Long Way Round & Long Way Down

Once again . . . two books hard to put down ! 

A few weeks ago I was in the library looking for something to read. My eyes spotted Long Way Round on display. Bells ringing in my head telling me I’d either heard or seen something somewhere sometime by the same name. Yes, right, the documentary series, about the journey of two guys on bikes from London to New York through Europe, Ukraine, Mongolia etc,  on telly long ago. I didn’t watch it back then. Browsing the book a little I decided to borrow it.  I got hooked from the very beginning 🙂 As soon as I had read LWR I signed in to the library and reserved LWD. This morning I finished reading the Long Way Down.

Now I’m looking forward to read “Right to the Edge: Sydney to Tokyo by Any Means” by Charley Boorman. I booked it some minutes ago and can hardly wait to get started reading about new adventures on the “road” 🙂

New Car

Life without a car would have been quite complicated

For a moment (a week) we thought we could do without a car.  We talked about all the pros and cons but . . . no matter what, we need a car. We did not want to take the risk to pay such an expensive amount of money to have the gearbox repaired.  Who would know there might soon have been even more serious and expensive problems. Instead we decided to “buy” a used car. The car is a 2006 Nissan Note. Eight years newer that our old one. I hope it will be a strong one and stay with us for many,  many years to come. 

Our old and our new car side by side parked in front of the car shop.

 Shot from the second floor window.

Byeee Old Car

Guess what ! It was a bit sad, this morning, to watch the tow truck winching our 13 year old car away.

Oh ! Really superfast and easy.

Byeee old car . . .

Car Gearbox Broke Down

We were so happy about having our car fixed. It  was as good as new.  Unfortunately the joy lasted only for two weeks. Now the gearbox broke down ! ! ! 😦

For a couple of days we have been thinking about nothing else than what to do. We checked how much fixing the automatic gearbox would cost. Horrendously expensive. Unthinkable. I mean our Nissan Primera is 13 years old.

Ufff . . . we need a car.

A Big Mouth Brit ~ Piers Morgan

I used to think the man was precisely; A Big Mouth Brit.

Before Christmas I read The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade. I was hooked from the very beginning. The man has an easy, witty, funny, entertainig, interesting way of expressing himsef.

For Christmas I bought the “Misadventures of a Big Mouth Brit” which I have just finished reading. This one was even more fun. I laughed a lot. He’s got a hilarious way to discribe what’s happening.

He may be a Big Mouth Brit . . . but he writes great “diaries”.

Please, Piers, write more !

Drawing

The other day I saw this wonderful photo of a wolf on the net. I don’t remember what I actually was looking for when my eyes cought the picture but right the way I was  inspired to make a colour pencil drawing.  I know my drawing is not good at all but I like to do it. It’s very relaxing.

I started by using colour pencils. Three different shades of gray and one black pencil. I wish I had left it at that.  I used both water colours and acrylics to make the drawing better. Eeeeek, no good ! I regretted it immediately and tried to wipe it off with a wet cloth but too late.

ooops, the date is wrong, should read 17.2.2011 

The wolf picture appears to be one very popular subject to both paint and draw as I found plenty of different versions of it on the net.  All absolutely great ones.

Little Coco

I was all aaahs and ooohs 🙂

Our wonderful neighbour’s have a new family member. This absolutely adorable little Australian terrier puppy. I was so pleased and happy to yesterday get to meet ‘da cutie patootie’ and also to shoot some pictures of her.

I tried my best to shoot a picture of all the three pets together but unfortunately little Coco would not sit still and pose. She got all blurry in every picture.  Anyway here are the two others Chili and Roope. Chili too is an Australian terrier and Roope is gorgeous ragdoll.

Valentine’s Day 2011

Winter Event

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Wonderful winter day. About minus 15 degrees. Sunshine from a clear blue sky. A perfect day for the yearly winter happening down at the lake.

Our Nissan Car

Now our car is almost as good as new.

Canelo listening very carefully 😉

This small car maintenance/repair garage has become a very familiar place to us. Our “relationship”  began in 1983. Back then we needed two cars and hubby bought a cheap used one. The car was practically a piece of  junk !  Ready for the car crusher really. Always needed some sort of repair. Petri, the guy to the left in the picture, then very young  just recently had graduated from vocational school.  He already then was a good car repairer. Now he’s an excellent one. 

Our, now, car, a Nissan Primera,  is already 13 years. In a short period of time we have had to take our car there for several times. After several months drive with a broken shock absorber we now have a new one. The car heater system was out of work for a year and a half.  We had a leaking water pump for some time. Had to fill water  often. Worst of all was the poor idle running. Also a long time problem.  I hated driving as e.g. stopping on red traffic light you never knew would the car choke or not.

So happy about the car now. It’s almost as good as a new one !