your parents

This was ridiculous, trying to even begin to fit so much love onto one little card. But with a little inspiration from our favorite Horatio, it worked out all right.

When I think of my parents I think of learning and intelligence and word play and travel and gratitude and family and love and laughing until your stomach hurts and quiet hours together and road trips and books and Home and the reality is and roses are red and one swell foop and a hundred million moments all holding the same joy SO to sum it all up I put them on a tall ship on the ocean with a map underneath and the constellations above. When you hold it up to the light, the stars are small pinpoints against the deep sky. My parents are the North Star.

the magical history tour

L-O-V-E from Caerphilly

{and talisa is a heart}

I have lost absolutely any sense of time. Tuesday, really? And we're still in July? Are you sure? There have been too many places and too many moments to fit in only just one week.

Last week Tom rented a 17-seater van that has taken us all across the western half of Wales and even (gasp!) across the border to England. We've seen six castles, the 39 colleges of Oxford, an Abbey, a Cathedral, and a crop circle, plus another dozen places besides. Today is our first fully free day in seven, and if it weren't so refreshing it would be depressing---I feel dreadfully unproductive.

But I did manage to get something done today, and hopefully that will make up for a rather thin post. There's so much to say and not enough ways to say them, so hopefully a few pictures can make up for all those words lost. I'll get them in order eventually, but til then, hwyl!

who (or what) are you missing?

A good three weeks into my adventures, and you'd think I'd be missing something a little more substantial. Like home. Or family. Or flavor in my food.

But sleep is all I can think of right now---Oh, sleep! Real rest and real dreams, and a bed with only so many springs . . . Yes. This week, I miss sleep.

E is for

me. I'm a little crazy about my initial, so this week's prompt wasn't hard, but it's not all that great, either. Not enough time and very little inspiration. But done nonetheless.

tut tut, it looks like rain

Tip for Welshmen wanting to go into meteorology: don't bother. It's only ever going to rain.

Really, at this point we may as well be swimming through Cardiff---though that is much better than not being here at all, of course. Today we walked into town to tour Cardiff Castle, a large fortress smack inbetween our neighbourhood and the main shopping district, just across from the Millienium Stadium. In other words: aw, cool!

We made quite a group of it, all squished into raincoats and under umbrellas. The room-to-room run through was stunning; Lord Bute, reputed to be the wealthiest man in the British Empire if not the world in his time, renovated the age-old castle as an occassional residence and that wealth is apparent. Working with architect William Burgess, the two men took influences from Italy, Turkey, the Middle Ages, and their Victorian world to create a mansion of every excess, all gold and marble and full-length murals. Both were also fans of bird life, so every room had a sparrow or something like it tucked away in the design, which is just really one of my favorite things in the world.

For the rest of the afternoon we stuck to our umbrellas to take in the downtown area, wandering through the old Victorian arcades and ducking in and out of the odd shops and sweet-smelling bakeries. I scored an old copy of Katherine Mansfield at a used booksellers, and Tom took for Cornish pasties, and after a quick stop at the oldest record shop in the world (1894!), we raced home. Yep, this post just did get super sped up and shortchanged--I'm out of time. Must run! More later! Pip-pip!

i love love, I love being in love

Corinne sings that song at least three times a day. At least it's true.

This week was all about LOVE, and I responded by saying I love it right where I am. My little flat on Strathnairn, all of Wales ahead of me. Yep. Life's looking good.

hail brittania

So much to say with so very little time---at the moment I'm in a rather rainy, surprisingly cold, and constantly cloudy Cardiff. In other words: fantastic. Britain's everything I've ever hoped it would be.

Yesterday was a whirlwind day in London, flying into Heathrow in the early morning and spending the next hours about the city before catching a coach into Wales. I've become a major fan of the Underground (despite the smell), Hydepark (such a nap as never before!), and Cadbury vending machines (it's true, they exist!), plus just about everything else. I don't think I'll ever get enough of London. I'm excited to head back next weekend and see the more touristy sorts of things---though I took a good look about Westminster and Big Ben, I wasn't up to much museum-ing on so little sleep.

And Cardiff? Cardiff is already close and dear to my heart. I'm more than happy to live here, tucked away in a small flat along a row of flats in a whole neighbourhood of flats that all look exactly the same. Last night's walk from Cardiff Central into Roath I passed a Topshop and an H&M, about two dozen Indian restaurants, and the castle. Yep. I can definitely do this.

Til next time---cheerio!

so much craziness

Just back from the Best Week of My Life So Far, eight days on the road with my dad and sisters. We've been across, up, over, and through Oregon, and I loved every mile of it. Each day was worthy of a post all its own, but with 24 hours to go before my next adventure I've got to stick to the pack and prep. In the meantime, here's the last two week's worth of art cards, the above my interpretation of our days along the Oregon coast and the one below a response to the prompt "a symbol you love." For this one I didn't have to think to hard---the koru, a Maori symbol of new life, new growth, strength, and peace, crops up just about every time I put pen to paper. And, for the record, the color on this scan is atrocious. It's really a rather nice blend of greens in real life.