As many of you know, I'm employed at a small university here in the Principality; in fact I work at University of Wales, Newport.

When I first started my career in higher education the university wasn't a university at all. Not even a college of higher education. I got into HE at Monmouthshire Teacher Training College, otherwise known as Caerleon College.

I won't bore you all with my part in the downfall of many a young hopeful; suffice it to say that over the years the teacher training college merged with the Newport School of Business & Engineering, and the Newport College of Art & Design.

The fine old stone-built structure above was the original teacher training college, Caerleon College, and is now the administrative centre of Newport University.

When the Schol of Art & Design moved up to the Caerleon campus from their original home in Clarence Place, Newport, it was to a purpose built hi-tech building. Interestingly enough, the Rathmell Building was designed to blend in with the original buildings. Well? What do you think?

For anyone who may be interested, this was once a magnificent building (I've blogged it previously). Newport Technical Institute also housed Newport School of Art & Design - world famous back in the 1960s.

All images are clickable and will open ina pop-up window to allow a larger view.

I was sorting through some images earlier and came accross these two of the River Severn; they don't quite merge to form a single panorama, but close enough to give the general impression.

On the left you can see the Severn Bridge, which now carries the M48. On the right you can see the Second Severn Crossing, which carries the re-routed M4.

Clicking the image will open a 1280 pixel pop-up window.

Reading Funky Farmer's tale of Mrs Grundy and her chihuahua (Hair Off The Dog) a little earlier reminded me of a great favourite of mine: Marriott Edgar.

Those who've read my blog for any length of time will already be acquainted with my love Edgar's work and some of his wonderful monologues; this one just seems so apt given the recent heavy rain and Funky's hairy dog story.

The 'Ole In The Ark

by Marriott Edgar

One evening at dusk as Noah stood on his Ark,
Putting green oil in starboard side lamp,
His wife came along and said, 'Noah, summat's wrong,
Our cabin is getting quite damp.

Noah said, 'Is that so?' Then he went down below,
And found it were right what she'd said,
For there on the floor quite a puddle he saw,
It was slopping around under t' bed.

Said he, 'There's an 'ole in the bottom somewhere,
We must find it before we retire.'
Then he thowt for a bit, and he said 'Aye, that's it,
A bloodhound is what we require.'

Se he went and fetched bloodhound from place where it lay,
'Tween the skunk and the polecat it were,
And as things there below, were a trifle so-so,
It were glad of a breath of fresh air.

They followed the sound as it went sniffing round,
'Til at last they located the leak,
'Twere a small hole in the side, about two inches wide,
Where a swordfish had poked in its beak.

And by gum! how the wet squirted in through that hole,
Well, young Shem who at sums was expert,
Worked it out on his slate that it came at the rate,
Of per gallon, per second, per squirt.

The bloodhound tried hard to keep water in check,
By lapping it up with his tongue,
But it came in so fast through that hole, that at last,
He shoved in his nose for a bung.

The poor faithful hound, he were very near drowned,
They dragged him away none too soon,
For the stream as it rose, pushed its way up his nose,
And blew him up like a balloon.

And then Mrs Noah shoved her elbow in t'hole,
And said,' Eh! it's stopped I believe,'
But they found very soon as she'd altered her tune,
For the water had got up her sleeve.

When she saw as her elbow weren't doing much good,
She said to Noah, 'I've an idea,
You sit on the leak and by t'end of the week,
There's no knowing, the weather may clear.'

Noah didn't think much to this notion, at all,
But reckoned he'd give it a try,
On the 'ole down he flopped, and the leaking all stopped,
And all... except him, was quite dry.

They took him his breakfast and dinner and tea,
As day after day there he sat,
'Til the rain was all passed and they landed at last,
On top side of Mount Ararat.

And that is how Noah got them all safe ashore,
But ever since then, strange to tell,
Them as helped save the Ark has all carried a mark,
Aye, and all their descendants as well.

That's why dog has a cold nose, and ladies cold elbows,
You'll also find if you enquire,
That's why a man takes his coat tails in hand,
And stands with his back to the fire.

Look, okay I'm a miserable, sad old sod
Please people, don't include me in any more tag games

Thank you.

Just talking to Funky Farmer and a memory came rushing up for me of the great Stan Freberg and his very funny take on the American TV series Dragnet.

If you remember the series and more particularly the way the opening and closing credits were always run, keep that in mind when you read the following.

