Report from Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Mary Beth Frezon

Where the heck did she go, you might be asking yourself. I asked myself that quite a bit. After heading out from the workshop, heading down through Betwys y Coed, lunch at the Ugly House and all… I spent a lot of my time on the road wondering where I was. I finally caught on that roads were only marked with route numbers at intersections. I knew I didn’t want to be just then in Powys. I knew I wanted to go south along one road towards Aberystwyth in hopes of going to the National Library. Well after spending quite a bit of time “enjoying the landscape” I did end up in Aberystwyth in a total gridlock which diverted me. I finally ended up back on the right road towards my next stop but it was clearly going to be dark when I got there.

There was white stuff on the ground at one point while I was driving and I knew it was hail but I counted it as winter-y driving anyway. Oh, and some places here they tell you the percentage grade if it’s ten percent or higher… say… I don’t know twelve or seventeen percent…

I thrashed around and finally the shepherd’s hut owner mercifully met me out on the road. Got myself settled and had no problems sleeping that night for sure!

Next day I decided maybe I needed not to thrash around for a day. I knew I could make it to Lampeter and was pretty sure I could find the Quilt Centre. I went, turned up and found a grocery store. It had a post office – they know everything I figure so I bought a stamp and asked – oh yeah – just up the street – about a ten minute walk, you can leave your car here. And if you’re hungry there’s a cafe right next door, quite good. Not driving sounded great so I rearranged my stuff and headed off.

At the Quilt Centre, the wonderful Jen Jones said – oh, the exhibit just closed… (sadness) but the person who was supposed to help take it down hasn’t come yet so I don’t see why you can’t go in. She was the only one in the shop so she showed me around and said she’d check back. Oh my – what a blessing to have squeaked in to see those quilts.

More to come – photos uploading and it’s going to take awhile. I think this will take you to the start of the most recent. I’m doing them in chunks.

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Posted in Do the Work, fae and elvish, Journey to Wales, taking time to look | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Report from Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Greetings from Penmachno, Wales

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Mary Beth Frezon

Using some wifi to upload photos from the past few days to the Flickr album. I can’t say I was distraught over unplugging from all the news and happenings across the pond and there’s something to be said for immersing yourself in what you’re doing especially when it’s vacation.

The workshop was just great – wonderful people and good teachers, stretching exercises and feedback from the two who run the course and from the other students. So much talk about writing, and writers and politics and everything else you can imagine. Some wine. A lot of good food. A long walk on the first free afternoon and a walk to see an old (iron age) church and then a walk along the walls of the Conwys Castle on the next. The latter was followed by a nice field trip to a “pub” – actually a bar in a hotel where I sampled a very nice flat, darker cider. 7.5% I think. I got dissuaded from having a pint but ended up having two halves so…

It was sad leaving but everyone seemed ready to go out there and not only get writing but get down to the business of submitting things. Charge! Make it so!

This is a pretty big dump of photos, beginning with Caernafon Castle and the Weeping Window exhibit.

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Posted in Journey to Wales, travels | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Alive and well in Wales!

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Mary Beth Frezon

Had a most wonderful time at the writing workshop. Seven students, four tutors and many pages of writing and thought. And hours of chat about writing. So much goodness and so little news. 

I have a lot of photos of mostly landscape to upload but I need a better internet connection. So hang in there and know there’s more coming. 

Posted in In the neighborhood, Journey to Wales, life on the web, the creative process | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Caemes Bay and Llanfechell and Standing Stones!

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Mary Beth Frezon

I did a lot of driving around today. As Marge warned me – easier with other cars to follow. Only had one dicey moment but nothing too hairy. Many of the roads I was on today were one car wide and if you met another, someone had to find a place to pull over. My right hand keeps wanting to shift at all the right moments but my left hand is catching on.

Why was I driving around? well, to see stuff of course! This area is full of places to see, the ocean, sheep… a lot of sheep, a lot of wind turbines aka windmills.

There are a lot of public walks here and I knew there was at least one to get to where I needed to go. I looked in the general area and just didn’t know so I regrouped, went back, found the one I wanted AND a very nice young man answered my question (is this it?) and got me started. Amazing. I am never afraid to ask a question and I am always gratified by the people who help me.

My boots and my car, both a wee bit muddy. Well, the boots… muddy and… did I mention all the sheep and cattle? Well then. Having a bit of a rest up and then looking forward to dinner and another good night’s rest.

Posted in fae and elvish, In the neighborhood, Journey to Wales, NaNoWriMo | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Quote Box

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Mary Beth Frezon

Eating and delaying the return to the sewing machine and quilting and bobbin counting, I added a few hundred quotes to the quote box. Ah, the magic of GREP and wildcards! If you spot anything weird, drop me a comment or something.

Posted in the creative process | 2 Comments