The Pumping Station

Sorry everyone, another picture intensive post (as are all the posts planned this week). I'm desperately trying to get to grips with my camera and am still rather rubbish as I can't quite figure it out. I'm sure I'll run out of things to photograph soon, just bear with me.

I was at a bit of a loose end one weekend and decided to go for a wander around the Pumping Station in Cardiff, a beautiful Victorian pumping station once owned by Welsh Waters and now a treasure trove in a Grade II Listed building. Everything is for sale, and it has everything you can think of: antiques, vintage, even modern day ... erm, stuff. My parents, once they learned where I was headed, decided to tag along to hunt for a birthday present for one of their friends. The Pumping Station is so big, so packed with goodies, that we only covered the ground floor before lunch. So we headed to the nearby Harvester in Cardiff Bay for yummy goodness and then returned to the Pumping Station to scour the upstairs floor. Be warned people, you could lose days there.

Some old friends ... erm, miniturised

Apparently, this is the world's largest lion and is in the Guiness Book of Records.
When he died they stuffed him and he ended up here!

I wore my Ginger skirt that I'd made (and completely failed to blog about, shame on me). I love my Ginger skirt, unfortunately my step-dad can't seem to work my camera either and the photos he took of me were mostly too blurry to post. Suffice to say, the skirt looks awesome, fit together really well and completely deserves its own blog post (note to self, write that!).

Not only did we manage to fit in the Pumping Station, but we also decided - as the weather was being particularly lovely - to go for an ice cream and a wander along the Victorian Pier in Penarth as my parents had never been. The art deco pavillion on the pier is beautiful but in need of restoration, Penarth Arts & Crafts Ltd are asking for local volunteers to help with their planned renovations. The pavillion managed to survive a fire in 1931 that destroyed much of the pier, the Port Royal Park (a 7,000 ton ship) being blown by gale force winds in to the pier in 1947 and the Bristol Queen paddle steamer running in to the pier during dense fog in 1966. Poor thing, it's had a bit of a bad time of it, and it's one of the last remaining Victorian Piers in Wales. It's not particularly long but it has great views and, on this occasion, a local brass band playing. Any day that involves ice cream is a good day, but this one was particularly lovely.

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The Big Cheese 2011

Every year my local town, Caerphilly, holds a free festival called The Big Cheese on the last weekend of July. So named - I presume - because once upon a time it was an actual cheese festival to showcase Caerphilly Cheese. Nowadays it's the site of a huge fun fair and market with organic food, homemade gifts and exotic animal showcases (the birds of prey are fabulous). There's living history and battle re-enactments in the castle, not to mention the mead and ale tent. Oh, and the hog roast. There's an awful lot of pig eaten at this event.

Every year I take the wolf for a wander through the crowds ... a very slow wander as we're often stopped every couple of feet by people asking about him. This year I took my camera and below are some of the things I snapped whilst out and about. Warning, a little picture intensive (I got a bit over-happy to be posting a non-css post).

I was a little fascinated by this lovely cider press, but it was awfully noisy

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St Fagans Family Outing

St Fagans (aka The Museum of Welsh Life) lies on the outskirts of Cardiff. I've known of it's existence for years, Doctor Who filmed there for the two-parter Human Nature and Family of Blood back in Series 3 but I'd never visited so I eagerly agreed to a family outing to the (free) museum with my Mum, my sister and my nephew. It was slightly surreal to walk around the village and recognise it all, knowing full well I'd never been there, but otherwise it was a lovely day out and I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in the area with some time to kill.

Noah, aged (nearly) 3 years old

My little sister, Elizabeth Bennett (I kid you not)

St Fagans Castle Gardens

Climbing all over Mum ... Lizzie could relate

Static Electricity Boy!

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Dydd Santes Dwynwen Hapus!

{ Source: D. C. Perkins,
Lovespoons from Wales (Swansea, 1989) }

Or, Happy St Dwynwen's Day!

Today is the Welsh equivalent of St Valentines Day, dedicated to Dwynwen (pronounced Doyn-win ... kinda), a woman who lived in the 5th Century and was reputed to be the most beautiful of Celtic King Brychan Brycheiniog's 25 daughters.

There are several different versions of the story, mainly due to the Bards preference for oral tradition, but they all agree that Dwynwen fell in love with a prince named Maelon Dafodrill. Some versions say her Father refused to consent to her marriage to Maelon because he had pledged her to another. Some say that when Maelon found out she was pledged to another he rejected her and/ or raped her. They all agree that the two lovers were parted and that Dwynwen begged God to make her forget him.

The stories say that she was visited by an Angel who granted her wish, but who also turned Maelon in to a block ice. Dwynwen was given three wishes and she asked that Maelon be thawed, that she never marry and that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers. As a mark of her thanks she gave her life to God and founded a Convent at Llanddwyn.The well located there was named after Dwynwen after her death and is believed to have prophetic fish (or eels) who can tell you if your relationship will be a happy one. It is still a place of pilgrimage to this day and it has become tradition to exchange Lovespoons with one's partner as a symbol of love.

Oh, and if you thought 25 daughters was a lot, Brychan was rumoured to have 11 sons as well. In fact, some stories place his number of children at around 50 (it's a wonder he got around to any Kinging)! 

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Dawn Skies, Snow & Furry Friends

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