The benefits of a rainy day

One of the benefits of the inclement weather that we seem to be having today is that when I got up this morning, all of the animals were inside.  Not unusual for the dogs, I cant go anywhere in the house without at least one of them following, but to ee all of the cats in together was a rare treat. 

Tabitha is very photogenic, and is really sociable, and petite.

Poppy, is the scatty cat, and this was the best shot I could get of her on top of the wal cupboards in th kitchen.  I love the tabby stripes that you can only barely see, not jut on her face but her body too.

Molly here is showing us the ‘I’m wet, not amused’ face that cats do so well.  How dare the rain get her wet, it’s just not good enough.  Makes me smile, though a wet can is more likely to find your lap, for drying-out purposes, so I don’t complain too much.

Thomas and Fred can quite often be found together, here they have made a bed out of the shopping bags (prefereable to the clean laundry basket), and they will be here for a while.  They are brothers, from different litters, Fred has caught Tom in size, and may even have grow a bit bigger.  The girls sometimes seems to be half thier size.

Menai Strait

If you look closely, you can see both bridges.  This was taken from the island side, so the mountains of Snowdonia are in the background.

A truly beautiful spot. If you select the image, you can see it as large as possible in your browser. The old bridge is the one on the left, and the new bridge is on the right.

Neptune @ Peterhof

The fountains at Peterhof were spectacular, this one was of Neptune. We were lucky that we arrived after the rains had stopped, so it meant that we only had to dodge the fountain water when the wind blew!

Its amazing how all of these things are still here, and are very well kept and maintained, and available to be enjoyed by all.  There was a festival in preparation around the park, with some very noisy sound checks going on while we were there. We did get to see the parade, as the roads were closed so the bus was stuck. As it was something that wasn’t ‘for tourists’ it was really interesting to see.  Lots of drumming groups, a band, and even a bagpiper were part of the parade, each group showcasing their talents at pre-arranged spots on the march. Have a look, I’ve posted the video on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_18vuR8NMEE

 

 

On my way home I saw…

If you ever see a person stooped at the side of the road, it may be me. 

These fab flowers were growing on the wall in the middle of the village,  they caught my eye as a bright spot in the rain.

Tiny, but worth stopping to appreciate. Brightened my day. 

Elevenses

Can’t believe that we’ve been home a week already. I wonder where the Emerald Princess is now?

Last weekend at the beach

I’ve only just had a chance to review the photos I took of the dogs on the beach last weekend.  This one I had to share, Lara loves the sea so much.

Layla and Jess had fun too

Unlike this weekend, it was a beautiful day at the beach.

Merry Christmas / Nadolig Llawen

Merry Christmas all!

I really enjoy putting up the tree, we have ornaments from holidays, and memories of the years past.  This is the new tree that we bought in an effort to make it harder for the cat to climb inside, she likes to play with the decs!  By accident we seem to have found the answer to keeping her occupied this year, she adopted a box of tinsel while i was unpacking the decs, so we have left it by the tree, and so far the box is winning!

We took a trip to some Christmas markets in Berlin this year, so the wooden decs had to be on the tree this year, as well as the bears, and a few decs that I’ve made.

So I wish you all a merry Christmas, and a happy new year! may 2016 be an exciting time 🙂