Cold Nose Alert in Aberdare

It’s a definite COLD NOSE ALERT in Aberdare… and cold paws too.

Snow showers ‘whitening up’ Aberdare this afternoon.

Photo by Kyle Kesselring. Photo Licensed Under a Creative Commons License. See copy here.

Singing in the Rain in Aberdare

Make a Friend of the Snow

Make a Friend of the Snowy weather in Aberdare this week.

Free the Artist trapped within yourself and sculpt something wonderful today.

Most of Aberdare’s schools are shut because of the severe weather.

Some of the younger Aberdare generation are enjoying making friends in the snow.

Protest Snowballs in Aberdare

Griffith Rhys Jones aka Caradog threatens to quit Aberdare claiming his snowballs are freezing cold.

The iconic octogenerian sculpture in Victoria Square has issued the local Council with an ultimatum.

He is demanding wooly mittens and hat, thermal underpants, and a willy warmer else he says he will be leaving Aberdare…

Aberdare has seen light snowfall for most of the day today – February 2nd 2009 – with near freezing temperatures. More snow is forecast for Tuesday.

Penguin Parade in Aberdare

Penguins are flocking to Aberdare this week to take advantage of the unusually cold weather snap.

Aberdare Traders will be holding regular Penguin Parades along Cardiff Street, Aberdare to encourage more shoppers into the town centre.

Expect near-freezing daytime temperatures for most of next week. Dress warmly, wear wooly socks, watch for ice underfoot and don’t forget to subscribe to the Aberdare Blog Newsletter below for further Alternative Weather Forecasts.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar. Photo Licensed Under a Creative Commons License. See copy here.

Aberdare Weather Warning

Forget it, Mister.

They ain’t going to be no bikinis in Aberdare for months.

Dress warmly. Put the swimsuit and suntan lotion away.

It’ll be colder than a penguin’s chuff in Aberdare for the next few days.

Photo by Diana Schnuth. Photo Licensed Under a Creative Commons License. See copy here.

Aberdare Weather Forecast

It’s cccccccold in Aberdare today.

It’s snowing.

A light, icing-sugar dusting type of snow.

We’ve put a few extra lumps of coal on the fire.

We forecast a very cold start to the early morning with many irate and blue-faced drivers having to de-frost their cars.

There will be frostbitten toes across the Valley.

And snowmen.

We hope.

Autumn arrives in Aberdare Park

The Autumn has arrived in Aberdare Park.

Bed of Crocuses at Aberdare Park in early March

St David’s Day at St John’s Church in Aberdare

The daffodils around St John’s Church brighten up Aberdare today, and it is perfectly timed for St David’s Day, Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant, the patron Saint of Wales.

Photos of the flowers at St John’s Church in Aberdare on St David’s Day 1st March 2007

Aberdare Commercial Street

February 9th 2007. Aberdare Commercial Street today, at the heart of the town’s shopping district on a Friday afternoon and you could count the number of shoppers on one or two hands, and maybe a toe or two.

Many shops in Aberdare Town could not receive their usual deliveries. Bread and milk was selling quickly in the few shops selling these basic items.

Some journalists like to drum false stories into our heads suggesting that taking time off work on a day like this is “bad”.

As if we had sinned against man and nature to withhold a day of our labour on one of the most unusual days of the year.

We are but human beings and creative ones too, and the urge to build snow men, throw snowballs, and skate down icy paths is a natural urge.

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty or more. Age is no barrier. Take your Zimmer out if necessary. Form a snowball with your hands, sculpt something with this wonderful stuff falling from the sky.

Photographs of Aberdare Park in the Snow

There was a little time early today to steal a few moments at Aberdare Park following the heavy snowfall last night.

The snow brings a silence that provokes a sense of awe in nature. It is at times eerie.

Snow dusted onto the trees and shrubs accentuates their shape for the eyes.

Walking underneath the trees and a flurry of snow slips down on one’s head. The trees are old like the hills but they retain a school-child’s sense of humour.

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More photographs of Aberdare Park in the snow …

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“Nature is silent save when the poets lend her a voice. As soon as man is alone in the fields, he is overwhelmed by this mysterious silence; not a breath, not a sound; if his foot strikes a root; if he coughs, the ocean of silence immediately closes over that flowing noise like the calm waves over a stone fallen in the water. Silence here below is not an interruption of sound, it is sound which interrupts silence; and silence absorbs it, as darkness absorbs the meagre flash of a rocket, or the vanishing track of a shooting star. Let us look at the firmament; let us contemplate it, if we dare, for an hour, lying on our back with our face turned towards the milky way, and we shall then understand this thought of “Pascal” which makes us shudder : “The eternal silence of infinite space frightens me!”

Assuredly, there are sounds in nature; the leaves rustle, the brook murmurs, the wind roars or moans, the thunder rumbles; but in all this there is no language; and though we listen, attentive or anxious, we do not hear the words of consolation or revealation, for which we long. ” – Wilfred Monod “Silence and Prayer” (Allenson, London, 1931). (Translated by Gladys A. Slade).

Colder than a Witch’s Tit

The Aberdare Blog ‘limousine’ took at least half an hour to de-frost this morning.

It’s brrrrrr….. blinking cold in Aberdare today, near freezing temperatures for most of the day.

We spent a few hours brainstorming for a suitable image and phrase to describe the weather this week, and we came up with “a witch’s tit” and a snapshot of the Aberdare Blog-mobile windscreen.

Dear Reader, we spare no expenses in the quest to bring you only the very best from Aberdare.

A Touch of Magic in Town

Hard to say who was the more frightening in town … Shrek or Judith Toms

One came in green and the other glowered in incandescent purple.

In the big rainpour around 4 o’clock in the afternoon a mass of parents and kids huddled together in the entrance and foyer of Aberdare Library.

And then the comic green monster with the stub nose and Scottish brogue appeared. Eyes suddenly lit up and little faces smiled in anticipation.

Like a rainbow forming on a dreary day, a touch of magic came to town.

Aberdare in Blossom

Today we found a ‘fragrant hotspot’ ready to blossom near Rock Grounds.

It looks like a Japanese Flowering Cherry (Prunus serrulata). In Japan this tree is called Sakura and only blooms for a few brief days. The Japanese go to parks, shrines and temples and hold flower viewing parties known as hanami. Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of sakura, and for many, it is a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view.

We in the Valleys take our beautiful parks and countryside for granted. The trees that help our planet breathe and the natural landscape which helps sustain us are laid waste by developers.

Why not discover your own local beauty hotspot today ?