[Narrator:]
The legend you are about to hear is true
Only the needle should be changed to protect the record

[St. George:]
This is the countryside
My name is St George
I'm a knight

Saturday, July 10th, 8:05 pm
I was working out of the castle on the nightwatch
when a call came in from the Chief
A dragon had been devouring maidens
Homicide
My job, slay him

[St. George:]
You call me, Chief

[Chief:]
Yes, the dragon again, devouring maidens
The King's daughter may be next

St. George:
Mmm-hmm
You got a lead

[Chief:]
Oh, nothing much to go on
Say, did you take that .45 automatic
into the lab to have them check on it

[St. George:]
Yeah, you were right

[Chief:]
I was right

[St. George:]
Yeah, It was a gun

8:22 pm, I talked to one of the maidens
who had almost been devoured

[St. George:]
Could I talk to you, Ma'am

[Maiden:]
Who are you

[St. George:]
I'm St. George, Ma'am
Homicide, Ma'am
Want to ask you a few questions, Ma'am
I understand you were almost devoured by the dragon, Ma'am
Is that right, dragon

[Maiden:]
It was terrible
He breathed fire on me
He burned me already

[St. George:]
How can I be sure of that, Ma'am

[Maiden:]
Believe me
I got it straight from the dragon's mouth

[St. George:]
11:45 pm
I rode over the King's Highway
I saw a man
Stopped to talk to him
Pardon me, Sir
Could I talk to you for just a minute, Sir

[Knave:]
Sure, I don't mind

[St. George:]
What do you do for a living

[Knave:]
I'm a knave

[St. George:]
Didn't I pick you up on a 903 last year for stealing tarts

[Knave:]
Yeah, so what
Do you wanna make a federal case out of it

[St. George:]
No, Sir
We heard there was a dragon operating in this neighborhood
We just want to know if you've seen him

[Knave:]
Sure, I've seen him

[St. George:]
Mmm-hmm
Could you describe him for me

[Knave:]
What's to describe
You see one dragon, you seen 'em all

[St. George:]
Would you try to remember, Sir
Just for the record
We just want to get the facts, Sir

[Knave:]
Well, he was, you know, he had orange polka dots...

[St. George:]
Yes, Sir

[Knave:]
Purple feet, breathing fire and smoke...

St. George:
Mmm-hmm

[Knave:]
And one big bloodshot eye
right in the middle of his forehead and
Uh, like that

[St. George:]
Notice anything unusual about him

[Knave:]
No, he's just your run-of-the-mill dragon, you know

[St. George:]
Mmm-hmm
Yes, Sir
You can go now

[Knave:]
Hey, by the way, how you gonna catch him

[St. George:]
I thought you'd never ask
A Dragonet

3:05 pm
I was riding back into the courtyard
to make my report to the lab
Then it happened
It was the dragon

[Dragon:]
Hey, I'm the fire-breathin' Dragon
You must be St George, right

[St. George:]
Yes, Sir

[Dragon:]
I can see you got one of them new .45 caliber swords

[St. George:]
That's about the size of it

[Dragon:]
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
You slay me

[St. George:]
That's what I wanted to talk to you about

[Dragon:]
What do you mean

[St. George:]
I'm taking you in on a 502
You figure it out

[Dragon:]
What's the charge

[St. George:]
Devouring maidens out of season

[Dragon:]
Out of season
You'll never pin that rap on me
Do you hear me, cop

[St. George:]
Yeah, I hear you
I got you on a 412 too

[Dragon:]
A 412
What's a 412

[St. George:]
Over-acting. Let's go

[Narrator:]
On September the 5th, the Dragon was tried and convicted
His fire was put out and his maiden-devouring license revoked
Maiden devouring out of season is punishable
by a term of not less than 50 or more than 300 years

Thought I'd prat about and put together a quick photo-collage of the view from the 'Nipple' on top of Twm Barlum. Far from perfect I know, but I just wanted to give a flavour of the outlook. Shame the weather wasn't better, but I'll go back on a clear, crisp day and do a proper job then.

The weather turned a bit foul on me when I was up at the Cwmcarn forest drive taking pictures of the wood sculptures the other day, but I climbed up to the top of Twm Barlum to the old hill fort and snapped off a few images of the local area anyway.

For those who don't know it, Twm Barlum is a hill overlooking the Usk valley and Newport. If you imagine a woman laying on her back, Twm Barlum is rather like the shape of her breast; an ancient hill fort surrounds the woman's nipple.

This is a view from the top of the nipple looking down into the Usk Valley with the Severn Estury in the background. The city of Newport is in the mid-right of the image and the storm cloud is travelling down the valley from the Cwmbran/Pontypool area; a rather grey scene.

