Autumn time!

Tonight is Halloween and Alessio has gone out with some school friends, so no Halloween pics. Instead some autumn photos from the past two months, I have too say that I really love autumn, especially when there is nice weather.

I haven`t even visited Jucker Farm this year as injuring my foot meant that walks and long trips were put off! I did go up to Park in Green and snap some of these photos from there and the decorations on the table are from my outdoor area. The wreath is from my neighbour!

Wishing you all a great week!

365 Photo Challenge Days 8 to 16

Day 8: Saturday 15th October - Waiting for our flight to Edinburgh

Day 9: Sunday 16th October - Traditional Sunday breakfast at my parents

Day 10: Monday 17th October - Coffee and cake in St.Andrews

Day 11: Tuesday 18th October - Loch Earnhead

Day 12: Wednesday 19th October - Ferry over to Isle of Mull

Day 13: Thursday 20th October - Views on Mull

Day 14: Friday 21st October - Alessio outside St.Conan`s Kirk

Day 15: Saturday 22nd October - Autumn berries

Day 16: Sunday 23rd October - View before going on Forth Road Bridge

Trying to get up to date with the 365 Photo challenge, so far so good! This weekend I guess most people will be celebrating Halloween. I will be going out with some friends and Alessio will do the trick or treating on Monday!

What have you all got planned for Halloween?

Have a great weekend!

Photo of the Week - Sheep on the Road

Photo of the week is from the amazing Isle of Mull, we drove around the island on single tracks roads which were sometimes a bit scary. The fields were full of mostly sheep but also cows and the roads also had not just vehicles but animals too. We saw lots of sheep just munching grass on the side and also at times they just wondered over the road to get to better grazing spots. It was really nice to see them and these chaps in the photos were going for wonder along the road. They were not at all bothered by the car.

Lots of great photos to show from Mull to come in the future!

Zurich Film Festival 2016

When the Zurich Film Festival was here at the end of September I saw one film called American Pastoral which was the directorial debut of Ewan McGregor. I really enjoyed the film and would recommend it! Here is the trailer, it is adapted from Philip Roth`s Pulitzer Price book of the same name.

We had front row seats of Jennifer Connelly and Ewan McGregor who came on stage to talk about the movie before it started.

I also saw the actor Alexander Skarsgard when he came for his new film War on Everyone, I didn`t see the film but it looks really funny! Here is the trailer! It was really great to see him in real life!

Wishing you all a great week!

365 Photography Challenge Days 1 to 7

Day 1- Saturday 8th October: Waiting for my friends to arrive

Day 2- Sunday 9th October: Alessio helping in the kitchen

Day 3 - Monday 10th October: Flowers in a vase

Day 4 - Tuesday 11th October: Happy my books arrived!

Day 5- Wednesday 12th October: Zurich Old Town

Day 6 - Thursday 13th October - Travel Mags! Heaven!

Day 7 - Friday 14th October: Pop up store in Zurich 

I have decided to start the 365 Photo Challenge again, I did in a few years ago and now I want to try it again. If you have not heard of it before, you basically take a photo everyday for one year and post it on a social media site, like facebook, instragram, on a blog or any other media outlet.

I normally take my camera with me all the time so in that respect it is fine, but sometimes you really cannot find something to take a photo of or you are not really in the mood to, so it can be difficult at times! At the end it is interesting to see and read what you did over the whole year!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

September Reading List

September was a good month in terms of reading as I was off and had loads of time! I got through 8 books, I enjoyed them all some more than others of course!

The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths, the latest installment with Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson. I love this series and look forward to the next one!

The Disappearance of Emily Marr by Louise Candlish, set in France and England, Tabby Dewhurst arrives on an island off the coast of France. She has no money and overhears someone saying the access code for a house out loud. Thinking she can stay there for a while, the owner comes back and she meet Emily. She gets to know Emily and realises that things are not what they seem regarding her new friend.

Something to Hide by Deborah Moggach, I really enjoyed this book, taking place in different parts of world, US, China, England and West Africa.

Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie, another story with the PI Jade de Jong, set in South Africa.

The Secret Ways of Perfume by Cristina Caboni, set in Florence and Paris, tells the story of a family who are perfumiers. Elena decides to leave Florence after breaking up with her boyfriend and go to Paris and try to begin a new life making perfumes again.

The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson, Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht are again involved in a new crime in Stockholm. I have read these books completely out of order so will try to get the ones I have not read yet.

The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood, this is set in a island in the Caribbean, DI Richard Poole investigate the murder of supermodel Polly Carter.

The Taxidermist´s Daughter by Kate Mosse, I really enjoyed this novel set in 1912 in Sussex.


For my reading challenge I read a crime novel from South Africa and an island in the Caribbean.


Some book blogs to check out:

Cleopatra love books, I found this blog recently

A Little Blog of Books, another blog I like

I am thinking of getting this book The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. At over 700 pages it is quite a long book, but it sounds very interesting and is set in New Zealand. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2013

Island of Flowers - Island Mainau

The beginning of the September I went to Island of Mainau with my parents and Alessio. It is a lovely place and this was my second visit. The island is situated on Lake Constance in Germany, it is quite easy to get to and there is lots of parking spaces.

The flowers were just amazing, so vibrant, colourful and beautiful. You do not have to be a keen gardner or flower nut to appreciate this place. Just to wonder around and take in all the sights and views is wonderful.

There is also a Baroque Castle and St.Marien church, which are all worth seeing and visiting. Plus a Palm house and butterfly house which was not my cup of tea at all!

For kids there is a brilliant playground which would keep kids busy for the whole day. Alessio would have gladly stayed at the playground for most of the visit if he could have! Although he did enjoy seeing the flowers too.

In fact he wanted us to plant flowers in our garden. Well we do not have a garden per se, so we bought tulips bulbs and later that week we bought plants pot and earth. He then helped my father plant them!

There are lots of eating places to chose or you can bring a picnic instead. We ate at one of the many places, it was nothing special.

It is open all year round and kids up to 12 years are free which is good, adults are half price and parking is free only in the winter season though. It is really a good and fun day trip with lots of keep the whole family busy.