Days out and about . . .

 

Up and down the   garden path
the coloured steeples rise . . .
all astir with questing bees
and wings of butterflies . . . 

The hollyhocks are at their prime at the moment.   They are such a beautiful cottage garden flower.   We don't have a lot at the moment, but they do spread . . . so, fingers crossed!  As a much younger woman I had a house in South Western Alberta that was virtually surrounded by Hollyhocks and Peonies.   It also had a white picket fence to the front.  Yes it was adorable.



We had a lovely day out yesterday.  The weather was gorgeous and it was just the perfect day to go to the seaside.  We had not been once to the seaside this year and so we set out to go to Colwyn Bay in Wales as Todd had his heart set on that, neither one of us having been there before.  We ended up in a very pretty and picturesque place and it was only once we were ready to leave to go home we realized we had spent our time not in Colwyn Bay at all . . . but Rhos-On-Sea!  Never mind . . . in truth it was much nicer than Colwyn Bay anyways.

I do have to say one thing . . . the signage in that part of the country is very poor, or else we are blind, because we spent most of the time flying in the dark and not knowing where we were going.  We found the promenade only by accident and missed Colwyn Bay altogether!  (We only discovered Colwyn when we were leaving because we couldn't find a way back to the motorway and happened to drive through it.)




Rhôs-on-Sea (Welsh: Llandrillo-yn-Rhos), also known as Rhos or Llandrillo, is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is a mile to the northwest but effectively a suburb of Colwyn Bay, on the coast. It is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late Roman times as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd, and later became a cantref (hundred).



This is St Trillo's Chapel.   This beautiful little chapel was built in the sixth century and was considered to be the mother church of a large parish covering a very large district.  The chapel by the sea is on the site of a pre-Christian, sacred holy well; the altar is built directly over the pure water of the well. Saint Trillo, the son of Ithel Hael from Llydaw (Snowdonia) also founded a church at Llandrillo in Denbighshire.



In 1186 Llywelyn the Great permitted the establishment of the Cistercian Aberconwy Abbey, and the monks built a fishing weir on the sea shore below Bryn Euryn. The place became known as Rhos Fynach, heath of the monks. In a charter of 1230, Llywelyn sanctioned the purchase by Ednyfed Fychan of land at Rhos Fynach and in 1289, the abbey moved to Maenan (becoming Maenan Abbey), and the weir was ceded to Ednyfed's estate.  Eventually Rhos Fynach and the weir came into the hands of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who in 1575 granted it to a Captain Morgan, a privateer, for services rendered against the enemies of Queen Elizabeth I at sea.

 

Perhaps Rhos-on-Sea's greatest claim to fame is that, according to legend, Madog ap Owain Gwynedd, a Welsh prince of Gwynedd, sailed from here in 1170 and discovered America, over three hundred years before Christopher Columbus's famous voyage in 1492.   Those Welshmen . . . they get in everywhere!!

 

I think I'll stick with my Englishman . . . lucky woman that I am.   We had a pleasant walk along the sea front  . . . it wasn't overly busy, most holiday makers having made their way back home.   The beach was a lovely sandy beach, so I could well imagine that during the school holidays and at weekends on sunny days it is quite, QUITE busy!



For the most part, other than a few people, we had mostly these for company.    I am not sure which type of gull this is . . . it's either a young Iceland Gull, or a  Glaucous Gull.  They both look pretty much the same.  In the background you can see wind turbines and oil rigs in the Irish Sea.



There were regular gulls as well . . .

 

This is a statue built of willow on the seafront, called . . . "Catch of the Day."    I thought it was quite lovely and it reminded me of the Willow Man which you can see from the motorway as you travel near Bridgewater in Somerset.  (I remember the first time I saw that impressive willow sculpture.  I thought it quite fascinating and a bit fearsome . . . this huge giant of a willow man striding through the fields!)



I thought it a quaint little place . . . at least the part which we were at.  I am sure had we ventured further inland we would have seen things are a lot more modern . . . but we didn't.  We just stayed by the seaside.



There were lots of little cafe's and antiquity shops.   We had lunch there and it was quite nice.  Todd had his favourite steak and kidney pie (ugh!) and I had roast Welsh  lamb.   We both really enjoyed our meals.  We would have had pudding, but we decided we would walk a bit more and have an ice cream later on.



We did walk a bit more . . . but we completely forgot about the ice creams!   We didn't need them anyways.  All in all we had a very pleasant day together.  I love our days out.  We haven't had too many this year as we haven't been able to afford the petrol, but it was nice to take advantage of one of the few fine days we will be having this year and actually go someplace together.

One has to make hay whilst the sun shines!

 

I was so tired when I fell into bed last night.  Must have been that lovely sea air that tired me out!

I've a busy day ahead of me today.  We are having the Sister Missionaries over for supper tonight.   WE are getting three new ones in and one left yesterday so we will now have four Sister Missionaries here and two Elders.  (which is what we call the boys.)   I am not sure what I will make for our supper tonight, but it will involve chicken of some sort and I want to pick some of the ripening blackberries for dessert. 

Then tomorrow I have to get everything ready for Todd's Birthday Bash tomorrow night!  There is no rest for the wicked I think!  I must be a bad girl! tee hee

A thought to carry with you through today . . .

ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.
The world is full of vibrant color.
Don’t let it lose an ounce of its luster.
Assume this day is going to be good, and it will.
God made it so. ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.
~Max Lucado  




Baking in The English Kitchen today . . . Courgette Loaf with Dried Cranberries and Toasted Walnuts!

Hope you have a great day!   Thanks for  visiting!



PS - Don't forget to vote for my picture.  I am trying to win an ipad to give to my sister so we can facetime, and my mom too!  Here's the link.  You can vote every day.

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