Holy Days

We're back from our holidays.  They were very special days, a time set apart, time together as a family.  Very precious.



I took this picture whilst we were waiting for the ferry at Holyhead - at 5.15 am!

Carmarthenshire

The Beach at Amroth

Olympus OM-1, G. Zuiko 35mm, Ilford FP4 plus (pushed to ISO 400)

Aberaeron

Olympus OM-1, G. Zuiko 35mm, Ilford FP4 plus (pushed to ISO 400)

It's probably the Welsh blood in my veins but there is just something about the Carmarthenshire coast.  It's not especially spectacular when compared to say the West Coasts of Ireland or Scotland but it has its very own beauty.  The beach rambler would never tire of the sheer variety of coastline, vast sandy beaches, small rocky coves, cliffs and dunes, the abundant wildlife (and even the good ol' tacky amusement arcade here and there).  Many childhood memories are brought to mind in these places - lemonade in glass bottles, sandwiches with more sand in them than ham or cheese, Granddad with a knotted handkerchief on his head, huddled in a bus shelter in the rain whilst eating salty chips, my grandparents Morris Minor. Ah yes what a wonderful place and what special memories.

Now as we occasionally get to travel across we witness a new generation of grandchildren accumulating wonderful memories, as plentiful as the shells gathered into their seaside buckets.  The world might be a slightly different place - lemonade is now called different things and comes in a plastic bottle, chips no longer come packaged in yesterdays newspaper and many other changes which on their own are tiny but when put together represent a subtly different world.  The new generation of Grandparents though are just the same, just as loving and doting and instrumental in passing on to their grandchildren that love and kindness which will still be there when their turn comes, as it surely will, when they will watch their own grandchildren run about in frenzied joy in a world that is the same but different.

There and back again

Panasonic LX1, 5 images @ f5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO 80, (click to enlarge)

Panasonic LX 1, f4.5, 1/250, ISO 80, 28mm equivalent, (click to enlarge)

We had a very enjoyable weekend going over to Llanelli for my Aunt and Uncle's Golden Wedding Anniversary. It was great to see them and many other family members, some of whom I had not seen since I was a toddler! It was lovely to wake up on a Sunday morning, initially in a panic about getting ready for church- is the sermon ready, what to mention in the prayers etc. and then remember that it was not for me to worry about on this, one of my precious four Sundays off per year.

Happy childhood memories were rekindled as we took a walk around Burry Port harbour yesterday afternoon. The places where I built many sandcastles and went hunting for cockles with my Nanna and Grandad just the same as they always had been. Looking down onto the sands I could almost see myself thirty years earlier digging and building away in childhood reverie...

Shell Island

"David & Goliath"
Nikon D70s, f9, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, 75mm equivalent (click to enlarge)

"Towards Snowdonia"
Panasonic LX1, f4.9, 1/500 sec, ISO 80, 25mm (click to enlarge)

"Beach to ourselves!"
Panasonic LX1, f5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO 80, 28mm equivalent (click to enlarge)

Shell Island is a remarkable place located on the Snowdonia coastline in North Wales. There is a 300 acre camp site, which although it can be very busy and very tacky is large enough that it is possible to escape the lager-swilling-trance-music-listening hordes at weekends.

In the photo of the beach you can just about make out my wife and eldest son far down at the bottom of the vast sand dune - our youngest is balancing atop my shoulders while the picture is being taken :-0

The views are spectacular as the seascape across to the mountains of Snowdonia show ...

By the way, this is my 100th post in just under a year of blogging - hardly prolific but perhaps a little better than I had hoped for when I started :-)

It's Good Friday - but there is Light at the end of the tunnel...

Disused Railway tunnel, Bedgellert, Snowdonia, North Wales

Year 2004, Olympus C310, F2.9, 1/30 sec, ISO 320, 35mm equivalent

This week, we have been journeying towards the Cross of Christ. We have looked at Jesus’ last day and hours before he gave His life. Today is Good Friday, a day which for the Christian is full of mixed emotions. On the one hand we weep and despair at what Jesus went through, we see that we too are responsible for betraying him and putting him upon a cross, we see that there is no room for us to wash our hands of the situation like Pilate tried to. Jesus went to the cross because of our sin. On the other hand Good Friday is not all bleak. When we take on board what Jesus did for us, we realise just how much He loves us, the pain that He was willing to endure for our sake, we cannot help but be overcome with joy at the realisation of what the cross actually does. By his death we are forgiven, by his death we are free from the consequences of our sin, of our rebellion against God and by his death we are given eternal life. Yes for those who believe that Jesus is who He said He is, eternal life is a free gift. As Tony Campolo puts it “its Friday now…. But Sunday’s coming.” In other words the events of Good Friday viewed on their own in isolation would be utterly bleak and without hope, but when we remember that Easter Sunday is just round the corner, when Jesus rose from the dead, it’s puts things in a whole new and wonderful perspective.