I've decided I'd like a couple of monoliths in my front garden; not huge great big things you understand, but two stones one to stand around 5 feet tall above ground level and the other 3 to 4 feet tall.

In an ideal world my liths would be good Welsh slate, but I dare say that would put them way out of my price range.

When I was taking pictures in a disused quarry a few months ago I spotted some stone that I thought would probably do the job nicely, but how the heck to get it out of the old quarry and back to my place? Not the sort of thing you can just put in your back pocket, or even the boot of your car come to that...

Quite nice colours in this rock though, don't you think?

There were even a couple of pieces that I'd have considered taking for the shorter of my two monoliths:

So is there anyone out there who knows anything about knicking large lumps of stone from old quarries?

I see someone has tagged me as a 'wanker'; well thank you so much whoever you are for your insightful view of my persona.

So here's the thing; now that I've spotted your addition and made it 'public', are you man (or woman) enough to own up to adding the new tag?

I'll tell you what I'll leave your opinion where it is for the next five days, but if you haven't owned up by then I'll delete it; how about that?

Come on.... I'm waiting...

I’d meant to blog this some weeks ago, but got side-tracked and forgot; it’s my age you know...

I was walking in Wentwood Forest, Wales’ largest ancient woodland, and wondering how the campaign to save the area was coming along since I hadn’t heard anything about it for a while. (Some of you may have spotted this story on the BBC News web)

Anyway, the history of Wentwood is that the ancient forest has been steadily decimated over the years and replanted with conifer. Now while I like Scot’s Pine and other fir trees I much prefer the native deciduous varieties, so I was happy to sign the various petitions and donate funds.

Thankfully sense has finally prevailed and the area will be returned to its natural state so this important ancient woodland will be managed by the Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw).

Scenes like this will soon be a thing of the past.

It's a dull, grey, wet morning in south east Wales today, which got me thinking a little about some of the weather we've had recently.

There's been a fair amount of rain of course and the occasional bright sunny day too, but perhaps most dramatic, apart from the flooding, have been some of the skies.

I rather like like skies and clouds; no two are ever the same.

The mixture of blues, greys, blacks and whites can be quite stunning at times.

Click any of the above to see a larger version in a pop-up window.

The old Boat House at Tintern