Penarth Model Railway Show

It's a heatwave, so what better way to stay out of the sun than looking at some model trains? Bryan joined me at the Barry and Penarth Model Railway Club's annual show.

There were a mix of lay-outs ranging from early twentieth century through to modern image. 

Narrow-guage railways were also represented.

There were a few micro-layouts, including one built inside a brie cheese box!

But there were two that really stood out. The first was a monochrome layout paying tribute to the classic film Brief Encounter. It was a very clever lay-out made to look like a black and white movie.

The creator, Rachel Quest, has her own YouTube channel. She also clearly has a sense of humour!

And Bryan and I both really liked Karolina Falls, an American frontier town with a waterfall featuring real water (!) and lots of funny little features including a curious moose!

So, lots of inspiration for if I ever get round to reviving my model railway. 

The 12 cards of Christmas

I have decided not to do a Christmas card audit this year. It's something I might do again in future, but I felt like a Christmas off. 

However, I haven't dispensed with all my blogging traditions - here are a selection of the cards we received this year. It was tough picking just 12 from the pile. I have only included cards that could scan easily on the flatbed, so you will just have to picture the 3D musical R2-D2 card with flashing lights that Connor gave me in your minds eye!

First up is a card that just made me smile. Santa has upgraded his transport - to a big red bus!

I'm never sure whether "peace" counts as a religious theme or not. It felt very apt this year with some of the horrors grinding on in other parts of the world, particularly in the middle east. I really liked the design of this peace dove. 

A more definite religious theme - the three "kings" (AKA wise men or magi). The curly shoes of the king in the middle amused me. 

I love cards designed by kids. This one of robins sat on a goalpost (I think) was by Delilah. It was printed as a fund-raiser for her school. 

And this drawing by Jowan was hand done. Got to say this is a contender for my very favourite card this year. A duck-billed platypus in a Santa hat? What's not to love? (Although I don't think platypuses quack, despite their duck-bills.)

Keeping on an antipodean fauna theme, here's a tree of koala bears from my friend Jon in Oz.

This card was given to us 11 months early by my friend Sian. It's a pun and a moose.

And another moose! Including this card is a bit of a cheat because it's one of the ones that I gave to Cathy. It's designed by Cardiff-based artist Ana Palamar. I liked his wellies. 

More animals. This time it's some sheep saying "Baa humbug!" I liked the stripy sheep who actually looks like a humbug. 

But nobody does humbug as well as the Modern Toss cartoonists. This gave me a belly laugh when I first saw it. 

Cathy's card to me. Very cute. 

And then the final card of the selection. This one really had it all. A pun. Camels! Wearing Santa hats! Fair play to my Mum, she ticked all the boxes with this one.

As ever, a massive thank you to everyone who sent us a Christmas card. If it wasn't featured in the post, I can promise you it was very much appreciated.

Sooner or later, you find your fashion label

I didn't really need a new hoodie, but when I found this at a branch of TK Maxx, I couldn't just leave it hanging on the rack.

It's a very nice hoodie as a brand, I feel it suits me.

Two days after Twelfth Night

Is tonight fourteenth night? Anyway, we took our Christmas decorations down a few days before Twelfth Night because I prefer having them away before I return to work. As we took them down I took a few pictures of this chap, our red moose named Solvang.

We bought Solvang in a little town called Solvang in California. We visited it on our first American road trip back in 2004. Solvang is the "Danish Capital of America" and it was the first place we ever went to an all-year-round Christmas shop - the "Jule Hus", which translates as Yule House.

Since then we have bought Christmas decorations that remind us of places we have been on other trips. Decorating the tree - and then later undecorating the tree - is a nice way of remembering adventures to different places. 

The address of the "Jule Hus" is on the bag that Solvang lives in when he's not hanging on the tree.

We showed my Scandinavian Grandma our holiday pics when we came back She fell about laughing at the pictures of Solvang with it's tribute Viking architecture. We had also sent her a postcard that she found highly amusing. 

I've had a dredge in the archive and here are a few pictures to give a flavour of the place. 

Me, 18 years ago

The juxtaposed Viking longship and palm trees!

The Jule Hus Christmas Store is still in Solvang (and still at 1580 Mission Drive). Maybe one day we will get to visit it again and buy a companion for our moose!

Holiday on Pen Llyn - fourth and final post

This is just a final round up post of things from our holiday on the Lleyn Peninsular. We had deliberately timed it to be away during the European Championships, because I like holidays where we do stuff during the day then go home and watch football in the evenings. It worked well with mealtimes.

We took my European Championships wallchart with us!

I filled it in studiously. The asterisks are games we watched. The day Switzerland got a last gasp equaliser against France then beat them on penalties was an exciting day.

In Criccieth we saw one of the installations by the Football Association of Wales honouring members of the Wales squad.

But away from football we enjoyed the beaches...

...and scenic cliff walks.

And we followed instructions and didn't fall headlong into the sea.

We visited Nant Gwerthyn, which is closely linked to the revival of the Welsh language in the mid-20th century.

Siaradais i Gymraeg yn siopia a bwytau. Prynias i llyfr yna yn siop llyfrau Gymraeg yn Pwllheli. (I spoke Welsh in shops and cafes. I bought this book in the Welsh bookshop in Pwllheli.)

The book is 'Wales on Stamps of the World', and, yes, it's in Welsh. I found I understood more of it than I expected. It has inspired me to consider a new philately project.

In Porthmadog we called into the Purple Moose Brewery shop. Cathy found a friend who matched her hair!

The village we stayed in had a field with horses in. Something tells me this horse knows he's a good-looking horse.

We also had a pair of seagulls who clearly had learned to beg for food from people staying in the cottage. They were quite happy to walk up to the patio doors and peck for attention.

And if you tried to ignore them, they would seek a bit of height to try and eyeball you again.

But we are resistant to the charms of seagulls, even though these seemed slightly less obnoxious, and a good deal cleaner, than Cardiff's sky-rats. We ignored them and eventually they gave up and flew off.

Our week seemed to be over very quickly, which is the sign of a good holiday!