Sunday 10 January 2016

Goodbye to Christmas. Hello Waterfalls and Coots

This week we officially said goodbye to Christmas. We took all our lights down at the weekend but Grandad wanted to wait until Monday to take down the tree. he wanted to do it with Bear. Good luck I thought but Bear was brilliant, helping with all the baubles until a string of beads came off, he was fascinated for ages! Just letting them fall from his hand. Toy manufacturers take note. Please produce a toddler safe set of very long and shiny beads.


toddler taking a bauble from an adult
Bear helping. This bauble was found later hidden in his garage!


collage of a toddler taking baubles from the tree and putting them into a box
Bear loved putting the baubles into a box
collage of toddler playing with beads and wearing the Christmas tree cape.
Bear playing with the beads and then Grandad put the Christmas tree cape on him. It fitted perfectly and he looked so cute


Bear then had a day off with Mummy and Daddy as they were all going to the dentist. Mummy tells me he was very good and got a sticky badge. He now has eight teeth with another molar and two canines on their way. No wonder he's a tiny bit grumpy. They all came over for lunch and Daddy spent ages sorting out our very slow computer. Thankyou! It's now so much faster than before, all down to a problematic Windows Update thingy.


Wednesday Bear wouldn't nap. His teeth are really playing up. He had a great appetite and really enjoyed chewing on everything including crusts of bread. Then a miracle happened. The sun came out! This is the first sunny day for weeks and weeks. We quickly grabbed our coats and off we went to the park. We had to stop by Bears house to get his shoes so we went to a lovely park near there called Cefn Onn. It is a woodland with lots of streams and lots of Rhododendrums and Camellias too. Grandad is a Friend of Cefn Onn and volunteers each month. He is a retired Arboriculturist (Tree Surgeon to you and me) and he just loves trees and cutting things up with saws and axes! Oh and he occasionally does really good, free, guided walks around Cefn Onn.


collage of four small waterfalls
Usually these waterfalls are just a trickle but they were so full after the recent rain


collage of a Raven, a mossy wall, an underpass, a golf flag and a way path marker
A friendly crow; a very mossy wall; entrance under the M4 motorway with a lovely mural; right next door to a golf course; fantastic way-marked walks along the Rumney Ridgeway Path start from this park



picture of trees and a lake with sunlight filtering through
View through the shrubs to the lake. Hidden somewhere in the greenery are Bear and Grandad



toddler in blue snowsuit leaning on wall held by adult hands
Bear fascinated at the rushing water going under the bridge



and out the other side. We walked back and forth until I distracted Bear with something else


Grinning lady and toddler
I said say cheese! Great, we did it at different times so I look a complete fool

Then surprise! The sun shone again on Thursday. It was a fantastic day but really, really cold and very windy. We decided to go to another local park, Roath Park. It has a play area but it also has a lake with boating in the summer and lots of wild fowl. Mostly ducks, swans and geese although there are cormorants and herons. Today someone was trying to feed the ducks with bread so we only had seagulls. Hundreds of them and a couple of Coots. It's a real shame that people feed the birds here with bread when proper food is easily available from the glasshouse (and probably the cafe too). Seagulls are a real problem in Cardiff, being so near the sea, I have been bombed by them, not here in the park but where they nest near the civic centre.



picture of water and distant view
Roath park Lake with Rumney Ridgeway just visible in the distance. This is the ridge you can walk from Cefn Onn Park


Picture of a lighthouse in a lake with a clock on each side
Scott Memorial at Roath lake

Seagulls, lake, promenade and some people
This doesn't do justice to the number of gulls
picture of two coots
Two Coots keeping away from the seagulls

picture of a tree with red twigs
Acer Palmatum "Sango-Taku" need to know the name of a tree? Ask Grandad.

toddler on bouncy squirrel type thingy
Bear and Grandad having fun in the park


toddler on bike with eyes shut because of the sun
Bear "enjoying" the sunshine. Psst he hates it in his eyes!

Just to conclude a very busy but fun week, what is Bear saying now?

He says everything we say. He sings with a melody. He says wow-a-wow-a-wow-a in a sort of sing song slightly siren type way.

Stuck- he got stuck under the kitchen table, he likes to hide there and I heard him call "stuck! stuck!" I should have got a photo then released him but, like a good granny and terrible blogger, I just helped him out!

His understanding astounds me every day. he can follow really complex instructions such as "pick up whatever and take it to Grandad in the kitchen" or "If you don't want to eat that food just take it to the rubbish bag in the kitchen and don't leave it on the floor". At the moment he loves obeying, yes I know, enjoy it while it lasts!

Have you enjoyed any sunshine this week? I'd love to hear of the places you managed to visit.









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13 comments

  1. What lovely experiences. It's nice getting out and about this time of year and it looks like a lovely place to have a walk. x

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    1. It was great to get out, its a wonderful place. In the summer the little ones can play in the streams too

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  2. It sounds like you've had some fun this week - and you've taken some gorgeous photos as well!

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    1. Thankyou. We did, Bear just loves being outside.

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  3. Sounds like a very busy week - some gorgeous outdoor photos!

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    1. Really busy! Thank you I took most of them with a "proper camera"! Usually its with my iPhone :-)

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  4. Looks like you had a great week. The weather has been terrible here too, so as soon as we see some sun we also head out for a walk!

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    1. We're used to rain but I am so fed up with it now. It has been weeks and weeks so, like you, as soon as the sun is out so are we.

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  5. Lovely post and plenty going on! Sweet pictures of Bear helping to take the decorations off the tree and great outdoor photos - so nice to see blue sky! Really like the picture through the trees towards the lake.

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    1. That was nearly #MySundayPhoto. I think its a great view too. Bear was wonderful helping. He really likes putting things into boxes...oh and taking them out Lol

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  6. Aw, gorgeous photos! The parks look amazing! I do so like a good walk with the kids - very de-stressing! But I would have taken a photo of my stuck kid before helping him out! Thank you for sharing with #abitofeverything

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    1. I will next time! I can hear myself, "just a minute let Nanny get the camera, say cheese. I know your head hurts just smile" lol!

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