Flat Ruthie

Six word Saturday

Random moments from an Algarve week

Fonte Pequena (little fountain) at Alte

It had just bounced with rain and the bottle brush plant was sodden.

The Folklore Festival and Wedding Ceremony at Alte

 Then there’s one that would fit well in my recent post on “fontes”.

The fountain in Praca da Republica, Tavira

And an item that I was much taken with.  More to come in a future post.

The Tavira vase, on display in the new Islamic Museum

Then my little side trip with Flat Ruthie.

The village of Sanlucar de Guadiana, on the Spanish side of the Spain/Portugal border

A handsome caballero

Keeping watch over the Guadiana

Tangled in the orange blossom in Castro Marim

So now you know how I spent my week.  It was wonderful looking back and now it’s your turn.  To play Six word Saturday you need to visit Cate’s Show My Face so click on the link or the banner at the top of this page, and get started.  My Six word Saturday page will show you what I’ve been up to in the past.  Feel free to browse.  See you next week.

Six word Saturday

Flat Ruthie lights up my week

I always loved playing with cardboard cutout dolls when my daughter was small, so I was enthralled when I came upon the website Cardboard Me Travels, while indulging in a little armchair travel myself.

Flat Ruthie meets Snoopy and Old Bear

I hastened to http://cardboardmetravels.com/about/ to find out more, and in no time at all a pink envelope was slipping onto my doormat, all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  My introduction to Flat Ruthie was complete.

This young lady doesn’t like to stay in one place too long, her restless nature being on a par with mine, so it was off to Hartlepool marina on the first sunny day available.  Just look at that blue sky!

Flat Ruthie boarding PSS Wingfield Castle in Hartlepool marina

And "hanging out" with boats

I had great fun with “the shoot” and it made a lovely post. https://restlessjo.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/flat-ruthie-captures-hearts-in-hartlepool/ I couldn’t help but notice there were Six Words in the title.  Hmmm!

It didn’t end there.  Through the week Ruthie accompanied me to t’ai chi, Nordic walking (no suitable miniature poles for her, alas) and even zumba, making fans along the way.  She was even responsible for introducing me to Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley, from Wikipedia

She also tweaked my memory and caused me to seek out another awesome blog http://themiddlestsister.com/ that takes me back to happy days playing with Fuzzy Felts.  The child in me is reluctant to take a back seat, and I am a lifelong Snoopy fan.  What better way to end this post.  Huge thanks to Flat Ruthie for brightening up my week. (And to “Big Ruth” of course- I’m sure she’s really not!- without whom none of this would be possible)

"Oh Snoopy, I love your nose"

Thanks also to Cate at http://www.showmyface.com/2008/01/six-word-saturdays.html whose blog I am just about to visit.  Why don’t you come too?  You might just get hooked.  Follow my other Six word Saturdays on the logo below.

Flat Ruthie captures hearts in Hartlepool

This week I played hostess to an inquisitive young lady who hailed all the way from Pittsburgh, USA.  An impressive-looking city on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, I kind of worried what I could show her in my humble little home town Hartlepool, on the north east coast of England.

Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, by Wikipedia

I needn’t have worried.  Flat Ruthie knew her manners and had been impeccably brought up in her website home http://cardboardmetravels.com/

Our town has a strong maritime heritage so it was off to the marina and Hartlepool Historic Quay http://www.hartlepoolsmaritimeexperience.com/ Cameras swinging nicely in tune we checked out the paddle-steamer PSS Wingfield Castle.

Hello sailor!

And Britain’s oldest fighting ship, HMS Trincomalee, built in India in 1817, was restored in Hartlepool over a 10 year period.

Pirates lad? Where be my cutlass?

A pirate party was about to break out on board so I steered Ruthie away to admire some smaller craft.  I’ve seen what a cutlass can do to a cardboard lady!

The Customs Office! Any smuggling still going on in these parts?

Let's just hang around a while

Whoo, I'm dangling!

Swiftly on to the lock gates, I think.

Tickets anybody? No? Oh, you can cross over for free- great!

Ah, now we're talking! You know I like monkeys.

Knowing Ruthie has a fondness for monkeys I didn’t like to share with her the Legend of the Monkey Hanger!  But you might like to read it- it’s just a bit of folklore. http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/history/thehartlepoolmonkey.asp

Tired with our efforts and beginning to attract a crowd of admirers, we decided to save the beach for another day and head home for a cuppa.

Is this a seahorse, Restlessjo? No dear, just a bookend.

Very grateful thanks are due to Ruth of http://cardboardmetravels.com/ for creating my little friend and allowing her to travel with me.  I’m hoping she just might accompany me to the Algarve sometime, and there I really can promise her a beach.

I absolutely love Ruth’s idea.  You can read all about it and follow Flat Ruthie’s travels by following the link.  Maybe some of you would like to escort Ruthie on a little trip yourselves?  The gal loves to travel- we’re kindred spirits.