Here we're looking down over the township of Risca; the city of Newport is just visible to the left of centre. I exposed for the clouds here, so no excuses for lack of foreground detail. I could have 'cooked' the image in Photoshop to bring up the foreground, but as it was the sky that interested me I thought I'd leave in its natural state so to speak.

With the Bank Holiday forecast being cold, wet and miserable I dare say we'll be seeing more skies like this one over the next few days.

Those of us who know her, know how wonderful Lonemum's work is. The sculptures she's shared with us here are truly impressive.

I was wandering abound one of my local beauty spots recently and was looking at some of the sculptures that have been added to one of the picnic areas. While some of the pieces I rather liked, others I thought were less than impressive.

I'm not sure I like this sculpture, but I do like the workmanship. It's called, bizarrely, Hunter, Wife and Boar.

Detail I thought might be important, so here's Boar & Hunter

and Boar & Wife

Note the tear dripping from the Wife's eye.

I'm not sure I understand what the artist is trying to portray: is the Wife sad her husband the Hunter is going to kill the Boar? Or maybe I'm off the mark and the Wife is really married to the Boar, which would account for her tears when the Hunter turns up to kill her husband? Let's not do the beastiality thing please...
So yes I'm a bit confused, but I love the way it looks.

The other side of the coin for me is the Giant: I'm sorry, but I really don't like this at all.

Of course I'm no authority so I'm kind of hoping Lonemum might cast an expert eye and let us know what's good and bad here.

Whatever I hope at least some of you find these interesting.

I was playing with water dropleets on the roof of my car a couple of weeks ago and then on one of my frequent sleepless nights, I processed the image files.

This result was a tad unexpected though...

Seems I unwittingly snapped a self-portrait!

These are spreading wonderfully over the Caldicot Levels. For some reason I can't seem to grow them at my pond edge, but they look splendid 'in the wild.'

For the lives of my little lost guys...

Arum Lillies

The arum lillies that grow at the edge of my pond.

Well I'm seriously pissed off. I really don't want to upset any of you cat lovers out there, so I suggest you go somewhere else because you're not likely to enjoy this.

I've written several entries here about my garden birds and the pleasure they give me.

I've posted a couple of entries specifically relating to the family of blackbirds I have been lucky enough to observe. Sadly, they are no more.

A couple of weeks ago the proud parents introduced their brood of three awkward, gangly chicks. I regret not having an image of the complete family.

A week ago one of the chicks went missing and although saddened I put it down to nature and continued to enjoy the remaining two.

I've only seen one of the chicks the last few days; it was Friday when I last saw the two together.

This morning I spotted the neighbour's cat with a blackbird chick in its mouth. I chased after the bastard, but it had it away over the fence before I could catch it.

I can't prove it of course, but I suspect the sod had all three of the blackbird brood; it's not the only cat in the neighbourhood, but it is the only one in the immediate vicinity and the only one that ever seems to venture into my garden.

So that's it then; no more blackbird family in my garden.

I'm an animal lover and believe in live and let live, but that cat has made itself an enemy and the next time it comes onto my property there will be a warm reception waiting for it!

Bastard!

...forget-me-not

Thanks to La Spice pointing me in the right direction on Saturday, I now know that the daisy things in my garden are really called Osteospernum.

These are they, and here's a close-up view:

And there was me thinking they were Whirlygigs!

Any Blondie fans out there?

Just thought I'd post a few more images from my wanderings around Tintern on Saturday...

Click an image for a larger view.

The Cistercian abbey of Tintern is one of the greatest monastic ruins of Wales. Tintern was only the second Cistercian foundation in Britain, the first in Wales, was founded on 9 May 1131 by Walter de Clare, lord of Chepstow - and it is just a shor drive away from me.

These photographs were all taken yesterday, although I do visit the abbey on a fairly regular basis.

The changing weather conditions yesterday afternoon made for some interesting lighting conditions.

If you're into old ruins and particularly those with a religious background, a visit to Tintern is well worth the effort.

Be sure to pay particular attention to the Great Church, Tintern's crowning glory. Except for the lack of a roof, this part of the abbey is almost complete and is quite stunning when viewed from within.

As usual clicking any of these images will offer a larger view in a pop-up window.

Enjoy!

I’ve blogged here previously about my garden birds and the pleasure they give me. I know I’ve mentioned too the family of blackbirds who have made their home here with us.

Last year the blackbirds, a young inexperienced pair, built their nest in my bay tree; not a wise decision because the tree stands at one end of a natural wind tunnel and was planted originally to help protect one corner of the garden, which it now does quite well. Sadly last year’s nest suffered and I woke one windy morning to find it dislodged and the clutch of eggs destroyed.

I’m happy to say, this year the blackbirds moved to a new location and have successfully raised a brood.

