Now that the bunnies have flown the nest I can continue my photos of animals at our local zoo. This is a photo of our rare white bison.

As the plaque says, there has been a bridge in this spot since 1790. This is the original one, apart from all new bricks and a complete replacement of the bit that spans from one side of the canal to the other .

Everybody, including the county council, seems to agree that our Victorian library building is no longer, in the fashionable jargon, "fit for purpose." But you can hardly expect to see a new library built nowadays, can you? So the old pile is just being patched up a bit.

I always liked trains although like pubs preferred actually using the country ones. Here is what I would say was a perfect example of a traditional British station, Claygate in Surrey. It still has not only a working ticket office but toilets and a waiting room. Once these were standard but even one of the three is rare, all three almost unheard of.

One for the cricket fans. This is in Narromine, a country town in New South Wales where Glen McGrath was born and grew up. So how does a small town pay homage to a son who became one of the best fast bowlers ever? They name the local nets after him. Of course. Anything grander just wouldn't do.

If you're ever heading through Narromine, take the bypass, it's worth the laugh.



Actually I should say that perhaps they do have a grandstand or something else named for him, I haven't explored the town fully to know, but I kind of like the idea that the local practice nets is enough.

Meet Fergie, one of my two houseguests this week. She and her mum, Mo, arrived here from Ohio on Saturday after a long drive. Ferg brought her own pillow, and so far neither Winston nor Katt have tried to claim it!

Yesterday I went for a fish and chips fix at a super place,my favourite (they have the batter just right). When I left I saw a sign saying 'Musical Fountain.'Now the musical fountain used to be in the middle of the shopping mall in Shatin and we used to joke that it was the entertainment highspot for tourists going there.(Shatin was a bit of a dump) Anyway , when they updated the Mall,replacing all the old shops with Gucci, Armani and Prada to name but a few, they took out the old fountain and supposedly destroyed it. Nope. It was on the roof! As I stepped through the door it was 2 pm and the old Blue Danube started to play, and the fountain began to dance again. Wow!! I was transported back 20 years...

Great pic, Ren! I can just imagine the music playing.

It's hard to hear the word "Watergate" without thinking of skulduggery, but it wasn't always thus. This watergate is all that remains of the London mansion of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham. In the seventeenth century His Grace would have stepped through this gate on to his private barge and been conveyed along the river to the City, avoiding the filth and congestion of the streets. Nowadays the river is more than a hundred yards away.

There are many houses and cottages in the local villages, some over 500 years old. These are two cottages, what we in Britain call 'semi-detached', ie: joined together.
I suspect they may have been barns at some stage, being converted into houses later.

This is the gate to what used to be Willems Barracks (built in the 1850's). A supermarket and a pub/restaurant now stand where the barracks were. The gate has been preserved as a reminder of the area's military history.

Still at the zoo, here is a mother Reindeer.






Click on the link for a larger photo of her calf


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t84/mrreb/RonsPhotos086.jpg

Oh TT what a beautiful gate!
Looking at all these pictures is almost better than travelling around the world. (Well not realy).

Last weekend we visited my Mum in Orange and while there was no snow in the town it only took quick drive up the nearest mountain to find some although it was pretty patchy. A woefully under-dressed COnor loved it and was the higlight of his trip

A lot of us on Flickr like to take local road names as it reminds us of home, and also shows them in their surroundings. Here is the border between Kingsbury and Neasden announced by a dual name sign. It's on the edge of a little park on the main road. In the last couple of months they managed to replace most of the signs with these new ones, they look fine but I suspect many of the old ones did as well. And they cost over £100 each, our last one was over 40 years old before they changed it here.

Just a couple of snapdragons today...

Here's a yellow finch on the feeder in my sister's neighbour's garden, earlier this evening.

When I was looking for a house to buy in order to leave my husband (now ex of course) one of the requirements was for a sewing room as I had one in our family home. This house had a little room just off the kitchen so fitted the bill. It has my sewing cabinet and a six foot by three foot metal office type cupboard for my storage, plus an old filing cabinet left behind by the person last in the house. Unfortunately it also became a dumping ground for all manner of junk, old papers etc and has never actually had me sewing in there!

My challenge to myself is to get it sorted out during the next couple of weeks and for my craft supplies to be housed in the cupboard before my daughter comes to visit! If I don't hide the stuff she will go mad.

So here is the glory hole before - the cat hasn't been in there for more than seventeen years so is confused!

Sue, my sewing room is chaos all the time. It drives people up the wall. However, I know where everything is. I do try to straighten it up a bit before starting a new major project.

Tell your daughter she doesn't have to look at it!

We look forward to the 'after' photo Sue

Because this photo is a bit small, you can't really see why this scene should be snapped. Follow the link below and all will become clear.



Please click here

Sue, your glory hole looks a bit like my living room - and my bedroom and my kitchen too.

This is a statue of my favourite man of letters - Samuel Johnson, outside the church of St Clement Danes in the Strand, where he worshipped regularly when he lived in Fleet Street.

Nice photo of the yellow finch Liz....Here is a group of Pronghorn. When you drive through Alberta and Saskatchewan you will sometimes see them along the highway. I'm sure there are many in the western U.S. as well.

I have a lot of photos of nice places in newfoundland and places I visited in the USA and Caribbean. Can anyone tell me how to post the photo of the day here.

Trevor, check out the link in the first post of this thread. It will explain everything!

It was raining today, not that I had any photos planned till the weekend (Barnes and Wimbledon next), so here's another from yesterday.



My first attempt at a panoramic view. It's the parade of shops at Blackbird Cross, Kingsbury. Wembley Stadium is just behind it to the right.

I just heard the accident that closed the North Circular at 4pm today has left the whole area in gridlock ever since, it's now gone 7. I am very pleased my optician was out or I would have got caught right in the middle of it, rain or not I was planning to go that exact direction. I would have taken the camera as well as I usually do but was saved from disaster!