13th June photo - strange happenings in Oxford!

Today we went to Oxford to attend Oxford Brookes University open day as Liam is interested in studying there. Whilst he attended his information talks - I sneaked off to do a few geocaches and what strange things did I find there today!!

First strange thing was this shark through the roof of someones house!! I found it when I was sent to find it for one geocache! I have seen it on the TV before but I had no idea that it was here in Oxford.

Strange thing No.2 - a geocache in a launderette! This was the most unusual geocache I have ever done - it was called the tale of the lost sock and the cache was hidden in an out of order machine where all the lost socks are thrown!! - It could only happen in Oxford.

Strange thing No.3 a jail turned into a luxury hotel - this is the Malmasion hotel in Oxford which used to be the towns jail but is now this swish hotel - its gorgeous.

And just a collection of photos from the day - it was lovely and sunny all day - so we are all a bit pink now!

12th June photo - orange blossom

This lovely Orange blossom shrub is in flower in our garden and the fragrance from the flowers is just gorgeous. I have cut a bunch which is now sitting in our lounge making it smell a lot sweeter.

I think the following photo will be photo of the day as I like the blue sky behind it - but I have added a few more which I like as well.

11th June photo - summer strawberries

The sun's out and summer is here and Wimbledon is just around the corner - so what better way to recognise summer than a bowl full of Strawberries - lush!

10th June photo - Llandudno marathon geo-caching session

Today T & I ventured to Llandudno to do some geocaching around the Great Orme there - we had a great day out - walking for a full 12 hours! I think you can safely say that my back and foot have both been given a through testing and I don't seem to have suffered any ill effects - so yay I am going to start hill walking again!

So in recognition of this momentous occasion this marker post to the summit is going to be my photo of the day.
We arrived at 10 in the morning and parked at the Pier head and headed off into Happy Valley for the start of our geocaching marathon (14 finds!).

There are quite a few ways to get to the top - tram and cable car and did we take the easy way - NO way - we walked it - TWICE as we had problems with the multi geocache that we were doing!

The tram on its way up from the town and with lots of waving school children - it was not a deserted summit as there were 3 or 4 different school parties up there today!


Unfortunately the weather was not at its best and it rained on us in the morning and the clouds remained low so the views from the top were not brilliant - but you can see how lovely it was - just about!


These Billy goats gruff roam freely about the Great Orme and are even immortalised in this bronze statue.

I did get this photo of one on the hillside, but he blends a little too well into the background - otherwise he was a close contender for photo of the day.

This was the time of day at our last cache - sunset!



We just had to do this last one - as it was the final of the multi cache which had driven us mad all day - but when we got to it there was a right sting in the tail - necessitating even more walking and clue finding - we were not amused! We got back to the car at 22.00hrs - after walking all day! We were shattered and then had a 2 hour drive home - let it not be said that we are nothing but hearty Shropshire Lasses!

9th June photo - June shop in town

Well for June's shop watch I have chosen this very traditional shop on Castle Gates Wild Thyme whole foods.

It sells all natural foods & products - mostly locally grown and organic. I like to get my oats & muesli from here - grown at Pim Hill Organic Farm and dried fruit and goats milk yogurt. It has not been modernised in any way - there are old original floorboards and a huge fireplace and hearth with wood burner - its really cosy in there in the winter.

I was really lucky when I took this photo that there was this old bicycle propped up outside making it look even more traditional. I like the good old fashioned scales seen in the upstairs window - I have never noticed them before.

8th June photo - poppy field

Well I got my poppy field picture today - but the field was not as crowded with poppies as it usually is - it is often just a sea of red - typical this year because I want a photo of it!

Anyway one of these will be my photo of the day - even if it is not a sea of red!

7th June 2009 - rocky road

Sometimes life just sucks so much that you just have to have chocolate and what better way than Rocky Road. I made a huge slab of it this afternoon and if I am not careful I am going to eat it all!
This first picture has been taken with my 50mm lens, which I used to love, but I think there is something wrong with it as everything I shoot with it now, is over exposed and it will not allow me to change any of the dials on the lens itself - the camera just refuses to click until it goes back to a certain spot.This second pic is taken with my Panasonic bridge camera - which I seem to be using more and more now.