The place where I grew up ...

In pictoral form

I lived on a mine in the north of Portugal from the age of 3 to 11.  I loved it there.

So we have the mountain top that we used to go to in the winter to ski.
and we have the dam where in the summer we went to sail the mirror dinghy that my dad made. 

We camped on the various islands just like swallows and amazons.  We even copied their make shift tents.  My parents slept in the proper two man tent and us kids had sheets draped over rope with pockets to hold the stones in at the edges.  Even the dog came too in the dinghy although there was always the danger of a capsize.  She shared a 'tent' with my brother while my sister and I shared the other 'tent'.

On one memorable occasion the dog ate the bacon that had been set aside while something else was cooking on the fire!!!  Well she was a labrador what do you expect?

The rows of houses are where the miners lived.  Most are empty now but the mine is still open 2 or 3 days a week.

I am going back to visit again this year.

Lovely day out yesterday

I had these three lovely ladies visiting (my sisters in law) on the boat for a jolly.

Quite my favourite ladies

The three monkeys

The intrepid one

Instead of a Sunday roast dinner they had to make do with homemade parsnip soup!  However after many family birthday parties held at my house they know not to expect a large spread anymore.  They of course always catered brilliantly with homemade birthday cakes and the obligatory trifle.  I digress.

We didn't go far but it did include one lock and I deliberately  let the boat drift against the weir above the lock.  I casually said to Jill as she was the one sitting on the puppy pad that she had to go and pole us off at the front and blow me she just got up and walked down the roof and picked up the correct pole and did it.  No questions, no quibbling, no worries.  I was well impressed - no action shots as I was busy at the back end.  Her sister managed a couple but as they were of her backside I don't think she would want them published anyway!

The weather was good too so all in all very pleased with the day.  I think they might come visit again.  They are certainly very welcom.

Bag

So I spent the weekend on a leather bag making course.

The curly stuff is the lacing and the small piece bottom left is how to start and finish - apparently.

and I appear to have come away with some meccano!

I am a bit cheesed off if I am honest.  I wanted a bag, I designed the bag before I got there, I was hoping to come away with the finished article.  However the whole of Saturday morning was spent listening to him talk about all the tools and different types of leather etc etc Saturday afternoon we made templates for our bags out of paper for stapling together to make sure we had our dimensions correct before unstapling ready for him to cut the patterns out of the half a cow.

However there were 5 of us and only 1 cutting board.  A lot of wasted time.  Very, very frustrating.

So Sunday morning I was there bright and early (9.30) as were two others bit more chat and discussion and then he laid all the pieces out on the hide to work out the most efficient cutting and keeping the spine for straps etc.  It was about 11.30/12pm before the first pieces were handed back to us for trimming.  We now had two cutting boards - the second one was big enough for maybe three people to use but still only two cutting implements.  And then for punching holes - only two implements.  Aaaarrgh.

The course finished at 4pm.  At 3pm I was really beginning to panic.  I was nowhere near done as I had an inner pocket in my bag.  The course leader said he would punch my holes while I worked out where they should go.  In the panic I made a mistake with my straps thinking there should be a buckle at the other end so had to cut off a bit more off the length (hope they are still long enough).  At 4.30pm I finally left (the last person) without it turns out punching any holes in my straps, without finishing the leather (nobody did), without having any colour on the leather (one person did) and without doing any lacing (nobody did). 

Now we knew we might be lacing at home but to not have had time to tidy up the edges and do any dyeing is a bit much.

In my humble opinion he should have cut out the patterns from the cowhide Saturday evening ready for us to do what we had to do on the Sunday morning.

Now for those others on the course that had an interest in leather making before and therefore had some tools at home, going home with unfinished leather is probably ok.  But for those like me that haven't ...

Anyway I popped into Matlock with my 'bag' and visited a leather place to buy some dye and finishing stuff and they very kindly lent me a punch set so I could do the last set of holes.  How brilliant was that?  I have done them and will return the set tomorrow.  They also gave me information on how best to finish the leather off without buying loads of equipment I may never use again.  So I am feeling a little better about how this bag may turn out.

Not convinced that I have sufficient lacing to do all that has to be done but the course leader only lives in the next village and he said no problem if more was needed.  But a lot of work still needs doing before I can assemble my meccano.  I will show you the finished article as and when but don't hold your breath