Primrose Day

This would have been the 70 something anniversary of my parents marriage - they did see 60 years together and then Dad died a couple of weeks later, but still it was quite a landmark.

Mum always used to say that the date of their marriage was Primrose Day and I always believed it was simply because this beautiful spring flower was always in bloom at this time of year.

Primrose Day began in England on April 19, 1881
when Benjamin Disreaeli died. Queen Victoria sent primroses to be placed on his coffin. England's Primrose Day sprang from this simple gesture.

The weather here for the past week has been miserable, not a bit spring-like, with heavy rain and hail which has battered most of the primroses in the garden and growing wild. Such a shame because they were particularly beautiful this year.

Spring came this week

In the UK 1st March is St David's day - the feast day of David, ther patron saint of Wales who died on this day in 589. Celebration and parades are held in many places throughout Wales as has been the custom for centuries. The daffodil is the flower of Wales so many people wear them on their lapels on St David's day.

The weather this week has been much like spring except that every morning has started with thick fog! It really feels like the gloom of this winter is being chased away by the sunshine, and spring flowers will be bursting forth. So far there are plenty of snowdrops in the garden but not much else as it's still quite chilly up here on the hill.

Winter at last!

The weather has finally turned into winter, below freezing throughout the day and an east wind to make it feel even colder. We had some snow on Monday and although it's mostly gone the freezing temperatures has kept it on some tree and in places sheltered from the sun.

It's so long since I've written here, it feels very strange because so much has happened and I've not had the inclination to record any of it. The gloomy weather has been particularly depressing this winter and the ground is so muddy everywhere I walk which doesn't make dog walking much fun or photography. This is my favourite kind of winter weather even though it's currently -6° centigrade - brrrrrgh!

Continuing Holt Farm Photography

I made my first visit for 6 weeks to the beautiful organic gardens at Holt Farm and was surprised by the autumn colours even in the dull light. There had been a frost but unfortunately this had cleared by the time I got there.

Catching Up

My trip to Assynt was fantastic but I still haven't uploaded any photos, mainly because I'm not able to identify many of the locations and that is driving me nuts!!

A Sunday afternoon trip to the beach at Shurton was rewarded with a sunset, but generally the weather is typically November and Mendip.

Last weekend I went up to Snowdonia for some walking and photography but the weather on Saturday was appalling so had to make do with something more leisurely on Sunday as I needed to start the trip home in late afternoon.

I don't know where the rest of November went - the weather has been pretty rubbish but we've had the distraction of two foster dogs keeping us busy.

November 14th was significant as it was the last day I did any work for Clinic Appointments. Shame Callagenix who now own the business didn't have the same ethics as it's previous owners.

New month - New beginning, again??

Assynt - Photo Tour with Colin Prior

Today I'm flying to Inverness where I'll spend another day before joining the group on Wednesday morning at 8.30am for 5 days of intensive photography workshop.

Loonies go to the Waterfalls

Saturday 15th October - Wales playing France at Rugby in New Zealand and the Brecon Beacon Loonies go to the Waterfalls, again!

This comment by Mark08 sums it up -
"Well we had a great day...Plenty of activity...
Watched the rugby, visited waterfalls, watched a big group canyoning down the river, a marriage proposal under a waterfall, a canon/nikon/Sony banter with some tourists, and somebody wanting to hear stan's sexy welsh accent..
"
What a shame Wales lost the the rugby:(

The weather was perfect, beautiful soft autumn sunlight and warm enough not to need coats etc. Unfortunately I appeared to have lost my spare battery for the 60D, both G12 batteries were flat and worst of all the plate for my Manfrotto 410 head also appeared to be missing. I was somewhat distracted by this but the company was as usual great and the scenery fantastic so that made up for it.

Group photo by Duncan Simey.