Much younger than I am anyway!

Oh lovely to see your early photos, Liz! And ClaraSue welcome back to P-a-D!

Here's a shot of one of the squares in the village of Salers:

It's a really lovely place. Everything appears to be built from the same type of stone, is it local?

Yes, Christina, all the houses in the village are made of the same black volcanic stone. It's not granite, but I haven't been able to find out what it is yet. In any case, it makes for some really charming villages to visit!

Thanks for the welcome back.

Seeing your photo, Liz, reminds me that I have some old photos of Niagara Falls that I took back in 1971 with my little Brownie. I ought to try to find them.

While traveling through Utah last week, I took a wrong turn in the mountains and I'm glad I did. I saw this beautiful view and had to stop. It was like standing above the Grand Canyon and gave me the nervous shakes looking down.

That is a wonderful picture.

Wow, ClaraSue, that's incredible.

That is the most incredible view.


Chain saw art at a local show

Welcome back Clara Sue!

If you thought Shepherd's Bush was exciting this is Hanwell. It's part of my project to fill the map in London and getting closer each time I go out.

Part of the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland.

Before I carry on with a few New York photos, here is a quick detour to Niagara and a 2010 version of the area Spanishliz was at in 1964.

Loved seeing your trip across the States, Howie!
All the photos are great .. the chainsaw bears, the dramatic canyon, the 'villages and suburbs .. all great pics.

I'm afraid my other half got himself into a bit of trouble today and managed to do a fair bit of damage to his hand - didn't realise there was so much blood in a hand! Anyway, got him into town and they decided he needed x-rays so he got himself a free flight on the Flying Doctor and is now resting up in Broken Hill hospital. No op needed just lots of stitches poor [censored] will be out of action for a while but will survive.
here's the ambulance that took him out to the airstrip with the plane ready to take him.

Love those bears, Christina, and ertrum that photo just makes me long to visit the Giant's Causeway! I've never had the opportunity to go there yet *sniff*

Ouch, Jill! Hope there's no serious damage done? I can imagine the blood ... When my DH ran his hand through the lawnmower to unblock the stuck grass, I had him envelop his hand in a huge teatowel while I drove him to the surgery. Had I seen the slightest drop of red while driving I would have passed out immediately. I'm really squeamish about seeing blood, though I can read the most gory passages without as much as blinking an eyelid...

Here's another picture taken during our recent break in the volcanic mountains of Auvergne, the fountain in the square of the village of Salers:



Not a very picturesque fountain, I hurry to add, but boy did we appreciate splashing the cool water on our hot faces and arms, it was a glorious day!

Thanks Santana. That fountain just fits so perfectly with the surroundings.

Copago, hope your other half is better soon and there is no lasting damage.

Oh That's awful, poor Jack, I hope it gets better soon. Thank goodness for the Flying Doctor eh? I must look out the pictures of my visit to their HQ a few years back.

Copago, I hope your husband is better soon. Must have been scary, eh?
Christinap, those bears are great. I've always wanted one of those. My parents have a beautiful life-size, realistic looking bear that sits in their front yard. I'll have to see if I have a photo of it somewhere.

This is the Saguaro cactus that is across the road from my house.

Looks like the birds like that saguaro. When it finally dies, it'll leave lots of nice boots...

A lovely old steam engine

ClaraSue, I love those big Black Forest carved bears you find sometimes. There was one in an auction a few years ago and I thought I would go to around £300 for it and it went for over £5,000, so I think I'll have to stay wanting one of those.

Poor Jack. In days gone by didn't the planes land on the stations?

You were right, that would be roughly Northeast. The splendid building right of centre is the
Chrysler Building and just behind to the right is the 59th Street bridge (as in the Simon &
Garfunkel song) AKA the Queensboro bridge.

I'd heard that the queues for the Empire State building were often very long so when I was
there last year, I chose to go up to the top of the Rockefeller building instead. If we'd been
there at the same time, I could have waved to you.

Christinap, I agree, those bears can cost a lot. That's why I don't have one,

Martin, I've seen the Empire State Building from a distance many times; one of these days I'd love to be up close and personal.

This is the alligator named Charlie (left) and his "girlfriend". Charlie is a well known fixture at the Charleston, South Carolina Naval Weapons Station. He's estimated to be about 50 years old.

Thank you Martin for the confirmation of the last view from the Empire Sate Building. This time it may be looking in a northwest direction towards the Hudson River and New Jersey,more confirmation is needed.

Love those alligators.

Due to the bad weather we've had very few butterflies in the garden this year, but some sunshine did bring this one out

From what I (and Streetview) can see it's looking north with Central Park in the middle and the east side by the river overlooking Union City with George Washington Bridge crossing above.

One of my straight roads in Tyringham north of Milton Keynes

Satguru - out of interest, are the straight roads here usually based on old Roman Roads?

Yes and no- if you look on a large scale map the main roads going for miles are all Roman with no known exception, although when you use them they are not straight for long without some kinks unlike modern ones. The local residential roads are not, occasionally a developer bought enough land and built a small grid system particularly in the industrial revolution, but the shape of the plots normally meant fitting as many houses in as possible and then adding the roads to connect them, no regard was given to the shape at all. I don't know exactly how they worked out how to cram as many houses as possible into an area but equations do allow a general idea at least.

It is now against the law to build new through roads in housing developments without special permission, otherwise only one way in and out. I presume this is to save residents having extra cars using the roads but the downside means they can't go out in any other direction than provided and then have to cut back the other way.

Here's another photo from my recent trip to Massachusetts. This is the view as you walk along the path from the Norman Rockwell Museum, near Stockbridge, to the present site of Rockwell's studio.

I dusted the cobwebs off the camera for a recent family visit to the zoo. This brown bear was good enough to look at the camera:

Looks like he's thinking - "I see food".