Footbridge

This wooden footbridge over the River Banwy (Afon Banwy) in Llanfair-Caereinion is pretty impressive

It leads to the town center, where there is a stone monument to the Welsh bard Taliesin, so I'll be back to explore this legend further. The Banwy was full, yet many reservoirs are still showing a deficit from the recent drought.

The Pond Log

Here's more on what we're doing in our efforts to restore our pond - we sourced some logs 'with character' from a friend's fallen tree (foreground), and

packed them into the back of the car with the trunk unlatched (a saga of its own in a car full of electronic beeping sounds and ultra-safety concerns that involved an automated, unnecessary use of the emergency brake at a most inappropriate time).

We strapped them onto our 'dolly'/sack cart, and then Dale wheeled them around the house to the pond area.

 He expertly placed them exactly where they 'spoke' to him. Since then, we've been harvesting moss fragments wherever it's not wanted, and we're slowly disguising the edges of the pond liner with it.

And, of course, our wildlife visitor's book for the pond has grown since then too

Photo: D Schultz

Poisonous Delights

These gorgeous blooms in my garden are commonly known as autumn crocuses or meadow saffron, though they aren't actually true crocuses, and are also not related to saffron plants. These little beauties belong to a whole different family than their common names suggest (Cochinas speciosum) and are toxic if ingested.

Interestingly (to me anyway), the ovary is below ground, so pollen tubes must grow downwards (almost 3 inches) to complete the fertilization process. Fascinating!

As you can see, they have certainly added a lot of color to the garden at this time of year.

Train Yard Sights

There was a lovely tea-room (café) selling delicious bacon and cheese pastries (as well as ... coffee) at the second station.

Was this guy sitting on a heap of coal? And did the man next to Dale start crying?

What a lovely vintage open goods wagon

Ooh, these nuts are lovely

Fire buckets

Train Spotting

We decided against riding the train between the two stations this time around so that we could observe it running 'in the wild,' and indulging in some trainspotting. Dale had selected a perfect spot en route that gave us quick and easy access to the railway line, including a parking spot that wasn't in the way of traffic. For most of our time there, this is what we saw as we waited,

and waited,

and waited. At least we had time to test out the best vantage point.

Eventually an elderly 'Farmer Giles'-type bloke pulled up, parked in front of a nearby gate and then started yakking incessantly to us. When we realized he was the local landowner, I offered to close the gate for him so he could continue on his way. "Oh, no thank," he said, "I've been doing this as part of my life for umpteen years. I've got it." This was his opportunity to do some socializing, and he wasn't going to skimp! Aargh! his thick Welsh accent made it so difficult to follow what he was saying. I gave some appropriately interjected responses (I hoped), and then eventually had to shut him up by shouting "Here it comes!" Look at this magnificent sight - it was well worth the wait - so beautiful!

And then it was back into the car to await its arrival at the other end.

People Playing With Steam

We had a full and fun day watching people operate steam trains and tractors at the Welshpool & Llanfair light railway last week. Live steam always adds more interest and drama to the experience. The volunteers running this heritage railway put on a fantastic show - all volunteers were dressed in 'costume' and performed all the manual train running duties of the period confidently and skillfully.

I was pleased to have inadvertently captured the moment of passing the baton from the driver to the signalman, as performed in days of yore.

Operating these steam tractors was an exercise in athleticism! The active labor involved in steering and maneuvering these beauts was unbelievable.

There was a real carnival, festive atmosphere to the entire display, especially seeing as a fairground organ was playing at the destination station, seen here between two steam tractors.

Juxtaposed

These effects, by taking pics through a window while lights were on, are quite interesting. The first one is a view from our living room onto the hills across the valley with our room lighting superimposed on the scene

I took this one through our dining room window just before sunset - I love the way the lights are hovering like an alien specter.

And then there's this: dusk through our conservatory

Trivia Night

We went to the Old New Inn for Quiz night, and, well, we came DEAD last! We started off splendidly in the general knowledge, science and geography categories, but our lead deteriorated horribly when sports, history, cinema and entertainment came up - we got zeroes in these categories.

We were also a little handicapped as our only other team-mate left early, before the categories we were hopelessly deficient in, came up - it was just us 2 foreigners against local groups of 4 each. We'll try to strategically join a better group next time.

It was a fun vibe though. Each Trivia night supports a different charity - this one benefitted Crohn's & Colitis UK and raised £255 from the trivia teams and raffle tickets. Barman and owner, Dan, and his team won. Here are some of the winning team, holding up the quizmaster.

Pic from The Old New Inn Trivia

Garden Delights

The seeds from the willow herbs (Fireweed in the U.S.) look beautifully ethereal and delicate before they disperse.

After a long summer drought, it rained hard (torrentially) for three days, so much so that our conservatory roof began leaking again!

This gorgeous hoverfly and hibiscus think it's still summer.

Trains and Tucker

We boarded the Cambrian railways iconic 1980s Pacer commuter train as the only passengers, to the next stop, Weston Wharf, where we dined. I was perturbed to find out I was regarded as a 2nd class adult:

While we waited for our ride, we watched all the comings and goings from the platform.

The Stonehouse brewery and distillery where we had dinner, sports a very rustic look - cutlery stands in tin cans at each table. The cider was really delicious.

     

This was served as nachos! Intriguing take on corn chips. No melted cheese either. It tasted fine, it just wasn't what I'd recognize as nachos.

It was a fun outing -it's been just over 10 years since we visited a train exhibit, from what we can recall!

Railway Museum

The Cambrian railway museum in Oswestry (England) offered some simple and down to earth displays of railway memorabilia for us to peruse. There were no high tech displays or videos, just real-life stuff to touch.

There were some lovely paintings and posters from long ago

This poster made me laugh - so proper!

This little prophesy was included on a tourist map