Taken at Lower Swanwick looking across the River Hamble. So captioned because Swanwick has become particularly popular with visitors, because the river and its landmarks are where many of the scenes for the former television series Howards' Way were filmed. 'The Jolly Sailor' Public House, a pub made famous by the former BBC television series Howards' Way can be seen from Bursledon Bridge, which carries the A27 across the River Hamble, when looking west.

Photo in comments is of The Jolly Sailor taken on one of our visits many moons ago because it's hidden behind the masts in this.

Woken by this ship blasting the horn as it crept through the mist

101 Things you never knew you needed: A Giant Peg.

Gadget: a small mechanical or electronic device or tool, especially an ingenious or novel one.

Note: As a gadget becomes widely used, it is no longer referred to as a gadget.

I'm sure a peg was novel once, and I still think it's ingenious, especially if you have to try and repair one, when it becomes intractable! Quite how useful a giant one is may perhaps be debated...

Treasure Hunt 31: Gadget

I'd initially thought of captioning this simply 'Bookend' until I realised how much history is in this room. It's my very significant better half's study . The bookend is new but the books are a set that his late dad gave him once he'd retired. They're so old , yet Huw uses them, reads them on a regular basis and takes notes from them .

However this room was my own study many years ago, also the room that my late mother lived in for three years whilst I gave her 24/7 care as she was dying from cancer. In later years, it was the room used for my son's friends for sleepovers .

When he grew up it turned into a junk room, but in the last few months Huw needed a room of his own to continue with his work .

“The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and everything is …. ..........42 !” ( Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

The reason for the caption is that today we celebrate our 42nd Wedding Anniversary - we’d intended travelling to one of our ‘special places’ in Pembrokeshire for the day but the heavy band of rain put pay to that, hence a photo of one of our cards .

I’ve also updated my blogspot to include what I consider to be an amusing tale about that day. Read it here…

stillstumblingalong.blogspot.com/2019/07/in-sickness-and-...

On arrival at Bergen airport, these patterns in the glass caught my attention. The airport is just visible between the patterns behind the glass.

Treasure Hunt 15: Behind Glass

So there we were yesterday, doing what we do- Huw gardening and me photoing, when news broke that we we were featured in this you tube video 😳

If you can , then listen to it - it's very moving

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACno0VSul7g&feature=youtu.be

I couldn't figure the other day why I was approached for a photo of both of us - I'd prefer to be behind the camera and Huw by nature is camera shy. We appear about 3/4 of the way through the youtube vid, but instead of forcing anyone anyone to watch it, I've brazenly put it in comments, one of the group that I captured last year and finally the lady who inspired the song.

I keep asking myself, how did I get here apart from the obvious when I prefer wildlife and the great outdoors ?

So captioned because this Painted Lady in my garden, I swear has been papp'ed today as much as Julia Roberts in the film

Today we rose early to get to Newborough Forest Anglesey in search of Red Squirrels. We arrived at 7 am and sat waiting till 7.30am before we saw any . What a treat to see four separate ones but also to watch them scamering up and down the trees, in and out of the feeders until we left at 8.30 am ( two more shots in comments )

I feel a certain sadness using this as today's POTD because as a rule on St. David's Day, I'd put up something pertaining to that and my day would be spent photo'ing the events in Swansea City Centre. Seeing as I'll be spending the day and evening involved in a Charity Event , this is one of our Auction lots . An old friend from school and teacher training days gave me a voucher for Colliers Photography for me to auction a canvas of one of my photos, Here it is at home ready to be taken to the venue . Catch up with commenting once the world slows down.

PS I can't let this day go though without a bit of "Welshness" so below in comments you'll see something I captured many moons ago....

Reflection patterns in the harbour at Ålesund.

Treasure Hunt 59: Reflection

Captured on the Pier at New Quay, Wales whilst waiting for a boat trip. That morning I'd caught a feature on BBC Breakfast News warning people not to feed or attract these gulls

I'm beging to get concerned that I'm verging on the obsessive with so many moon shots - my last upload for the day yesterday was of this. However, I thought best get my POTD in the bag early due to an Opthalmic Appointment later and depending on which drops I get I may not be able to view the screen for a number of hour after it.

The prayer flage were looking lovely in the morning sunshine outside my den window (shot from inside with the window opened).

Woke up to the first frost this morning but by the time I got myself out to the garden, it had already thawed. Later on I picked this from a Passion Flower that's overgrown and running amok in my garden.

Captured with a 60mm Macro Lens and given a large crop because at the time I was busy trying to get shots of water droplets on the plants in my garden. I'm not exactly built for speed so by the time I went to get a longer lens, this had flown off into the bushes

Two years ago Huw bought a bird box but I queried whether it was too bright to attract any birds, also where he placed it because 12ft high on the back wall of our house right above our kitchen door didn't make sense to me. Yet it's the only place we knew that out of reach for any cats to get at. Look what we saw this morning 😃 two more in my photostream

A day spent in Brighton. Sadly the photography mentoring for people affected by homelessness I was there for was cancelled, but I had already gone earlier hoping for rough seas.

