A Perfect Summer

I've been walking relentlessley this summer, since April really, and I can't believe how warm it's been. A long, dry summer is something we just don't see round here, times are changing.

Bird spotting...

This seagull joined me on my travels last week, with the misty sea in the background he looks quite elegant. This is a token photo really, because I really wanted to put a picture up here of the ravens I saw on West Shore a couple of days ago, but I didn't have my camera with me! I was quite excited to see them because I've never seen a raven in the wild, we don't tend to get them round here (or at least I've never noticed them!). There were two, and they were curious, slightly scruffy looking, and when they flew the profile of their wings was quite striking.

I'm not a bird spotter, but I have thousands of pictures of birds in flight, I always always take photos of them, seagulls gliding above me or small birds in the hedgerows. I've made a few things using bird silhouettes, but I still haven't got it out of my system! After seeing the ravens flying I'm determined to get a photo of their wings outstretched to use in my work.

The A55

I can hear this road roaring through the night, people passing through, they wouldn't stop here now. My house used to be a B+B, the whole street was lined with little guesthouses to accomodate people on thier way to Anglesey or Ireland. They're still heading to the same places, just avoiding the little towns along the way.

It's keeping us connected now, a link to the big wide world, commuters endure it every day in a frenzy of impatience dreaming of the day it has three lanes and they can bypass Wales alltogether. I'm working towards the day when I can walk to work, and in my own little way show the road how I really feel.

Bogey Lane

I've been wondering around in the sunshine these last couple of days, trying to avoid the Bank Holiday crowds and looking for quiet little places to explore. This lane is just across the valley from my house and I've never been there before - when we were kids it was the stuff of legend, loads of old stories about ghosts/monsters up there, I suppose in our minds it was like our own little Sleepy Hollow. It's a lovely little place with old trees, thick roots and wild flowers everywhere - like a scene from a Disney cartoon.

I've never seen the sign before, it's a recent addition, and it makes me smile every time I see it.

Gizmo...

Isn't this a lovely little gadget... It's the front off a camera from maybe the 1890's, and looks like something out of a Jules Verne book. Apparently the shutter release could be activated with a little puff of air through a tube. The name on the camera is Sanderson, I don't know much about cameras, but I enjoy these old things. One of the many unusual objects we have lying about the house, never a dull moment with so much stuff to fiddle with. :-)

A little dog... woof...

This little feller has lived in Nain’s cabinet for as long as I can remember, when I was little I was fascinated because it was a toy I couldn’t play with! Dad said it's been around since the 70's, and used to belong to his 'Aunties Bangor', four Aunts who he talks about with much fondness.

There was Aunty Nel (a farmer); Aunty Sis (a teacher and Bard, we have various bits of Eisteddfod paraphernalia lying round after Sis, her real name was Christiana Mary); Aunty Annie (a headmistress, she owned the little dog); and Aunty Ginny (a district nurse who used to work in Penrhyndaedraeth - apparently she used to go to 'The Cookes' explosive works to attend to casualties when there were accidental explosions. She had a boyfriend during the War who wrote to her regularly, sending poems and love letters, but Nain burnt them after she died - I suppose she didn't see the value in them).

I like it when Dad talks about his old relatives as well - often an object like this little dog will trigger all sorts of memories. The Aunties Bangor are favourites of his, he say's that Ginny had "the shed to beat all sheds!" It was three times the size of a normal shed and piled high with stuff – they wouldn’t throw anything away. If the shed wasn’t big enough then stuff went into the air raid shelter. There was books, leftover bits and bobs from their careers; nursing equipment; gardening equipment; wartime bits; kitchenalia; farming equipment - you name it, it was in the shed. No wonder my dad enjoyed visiting them (he is the ultimate collector!).

They lived in an old farmhouse in their later years that Nel ran, it was next to the mine on Parys Mountain in Anglesey. They were very old fashioned religious Welsh ladies, spinsters who were single all their lives because there wasn't so many men around after the war. I'd like to have met the Misses Hughes of Catref, Bangor, but my Dad and Nain’s memories and this little Dog will have to do.

Nain

Meet my Nain, she's definitley the most together person in our family! She's 83 and doesn't look a day over 60, and every Sunday we get a little bag full of articles snipped out of the newspapers and annotated with little pencil notes! She sends allsorts, articles on Diabetes; car maintanance; finance; obituaries; scientific discoveries; you name it!

I've been over there today looking at the family tree I've been working on, it's great listening to her talking about her family and ancestors, but I really need to record what she says because I can't scribble my notes fast enough.