Posted in Art & Design, History, Uncategorized, tagged design, History on May 2, 2013 | 6 Comments »
Carthaginian war elephant by Zig Zlick on deviantART…
I first thought of putting together this image collection about war elephants months ago, when listening to In Our Time with Melvin Bragg, in which he and guests were talking about Hannibal of Carthage and his invasion of Italy, 218-203 BC.
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, is (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, History, Traditions & Superstitions, Uncategorized, tagged architecture, design, History, traditions on April 14, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Face above the door, a Cardiff side street…
This magnificent face is above all the front doors of a row of old semi-detached houses in a small Cardiff side street that I often walk along.
He intrigues me so much that (more…)
Posted in History, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged Carmarthenshire, Spring, Wales on April 1, 2013 | 8 Comments »
Primroses beside the old canal at Pembrey in April 2006…
It’s April now, and icy as midwinter here in Wales. Spring’s growth has been set back a few weeks and my thoughts turn to an earlier and warmer Spring, when we walked beside the old canal at Pembrey, near Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.
Footpath beside the old canal at Pembrey…
These pictures were taken in (more…)
Posted in Gardening, History, Nature, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Ceredigion, Gardening, History, Nature, Wales on November 1, 2012 | 13 Comments »
Colourful nasturtiums in the garden at Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion, on a wet day in August 2012…
It’s November already and I still haven’t finished sharing my holiday snaps from August! On a wet day (and there were many) we visited the National Trust property at Llanerchaeron, in Ceredigion near the middle of Wales’s west coast.
The property at Llanerchaeron is a late 18th-century Welsh gentry estate – with a house, outbuildings, walled gardens and a small farm. The house is described as a villa, although that makes me think of a Roman country house, or a glamorous holiday home on the Mediterranean, or even a small town house in Edwardian times.
The villa, designed by John Nash, at Llanerchaeron
This one was (more…)
Posted in Birds, Gardening, History, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged birds, dorset, Gardening, wildfowl on October 12, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Upton House in Poole, Dorset – now the setting for a small country park
My childhood holidays in the late 1950s and 1960s were spent in Upton, a suburb on the northern edge of Poole in Dorset. My mother was born in Poole and Upton was where her mother and sister still lived in those days.
But Upton House was unknown to me until a few years ago, as it was in private hands. In fact my cousin now tells me that when she was little the local lady of the Upton manor would go around distributing largesse to poor families like ours!
In this blog post I intended just to show the pictures I took of the lovely flowers in the walled garden and some of the wildfowl you can see from the shore at the bottom of the garden, but (more…)
Posted in History, Uncategorized, Words, tagged art, design, Gardening, science, Words on July 24, 2012 | 11 Comments »
A romantic painting of old Damascus by Frederic, Lord Leighton, 1874
The city of Damascus is in the news for all the wrong reasons in 2012 as the awful bloodshed goes on in Syria. Forgive me if, for a moment, I sidestep the political and humanitarian issues and instead look at the glories that have been. For Damascus once meant luxury and craftsmanship for us, here in the west of Europe.
Damascus, whose name comes from roots meaning “a well-watered place”, is the capital of Syria and its second-largest city. It is in the south-west of the country and is sometimes (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, History, Uncategorized, tagged Cardiff, History on May 7, 2012 | 7 Comments »
The Olympic rings being raised on Sunday, April 22, 2012…
On the way back from Cardiff’s RHS Garden Show in the rain on April 22, I was surprised to see the Olympic rings being raised in front of City Hall. I guess it’s because Cardiff is the venue for some of the London 2012 football events.
As I had my camera with me, I snapped the rings, along with some general views of a few of the wonderful Edwardian buildings of Cathays Park.
Corinthian capitals…
And with the Olympics in mind, I got to thinking how Greek, how (more…)
Posted in History, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged coins, History, Nature, wildlife on April 1, 2012 | 4 Comments »
A Falkland Islands 5p coin found in my change here in the UK...
I always love finding alien coins in my change and this week’s discovery seems particularly fitting – a shiny 5p piece from the Falkland Islands, far away in the South Atlantic. I say fitting, because we are coming up to the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina.
But this is not a political post, nor is it a tribute to those 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors and airmen and three civilian Falklanders who sadly died in that short conflict.
This is just about Falkland Island coins and the wildlife depicted on them.
That 5p coin features a Black-browed Albatross or (more…)
Posted in History, Uncategorized, Words, tagged armour, History, Words on March 18, 2012 | 16 Comments »
A brilliant depiction of 'Crestfallen' by Brutalion on Deviant Art...
I’ve always loved the word “crestfallen”. It paints such a picture of abject despair. When we are watching a rugby game and one team just gives in, we always say “they’ve dropped their heads.” “Crestfallen” conjures up a similar sort of image…
Well, as I often find, I have spent most of my life getting it wrong when it comes to a word’s etymology. However, as I think I prefer my version, I will start off by saying where I always thought “crestfallen” came from.
A replica Greek helmet with crest - shiny!
I used to have a fascination with arms and armour. I particularly (more…)
Posted in History, Traditions & Superstitions, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged flowers, traditions, Wales on March 1, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Miniature daffodils in the garden, in flower in time for St David's Day
Oh how we love our daffodils, here in Wales. And especially today, March 1, St David’s Day – our national day. We have a choice – to wear a daffodil or a leek – so most people choose the daff and an easy way is to buy a charity daffodil pin from Marie Curie Cancer Care. I’ll be wearing mine.
It’s also a day when (more…)
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