It is mild today and there is a little breeze.

I have noticed that quite a few big birds have been coming to our garden.  Since we have been feeding the birds again this winter a sparrowhawk has been visiting the garden although we haven't seen it catch anything yet.  This morning I saw a few crows swoop through the garden.

Although this picture of the oaks was taken about a week ago, they haven't really changed since then.  As you can see lots of leaves have fallen since the last update.

These photos are of the Usk River.
They were taken on the Black Mountain,about 1 mile from the Usk rivers starting point. 
From this close up photo you can see how clear the water is and how stony the bottom is.Its ideal for playing in because of its shallowness, we do often play in it when the weather is warm.
The river is very clean and lovely, its been given a SSSI (special site of scientific interest) designation because of the wildlife that lives in and around it.

This picture is of the ford that crosses the river.My brothers have tried to cycle their bikes through it but they couldn't, they got wet feet!

This picture is of the Rushes at the side of the river, you tend to get rushes in wet places. 

Daddy says "you can make candles from these soft rushes" and he promises that he'll show me how one day.

To day there is a chill in the air, it is still, very damp and cloudy. 

This is a picture of the

Oaks

THE STORY OF THE LADY OF THE LAKE



A man went up toe in the  Llyn y Fan Fach, a lake in the mountains near here and saw a lady on a lake.  The man put his arm out to the lady, offering her bread and the lady said " Yuk, I can't eat your disgusting bread".  So the man went home that night and asked his Mum to make him some softer bread.  The next day the man went to see the lady and he said to her "I've brought you some softer bread", he offered it to her and she looked at it and said "Yuk, I'm not going to eat that, it's too doughy".  That night the man went back home and asked his Mum to bake some bread that was not soft and not hard.  So the next morning he took the bread his Mum had made and offered it to the lady again and the lady accepted the bread.  When she had eaten the bread he asked her to marry him.  She said "I shall marry you but if you strike me three times I shall leave you".   So the man accepted what she said and said he would not strike her three times.    She told her father that she was getting married and her father said she could marry the man.  He told her she could take as many cattle and sheep as she could count in one breath.  She straight away started counting the animals in fives.  She took them with her to start her new life in Myddfai, a village nearby.  She had three sons who grew up to be fine.  Sadly her husband did hit her three times, once at a wedding when she was crying and once at a funeral when she was laughing and once when she was shouting at her sons, he got angry at her because they hadn't done much wrong.  The last time he hit her she said to him "I warned you that I would leave if you hit me three times, so I must leave."  She took her cattle and sheep away, two of the cattle were pulling a plough and she took them with the plough attached across the mountain back to her father.  Her three sons visited her at the lake and she taught them all she knew about plants and how to heal people.  They became famous healers and were known as The Physicians of Myddfai.