Winter

Winter has arrived in the UK. Some parts of the country are under several inches of snow. We only had a light covering 2 nights ago, but it's very cold out there.
For now the sun is shining and it was perfect weather for a winter walk. I went in the opposite direction to normal and stumbled upon yet more evidence of how industrialised this edgeof the city used to be.



Heading out further along the valley the evidence of the city disappears and countryside begins. Quite a few houses have Chickens and horses, I don't envy them being outside in this weather, though with a coat as fluffy as this maybe it wouldn't be too bad

Falling down

My blogging effort has rather fallen down recently, work has got a little crazy, and we're in to the time of year where I don't see daylight during the week.
On top of that I spent last weekend in Wales with Mum and Dad which of course means there are walking pictures.

This tumble down house was obviously once solidly built but was sat up on an isolated hillside, the land is now farmed by 4x4 so being 3 miles away from civilisation is no longer the draw back it once was so the house is now falling down.



Though with a view like this it's surely ripe for renovation...



This ruin has abandoned for rather longer, it's Castell y Bere it was built in 1221 by Llewellyn Fawr in an attempt to keep the English out! Eventually the Welsh lost the fight and by the 13th century the castle was abandoned. Given it's 700 years ago it's in a very good state, I don't think most modern buildings would stand up so well to being abandoned for so long.

Happy Birthday p/hop

I've blogged for p/hop as part of their birthday celebrations, click here to go read my post on the p/hop blog

Things to love

I am desperately trying to work out wether I am brave enough to do this project with my Rainbows....



She took a load of roving, got the kids to dye it and then span it up to make a beautiful blanket. I've yet to work out how to do the dying without trashing the church hall though. Maybe if I wait until the summer we can do it outside...



The roving looks like it should spin up to be clown yarn, but somehow because the same colours appear over and over the project works.

Mellow fruitfulness

I'm at home in bed nursing my lack of voice, I'm meant to be doing reproduction with my Y7's today and didn't fancy teaching that via the art of mime! I don't actually feel all that ill, if I was at home I'd certainly be up for going on a walk where the views look like this!





Apparently it rained alot in Wales yesterday, I've heard tales of rivers running down the driveway, I think that might have put an end to the fungi that are hiding in the trees.

Autumn

The temperature might not have felt like autumn today but the trees as certainly telling us that winter is coming.
This is the same walk that boyfriend and I did this summer when we were visiting, the tree's are putting on a spectacular show.





Meg certainly enjoyed it (no Gwen as she's still recovering from her operation), we even found a nice muddy puddle!

Happy Birthday Mum

My Mum's birthday was on Saturday, as I was actually there for her birthday I didn't write a blog post for the day itself. I did however make it to Wales bearing gifts.



A Quincy



And some hand decorated mugs, slate floors are hard on mugs so their life may be short, but in a beautiful location.

Speaking of a new lifestyle in a beautiful location...


The view as you take the dogs out in the morning is spectacular, the dogs approve as well!