Whats in my Name?

I still can't show you what I'm sewing at the moment. But I can report that after a change of direction, I feel very much happier with my secret projects. :-)

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I noticed a couple of weeks ago that many bloggers where explaining their blog names and titles. Mine is quite simple, I wanted something which reflected my home. The Isle of Man. People and things that come from the island are called 'Manx' hence, Manxgirl.

That long panoramic picture up there in the page header is of the Northern third of the island. I live in Ramsey, that's it there just nestling on the bay.

The symbol on my avatar is also Manx it can be seen all over the island and is on our flag.  It's called The Three Legs of Man. It's a triskelion and is thought to be Viking in origin like much about the Isle of Man.

Still Here.

Sorry I'm so quiet at the moment. I can't show you what I'm stitching, it's a secret! But I can't blog without a picture, so I'm showing off the flowers Tony bought the other day. Just because, you know? Oh and that's a beautiful runner Janice made for me. :-)

Meanwhile, the SSCS stitching is causing me to pull a few hairs out!!  It's a work in slow progress due to work commitments as well as it's own frustrations.

We're back.

Gozo was amazing. What a beautiful island. Not at all like my island, and much smaller too. We could have explored the whole of Gozo in one day! Instead we took our time and did exactly as we planned to do. Lots of lazy starts, not leaving the villa until after 11am most days.

The island has a very dry interior, but we were never far from the sea.

There were many coastal footpaths to explore, some leading to hidden secrets, like this cave at Xlendi. Thats pronounced Shhlendi!!

 Everywhere we went, there were prickly pears growing wild and rampant along the road sides. They are edible. I didn't fancy dealing with the prickles, so didn't pick any, but we did purchase some from the market. They were very sweet, the flesh was like a pomegranate, but without all that nasty white pith. We also saw lots of pomegranate trees, but they were in gardens and orchards.

We visited Dwerja, the J is silent. The sea has broken through the cliff face to form a cave, right through the rock creating a small sheltered cove. We took a boat ride through the cave out to sea.

 The water was amazingly blue, so beautiful. Our guide took us into other caves and natural features along the coast.

 Our villa has it's own private pool, and I swam almost every day. :-) It was so nice to get into the pool and escape the heat in the afternoon.

 Here's a view of the Citadel, around which the City of Victoria has grown.

 We had some regular visitors to our Villa.

 These little lizards popped up almost everywhere we went.

So now we're home, all R'd and R'd. Time to get on with some sewing. I need to get my SSCS items completed and ready to mail.

Absent for a week.

I'm off to Gozo for a few days of R&R.W e'll be staying in this Villa.
As the only thing I've worked on all week is my secret Santa project, I can't even leave you with a picture! Never mind, I'll have plenty when I get home.