Wales 23 - England 15 ....YES!

A brilliant match! Just as I predicted, a Welsh win but not a wipe out. Wales were strong, and England kept fighting back, however their ill discipline put 2 men in the sin bin, but it was a super afternoon's rugby, and the stronger team won!

Wales v England

Wales play England in Cardiff this evening. This is more than a game of rugby when the Welsh play the English, there is years of tradition and pride involved here. This is the one fixture that both sides are desperate to win. As I write England are the underdogs, Wales are tipped to win, but you can never tell. I shall be watching and shouting ! I've got my Welsh socks on ....well every little helps!!!

The Transporter Bridge

Transporter Bridge July 2008

The city's most famous landmark has been closed for almost two years on health and safety grounds. I seems it needs a new rail system for the gondola to travel on and there are repairs needed to the main structure before it can re-open. It is a Grade 1 listed structure and CADW have announced they intend to give a a grant of £75,000 towards the bridge refurbishment.

It is good to know that this magnificent structure is being preserved for future generations and enabling it to keep it's place in the city's history.

St Valentines Day ....

It is a long, long time since I received flowers on Valentines day, but these arrived this morning! I was so taken aback I asked the delivery lady if she was sure she had the right address! Life is looking up!

Craft with a difference.

Small Welsh Dragon

This evening I saw some superb ironwork figures. They are made locally by 'Oakdale Iron Works'. Despite their name they are not made in Oakdale but in Llanmartin a hamlet just to the west of Newport. I picked up their catalogue, they are all created by one man Tony Ford, and he will make anything to order, pets, garden ornaments etc. Clever man obviously.

Pheonix

http://www.oakdaleironworks.co.uk/

Romeo and Juliet

It is one of the theatre's greatest works, Romeo and Juliet, a 500 year old story telling the of a doomed romance between two lovers. Now the Politically Correct watchdogs have got their hands on it. The feuding between the Capulet and Montague families leads to three fatal stabbings and ultimately to Juliet committing suicide with Romeo's dagger. This is thought to glamorise knife crime.

One theatre critic has responded in the press by saying,

"It is one part of a 500 year old love story, it is a wonderful story about the dangers of love but it is a tremendous reaction to think it could fuel violence. Shakespeare is pretty violent anyway and has always been used to teach in schools"

I wonder what is next on the PC agenda?

Valley chat

Chatting to a friend from the valleys tonight the subject came around to Maesycwmmer viaduct. I asked if it was still there as so many of these landmarks are gone, but I was assured that it was indeed still there.

I was told that it was bought some years ago from Great Western Railway for 1p by the local council and costs approx £30,000 a year to maintain. It is a national landmark and therefore has been preserved. Along with the Nine Arches viaduct in Tredegar it is one of only two listed viaducts in Wales. (see Blog of 2nd Dec.2008)

It is 260 metres high and there are 16 arches. It was built in 1857 and closed in 1964. Today after a grant of £870,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for Wales, it is part of the Cycle Network for the Celtic Trail as it stretches across the Rhymney valley. I was pleased to hear this as when I was engaged and later married for the first time, I used to travel under this huge structure almost on a daily basis as my then future husband came from that valley. It was so huge and high, an urban structure rather than the softer rural structures that are surrounded by fields, like the Nine Arches in Tredegar. It always made me feel strange, vulnerable somehow and a little frightened, but of what I don't know. How odd that I should remember those feelings more than forty years later.

Friday 13th?

Tomorrow is Friday 13th. Most people think this is an unlucky day.

Do you know that you can send Friday 13th e-cards? Nor did I, and as a Christian I shouldn't be sending one, but I did send just one for the fun of it as it was a novelty!

Open your emails Mrs H!

A matter of size!

I had a conversation earlier with my friend who spent many years in Africa. She had posted the picture of a young male elephant on her Blog and made a comment on him. Well you know how these things go, then I made a comment and so on, until she ended up sending sent me this picture just in case I thought Junior was a big boy!

Messy me!

I got in a right mess in pottery today. I carried a bucket of wet glaze over to my table not noticing the side of the bucket had rubbed on my jeans. When I realised, I rubbed it off with my hands and then brushed my sweater down. Then white streaks on my black sweater ..... and I still have glaze on my jeans! What a Wally!!!

However, I am going along steadily now, I painted my pot (the one that escaped last time!) and made some more coasters today, plus two hanging Christmas trees for my grand-daughters to hang on their tree next Christmas. My cat is still waiting to be fired and so a lot going on in this class.

I took my camera into class to take some pictures of my work in progress, but the screen just said 'card locked' and wouldn't work. However my neighbour in the next seat came to the rescue and photographed them for me with her camera.

When I got home I looked at the handbook that came with the camera, the one that doesn't tell you much at all, in the hope it might say something about a locked card. Who was I kidding? It said nothing ! An afternoons fiddling it is then!

Final Assessment

The Handkerchief Tree

I have spent the day starting my final assessment piece for the writing group. In my story I wanted to include a very beautiful garden with a spectacular tree. I thought of the 'Handkerchief Tree' and decided this would be what I would use. I have to make notes for my commentary and I thought describing this would be easy as I know of a fine example in a friends house, a tree which I have photographed in the past; but when it came to it, what did I know about the tree - very little. I needed to look it up.

It is aptly named the handkerchief tree because of the large white bracts that hang down and flutter in the breeze. I was surprised the learn it is more commonly called the Dove tree or the Ghost tree.

'They were discovered growing in China in the 1860's by the French explorer Pere Armand David, thus it's botanical name 'Davidia Involucrata'. It flowers in May/June time. The first one to flower in Europe was in 1906.'

