Doors III

 Warning photo heavy!

We went to Elche last Sunday to visit the Sunday market. It is great to finally be able to go back to the outdoor markets. 

This market is very popular so there were loads of people and as both of us are crowd shy we did not hang around for long.This is another mostly fruit, veg and plants market.    I went for the plants of course and was very pleased to finally find a citronella plant which repels mosquitos. I was told by the lady on the stall that they are hardy plants belonging to the geranium family and need to be watered twice a week. It smells lovely and when the leaves are crushed it gives off a tangy smell which repels the mosquitos. I have placed it by the balcony doorway so we brush against it every time we go past. 

I also wanted to go to the city centre of Elche to take some photos of DOORs in the old quarter. For those of you who do not know about my obsession for DOORs please see this post .   By the way Elche, situated inland, is the second biggest city in the province of Alicante and it is about 20 minutes drive away from Alicante City.   

Elche is particularly famous for the "Misteri D'Elx" a medieval two acts mystery drama play representing the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. This play has been performed in the St Maria Basilica since the mid-fifteenth century. 

Basilica de Santa Maria Elche -google image

Some other photos I took of the Basilica on Sunday

Unfortunately no blue skies when I took this snapshot

and of course the front entrance and this is where I started my search for other DOORs

I particularly liked the peep holes in this enormous door to the Santa Maria Basilica.

This building right in front of the church is I think the old rectory .

Going around the corner I noticed this building and its fabulous door. I am so glad the electric doorbell is tucked in to one side and practically hidden from view.   

All these photographs are from the same area which is the old quarter, mainly DOORs😀

A great deal of restoration has been done in this area but it still brings to mind scenes of 17th century musketeers walking these streets with their huge sombreros, thigh high boots  and swirling black capes.

Altamira Palace

Finally back over the bridge to pick up the car

A very enjoyable morning!

WELCOME to my new follower Bobbie Bonte.  Please send me your blog page link so I may view your blog as well. 

CROCHET

Cowl ready to send to sister No.4 before the cold sets in.

I used stash oddments of DK yarn and a 4.00 hook.

I posted the details about the pattern previously here

Can you spot the owl?

For want of a model Winnie Pooh bear will have to do although it looks like a jumper on him!

It was a bit finicky to make and took longer than I thought but it has given me ideas for others. 

In reply to a query received in my last post from Kathy at Hummingbird Studio at the Lake 

I had large sliding windows fitted in the balcony Kathy so no worries at all about any part of the bench getting wet. 😊

⭐Replies to comments on previous post completed.⭐

Happy Blogging to all

Amanda :-)

Better than I expected

 

 Three posts away I mentioned I was going to take photos of the "road" but got sidetracked when I met Syla along the way as commented in my previous post.    

I have since been back and got the snapshots I wanted just to show you the improvement on what was a drab dusty road surrounded by industrial estates and not much else. 

The Road Walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dusty road still remains but hopefully the Council will eventually pave it. 

It is a bit peculiar because they have paved some bits and others left the dirt track. Perhaps they are trying to cut down on costs! 

 

I so appreciate there is more green and the trees are providing more shade

Due to the heat it is very rare to see gorgeous green grass or lawns like at home in the UK. Even though  it is watered daily and the vegetation is coming along nicely it will never be like that. Considering it is watered with recycled sewage water it isn't doing so badly. Mind you a prolonged bout of rain would work wonders.

 This is on the way back. I haven't bothered to photograph the bridge over the railway tracks or the mostly dried up bed of what was once a river because they haven't thought to clean that up yet! Hopefully they will do that sometime soon because there are swarms of hungry mosquitos down there in the stagnant water. I always smother myself in my home-made mosquito repellent before I set out and they don't bother me at all as long as I have used that cream.

 

Street Photography

Now that it is cooler I think I am going to do a little bit of street photography as mentioned by Joy at "Today is the first day...of the rest of your life"in her post  "Street Photography". I am going to go for the curious and what hits the eye as Joy does in her posts. 

I didn't know that street photography was a visual art genre. I have been reading a little bit about it online and I see in Wikipedia it is called candid photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.

They also describe it like so in this How-to guide for beginners.

"Street photographers are observers, flâneurs by nature. It is a way of connecting with the world and bringing back the moments that stand out. It can be likened to a visual form of poetry – while beauty and form are important aspects of street photography, great street photographs often have something going on beneath the surface."

That does sound somewhat flamboyant I am not sure I'll be able to to take a photo that will be a visual form of poetry but well I'll give it a try.

 

 

This is a photo I took awhile ago which perhaps could be classified as street photography. The sun beams hitting the balcony on the left is what caught my attention. I changed it to B&W because it was hard to see the sunbeams in the photo in colour.

Crochet WIP

 

 I have bought this pattern by Jen Tyler on Ravelry. Other than thinking these cowls are really pretty the pattern also uses some tapestry crochet technique which means more practise for me.  I thought it would be a good stash oddments buster as well.  I have already started one which will be for my sister in the UK as the cold there is already creeping in and it should be nice and snug around her neck.   I am not using these colours exactly as I want to use up what I have in my stash.

 

 These are a couple of images from the designer's Ravelry page to show you how they are worn. 

It is slow going with all the colour changes but I am enjoying it and learning as I go along.

 

Finally... comments from my previous post have all been answered

 

 

 

😊

 

 

 

Happy blogging 

 

Amanda :-)