Christmas Left Overs

Like the rest of the country we are eating up the contents of the fridge, I relish the left overs more than the original Christmas dinner, as it provides a series of ‘easy teas’ with minimum input from me, and that sounds very tasty; but somehow there never seems enough of the right food to hit the spot for teenagers. Despite tins of chocolates, boxes of biscuits littering the house and the remains of a  large dead bird in the fridge, ‘I’m hungry; what’s to eat’ is still the cry reverberating through the house.

The image above is a ‘left over’ photo from our holiday in Wales. It’s of  the  strapping ‘all day breakfast’ at the world famous ‘Pete’s Eats’ in Llanberis. I had a slightly more modest toasted cheese and tuna sandwich and very tasty it was too.

I read the section entitled ‘Pete’s Bistro’ on the  Pete’s Eats website, as a one time self-employed person, it chilled my spine. Brrrrrr

Saying Thank You

Mr Uphilldowndale has been sending thank you notes out to those who came to his aid and helped him both at the time of the accident and during his hospital stay at Ysbyty Gwnedd, it is quite a list.

Kicking off with a driving examiner on his way to work who seeing Mr Uphdd’s predicament turned his car around and came back to help, armed with first aid kit and sat him in his car whilst the ambulance came.

Here is the view from Mr Uphdd’s hospital bed, there were reports of him sat in bed with his OS map working out the peaks!

What I don’t have a shot of is the helicopters* that seemed ta arrive as regular as 99 busses when we were there, bringing in others who had an urgent need. Given how much time Mr Uhdd spend in the hills, miles from anywhere with no phone reception, I’m grateful he could be easily retrieved by ambulance (one of the  ambulance crew had his own bone breaking accident on exactly the same bridge, some years ago).

To update on his progress, the splints are off, the stiches are out and whilst he is getting more mobile he’s not driving yet. His blood tests and physiotherapy are now at either the Dr’s surgery or the local hospital which is very good news. 

* Which may or may not, have been piloted by Prince William (other helicopter pilots are available).

Lichen

Lichens growing on a slate grave stone in Capel Curig.

Lichens are formed from green or blue green alga and a fungus- that join together in a mutually beneficial relationship. So says my  library book, and who am I to argue, I just think they look amazing

Spud on Sunday Part XXXIIII

So it is Monday,  this post is late, we were unavoidably delayed. It’s Mr Uphilldowndales leg that hobbled us.

Here is Spud climbing trees in Wales

Seeing More of Wales Than we Bargained For

Here is a serene and silvery view of Wales

The Uphilldowndale family are seeing a little more of Wales at the moment than we bargained for, 

especially Mr Uphilldowndale.  But that as they say, is another story.

All will be revealed

Snowdon

There was really only one day  whilst we were away that was a sensible option, weather wise, for climbing Snowdon, so we geared up appropriately and  set out. Joe, Mr Uphilldowndale and Spud the dog climbed to the summit, I however wussed out; Tom kindly escorted me from the hill (perhaps he was  thinking  of my redisposition for wandering off the beaten track in search of a photo opportunity, the nearby  Crib Goch isn’t somewhere you’d want to find yourself by accident ).

The Miners track Snowdon, taken from the Pyg track

Tom and I found it no hardship to sit in the cafe back  at the  summit of Pen-y-Pass and drink hot chocolate, whilst we waited for their return*. There is of course a less arduous way to get to the summit of Snowdon.

Spud brought a collection of ticks back with his as a souvenir ughhhhh.

A Week in Wales

Staying at  Capel Curig, in the heart of Snowdonia

Beautiful at dawn or dusk

Red for Danger

Continuing with the fungi theme, I found this  fairy-tale  specimen in a forest in Wales.

We’ve been away for a weeks holiday and very nice it was too (that’s is the holiday was nice, the weather could have been kinder). I’d like to tell you I toiled for hours through the forest to find such a handsome specimen, but I’d be lying, I found it in the car-park whilst Joe and I were waiting,

for Mr Uphilldowndale and Tom to return from a mountain bike excursion on the Marin Trail in the Gwydyr Forest.  It was growing from the trunk of a birch tree. I used to know someone who made birch sap wine, and  from what I can remember (the memory is a little hazy) the brew was as potent as I suspect this toadstool is (I’ll not try to name the species, I’ll hope a fungi expert passes by the blog with the appropriate knowledge.)

Would you like to see how muddy Tom was on his return?

You can visualise the dirty washing that has returned home with us can’t you?

Up Hill Down Dale and Bobbing About on Boats

Mr Uphilldowndale has set out on his annual expedition to compete in the The Three Peaks Yacht Race, this is the third consecutive year that he has taken part,  so he has got the kit list down to a fine art, which is just as well there is a lot of it. Three sets of running kit, foul weather gear for the boat (remember the hi-tec waterproof testing we subject the gear too a couple of years back?

  Then there is the cyclo-cross bike, spares, tools and one of my home made ginger cakes, so the boat should have plenty of ballast.

I’ve a very jaundiced view of boats (well the hue is more nauseous green than yellow) following a not very pleasant experience as a child. My adult self knows that boats are not all bad, but the inner child screams get me off this thing. So it was very thoughtful of Mr Uhdd to forward the following images to my inbox the other day.

 

These are of the Peterhead Trawler Harvester. Taken from her Sistership.

Let There be Music

After indulging in art, we took to music.  Now here in the UK most places the size of St Davids (population 2,000) would have at most, a village hall in which to offer a recital, but  St David’s is different, it has its very own cathedral

 

We went along to a concert  performed in the by Elin Manahan Thomas (open the link and have her singing running for added atmosphere and goose-bumps  to this post)

accompanied by  the  lovely young people of TheCardiff School of Music (who all looked no older than Tom.) Simply beautiful music in a spectacular location

It was something of a treat for Mrs Ogg and I to walk to the pub for our supper saunter down to the cathedral for the concert and then stroll back to the cottage.