I got the tides wrong, but was able to go back after following an Extinction Rebellion protest, and the waves were behaving very well (or not so, as I got a soaking soon after this!).

Out between 9.30 and 10 waiting for the ISS, which I then nearly missed. Midged twice through walking trousers :-(

Two images merged in PS.

FCB 52 Week Challenge week 30: High.

A day spent in Carmarthen today with 'business' in the morning followed by a visit to our son and also a bit of Christmas Shopping. I've uploaded two alternative shots from there, but seeing as we followed this all the way home in the car, I found it impossible to ignore it. Taken with my Canon 70 - 200 mm lens therefore a huge crop of the original from outside my front door step when I arrived home.

Link to the 'business' :-

www.mssociety.org.uk/care-and-support/local-

support/my-ms...

Link to my fascination with the moon

stillstumblingalong.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-love-moon-moon...

Today I went out with four friends that I made many years ago from WelshFlickrCymru..

We started the day with a spot of birding from the Cafe at Penllergare Valley Woods (photo in comments) before moving on to WWT Llanelli . The weather was too dark and dismal to take many photos there, not that it mattered because spending time with friends is in my books, time that is never wasted.

The most wonderful day today at Westonbirt Arboretum . But oh so many people taking selfies against the trees, and also many people constantly looking down at their mobile phones as they followed the throngs, oblivious to the beauty around us. This is Huw in a moment of despair / teasing about it asking the above.

Not as full as expected given all the rain we've had of late,

Nadolig Llawen i'm holl ffrindie ar Fflickr/ A Merry Christmas to all my Flickr friends.

I'd have preferred to upload a photo more in the true spirit of Christmas i.e. one of our Nativity Set but in arranging it, a shepherd fell and broke a leg 🙈 (oh no he didn't! Oh yes he did 😉)

A day spent with 10 others and Viveca Koh, working on layers in Photoshop. Multiplicity was the final challenge.

Seeing these supports, I was taken back to games of "It" on similar pillars in front of the pottery sheds at my primary school.

Memories of other things happening there as well, but that would be telling tales ;-)

Motherwell train station

Subtitled : this as far as I got .

So today with another atlantic storm knocking on our doors, I thought I'd put up the Christmas tree and decs but I've had to call it a day by now due to physical constraints, therefore you could also call this a Work in Progress.

of Hector the mindful dog

I bought one piece of Welsh Slate in a Craft Fair the other day and have been waiting for the opportunity to use it. Granted that it's got a blueberry on it but it refers to my day. The last thing I wanted to be doing after a very late night home from Cardiff yesterday due to the M4 being closed, incurring detour upon detour was to have to get up before dawn because we were getting scaffolding delivered in order for work to proceed on cleaning the slates on our roof . In fact the last thing of all that I wanted to be hearing was loud hip hop music blaring from their radio but I don't somehow think that they'd wanted to listen to the soothing sounds of Barber's Adagio for strings either ;-)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=03shhXSwRrA

Oh Hoh Hoh .....oh No......

We arrived home lunchtime from our morning meeting to this- Elvis Duck swimming around in circles in our muddied bird bath, can only assume he'd been at the 'cooking sherry' whilst we were out. Of course this is not the first time Elvis has made an appearance around this time of year ( see the one in comments...)

A walk across the Pulborough Brooks to the RSPB for tea and cake.

We were following the new WildArt Trail, finding the "creative signposts", but none of the promised sculptures.

I was trying to portray the movement in the grasses, but of course they come out static. This is three images combined in Photoshop to try and convey the feeling on being there (probably not very successfully.

Best viewed with the sound of the wind in your ears...

Visit this location at Infinite Possibilities in Second Life

What to give friends who pop in unexpectedly when you've run out of mince pies.

Back to the grind early this morning to drive to Cardiff for Huw's monthly meeting. This is my latest book pile bought in Waterstones there with a Gift Voucher, and photo'd when I got home. The 'ancient' refers to the book ends which are solid brass ( in need of a polish) which Huw's grandad forged himself when he worked in Merthyr Vale Colliery . As for the books themselves, two are modern , but the ones in the middle are classics which I read as a child. I bought these because my last book pile was 'light reading' in chic lit style - many of which I ditched half way through . These I feel have more substance to them.

A 'thistle do' shot for today's POTD

I took other shots of this using a narrower aperture but they turned out too sparkly, due possibly to the fact I didn't clean the sea spray off my lens after yesterday's boat trip- a 'thistledo' shot because this one is marginally better, but not the one I intended to upload.

