I LOVE WALES too!

Bore da to you all

There have been a few promo postings about Wales on Facebook this week.  It got me thinking that whilst I am often saying I love the Wirral, one of the additional reasons for this is our close proximity to a place I adore. No, not Cheshire Oaks, Wales! I guess the Welsh blood helps but even so, surely it is one of the most glorious places to see and be?

My visits started in the fifties when, being lucky enough to always have had a car, we used to puttle (have I made that word up?) into North Wales regularly in one of dad's 'interesting' old cars - Austin 7, Opal, Beetle - with these journeys often taking 3 hours or so, mainly stuck in traffic jams, me with my head in a bucket being sick. Oh happy days! And yet, despite this and all those soggy tomato butties, I still love the place and even more so these days as the journey is less arduous!

The first sighting of the Horseshoe Pass or Whistling Sands beach; swimming in rivers; collecting blackberries with the cousins; tobogganing in sensational, hidden places and drinking hot chocolate there; clambering over the rocks at Swallow Falls; trying to see the sea at Blackrock Sands....................amazing. And then there is Portmeirion (one of my favourite places in the world) and those stupendous views of Cardigan Bay........the list is endless!

I have visited quite a lot the past couple of years, the most recent being in June.  This was just before I had to start the bloody chemo regime again and I am sure that filling up with all the beauty and splendour of (on that visit) Borth-y-Gest, Whistling Sands,  Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at Chirk and Betws y Coed helped me.  So very good for the soul!

And male voice choirs! Is there anything more emotional and uplifting to listen to? Well, apart from the wonderful voices of so many of my family - must definitely be something in that Welsh (and Scouse) air!

I have still to visit South Wales and so many other parts too.  Hopefully, I will try next year so if anyone has any suggestions for me, then I am here and waiting for them..................a BIG list please.

Hwyl fawr am nawr! x

PS I forgot the Snowdonian Railway, love it!

The Junk Lady

I have a making and doing (up) mentality.  I love salerooms and can hardly walk past a skip without wanting to trawl through it for goodies to revamp- so sad.  The only thing that really stops me gathering more 'treasures' (okay, junk to some) is lack of space. I love making arty farty bits and pieces too, it was almost an obsession but weekly counselling and drug (wine) therapy helped me. I'm joking..........a bit.

I am managing this new chemotherapy quite well but it does sap my energy so, for now, I'm doing less hiking, having fewer days out (oh, the joy of not working full time!) and hardly any visits to wine bars. Rest assured though, I will make up for it in the New Year! Instead, I have the tidiest drawers and cupboards ever. I rediscovered boxes of arty materials along the way too and I have been having lots of fun using them - well as much as you can have on your own that is, I don't want to sound too sad! I've made cards, Christmas decs, brooches and painted pieces of furniture. 

Before the dastardly cancer started, I was in the throes of a new business which was all about arts/crafts/creativity, alongside the link with better health and well-being. Whilst all these activities are fun, the bigger picture is that spending time being creative (and that includes a whole range of things from music to D.I.Y. too)  is good for the soul and our health. Time flies when you are involved in the process and it can be very calming. Art is therapy, certainly for me.

So, as Christmas is looming, why not bring out the paint and glitter, raid the garden for foliage to make arrangements, get the children to make those lovely paper chains, make yummy sweets, visit one of those fab places where you can all paint ceramics or make some cards instead of buying then? Go on, you know you want to!

PS I'm adding a shop and a gallery in the New Year, mainly for cards and prints of my photographs and maybe the odd piece found in that skip too, ha!