Where Did That Week Go?

I finally finished the Traveller's blanket- I felt I should have given it to my daughter ( were she interested in such things and if her suitcase wasn't bursting full with things that teens consider important) as she set off back to Australia last night from Frankfurt.

 Unfortunately she did not love France the way i do and so she is going back to Australia and I will follow at the end of the year as I have commitments to fulfill  until then. Her flight was delayed from earlier in the week because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland and i was happy to be able to get her on another flight so close to her original flying date.I feel a bit heart broken actually- but I know she missed her friends and sisters. Unfortunately opportunities for work in Australia are always difficult- what I teach isn't traditional patchwork, or piecing. I teach people to be creative and to acquire skills to be creative and not everyone wants to learn that.And selling work is always difficult, especially the last 18 months or so. Going back to being a lawyer is a  difficult option at my age- I have to retrain, and then there is that age....

Last weekend in Essen,Belgium,  the Colours of Africa  event was a well attended  with lots of familiar faces coming through ( I know the faces, but the names- they always escape me) Sandy and I shared the  space in the bottom of an old house - with wonderful high walls and good lighting. 

These four reddish pieces glowed with the light and gave a real sense of the intensity of colour of Australia.

Then, because my daughters flight was delayed we headed back to Kolderveen- two days flew past and I  am not sure what i did. I was supposed to have dyed fabric but I forgot to buy the soda ash on the first day. Then because of the delayed flight my daughter asked if we could please see Versailles and go shopping in Paris, so we went to Paris ( not exactly next door but even further away from Australia!- and I hate shopping).

I love the stencil art you find around Paris. The photo below is  kind of quirky as it shows three different  human forms.

And then off course there is Versailles. I am glad we went early in the morning- my goodness the amount of tourists there already at that time ...... and yes it's ostentatious and over the top but room linked into room- not too wonderful for privacy you would think. The  Hall of Mirrors was magnificent though it was difficult to get a good picture what with jostling tourists ( yes I know I was one too) I have been trying to photograph tourists as they  go into  noteworthy spaces- I wonder whether the extended arm with a digital camera on the end will become a kind of icon of the digital age ??You know there are dozens of people in a room and all of their right arms or left arms are extended into the air?

So here it is; the Hall of Mirrors, in which Marie Antoinette at the tender age of 14 married Louis the XVIth of France and sealed her fate- though sealing her fate suggests she had a choice in the matter, perhaps I should have said Marie Therese of Austria sealed her very pretty and bright daughters' fate.

And last but not least a Cherub pointing whither?- what will the winds carry?