4 candles to represent Advent and light, holly with berries for suffering and life force, Marigold’s for healing, a rose for love and a bell to welcome the return of the light

'Jac Codi Baw' is the popular name in the Welsh language for a JCB digger. Trs. Jac = Jack, Codi = to lift up, Baw = Earth . This was taken from the car window as we drove to the Lliw Valley Reservoir this morning. I had another two shots which I could have used for my PoTD but I like to vary things because the thing about 365 projects is that you run the risk of taking the same kind of photo year in, year out. The alternatives can be seen next to this in my photostream.

A rainy day shot.

This is following on from yesterdays 'Organised Chaos ' shot and explanation ( in comments). I bought a bunch of red roses to put on the table - this morning when I was tidying up after yesterday, I noticed I'd plonked then in the jug without arranging them properly. I could have hung fire about today's choice of photo because I hope to get out later for some landscape shots but the jury is out on that because of the windy weather

A post and run shot because I've gone down with something similar to Huw , but in my throat. These are the antibiotics I was given yesterday as a precaution but needless to say I've had to start taking them today. Those who recognise what they are may think it odd because there are newer and more effective drugs available these days but it so happens there are very few that I can take, being severely allergic to them . Catch up when this nightmare is over .

When summer arrives, then Verdi's , Mumbles is a 'must visit'. Taken from inside and flipped in Photoshop.

I don't know how everyone else feels after the excesses of Christmas and its rich food, but I'm tired of it myself, so fancied something basic for my dessert at lunchtime.

Me and mine took ourselves out for the day very early on. As a rule we don't go far on a Bank Holiday Monday, so to avoid the traffic we had an adventure driving on unclassified roads, B roads and the like. Our first stop off was at Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber North Pembrokeshire and this was taken on our last stop at Lower Fishguard. It's part of the statue commemorating the historic importance of the herring catch to the economy of the town

This is a mounted photo ready to go on display, along with others , in an MS Cymru Event at The Future Inn, Cardiff Bay next Saturday but d'you think I can remember since I last exhibited whether to use a softer pencil to sign my name to it? I almost took one titled, 'No room to eat' LOL!! because my dining room is full of photo prints , mounts, a photo mobile with postcard sized photos to hang.

Subtitled: Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye....

This is because tomorrow I leave for Cardiff to photo the biggest event ever that I've photo'd for MS Society Cymru. It's the launch of the Stop MS Appeal in Wales at The Clubhouse , The Principality Stadium.

Re the photo itself I tried my best to get the Lego figure to stand up but she kept falling over. I'm so nervous about this that I hope its not an omen because I've been living with MS myself for all my adult life and due to it's fickle nature, I'm just so thankful that I'm (just about) still standing unlike many I meet whose lives are devastated by it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional photographer, never have I wished to be - if I'd the time in the past week, I'd have written a Blog Entry about why I do this.

So where else to go when you're a member of The National Botanic of Wales? From their e-newsletter

"As Wales’ national flower, it makes perfect sense for the magnificent daffodil to be so well represented at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Since opening in 2000, the Garden has shown over 50 varieties of this showy, distinctive beauty.

The Growing the Future project’s Daffodil Day will help you to understand the subtle differences between daffodil varieties and show you where to look for them.

There will be an indoor talk at 11.30am in the Paxton Room of Principality House by co-author of the Garden’s new Daffodils booklet, Dr Kevin McGinn, Growing the Future’s Science Officer, followed by an outdoor tour of the Garden’s late spring collections at 1.30pm, plus daffodil craft stalls in the iconic Great Glasshouse."

We didn't make it to the talk or the tour - a little matter of distraction on our part, meaning we took in the Birds of Prey Centre situated there , so I found it difficult to choose ( nothing new there, then) between this and the photo in comments.

I'd have for once in my life happily stayed in bed this morning after yesterday's Chiro but I desperately wanted to go the second rehearsal of our aMaSing MS choir in Caerphilly this morning. After that we attended a fundraising event at Chapter Arts, Cardiff - a series of radio plays called Multiple Shorts. This overran and we left early otherwise I'd have photo'd the cast after the production. Instead I captured this above the entrance of the building....

More here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_Arts_Centre

In the mustardseed sun,

By full tilt river and switchback sea

Where the cormorants scud,

In his house on stilts high among beaks

And palavers of birds….” Dylan Thomas

These are the first few lines of the poem by Dylan Thomas “On his Birthday” and this is his writing shed in Laugharne. We spent a pleasant hour or more here today en route the Corran Spa and Hotel, 2 miles away further on from here for Afternoon Tea for Two – a wedding anniversary gift from our son. It was a voucher that could be used anytime but I thought it wiser to use it asap because we’ve eaten so much fatty, sugary food of late that I need to get back to my healthy eating regime.