Last week we visited a village in Wales called ......... well see the image

Been there but didn't get the T-shirt because my chest isn't big enough to fit the name on A friend of mine can say the name but I've never mastered it.

Talking of flars... I visited the orchid shop at the market today and asked the lady if I could take some pictures. I think she thought I was a tourist.
Here is what greets you as you enter the doorway.

Statues can sometimes have practical uses;

The orchids are gorgeous!

Wow Liz, that picture of Perth is impossible to tell it isn't in the middle of England somewhere. Normally if you look closely enough you can see clues but that looks totally English. I don't include the traffic on the other side, it could always be a mirror image!

More of my history today. In between college courses I thought I'd try a life selling houses. What a mistake. At least I found out in time. The little shop on the right in Hoop Lane Golders Green is the place, still doing the same thing with a new name. That was in 1981 originally.

Well the weather is suppose to get nice tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath, today was cloudy and cool. So here's a photo from a trip we took to Deadwood, South Dakota, home of Wild Bill Hiccock, Calamity Jane and the rest of the wild west.

I did like this one, although I would swap the lot for a few daffs.

Millionaire? I wish- back in those days things were very slow, we worked incredibly long hours and had some real dumps, one with said railway bridge crossing the window, another where a ceiling fell in as I opened the door and another where I could barely get in. It put me off the whole thing as well as the dreadful way we were all treated and hardly earned a thing before commission, if there was any. No thanks!

Which one is the most comfortable?

Lady1, you do realise that would only count as a heavy frost hereabouts, don't you? Must have been quite a shock to see it though.

I can see what you mean about Perth, satguru!

Moments before I took this photo, Winston was sleeping with his head on the phone, almost as if he was waiting for a call. Of course, he moved when I went for my camera, but I went ahead and took the pic anyway.

A great bronco-busting statue for Deadwood.

Coming back to this town after thirty-odd years, I've found quite a few changes, but I'm very glad to see that this rather down-market second-hand bookshop has survived unchanged from the way I remember it.

Here are some more shoes - children's designer ones, excellent quality but quite pricey!

With the blog here with multiple photos I try not to duplicate so if anyone wants to see what I thought was a very nice view of a red minibus in Golders Green and others click here

Today, for those that like houses, here is a typical Golders Green house of the more expensive type, built between the wars and not that different from the arts and crafts cottages across Finchley Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb. But these were built a lot closer together and with far less greenery around them and can be bought for about 25% less as a result.



Golders Green Crescent. Not sure if it's detached or part of a pair, but even then it would fetch close to a million.

Leaving orchids for a while, and visiting the shop next door. The window is rather charming, with the little train running round the miniature town and lots of other little novelties.

My day lilies are starting to emerge, some photos of those tomorrow. This photo is a statue of one of the larger animals found in Riding Mountain National park, the Elk. This is an over sized version of course but they do get very large. Onanole is a small town just outside the park entrance, where Mrs. Argus's uncle lives.

I love that miniature town Ren, my trains are long gone as the station but I still have the houses and cars on my shelves. I was very tempted to buy a complete scale model station once but it was about 6 feet square. I'd have needed another house for that one but was an exact replica of a real one.

This is our Joe. He is a pink-and-grey galah (an Australian parrot). We don't know how old he is but we've had him for about 22 years. We say 'he', but we aren't really sure if he is is a Joe or a Josephine. One time he became sick and we had to take him to a vet who was a bird specialist. So I thought here's the perfect opportunity to find out. However, even the vet couldn't tell as Joe apparently has both male and female characteristics. He is a very cheeky bird, talks a little (mostly says "Who's your mate?"), and hates blonde women. Joe was given to us by my uncle, who rescued him from his neighbours who were abusing it. The neighbour's 15-year-old daughter was a blonde and she was his worst tormenter, hence his dislike of blonde women. He knows the sound of our car engines and as soon as our cars turn off the main road and into our cul-de-sac, he starts calling out to us.

Joe sounds like a real dear!

This statue is Canadian show jumper Ian Millar on his horse Big Ben, and is located in Perth, Ontario across the street from Code's Mill. I took the photo from inside the Mill (now used for a shopping area, with a room for dances upstairs), because it was absolutely pouring rain, as you may be able to tell!

I love the window with the train set. I seem to remember a window with a train set and landscape on the sea front here when I was a kid, but I can’t remember exactly where it was. It’s gone now, anyway.

This place used to be an old-style tea-room – much too posh for the likes of us. Now it’s a gift shop, though it still seems to serve refreshments.

In my garden:

Someone is playing with a macro! Lovely shot.

I have been accepted on the digital photography for beginners course which starts in September. Then I might get away from the automatic setting.

I have been to the tearoom around the corner - I really ought to have more self control.