The rain cometh

The forecasters have been warning of more heavy rains for this weekend, which is bad news for those who have been hit by the earlier downpours and floods. Cardiff has been very lucky, as the worst of the rain has skirted this area.

These pictures were taken on Friday evening when the westerlies were blowing the rain fronts in.

This Saturday the weather is just as predicted, wet.

Polo Match

Once a year polo comes to Cardiff.

I came in at the end as I was crossing the park, just in time for a few pictures.

I would guess that a lot of Champagne and Pimms was drunk during the day.

All pull together

The caption / title is mine, but what would you call it?

This sculpture is part of the Bute Street redevelopment and reminds me of the sculptures you see in the old Soviet countries.

As clouds go by

We are waiting on a moving date, and its like watching paint dry.

Its amazing that anyone gets around to moving at all in the UK.

The frustrating part is that there is nothing you can do to speed the process up.

Lets hope this is the last time!

Vale of Glamorgan

A pleasant morning spent cycling the lanes of the Vale. Its looking good with all the flowers and greenery.

Working clockwise from top its;

1. The pub in the village of Llanmaes. I thought I had a good shot but back home I realised that a telegraph pole partially obscures the name.

2. A cottage wall on to way into Llanmaes.

3. Valerian seems to be everywhere. If you enlarge this you can see across the valley, the huge Jumbo Jet hanger of Cardiff Airport.

4. The ford in Llancarfan. Not many of these around now.

Garden Sparrow

It would be a sad place without these little birds.

Up until the last few years they have been taken for granted and then their numbers started to rapidly decline. What was once a frequent visitor to parks and gardens became something of a rarity. Thankfully now it seems as if their numbers are on the up again.

Garden flowers

The top one is clematis Niobi and the bottom is a rambler called Super Fairy.

I was playing around in the garden with a friends camera. I'm thinking of buying one similar, so its great to be able to try it out for a few days first.

I'm watching you

One of our many many frogs.

We only have a small pond but the frogs love it. When we put pond in, there were no frogs. The garden is surrounded by 5 foot high old stone walls, but soon frogs appeared. They are a rare breed of frog known as the Cardiff Climbing frog.

Stow on the Wold ----more pics

Its been a very hectic weekend, so just had chance to post these.

No more pictures of Stow....I promise.

Stow on the Wold

The top one is off the centre of Stow, as you can see lots of visitors.

Ummm....some good food shops here, so maybe one of the reasons why so many visitors.

Room with a view

Unfortunately not my room.

This was taken from the bedroom window of a beautiful 17th. Century guest house we stayed at in Chipping Norton.

Welsh poppy

Welsh poppy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) (2n=28) is a perennial plant of the family Papaveraceae. Its habitat is damp shady places on rocky ground, and it is native to south-western England, Wales, Ireland and Western Europe. In its most western locations, it is increasingly found on more open ground with less cover.
It has pinnately divided leaves. The flower is distinctively yellow or orange with four petals, and hairy green sepals that fall off quickly after the flower opens. It spreads easily from the numerous small black seeds produced in the summer. It is especially well adapted to colonising gaps and crevices in rocks and stones. This habit has enabled it to colonise the urban emvironment, growing between paving slabs and at the edges of walls.
It was originally classified as Papaver cambricum and may be referred to as such in older texts. It is the only member of the Meconopsis (Papaveraceae with yellow latex) genus native to Europe.
On February 24, 2006 the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru adopted the Welsh poppy as its party logo.