Both parents and chicks accept my presence in the garden with them without complaint and I’ve studied their behaviour from time to time with great amusement.

The pair raised three chicks, although only two have been in evidence this last week so I assume one has fallen foul of a local cat.

The chicks are almost adult size now and are as different as chalk and cheese. This little guy has become a firm favourite because of his independence.

Here are a few photos of them feeding on some crushed biscuit I placed conveniently on a step.

As usual, clicking an image will afford a larger view in a pop-up window.

I blogged recently about a visit I’d made to a disused quarry local to me and posted some of the images I took while I was there.

I found the quarry was an interesting environment to photograph, especially some of the discarded objects left lying around. One of those objects was this part from an engine – it’s an alternator I think, or a dynamo...

Anyway I thought this made an interesting study, given the part is obviously a metal that is prone to rust and the colour of the ground under the water, etc.

But the artist ( ) in me wanted to do something more with the image, something to give it a little more impact perhaps and one of the techniques that sprung immediately to mind was to use a little selective monochrome. There’s nothing fancy in the way of editing here, but the result is quite interesting.

Selective monochrome (or selective colour enhancement come to that) shouldn’t be too hard to achieve in almost any image editing package; I used Photoshop to produce these results and will happily step through the process for anyone interested. In the case above I copied the background layer, separated the metal part and de-saturated it, then overlaid the original background with it.

In this second example the body-spray can lost some of its impact against a muddy background. Again I copied the background layer in Photoshop before starting work. Using the copied background I drew a freehand marquee around the Lynx can, selected the inverse (the stony floor) which I de-saturated to make it monochrome. Select inverse again and cut out the can, then layer the monochrome stones over the original to produce the final image.

The effect could be produced in less steps, but my method allows a little tighter control and blending if needed.

Selective monochrome; what do you think, does it work?

Last week seems to have been long and busy for me; I'm afraid I pushed Blogland back into its box and pretty much ignored it, other than answering the odd few comments. The question now is whether to read all my friends posts in retrospect, or just forget the last few days and move on. I haven't decided yet...

I’ve a couple of odds and ends to do before I post a blog entry I’d planned to make last week and didn’t, so I’ll get on and see to those and of course it’s that time of the week to post a new Something for the Weekend too. I’d better see what the time is when I’m done before I start promising to read through all your entries...

I guess most of us are aware of the need to reduce our carbon footprint and help save the planet. Very laudable of course, not to say necessary; we all need to do our bit.

To many of us renewable energy appears to be the best way forward. By using the Sun’s rays, the wind’s power and the energy stored in waves or falling water to heat and light our homes, we burn far less fossil fuels.

Quite often when we talk about renewable energy, our thoughts turn to wind farms; do we like them or loathe them?

Whatever our views about modern-day windmills, this much is certain; in a couple of hundred years or so, they won’t look anything like as interesting as traditional, stone built, windmills.

This one is local to me – it stands on Windmill Lane appropriately enough.

I always find these structures so evocative...

The history this building could share with us; the stories it could tell...

Bank Holiday Monday and of course it’s raining; well it’s raining in South Wales anyway. Fairly typical I suppose that the weather should be so miserable on a public holiday.

Now before anyone jumps up and down on my bones, I know I shouldn’t complain about a drop of rain. I am a tad sorry though for the thousands of people up and down the country who have devoted time and effort to today’s celebrations and whose plans may well be spoiled by the change in the weather.

Lindow and other persons of the soil will no doubt be celebrating the change; being a country person at heart I appreciate all too well how desperate farmers can be for a drop of rain to water their land. Two sides to every story of course.

I must admit I was hoping for a dry day today since I’d planned to spend most of the day outdoors; ah well, there’s always something that needs doing around the house.

To take our minds off this morning's greyness and remind us all of those wonderfully warm and sunny days the UK has been experiencing recently, take a stroll with me along a country lane.

Listen to the birdsong...
Hear the insects buzzing in the light breeze...
Absorb the slightly pungent tang of the clean, fresh country air...

Tramlines

Sea of Rape

We may think of members of the SAS operating on the ragged edge of safety as they complete missions deep in hostile environments, surviving on little more than their wits and whatever they find in the wild.

The truth is that those guys are quite well supported; designer camouflage, state of the art weaponry and satellite communication equipment are available and often used.

It’s a very different world for some of our native wildlife. Take the humble butterfly for instance; a pretty paint job may act as camouflage, but it’s a very vulnerable existence.

Butterflies are tougher then they look though, just take a glance at this bad boy. If only he could get its camouflage right, he'd be un-spottable...