope to go back and do a boat tour of it sometime in the near future. The town is still very much influenced from its industrial past:

 I like this square in the old town, but some parts of the town looked rather dismal and depressing: 

Love the fountain:

Then I looked around for some of the older buildings:

This is a part of the old town walls from the middle ages,  

showing a Rhine tower:

It was directly by the harbour:

I loved the old town hall, which has lots of beautiful, Art Nouveau stone carvings:

Not the most comfortable way to sit:

I will show the rest in my next post, I took lots of photos on my way through the market, where there was a lot going on.

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

An art lesson and more

Hi Everybody!

Hope your weekend is going well!

It was fun that some of you tried to guess who was who in my piece yesterday. The only one who got them all right was SUSI - please go to the top of the class, and take a sweetie from the jar! My Mum is the third from left in the second row, and Erika on the left of that row. I was standing at the front behind the blackboard. The others who tried can each take a sweetie, too!

For Art Journal Journey, Elizabeth's lovely theme of 'back to school' I have a hybrid page using photos taken at my art class way back at the end of the 1970s. We  had made heads from paper maché - the wine bottles were just for support! We had a fun few weeks creating, painting and decorating the heads. The photos are Polaroids, and seem to have got a bit darker in the course of the years.

Here are the originals:

And here are the sweeties, help yourselves!

These photos are from the last part of my long walk home on Thursday. After leaving Old Niederkassel I walked up the ramp onto the bridge:

It was very loud and the air full of fumes!

This saddened me , a man had thrown himself off the bridge here:

The wild geese off for a paddle:

Looking back to the town:

The spiral leading down makes it easy for cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchairs etc:

As I got nearer to home the clouds were piling up:

I was happy to be back by the horses:

The clouds were most impressive:

Today I visited a neighbouring town, I will tell you about it in another post!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!