genialgemsandothergabblings

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...

 Coming back from doing the shopping yesterday, I took the route on my bike that bypasses the busy roads and instead used the green lanes the wind around the back of New Longton.  I was hoping to see wildlife as I had taken my camera and I was not disappointed. First there were a pair of Buzzards criss-crossing the fields in search of a snack,then a kestrel made an appearance hovering after some prey. The berries were showing in abundance so there is a good crop for the birds to feed up on before winter. I spotted a couple of rabbits but they both looked unwell and I fear they have that horrible disease Myxomatosis .The countryside may look lovely but its not all good out there! Back home the warm sunshine also saw butterflies visiting the garden and settling on the ripe apples. The flowers are going over but I spotted these pretty violas looking lovely. The Peacock was from Ruthin Castle grounds where the roam in beautiful seclusion and can be...

At Llyn Brenig  Well it has been a while since I have been on to upload anything to the blog so to make up for it this time its picture loaded! A couple of weeks ago Sonia joined me at the caravan after Peter left to go back to work and we had a great couple of days exploring the local area. Our first drive out took us up across the local moors to a Nature Reserve and reservoir where you can go on great walking trails or mountain bike to your hearts content. Unluckily for us though the rain set in and we would have only got soaked so after a nice little lunch in the cosy café overlooking the lake we took a few pictures and decided to head back to Ruthin where we hoped it would be a little drier.     Sonia outside the Old Court House looking for the Hang mans Gibbet!    Back in Ruthin we found a very old town house that has been restored and is open to the public as are the gardens hidden away at the back. We went to have a look...

 We have had some lovely Spring days recently and I have made the most of them a got on with jobs that needed doing in the garden. The area around the Summer house needed brightening up so I gathered together lots of pretty containers and planted them up and grouped them on the veranda of the summerhouse and the results were really cheerful.  I had a lot of fun turning this old Garden Sieve into an unusual plant display. I spray painted it, wound garden twine round it and added sticks for effect and then added spring flowers, pretty good for something that had lain around the garden unused for years.  This old chair got a makeover too with some spray paint and gold brushed in to give it a distressed shabby chic look, then I ran up a small cushion.  lovely little owl pot I found!  Tulips my favourite flowers  Apple blossom looks good this year  Pot Marigolds in full flower  Lettuce seedlings growing ...