3 days and counting to Quilts on the Downs

It is all go at Heathton Manor, quilts delivered, room cleared for hanging of our quilts. seating and eating area has been set up. When you visit, take the time to indulge in our yummy treats. Stall areas and gazebo set up and some glaming on our street, has occurred.  My wonderful sister has been busy in the kitchen, doing prep work. Only 3 days to go, so come and support a very needy charity, as well as viewing our wonderful quilts from the talented Windsor Downs quilters.

Our entertainment area cleaned and cleared for display of our quilts.

Gazebo set up, ready for our wares to be displayed and sold.

My darling sister, busy in the kitchen.

Glaming up our street.

Enjoy our treats in our family orientated area.

Say hello, when you vist!

Turkey travels, culture, food, handicrafts and a great time!.

OMG, Turkey is such a delight! the ruins after our Egypt trip, it has been a delight to see how ancient cities are looked after and maintained in Turkey.

Below is a couple of Turkish men twirling ice cream, very good ice cream.

All over Turkey are these evil eye trees.

We had lunch in a gorgeous restaurant in Cappodocia Cultural house and below was the most amazing framed embroideries, silk fabric and silk cotton.

All satin stitched and hand embroidered.

Next stop was a visit to a pottery place that creates the most gorgeous plates, containers and wine decanters, such a shame they are all breakable and we still have a few weeks left of our trip.

And of course, I had to have a go!

In Konya we visited the Rumi museum, this was where the whirling dervishes were trained.

On arrival into Ayvalik where we stayed in a pansion, a restored ottoman mansion. The front door.

Entry foyer

Kitchen for food prep.

Our bedroom.

Quite charming with many folk art designs and collectables, the pansion consisted of 3 floors with 2 bathrooms on each floor and about 12 bedrooms, the group contributed to a mezze night and much fun was had by all, dinner was finished off with a game of cards.

We also had the opportunity to meet a Canadian woman, name forgotten, who came to Turkey 25 yrs ago and loved Turkey so much she stayed. She is responsible for running a shop front, teaching the local Turkish women on how to make goods out of recyclable materials, such as Nescafé packets, liptons tea, ring pull tops, etc.The shop front allows the  local ladies to learn some arts and crafts and a little money can be earned on the side and donated to the local population.

Above one of the Turkish women, sewing materials on the machine.

Food has been a big part of our tour, in every town that we have stopped at, our tour guide has suggested a local delicacy to the area, in Ayvalik, it was recommended to have a panini and stuffed mussels with lemon, we tried both, very enjoyable.

In Pammukkake we visited the white travertines and the ancient city, (Hierapolis of Phyrgia), just as we were finished visiting the city and walked to the travertines, we had torrential rain, we waited for awhile but then decided to brave the wind and rain and walked back to the hotel via the travertines. 

Wild poppies are growing all over Turkey.

Gateway to Hierapolis.

What a wonderful thing to do, the rain added to the delight of walking on the travertines,  the water was so warm, to walk on a world heritage site while still raining was awesome.

The white travertines.

One if the many art works in the city of Selcuk

Ephesus temple and library 

Troy in Troya.

Ferry ride to get to Gallipoli 

Gallipoli

ANZAC Cove

Lone Pine

New Zealand memorial.

Look what you find in toilets!

When in Pamukkali, we had the opportunity to see the Whirling dervishes.

The whirling dervishes performing.

The horse from the movie, "Troy"

We travelled 3,300 KM's over western Turkey.

R Egypt tour, it is great to see how the 

In Cannakle is the horse used in the movie "Troy" the Turkish government purchased it after the movie was completed, it is situated along the wharf area, where we had our last meal as tomorrowwe leave early to catch the ferry and drive back to Instanbul, farewell Turkey and onto Greece.

Farewell Japan

Oh well last night in Japan, what a fun packed 8 days, had by me, not sure about DH, although he did enjoy the sightseeing, food and Japan in general, not my shopping though. The comment made was, if he see's another Yuzawaya store, he will slit his wrists, LOL. All in all our experience of Japan was a very pleasant one, food was great, freshly cooked and efficient service, the Japanese do try to  accomadate the English  and have menu's written in english, but we did eat at some out of the way places, pointing to a picture on the menu also worked well. The pointing method seem to work and we have not been disappointed so far with our choices. In Japan they still have smoking areas in restaurants. Fashion is interesting, the Japanese are very well dressed, the young girls wear shorts with stockings and boots, temperature is dropping and will soon be winter, not sure if the shorts will be worn in winter or not. Hubby was hard pressed to find TV channels with English subtitles, so he spent the time watching samurai movies in Japanese. The trains are amazing and are always on time and they come every few minutes, so we have not had to wait long for a train, a little different with the buses, where you may wait anything up to a hour. Taxi's are also plentiful, the cab drivers have white gloves on, seats are covered in white lace and the doors are automatic, so no need to open the door. do not put your luggage on the seat!!!  The toilets are automatic, music, shower, bidet and an automatic flush, a person could get used to this. Japan is a shoppers delight, anything and everything is for sale. Fabric, craft items, needles and scissors are half of what we would pay in Australia, this was an added bonus for this trip, my mission was to buy as much fabric and accessories that took my eye. next trip to Japan is hopefully with family and mainly sightseeing? Jan 2015 is booked in for the Tokyo quilt show.

Some highlights of our trip, Golden pavilion in Kyoto.

Japanese dress, kimono,s/ culture.

Japanese woman sweeping leaves at the Golden Pavillion.

Autumn, colourful leaves.

The Yokohama  quilt show.

Well maintained gardens, with flat rocks so people can sit and mediate.

Window displays decorated for Xmas, love how they use unusual critters, heaps of Xmas trees and displays all over Japan to celebrate Xmas.

Fabric town, chose to visit on a Sunday, will journey back to Nippori today as we need to fill in a few hours.

The Japanese are so organised! see the yellow line! these are everywhere, footpaths! escalators and train stations! you walk to the left of these.

Mac delivery bikes, yes that is right, mcdonalds delivers in Japan.

Typical Japanese street, lots of restaurants and good photos to point to!

We sampled the local speciality "ramen" in kamata Tokyo 

Prepackaged food for sale in beautifully decorated box's, we did not sample any of these but have been told they are fresh and flavoursome.

Last but not least, my little patient Japanese man who cut me, 20 pieces of fabric in the kamata Yuzawaya store! farewell Japan it has been an experience! one that I will repeat at a later date.