Welsh Art Café in Taff's Well

While I was on vacation, I was able to take a mini trip up to Taff's Well. It's easily accessible from Cardiff. There are buses but I find the easiest way to get there, if you don't have a car, is by train from the Queen street station (it also stops at Cathays and Llandaff North). It only takes about 15 minutes from the heart of Cardiff.

Taff's Well is a very cute village. It's name is derived from it's location next to the river Taff and it's history of being a site of natural hot springs since Roman times. It is a great place to spend an afternoon or day. The local pub is great and it's nice to just walk up the Taff trail and take in the Welsh countryside.

While in Taff's Well, I definitely recommend visiting Umber & Sienna Art Café. It's an easy, short walk up the Taff trail and a great little place to see some local Welsh art. Have a tea or coffee and a slice of delicious homemade cake (or other tantalising treats!) while enjoying an environment filled with local artwork. If you have children, bring them too. There are child-friendly snacks and drinks available and they will love creating their own Lego® artwork on the walls!

The owner of the café, Rachael, has done an excellent job of arranging the place and will be happy to make you feel welcome. The café is open 9:30-3 pm Tuesday to Friday and 10-5 on Saturdays.



How to get there in a 5 minute walk

Across the road from the Taff's Well train station car park, you will see the Taff Trail. Follow it (north) over the bridge and to the first gate. At the first gate, you will see two cottages, one on the left and on the right. These are the Rhymney railway cottages (so-named after the Rhymney Valley railway connection).













After the cottages, you will come to a second gate. Just after this, on the left hand side, you will see a little track and a sign pointing you to the art café.

Jet Lag is Weird

I'm back from my vacation and fighting jet lag. Jet lag is such a strange thing isn't it?

I fly to Europe fairly often and I find that no matter whether I'm coming or going, the same weird things happen to me every time for the first few days. My symptoms include the following:

1) I get the EXTREME munchies at 3 am and usually end up consuming large amounts of cheese to drive off the hunger.

2) I wake up at 5:30am and read a book. I have tried various books to stop this but alas no genre seems to curb it!

3) I scare my friends by suddenly becoming a perky morning-person. This is possibly the worst of all my symptoms; my poor friends live on tenterhooks for the first few days until I finally become my groggy self.

4) I relive my old university skills of staying up late and use bullying tactics to get the others around me to do the same. Sadly, they all become pumpkins at midnight.

5) I'm wide awake at sleepy-time and sleepy at wide-awake time. O_o

Nun's Prayer

I know it's been weeks since I've posted anything. With Christmas and being on vacation without internet, it's been nearly impossible to get any good blogging done.

The other day I was visiting some folks in Bristol, England and they had this on their wall. I had never seen this prayer before and thought it was quite nice. My favourite verse is the one about sour old people being a crowning work of the devil. LOL so true!

Lord Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody: helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains.
They are increasing and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years by.
I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others pains, but help me to endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a Saint some of them so hard to live with, but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people.
And, give me 0 Lord the grace to tell them so.

Let the Christmas Crazies Commence

Today was American Thanksgiving which brought on the beginning of the Christmas rush at the Michaels store that I work at. There were some great coupons and sales on which made lots of customers come out to take advantage of that. I got a $100 Ott light for $18!!!

So after a busy day at work, I want to share something humorous and Christmas-related.

Books Were Harmed in the Making of This

I've been having a lot of fun reading Kelly Rae Roberts' book "Taking Flight" and trying out her projects and techniques. One of the projects that caught my eye was the one where she uses a vintage book to create a photo frame. It is such a cool idea, especially for someone like me who loves going to second hand book stores. Any excuse to go, really.

I managed to get a pretty good stack of old hardcover books last weekend at one of my favourite secondhand shops, and I've been a busy beaver this week; chopping and cutting up these books to give them a new life (please don't feel sorry for them- they were in their final destination in the shop before heading to the recycling bin).

It was a really fun project to work on and I am loving the results! Below is a picture of one of them, but I made many more of them and you can find them in my shop. I also plan on taking a few of them to a craft sale I am doing December 3.




This is the example that was in Kelly Rae Roberts' book and was the inspiration for my books.

Artsy Bookmarks

I was super excited to introduce hand painted bookmarks to my Etsy shop a few weeks ago. I think they are turning out beautifully and I'm quite proud of them. They are made of real canvas and I turned them into pieces of multimedia artwork with pieces of scripture from a Bible and other good things like glitter, gold leafing, paint pen, paint, and varnish.

Well, the first one I listed, has just sold! I am so excited to be sending this one off to its new home in Australia tomorrow! (My first sale to Australia too!)

Write or Die

I saw this link on twitter and it linked me to writeordie.com (write or die). You write in a time crunch and if you don't write, it punishes you. This was my first go with it. The results were entertaining.

...................

I have to write! Quick! But I have to get the oatmeal out of the microwave too and eat...or I'll be late for my shower...and then late getting ready...late getting out of the door which will make me late for rehearsal. I hate being late for rehearsal!!

Okay. Going to get the oatmeal. Please don't hurt me!

123 ......go!!!!!!!


AAAAAAAh. It's punishing me! With Hanson's MMmmbop. I thought it was my roommate's phone but no. It's my computer. I'm going to have that song stuck in my head now. And just the chorus too. Ugh. Good thing I have an orchestra rehearsal to go to . Beethoven 6 will take the Mmmbop right out of there and replace it with Bugs Bunny.

Ok- now must eat and type between spoonfuls.

gulp.

And funny maneuvering. I'm trying to eat out of a bowl with a spoon and type on a laptop whilst sitting on a sofa. Should have done this at the kitchen table!????

Okay bite #2... red warning screen.... keep chewing... one handed typing... more gulping... and one handed typing... the cats are watching. I can only imagine how painful this is to watch. It probably borders on the pain I used to feel in horn lessons when my old teacher would end off an email. His hunt-and-peck-with-2-fingers style was cringe worthy.

I need to eat faster! It's past 8 am already. I find it so hard to eat when it's still dark out. Is it just me? Like my eyes are attached to my stomach? Or maybe I'm still full from last night's Book Club Pot Luck. There was a lot of yummy food there (it was Spanish themed).

Chewing. Typing. My mind is running out of words.

Hey! I managed to grab the bowl that has no chips in the rim. 1 in 6 chance of that happening. Woo! Guess it will be a good day today.

2 and a half minutes left. This borders on ridiculous. Almost. Done. Oatmeal.

And we have oatmeal eating success!

wordcount 370 (including this)