26th April photo - back among the mountains!

Not walking them unfortunatley, but still close enough to amire their magic.

Steven's birthday clebrations continued today with me taking him to Snowdonia for his other big birthday present - a weeks kyaking course at Plas Y Brenin. We hope that he will come back competent and safe to go out kyaking on the sea at the caravan.

This is the lake at the centre where they practice - after getting the basics in the heated indoor pool. Once they are deemed safe on the lake they move to a nearby river and then by the end of the week - the open sea! Its not my cup of tea as I get too travel sick on the water - but he really enjoyed it when he kyaked in the sea at St Lucia - I think the sea was a bit warmer there though!

These are the mountains surrounding the centre - it is set in a beautiful area - I am so jealous that he gets to spend a whole week there.

After I had dropped him off I got my GPS out and found that there were a few caches around by the centre so I spent some time finding these and admiring the views and desperately hoping that I will be back walking in them very soon. Just look at this inviting path heading up the hill from this lake!

I grabbed a random stanger to take my photo at this Earth cache - you have to post your photo to prove you have been there!



Its not just the mountains that are beautiful here - the lakes are just as lovely and I spent a while just sitting beside these contemplating and watching the world go by.

25th April photo - happy birthday darling

Today is Steven's 50th birthday - happy birthday old man!

So here is the birthday boy!

We have had a lovely morning already. The girls got up early and decorated the house with balloons and banners and laid up the table for a breakfast full of the treats he likes - croissants and Cinnamon whirls.

After breakfast he opened his 50 presents - one for each year of his life. It took ages but he liked all the little gifts.Present No. 50 was the best - a Mac Book. Liam is already a total Apple convert and I am hoping Steven will become one now. He is all set up and playing with it now - we all had fun on Photo Booth - very silly but very funny.

And this one is the best of all - Liam is laughing!!

24th April photo - my camera

Whilst trying what to think to choose for today's photo - it occurred to me that my constant companion at the moment is my camera - where ever I go, it goes as well - but apart from the end result I had no evidence to show which camera I use - so today's pic is my Nikon D40.

I quite like my camera - but don't use it to the best of its ability - it stays on auto. I have done a couple of courses, but I am so forgetful that I can't remember which are the best settings to use - I should practice more! I dream about owning a Nikon D700 but as my cameras are thrown into my grubby geocaching bag and I already have dust inside this camera that I can't get rid of - don't think that I really deserve such a super monster ( thankfully I can't afford one anyway!)

I have 2 other cameras - both Panasonic which are fab - a compact one and a bridge one. I really like these cameras and they are so easy to carry and to use - no having to change lenses all the time, but on blance the DSLR does produce better photos (usually).

23rd April photo - woodlands and workplaces

I have been out geocaching again today and visited some fab places - from lovely woodlands to historical industrial workplaces. Again tons of photos - but not sure which one to choose for the daily photo yet.

My first cache was found after a lovely walk down some country lanes and into a small woodland which was carpeted with bluebells and ferns just about to open. Despite taking tons of photos in the woods - none of them really focused in and the lighting was not right - so just a poor offering of what was actually quite a spectacular sight!

After this I drove to Coalbrookdale - home to the famous IronBridge and did a few caches around here. One cache led me to the top of a hill and which gave lovely views over the World famous Iron Bridge in one direction and these huge modern day cooling towers at the power station in the other direction.

Despite tweaking this photo - I cannot improve the lighting - think something is wrong with my camera!

On next to the Quaker Burial ground and these stones are memorials to many famous people. This area is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution starting with the process of how to develop Iron and these are the tombstones of the industrial pioneers.

The stones are so old now that it is actually hard to read the inscriptions - this is one of the best. Then back into more more woods - Loamdale Dingle - for another tricky cache hidden under this bridge - I did get a little mucky!

The woods were next to The Museum of Iron so I paid a visit to the grounds. This is the original furnace - dated 1638 - where Abraham Darby first smelted iron ore. It is housed in this modern day building - which I think is rather nice.

The arches behind the building are home to another Industrial Revolution invention - the railways!

All in all a fab day out and there are still lots more caches to do in the area so I can't wait for a return trip.

22nd April - sweeties - opps!

A quick post today as I have got a busy day ahead - somebody is 50 on Saturday so I have a lot of preparation to do for that.

Today's photo is some sweeties! My diet is only going fair at the moment - I am trying to do it without going back to Slimming World - but without the ritual humiliation of a weekly weigh in to keep me on the straight & narrow, I am finding that I am not being as strict with myself as I should be.

My only redeemer is that it is only liquroice not chocolate!

21st April photo - tumbling tomatoes

Today I planted up my outdoor tumbling tomatoes - so it was an easy choice of photo for today.

I bought this outdoor wall hanging planter many years ago now and its great because a grow bag fits into it perfectly. At first I used to fill it with flowers - but once we discovered tumbling tomatoes that was it - each year now we have a bumper crop of yummy tomatoes. They grow really well because the garden is south facing and this wall gets sunshine on it all day long.

Here's hoping for bumper crop of tomatoes and another photo oportunity in the summer.

20th April photo - delightful bench

I found this lovely bench whilst out walking today and thought it was lovely. I like the natural materials, natural contours, the gorgeous views I had when I sat on it, but most of all I liked the sentiments engraved into the seat. This place was obviously special to others and what a lovely way to remember them at their special place.

Later on I found this bench and thought - oh perhaps I can make a collage of benches today - but sadly did not see any more! I don't know if the owner of this seat had left the watering can here on purpose or accidentally - but I thought it looked lovely and this picture came a close runner up in my choice of photo of the day.