Merry Christmas everybody…

Three Ships by Tony Fernandes – a Christmas card design for the RNLI, 2012

It’s that time of year again and may I wish everyone out there a very merry Christmas. I will also use this as an opportunity to “plug” two of my favourite charities.

First I am sparing a moment to think of “those in peril on the sea” and the wonderful people at the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) who risk their own lives to save seafarers.

Of the Christmas cards I received this year, my favourite was the one above, sold on behalf of the RNLI. I always have a soft spot for them as many of my ancestors in Poole, Dorset, were fishermen. By chance Poole is also the home of the RNLI. Here’s their website.

I may send RNLI cards next year, but this year my chosen charity was the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). Here is my favourite from those I sent out…

Wren and rose-hip Christmas card design by Kate Green for the RSPB, 2012

And here is the RSPB website…

Merry Christmas everybody!

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Red river in full flow at Usk…

The River Usk flowing through the town of Usk yesterday…

Yesterday, the eve of Christmas Eve, we went for a wander through the Usk Valley in Monmouthshire. There has been flooding in many area of the UK this last week and the River Usk was running red with mud after all the rain – we are all

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A night on the tiles: Rainbow orange…

The beautiful rainbow-orange tiled wall of the ladies’ loos in the Kuku Club…

I don’t get out much, but the other night I went to someone’s retirement party at the Kuku Club in the Park Plaza Hotel in Cardiff.

It was a pleasant evening, but my abiding memory is of the ladies’ loos! The walls and

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Paperwhites ready for their close-up…

My paperwhite narcissi Ziva in early December – picture taken with my versatile Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom

The pot of paperwhite narcissi was a bit of an experiment, really. I always thought they would be a good idea for Christmas and this year I actually got around to buying a do-it-yourself kit from Marks & Spencer.

I planted the three bulbs in their white oval pot on November 10 and the instructions said

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The snow gates are closed…

The Wall – concept art for George R R Martin’s The Game of Thrones…

It’s that time of year when the first snows fall in the United Kingdom, especially in the Highlands of Scotland or the high Pennines of northern England. And I listen out for those portentous words, “the snow gates are closed”…

In reality, the news refers to something like

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