The one in the picture above is a lot smaller than the one in my friends garden, but equally as lovely in a different way. This information, I think, will be enough for a few paragraphs of my commentary. What today has done for me is underline the amount of work that needs to go into this Assessment piece. I have to write 700 words justifying what I have produced!

Creative writing course.

In writing class this morning I was pleased with the mark for last weeks homework. We have a two week break now for half term, so I have to work on the first draft for my final assessment. I have a skeleton story in place, I need to put in a lot of work in over the next few weeks, as the second draft goes to a workshop for remarks or criticisms etc. Loads more reading also over the coming two weeks.

The next module is for Children's Writing so, as that was what I wanted in the first, place I signed up for this course this morning. I have some work in place on children's stories, so I won't have to start from scratch as I did with this course. All of it is really challenging and enjoyable. To be recommended for those with a leaning towards writing.

Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau

Wales 26 - Scotland 13

This afternoon I watched the second match of the 2009 Six Nation Championships. I only watch Wales I must admit, if they are not playing, I just watch for the scores of the other nations ....... well, at least I am honest!

It was Wales v Scotland at Murryfield and Wales WON! They played a strong game, especially the first half. If the team keep going like this, could it be we win the The Grand Slam again this year?

The leaflet above with Mae hen Wlad fy Nhadau printed on, was given to me on St. David's day last year when I went to a Saturday afternoon class to learn the words. Like most Welsh children I learned it phonetically at school and then built on it, but wanted to learn it properly as an adult. The afternoon was fun, with loads of vases of Daffodils and plenty of tea with plates of Welsh cakes on the tables. Before the class finished we all had to stand up and sing from this sheet. The other classes were just filing out when we stood up; the door opened and hoards of people flooded in to our classroom to join in ( I suspect because it was St. David's Day). It was a memorable afternoon ...even though most of my friends took the Micky out of me for attending this lesson!!!

Reverend Robert Walker

The Skating Minister - Sir Henry Reaburn 1790's

After Church this morning I watched a programme on Art & Artists while I ate my lunch. On this programme they were talking about the painter Sir Henry Raeburn. I have to say I had never heard the name before, but continued to watch as the story of the man and his most famous painting. It was interesting.

The painting (above) is on display at the moment in The National Gallery of Scotland. This serene skater is thought to be the Reverend Robert Walker skating on Duddingston loch in Scotland. Reverend Walker was the minister of Canongate Kirk a member of the Edinburgh skating society.

I reiterate my view on dark sombre paintings, they are not for me, however, I do appreciate the brilliance of the artist, but would not want to own this type of painting myself.

Another snow picture ........

View of the Sugarloaf mountain from the house.

My friend that I mentioned in the last Blog entry gave me this photograph taken at her home, as she knows I like to change my screen saver on a regular basis and thought this one would be a good local view to use.

The Sugarloaf is near Abergavenny and the photograph was taken in Monmouth. What a supberb view and a pretty good camera too!

An odd day!

An unusual wall

My friend JJ, who lives in the country came down today. We were going to have a day at home doing some pottery as she is an accomplished potter. However we went to buy the clay and the place was closed on Saturdays. Plan B. was a day taking photographs; we decided on a local beauty spot where there was still some snow, but upon trying to access it the ice was too thick and therefore dangerous, so we decided to go home only to find another of my friends had called when we were out! So all in all a wasted day!!!

We did spot an unusual wall on our travels and I jumped out of the car to photograph it, but it was a very quick job as JJ was parked in the middle of the road, so it had to be quick!

But, it's always nice to have friends around and we did have a nice lunch in a place that I have known for many years, with magnificent views overlooking the snowy mountains that surround the City. JJ was amazed that such beauty was so close and for me it was a trip down memory lane, so perhaps it was not such a wasted day after all.

The antics of Miss L.

There is always more snow in the country than in the city. My friend Miss L (you have all read about her from time to time) went tobogganing in her garden ............

and then she fell off! Ha ha ha !!!

This is a photo Miss L took earlier today in the garden of her home. Lovely isn't it?

Miss L's garden Monmouth 6th February 2009

The weather.

Winter snow and sun.

When I left home this morning I left in a fairly heavy snow storm. A few hours later when I returned, it had rained, that rain had washed all the snow away. The sun had come out and dried up the rain. It was a lovely cold, crisp, dry sunny February day.

What an odd feeling that was driving back in the street. The British weather is never banal that's for sure!

Credit crunch - what credit crunch?

Dans La Prairie - Claude Monet - 1876

I sat down with the daily paper earlier. It was reporting that a Monet painting (pictured above) had been sold for £1,329,250! The picture is of Monet's wife, Camille, reading in a meadow full of flowers. Now I know the super rich are not like you and me but it seems the zillionairs that gather at Christie's for this auction have not heard of the credit crunch! I wonder if it ever crosses the minds of these people that there are others out there loosing their homes and jobs on a daily basis. I don't suppose they think outside the box, just live in a protected world of wealth and grandeur.

Where does all this money come from in these recessionary times? Even if I had that kind of money, I have to ask myself, would I buy a Monet for that price just to hang over the mantelpiece as a talking piece for the equally rich to admire. It just seems so obscene, when people's struggles are so prominent, but I suppose this is how it has always been. There will always be someone out there who is rich enough to pay a fortune for a Monet.

Burned Boobs!

Before I went to theatre yesterday I was warned that I may have some irritation on my chest where the nurses had placed pads to enable them to 'shock' my heart. I did not expect my skin to be burned! It is not serious, but my right boob is sore, the nurse told me to put After Sun on it, but after twenty four hours it needs some antiseptic cream. I have been walking around all day scratching one boob, not very ladylike! - but still worth every moment if the heart stays in the correct rhythm.