genialgemsandothergabblings

Snow on this Beech Hedge and down the Lanes behind our village of New Longton. As someone who enjoys taking outdoor photos the prospect of a few flakes of snow arriving is usually enough to get me a little bit excited.So when it did come down and actually settle early in February I quickly donned all the right clothes and set out for a walk to try and capture it. The teasels I left in the garden   Looking up the back garden, just a light covering of snow Well here's the reason I dashed back to the local shop for digestive biscuits! The path through the woods , were you can see and hear Nuthatches and Woodpeckers. Add caption A female Nuthatch Here is the More brightly coloured  Male

David Lloyd George and Llansumdewy.   In a little quiet village on the Llyn Peninsula in Wales  there lies Buried,one of England's Greatest and most famous Prime Ministers, David Lloyd George. He didn't want to be buried in London or anywhere else but in a favourite place, that he knew and loved as a child . It is in the village of Llansumdewy , a tiny little place and it was here that as a new widow his mother brought her family, to live with her mother and shoemaker brother, in the late years of the 1800s. It was here also  that  David learned, from his mentor and Uncle,  all the values he was to hold onto in his later political career. I confess that before our visit here I knew little about his life other than the basics but since then I have read up on him and he is totally fascinating . He definitely liked the ladies and was never short of female company. This probably stems from the fact that his mother and sister did everything for him but...

 Sis and I spent 3 days last week enjoying the quietness of Bowness and Windermere that the Autumn season brings to the Lakes now the crowds have returned to their home towns and are no doubt on the countdown to the festive season. What a wonderful Autumn of colour we have  had this year and on our second day we walked from Windermere to Far Sawrey which was the Home of Beatrix Potter for many years . The woods were lush with the beautiful leaves and mosses ,berries and birds and we only saw a couple of people on our whole afternoon out. After a well earned lunch, which was delicious, at the Tower Bank arms we emerged to be greeted with one of the most scenic views we have ever witnessed of a rainbow ... a perfect way to leave such a pretty place.

A New Year...A new start Lets forget last year ...horrible but bearable with the help of my special friends and my sister and her lovely family. So onwards and upwards as they say ! Kitty the lovely little Tabby cat that turned up in the garden Nov 2014 is a firm member of the family much to Ollie's disgust but our delight. She is so soft and loving and is my companion in the study as I write this . So we have lots of plans in store this year ,changes being made and places to go and also to  just go with flow, as last year showed us that you haven't got a hell of a clue what's waiting round the corner! Certainly showed me that !

The Steam Gondola on Coniston Lake The lovely new Bluebird cafe at Coniston  Me with a memorial to Donald Bronze statue of Donald at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston The boat that Donald hoped to develop but died before he could do so A small part of the damaged Bluebird that was recovered from Lake Coniston They hope to one day display the rebuilt Bluebird here By the river in Coniston Me at the Memorial to Donald and the Bluebird Team After reading Tonia Bern Campbell's  book about the fascinating but turbulent marriage she had to Donald Campbell ,the  Speed King of the 50s and 60s I became very keen to find out more and so dragged Peter off to Coniston . This of Course is where he died in an attempt to take the water speed record to over the magic 300mph back in 1967 with terrible consequences.The famous Bluebird took off and flipped up and over and sank to the bottom of Coniston. No Trace was found of Donald and he lay...