Rufuscam – by Rufus

So,

I am finally able to unleash my creative talents and challenge Dave for the title ‘Best Photographer in the House’. How is this possible, you ask? Well, he who styles himself the second coming of Ansel Adams has bought me a camera. He didn’t actually realise this when he did it. He thought he was buying it for himself. But it’s small and light and with one of the many plastic things he got with it, he can attach it to my harness.

Me and the harness have a love hate relationship. It’s okay, but I prefer the collar. I have dominated the harness by biting through part of it, so it now understands who is the boss. Dave witters on about how he can attach me to a seatbelt when we’re in the car and I can see the benefit of that, but it used to dig into my armpits a bit. Not any more! A side effect of my recent injury is that I’ve lost weight and as a result, the harness is more comfy now.

This morning, Dave attached ‘his’ camera to the harness and unleashed me on the garden. It took a bit of getting used to; I banged it against the door as I was going out and the look on Dave’s face was a picture. My harness was loose due to my new slim look, you see, and the camera slipped sideways. But I managed to get some nice images and for once, I was able to get photos of Dave just like he always gets photos of me. So now we are equals.

After a swift check up at the vet, (apparently I am looking fantastic and the healing process on my knee is going really well), we went off to Tor Clawdd this morning, where I fully expected to be able to take more photos but for some reason, Dave didn’t bring my harness. I was disappointed but tried not to let it show.

Dave has said something about a more comfy harness arriving in the post soon. Watch out for more of my works of art when that arrives.

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Penllergare

I belong to a camera club in work. And this morning, we had arranged for a visit to Penllergare woods, complete with a guided tour around the formal gardens. I’ve been going to the woods for years, first with Rufus before major restoration work had begun, and lately in my quest for a photograph of the Kingfishers. I’ve been interested in the history of the site but today was an opportunity to get some specific information about the places I’d walked. As it turned out, I discovered some new places, too.

We set off from the car park, past the cafe and down to the upper lake via the terraces. These are large steps in the hillside leading down from Penllergare House, the home of the Dillwyn Llewelyns, that were lined with ornamental urns. The view down to the upper lake, slowly being cleared of decades of silt and vegetation, were striking. Our guide explained that when they started clearing away the undergrowth, paths steps and stone lining started appearing and it was a process of discovery to see how the gardens had been laid out. Much of the work is restoration rather than creation and the aim is to have the gardens looking very similar to how they would have in the mid 19th Century.

We gathered around the waterfall for a photo shoot and were shown the new bridge, constructed from stone cut and laid by the project’s stone mason. Holes have been left in the stonework for birds to nest in. A short walk along the river bank brought us back to the top of the terraces, and the bridal way that once led from Cadle to Penllergare House.

Dillwyn Llewelyn was a keen photographer right at the start of photography, and he was related to Fox Talbot. This means that there are many contemporary images of the house and gardens which has helped enormously during the restoration work. He was also an astronomer and the remains of his observatory, where the first photograph of the moon was taken, is being restored as part of the Penllergare project.

A lot more information about the Penllergare site and the trust can be found on their official website.

A (much too) brief stop at the cafe for coffee and an excellent, locally made scone ended the morning. I found the tour fascinating and discovered some new places to explore the next time I visit.

I still didn’t see any Kingfishers, though.

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