Opening this one today and I am sure we will get our usual wonderful pics from you all.The great thing about this forum is you can love a picture for so many different reasons. It is a joy to see the diversity. Thanks all for your wonderful input.

First Christmas photo! Actually this is last year's Christmas morning. ClaraSue knows which one of the stockings is hers and will stand there waiting for me to pull it down for her to rummage through.

So it doesn't vanish in a few hours here's one for tomorrow (it's nearly midnight). This road in St Mary Cray turned out to be blocked and had to turn round soon after this point and find another route. There's a cemetery on the right next to a railway line.

Taken off Midway Rd. and Park Blvd. in Plano, at Prestonwood Baptist Church. They put this up each year, and I finally got a picture of it!

That's an uplifting photo!

A winter wader yesterday evening - a Turnstone.

Hope springs eternal. But it's the first of December. In New Hampshire! These must be northern tulips.

The next day we went on the 7 mile long Cwmcarn Forest Drive. This is possibly the Ty’n-ffynon Farm in green Welsh valley, seen just at the start of the walk to the Twmbarlwm hillfort.

Wow, Howie, that's incredibly beautiful and such a fantastic photo. I feel I could walk into the picture and find fairy tale folk everywhere.




(I'm still on a black & white kick.)

Dgdave, that signboard is beautiful. Glad you got to take a picture of it. Love the valley by Howie and Chav's rose too.

Whilst idly rummaging through the many cases and crates of "stuff" my husband packed away in the attic after clearing his deceased mother's house, I stumbled across this little treasure:



Now, I must plug it in to see if it still works (I suspect it will), but it weighs a tonne, and I can hardly lift it. will have to wait till hubby has a spare half an hour so that he can carry it down for me.

Erm, she does know you didn't have to plug them in? My dad had one just like that! What memories.

Aaah, but if I tap on the keys at present, they don't move! The carriage return (and its little ding-ding bell) work just fine. I assumed it needed to me plugged in for the keyboard to work. There must be something else not right...

It is an electric one??

A bit of oil, perhaps, to unjam the keys? Or even more vigourous tapping? I learned to type on one similar to this, and some force is necessary I'd have a hard time with this one though, as the keyboard isn't QWERTYUIOP! The German machine I used to have, with the A and Z reversed, was bad enough!

There's a motor on the left hand side, ren, towards the back, you can just about see it sticking out there in the photo.

And well spotted, spanishliz, it is an AZERTY keyboard, the usual layout here in France. I learned to type on a QWERTY and manipulate both types every single day now for the last 6 or 7 years (QWERTY at home and AZERTY at work), I still manage to mix up which one I'm using at any particular time ... (hence a good few of my typos)

No pictures to show but love the typewriter. As much as I love my computers, I have good memories of "proper typewriters" and especially the satisfying "ding"

I used to use one similar, but querty, and not electric. I think when the ribbon got to the end it used to lock up but I am guessing since it has a motor then it is something else.

Chavs, I love your rose.

Chavs, I love your rose.

I learnt to type on a similar machine to that - and you need a lot of force to get the keys to work compared to today's keyboards - a bit of WD40 perhaps would help free it up. Having had another look I can't see a carriage return handle at all, and it does look like a motor on the side, so perhaps it is an early electric.

I agree, the rose photo is beautiul.

A bird looking for a feed over the water.

Some of the local residents on 'The Mountain Walk' to the Iron Age hillfort of Twmbarlwm, Wales.

Oh how lovely. What a gorgeous little foal

I spent ages looking for a couple of corner display carbinets. Everything I found was either way too expensive or the wrong size. Eventually got a pair of these at the local auction for the bargain price of £25 for the two.

wow - bargain! I really like that corner one .. nice buy.

It's surprising what you can pick up in auction rooms. Over here so called "brown" furniture is not very popular at the moment so you can get some really good quality stuff at almost give away prices.

I forgot to say that I also love the rose! The wee foal is lovely, and I want a cabinet like that!

Here's a rather fuzzy shot of Precious today, looking out the window at a neighbour cat and wondering just why he/she is on our deck!

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I should hope so. One has to preserve standards.

lol, Quite!

Gosh, thank you for those lovely compliments.

I went on a small stroll around the perimeter of most of Timaru, about 25 to 30km on December 2nd so took a few photos on the way. Before I get back to the Wales photos, I shall bore you with some of them. First up is a rural view towards the foothills and mountains. Of course, the sheep just had to sneak into the view.....

Thats so lovely, Howie!

My husband really wanted to buy this, but, for the good of his health, decided against!