A new week begins and that means that I join Sheila across the dining room table Chez Knips and we work on our respective projects.  Poor Klaus is still incapacitated with his back which is a shame but I saw a little more of him this week and stayed for lunch (which was delicious and has given me ideas for a tea this week!!!).

Today I finally finished my picture of the peonies in a class vase which I am keeping and which I have earmarked to hang alongside the previous picture I did of the hydrangeas in a glass vase.

I can see that I my style and technique have changed over the months and years that I have been going to Sheila's and whilst she may not think she teaches me much I learn something new every week.  I was finishing off my picture today doing the highlighting and shading underneath the magazines which are supposed to be sitting on a wooden table with a grainy top.  Sheila made some suggestions about softening the white highlighting which made all the difference to the finished article.  I am very proud of this picture but now it is finished I am left trying to find something for the next one.  I have to like it even if I am not keeping it!

This evening Robster and John were watching the Championship play-off finals between Huddersfield and Reading.  Huddersfield beat Sheffield Wednesday to get there and they are a Yorkshire team so John quite wanted them to be successful but Uncle David is a HUGE Reading fan and so part of us wanted Reading to win.  Di and I chose to go out with the cameras instead which was probably just as well because it was a rather boring 0-0 after full time when we returned.

I took Diana down with our cameras to the semi-abandoned village of Old Theletra.  Old Theletra was destroyed at some point in the past by an earthquake and the damaged buildings still remain although apparently some are being re-colonised and some newer ones have popped up.

We started out in the village of New Theletra to take a look around the church and the impressive views of the countryside that you can get from there.

We then continued on down to the damaged old village and parked up and wandered around the buildings taking photographs.  The old village does have some people living there but the old buildings are gradually just caving in.  It is slightly creepy and for those who have made it their home we would hope there would never be another earthquake to destroy their newly completed homes.

Some of the old buildings appear to have been left with items inside exactly as it would have done at the point of the earthquake - this is probably not the case and as the date of the earthquake is unknown we cannot be sure but it reminded me of the abandoned village of Tyneham near Lulworth which is now a ghost village only accessible when the firing ranges at Lulworth are open to the public.

We carried on out of the village for a while and then turned round and made our way slowly back - this almost proved to much for Kenny who got a little hot and bothered - good job we stopped at the local cemetery to give him a chance to cool down.

We made our way back home via the scenic route because the sun was beginning to set and from Arodes you can get a pretty spectacular view of the sunset.  We were a little too early but even so we managed to get some interesting shots as the sun started to slip down to the horizon.

Our final stop was the little public garden thing in Arodes which looks lovely but clearly never gets used.  We managed to stay out for the 90 minutes of the game and returned home to watch the extra time and then the penalties.  Huddersfield made it - that isn't a game you would automatically think of as being in the Premiership.  Very bad luck to Reading who had it in the bag and then let victory slip through their fingers.

I think Diana is enjoying her new camera and it is nice to go out with someone taking pictures!