Bodnant Gardens

Today was Father's Day, and being Sunday we tend to go out on a trip somewhere. As we are now members of The National Trust, it was decided that Bodnant Gardens was the place to visit. I won't go into too much detail as it would spoil the surprise, but this place is recommended. I was gobsmacked at the size of the whole place and we will definately go again. It is perfect for going for peace and quiet (unless you get near the peacocks!) and to relieve the stresses of life. The wonderful aroma of different trees as you walk around among the sequoias and magnolias adds to the experience.

The little figure standing at the bottom of the massive tree on the left is Ben, just to show as an example of how tall some of the trees are in Bodnant Gardens.

One of our most famous snapshots!

This little gem of a photo was taken in the mid 1960's. The sheep is on top of our first house in No.7 Hafod Druffydd, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Hard to believe but this is a real photo, not a manufactured one. As you can imagine it has been entered into loads of competitions and according to my dad was published in The News of The World at sometime. How did the sheep get there? Well, at the back of the row of houses there was, or possibly still is, quite a high wall which reaches up near the edge of the roof and it was chased by a dog. It therefore walked along the ridge of the roof from 3 houses down to where it was photographed. Eventually a local farmer who owned the animal had to get on the roof and get it down.

Pity it wasn't filmed!

Ben's birthday today

It's Benjamin birthday today. He is my youngest son and was born in Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor. And he did go to school today (under protest!). Besides he had a humanities test and most of the class knew it was his special day! He got up extra early to open a couple of presents and a few cards, and one present arrived from Play.com on the day, which was the new Tomb Raider game on PS2. He is as I write playing on his other new game, Spiderman 3, on his Wii console.

Happy birthday, Ben!

Dances With Wolves

Buying a surround sound system yesterday has ignited my desire to watch films again. After bringing home my son Simon from school after his English exam, I decided to watch a DVD, something good and epic. Well, I hadn't watched Dances for few years so that was the one. I must admit I like Kevin Costner films. He makes films that are a combination of what I would say feel good and at the same time have that tinge of the hardness of life about them. Dances, I feel, deals with loss (the frontier, culture, way of life). He even lost his horse and his wolf, but the character he plays, Dunbar, is a genuinely fine human being, and is above all prejudice. Even though I had seen the film when it came out in 1991 with a very pregnant wife who continuously asked me ' how long is this film?', I was still enthralled by it, and the surround sound almost made me feel I was on the prarie in South Dakota. The afternoon went flying by and at almost 4 hours long it is not overlong, as some films can be. There is also a very good documentary, plus some behind the scenes footage.

Taking the Wii!

A worrying problem for any parent, but do children worry when their parent gets to like playing video games too much? They do when they can’t get on it!
My youngest was supposed to get a Wii console system last Christmas but they were in such short supply we couldn't find one. Finally got one a few months ago through e-bay at a good price, and we felt that we had fulfilled our part of the deal.
Being a fan of sports I had to have a go at the supplied sports game that comes with the console. I must say that I am quite addicted to the golf simulation, and the tennis is pretty good as well. Even with the same 9 holes that are available, it still grabs you and tests your ability.
My best score is -8 and I can usually get an average of -4.

And I have had a hole in one on the 2nd.

That’s a good motivational factor!

Penrhyn Castle

Another day out with the family today, a place where they had been before but was a new experience for me. I am glad I went. Got out of the house (needed it after feeling a bit down the day previously) and it was a worthwhile visit. I have never visited a place before that dripped with so much opulence. There is a Rembrandt painting on display and the staff are so knowledgeable. There is such a lot to see, and we didn’t have time to see the gardens properly. The National Trust staff were pushing the membership quite strongly, and we took it as they had a special discount that actually finishes tomorrow, and we got our admission fee of £20 back. We thought it was a good deal as we will probably be visiting a few National Trust sites throughout this summer.
And we can finish off the visit to Penrhyn Castle another time.

Michael Connelly

I have acquired some Michael Connelly thrillers recently and about to read ‘The Poet’ tonight. He was a crime reporter for the L.A. Times for 3 years and his experiences helped him write his first novel ‘The Black Echo’.
I am a big fan of Elmore Leonard and love the movie adaptations of his novels. I am hoping that Connelly’s books are of the same vein. With the opening lines of the first paragraph being ‘Death is my beat. I make my living from it. I forge my professional reputation on it…I’ve always thought the secret of dealing with death was to keep it at arm’s length. That’s the rule.’
Sounds like good escapist fun!

Me and William Morgan’s brother

It turns out that I (and thousands others) am related to that famous saviour of the Welsh language, Bishop William Morgan. Born in 1545, as all Welsh children were taught in school, he translated the bible from the Hebrew and Greek versions into Welsh. 100 were printed in London, and one was presented to Elizabeth I, which was used at the present Prince of Wales’ investiture in 1969. As the bishop was childless, everyone of us descendants are related to his siblings, which I am to his brother, Morgan ap John ap Morgan.
We paid a visit to the family home of the Morgans at Ty Mawr about 2 weeks ago and is well worth a visit, though you should bring your hiking boots with you. It is, however, a very pleasant walk, which we took from the village of Penmachno.