Feel sure I should be writing something on here... Just not sure what, or even a why now...

Franco has come home from hospital, a week ago last Friday... I don't think I can write on here at the moment about stuff, so keeping it photographs and whatever...

Francos sister and son have been over, we have been out and about, below La Trocha set up for chess...

And on the top of Miramar at Las Lagunas its Christmas time already!  Lots of family entertainment for young and old!

I asked Father Christmas and his elf to pose for me for a moment!

Sun snow sky and sea.... part of a shed and a Christmas tree!

We went to the car boot sale at the Hipódromo at La Cala de Mijas yesterday, it was okay, or even quite good, especially after the same 'ol same 'ol up at La Trocha on a Sunday.  We had had a spot of rain earlier on and wind was whipping up but it stayed away while we were up there almost at the top of the mountain!

The rain came down later though, by the bucketful, and it rained most of the night and still this morning on and off... Took Pipster out and it started to spit and spot on our way home!

TTFN
Marian

 Two snowy views from the car on the way here on Wednesday, couldn't believe it, even with my own eyes!! Snow, snowy fog and nothing else in view!!

Some views as we stopped, and we stopped all over the place!! Luckily we were the only car we saw!!!  I wanted to get out and get closer to the snow, but we were inches deep in water when we went to open the car doors!!

And in Builth Wells, all green, obviously low enough not to have snow, but it was bitterly cold Wednesday!
And below the Builth Bull!!!  Not much more to add to that just yet!!

The river Wye is very wide here, as it is here where I am staying just now, you can hear it all night... think I mentioned that already!

Some more stories from here... I don't think I am repeating my self here?

Firstly a friend of hers, whilst nursing during WW2 and looking after 'the boys' here in Wales... She was asked if she would wash the false teeth... and she did, but all together in one bowl!!! Arh... nightmare!!!  She moved onto other things quite soon after that!!

And every evening they were given soup, not much for lunch, and soup each night, the soup was made up of all the leftovers from lunch time... One might think surely there couldn't have been any leftovers?? But it was what was left on plates!!! OMG, imagine, people forks and knives in and out of the food, saliva left in the food!?! UUUUGGGGHHHHH!! LOL  That is what they made the soup from every day!!  A pound a week pay, chips on a Friday from the chippy as a treat... and soup every night for supper!!!

As a child, stationed in Aldershot, the Aldershot Tattoo... She says the stands and grounds went dark, totally dark, totally quiet, then the sound of a faraway piper began... then a light in a far corner and another piper... lights came on one by one, more and more pipers all combining to make a wondrous sound, she says it was amazing, and gave her chills!  It did me as she told me the story...

Not sure whats wrong with my taste buds, brought chocolate with me, dark chocolate, salted, and I can't eat it!!! It is awful!!  And its the only chocolate I brought with me!!

TTFN
Marian

I don't think this is too clear it reads....

David Smith
279 Pentregethin Road
Manselton
March 13th 1924

...beneath the name and address it say...

David Smith is my name Wales is my nation.  Glamorgan is my swelling place.  Christ is my salvation.  When I am dead and in my grave.  when all my bones are rotten look in this book you shall see my name when I am quite forgotten.

How very strange, and eerie, and sad too... the book was published between 1909 and 1914, its a first edition, but not sure which date this was published in!  I did check online, and the only David Smiths from that area in Swansea all died in the 1930's or 40's, so would be interesting to know the journey of this book... how many people have read these words he wrote I wonder!

Today began with ice on the windscreen, then blue skies to the post office and inside it too I am guessing, but when I came out it was Sleet, with a capital 'S'!!  I still continued onto Swansea a little bit of frozen water never stopped me in my tracks!  And once I was on the road it stopped and the sun was back out, the sky the most amazing blue, ice blue!  Parked in the city centre and walked through the shops, was such a beautiful day, I had my Costa Coffee, of course! And back out into the town centre, it was either bright blue skies or sleet!  I was almost back to the car when I caught a message on my Facebook and following instructions, returned into the town and to the Free Book Shop, Healthy Planet... It was closed, it was sleeting and I asked for shelter under an umbrella, me and another lady both!  The store opened and I waited for the exhibition to open upstairs, I wandered around the book shop and picked up three, for free, books, old ones, the one aforementioned and two others, and upstairs after quarter hour, it was a great exhibition, the rooms were being used to demonstrate thoughts on books.... the blood and taped area around a body, the pizza box left unattended to demonstrate a who-dunnit;... a wonderful piece of shadow expressionism showed the way small pieces can become brought to life by light; then my friends husbands piece was a mannequin seated holding a book, a pile of books at his feet, behind him a movie showing short film clips displayed upon the pages of a book, to show how when reading our minds eye sees the images the author is telling us in their writing... a ticking clock with random chimes accompanied the scene to further expand the sense of time moving quickly when we are lost in a good book....

When I left I felt very uplifted, what a great, and unexpected morning!  I carried my three books back to my car and drove back, through.... sleet and sunshine!

I had lots to do this afternoon on a book I am reformatting for Smashwords, but got lost in cooking dinner and cooking dinner for another day, and trying to find out who the heck was David Smith of 279 Pentregethin Road Manselton...

