Shaun in the city

Well as some of you might be aware there are currently 70 Shaun the sheep statues in Bristol. There were another 60 I believe in London and in September all 120 of them will be on display in Bristol and then Covent Garden. The Covent Garden dates are the 24th-27th of September. After this the statues will be auctioned off with money going to charity, one being the children's hospital back in Bristol.

Now, I had to go to Bristol recently to attend my graduation ceremony. So yes I am now officially a graduate of Neuroscience from the University of Bristol. Whilst there I stayed in the charming flat of one of my good friends and her boyfriend. However I arrived pretty early and then had to wait around as it was his graduation ceremony that day. To keep myself entertained I decided to see how many of the sheep sculptures I could find. Well in typical Bristol fashion it decided to pour down with rain but that wouldn't deter me.

Above shows a collection of these wonderful quirky statues. My favourite from these is probably the one in the centre at the bottom called Shaun on the cob. I managed to see about 25 of them on my first walk around the city. Now I was carrying my laptop with me as well as pair of shoes and everything I needed for the next couple of days so I was pretty pleased with my success. Along the way I stopped off at a couple of cafes. One that should be noted is Yurt Lush. What a wonderful Bristolian name. It is indeed a yurt and is located pretty close to Temple Meads station. I popped in for a juice and a snack. This turned out to be a salted caramel brownie which was a decent size for the price paid. Prices are what you would generally expect for the location and the city. The Brownie which was home made was delicious and had a nice crisp top as a brownie should. The juice was also very refreshing and service seemed quick and efficient.

The rather nice flowers on the table along with my snacks.

It was a nice stop off to get out of the rain. However I learnt that the syrup tin on the table did have a use which was to catch the drips of water from the roof. I reckon on a good day this wouldn't be a problem at all. I think if I were to be in Bristol again I would visit Yurt Lush.

Well this is my attempt at a more review type blog post, wondering what people think.

Buzzing away

A walk in the countryside of roughly 7 miles meant passing many cottage gardens. In several were large areas of Lavender with many buzzing bees flittering around. I'm not overly keen on bees but I do think they look nice in photos. As I focused in on this one it decided to fly away from the plant and allowed me to capture it in motion.

Pet portrait (Oscar)

This handsome chap is Oscar. He belongs to family friends and I often get to take him out for walks. I have spent some time just recently walking him. He's well behaved and a friendly giant. Despite being a Newfoundland he isn't that keen on water, preferring to flop down on a tiled floor to cool off in the summer heat.

Shuswap evenings

After a day out on the lake exploring we spent the evening watching the sun begin to set behind the distant mountains. This is a photo of Shuswap Lake, located in the lower mainland of British Columbia in Canada. The photo is taken from a beach close to the town of Salmon Arm. Across in the picture is the public beach of Canoe. Such a wonderful peaceful place to enjoy the summer months but also beautiful through the winter too.

Summer sorbets

Recently on a very warm day in London we came across a dessert place we have seen a couple of times before. This time due to the heat we decided that we would stop by possibly for an ice-cream or a cake to take away. In the end we opted to stay. Here is the sorbet sundae that I enjoyed, all fresh fruit flavours turned out to be very refreshing. The place is called Kula and is located near to Selfridges in an area called St James' Square if I am correct. Worth a visit as there is plenty of choice and they do savouries and meals as well.

River Usk

Before returning home for the summer, I went on a day trip to Abergavenny. The original plan was to walk in the hills but I couldn't seem to find the start of any of the footpaths. Instead I found myself wandering along the banks of the Usk, which was very pleasant. It seemed I was in the middle of nowhere alone with the birds and the field of horses across from me. Here I stopped to take in the view behind me. The river diverted alongside rocky shores here so that the main body of water is to the left of the frame.