A flower bed at the Aberdare Park to celebrate the CENTENARY of the GIRL GUIDE Movement was the centre piece for a Teddy Bears Picnic for all sections of Guiding in the area.
There were bears of every size being cuddled by the kiddies… and adults!
Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Trefoil members enjoyed a picnic followed by a campfire style sing-along.
A practice session for their big date at the Coliseum on 20th October, 2010 at 20.10. This date in their diary is very important as members of Guiding in all parts of the country will be renewing their Guide Promise.
It’s a pity there are no ‘fungi’ wild food course being run locally… I would love to pick some wild mushrooms for eating but like many people am very wary of doing this without some expert advice.
William Wordsworth’s poem Nutting reminds me of times spent in Aberdare Park.
–It seems a day,
One of those heavenly days which cannot die,
When forth I sallied from our cottage-door,
And with a wallet o’er my shoulder slung,
A nutting crook in hand, I turn’d my steps
Towards the distant woods, a Figure quaint,
Trick’d out in proud disguise of Beggar’s weeds
Put on for the occasion, by advice
And exhortation of my frugal Dame.
Motley accoutrements! of power to smile
At thorns, and brakes, and brambles, and, in truth,
More ragged than need was. Among the woods,
And o’er the pathless rocks, I forc’d my way
Until, at length, I came to one dear nook
Unvisited, where not a broken bough
Droop’d with its wither’d leaves, ungracious sign
Of devastation, but the hazels rose
Tall and erect, with milk-white clusters hung,
A virgin scene!–A little while I stood,
Breathing with such suppression of the heart
As joy delights in; and with wise restraint
Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed
The banquet, or beneath the trees I sate
Among the flowers, and with the flowers I play’d;
A temper known to those, who, after long
And weary expectation, have been bless’d
With sudden happiness beyond all hope.–
–Perhaps it was a bower beneath whose leaves
The violets of five seasons re-appear
And fade, unseen by any human eye,
Where fairy water-breaks do murmur on
For ever, and I saw the sparkling foam,
And with my cheek on one of those green stones
That, fleec’d with moss, beneath the shady trees,
Lay round me scatter’d like a flock of sheep,
I heard the murmur and the murmuring sound,
In that sweet mood when pleasure loves to pay
Tribute to ease, and, of its joy secure
The heart luxuriates with indifferent things,
Wasting its kindliness on stocks and stones,
And on the vacant air. Then up I rose,
And dragg’d to earth both branch and bough, with crash
And merciless ravage; and the shady nook
Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower
Deform’d and sullied, patiently gave up
Their quiet being: and unless I now
Confound my present feelings with the past,
Even then, when, from the bower I turn’d away,
Exulting, rich beyond the wealth of kings
I felt a sense of pain when I beheld
The silent trees and the intruding sky.–
Then, dearest Maiden! move along these shades
In gentleness of heart with gentle hand
Touch,–for there is a Spirit in the woods.
Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) at Aberdare Park.
A fascinating specimen in Aberdare Park.
From the Wikipedia encyclopaedia, the tree is described as an “evergreen tree growing to 40 m tall and 2 m trunk diameter. Because of species’ great age it is sometimes described as a living fossil. Araucaria araucana is the national tree of Chile.
The leaves are thick, tough and scale-like, triangular, 3-4 cm long, 1-3 cm broad at the base, and with razor-sharp edges and tip. They persist for 10-15 years or more, so cover most of the tree except for the older branches…
It is a popular garden tree, planted for its unusual effect of the thick, ‘reptilian’ branches with a very symmetrical appearance….
The origin of the popular English name Monkey-puzzle derives from its early cultivation in Britain in about 1850, when the species was still very rare in gardens and not widely known. The proud owner of a young specimen at Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall was showing it to a group of friends, and one made the remark “It would puzzle a monkey to climb that”; as the species had no existing popular name, first ‘monkey-puzzler’, then ‘monkey-puzzle’ stuck (Mitchell 1996).
A flower bed at the Aberdare Park to celebrate the CENTENARY of the GIRL GUIDE Movement was the centre piece for a Teddy Bears Picnic for all sections of Guiding in the area.
Fifteen pigeons sunbathing in the sun under large conifer tree behind the Park Rangers Office.
Brrrrr … mae hi’n oer iawn ym Mharc Aberdar heddiw.
Meet cute creatures in Aberdare today… on Aberdare Blog.
The Aberdare Blog Met Office is warning that severe weather is forecast in the next fortnight causing scenes of extreme beauty.
Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) at Aberdare Park.
Gad fi’n llonydd…