TTFN
Marian

I am still coughing well, should go to doctors tomorrow for my bp check, see how the weather is first me thinks, slept a bit better... Yesterday evening I suddenly felt about 10% better in one hit, not sure if adrenaline can do that!!! I got up off the sofa and got my foot caught in the computer cable, lap top was off, but I always [did] leave the cable out, under but behind my feet, well, I was getting up, and reaching for a pack of printer paper as I went, so you can guess, I fell, big time, I really fell, completely fell!  I hit the coffee table, with my back, hit the floor with the rest, predominately I hit and hurt my left knee, left hip and left elbow as I hit the fireplace with it! somehow I didn't smash my head on the fire, so you could call it a lucky fall! 

Anyway it was a shock, it hurt like hell and I cried, and Pippa came to lick my face clean, I couldn't get up on my own, so had to be pulled up, can't believe it, what a plonker eh!  So I am not allowed to have the cable under my feet any more and it is now, as I write behind me on the sofa!  A little bruising, but taking its time, and I find my bones must be harder than I have been worrying about, so going skiing later, or should that be bob-sleighing!

We heard about Cardiff last night, all snowed in, and most of the area of Wales where we live, but us?  Not a sign of it!  I got up a few times overnight to check out the window, but the street outside remained calm, snow and frost free!  The second time our local friendly fox was passing by trotting [do they trott!] up our street, with a jaunty look on his face!

Our car amazingly had a sprinkling of snow on its roof when we went out about 9am'ish, but that was it!  In Swansea this morning everyone was speaking about the snow in the surrounding villages, people couldn't get into the city centre.... and then we got back, and half an hour later, look at it!

We went from none, to a road that has turned into a bob-sleigh run! And downhill is where most of the vehicles are ending up!!! Blooming heck 2nd gear!!!! Do I have to spell it out!!! SECOND GEAR!!!!

The garden, is so pretty!!! Pippa loves it, she has been out about a dozen times since it started!!

The neighbourly fox was walking up the street as we drove in, and about an hour ago, a walker on the path suddenly froze as 'he' came out of a neighbours driveway, and over the path and made a run for it up the road!!  Shock! I am getting used to see his friendly face!

Okay now don't go crazy on me... there has been a gap of about an hour, Franco took Pippa out, harness, lead, the lot, well all bar wellington boots, on her!  They came back after a few minutes, the snow was okay, so I joined them and went for a wonderful walk, not slippery on the paths, watching cars, which on the otherhand, were all over the place, like a bunch of drunks after a good night out, and then left abandoned!  I seriously can't get over how much Pippa loves the snow, running through it, raising her nose and sniffing and barking into it!  She got out of breath and was panting through sheer joy of it!

Can't believe how much snow fell in such a short time, goes to show when I last saw it, I suppose it was three years ago really, when I was here, and saw snow nearly every day for over two months!!!  It's stopped now, but the sky still shows a promise of gifts yet to come...

Snow
Now
O'ribble
Weather

TTFN
Marian

It's ShNOW time!!!  Apparently our snowfall hasn't been that bad, compared to rest of the UK, well, its still snowing and we're in a rare Red Alert area, the only in the UK!!! A foot of snow is expected, although not holding out much hope of that!!!

The sky above the house, pretty much the color of slush, and I don't mean, raspberry flavour!

The wood [our garden jungle], looks quite pretty I think, maybe if I further in, I will find the lamp post, and see the light through the wardrobe full of fur coats, then further in the spare bedroom of an uncles house, and all the time I have spent in this world will miraculously disappear! 

Oh, well not everything of course, do we have the option for picking and choosing... has the snow got in my head, sounds like it!  Not snow blindness, snow madness.....

 Even the palm tree is covered in snow!  Its falling much much heavier now, the snow I mean, although the state of the palm tree I wouldn't be surprised if it collapsed under weight, I don't think, until I trimmed it properly in the summer, that it had ever been trimmed in its life!

View down over the valley, can't even see the mountain beyond!!

There was no snow last night, but about 4 or 5am it started and was about an inch or so by 6am!  Franco went off to work about that time, not too bad out there, about an hour later, I could hear a van trying to get up the road, I got up and peered out the window, he was right out side, and sliding about all over the place, I thought for a minute he was going to slide into our neighbours cars!  He let it go back a bit, then kept trying to make it up the hill, I went back to bed and could hear his clutch wining, I'm surprised he didn't burn it out!  I wanted to go out there and tell him to just stop, hand brake on, put it into 2nd gear, and slowly pull away up the hill... nice and steady!  I remember on a driving lesson in Hemel Hempstead, we got to the bottom of a really steep hill, and my instructor said he would get us up the hill, I wanted to do it!  So passing by all the people sliding about or just given up, I did the above and got us to the top of the road and on we went!  I had spent a long time driving with Dave! And I remember another day in the snow, again in Hemel, just before Baz was born!!! pushing a white van up a steep incline!

Wednesday we went to the Rheola market again, it was till quite, hopefully more people will come when they know its there, the Clydach market closed so you would think people would drive to this one instead, they had to drive to that anyway, so it's not too different!  It was cold, and the car park was like an ice rink, but soon they're moving to a nearby location and it will be much warmer!!!  More closed in and no windows!

TTFN
Marian