I decided to focus on an area of Newport called Crindau, which is fairly close to Shaftesbury Park, where I photographed the reeds.  It is an area which is, I think, under the Council’s spotlight for redevelopment – a new, huge Sainsburys was built on the derelict gasworks site last year and they have plans to built a marina on Crindau Pill, one of the inlets from the River Usk.  Whether it will happen in this economic climate is anyone’s guess, but I decided that it would be a good plan to capture the area in photographs before it happens.  There are a lot of derelict warehouses, as well as quite a few operational ones, there – it is a funny mix of residential and ex-industrial; lots of potential for distressed walls and arty rusted fences…

There’s a lot of up and down so you get great rooftop views.

And the odd bit of arty graffiti.

I love these old derelict factory buildings.  Note the individual facades – none of your identikit shoeboxes here.

And you turn a corner, and a flight of steps beckons you….

To this street of Victorian terraces (can you see the Civic Centre tower on the horizon….

But then you turn another corner and, in the middle of all those little Victorian terraced houses is Crindau House, this longhouse dating from about the 1500s!  I didn’t know of its existence until a few weeks ago when I came upon this plaque.

When it was built, this house would have been in the middle of countryside – right up till the 19th century, in fact.  Now it’s enclosed by all these Victorian terraces, a secret medieval survivor.

And another more random one, which looks fun!

I like this one too!

Happy Christmas to you all!

They are getting back to the very dry and old stage I remember from early spring.

The sun lights them up.

I like the contrast here between the dark row of reed heads and the light ones in the foreground which have the sun on them.

I shall be quite sad to finish my monthly documentation of the reeds’ progress and will have to think of something else to observe… I have a few ideas.

The fountain in the park had a nice white coat.

So did this fence.

I love the contrast between the crisp, glistening snow and the peeling, dilapilated paintwork.

Meanwhile the view through the fence to the abandoned steelworks site looks like a lunar landscape.

The car which left these tracks looks as if it had an interesting drive up the hill (it’s one way so I’m assuming the driver was parking and not skidding downhill!).

We had another few inches last night – I went for a walk tonight and took these photos with my mobile phone in the early evening.

The snow remained on the trees all day despite the sun shining.

This looks like a visitation from on high!  Actually it’s a telephone wire (or similar) and the glare from a street lamp.

And it’s bye from me for now!

We have a headboard for our bed and over time the padding and foam filling had disintegrated so much that it was hanging by a few tatters of cloth.  So I decided to make a quilted cover instead.

A few years ago I made a very simple quilt top from a pack of 4” squares I’d bought at a show somewhere.   They were obviously a sort of rainbow pack!   It was a square, but a couple of rows of unpicking and restitching made them into the perfect shape for my headboard. 

This is the result – definitely bright and cheerful! 

I quilted the top with very free machine spirally sort of shapes and backed it with some ready quilted fabric that I had on my shelves.

Here it is on our bed.  (It wasn’t really night, the sun was shining through the windows so I had to use fill in flash!).

My quilting is definitely a bit rusty but it felt good to be ‘drawing’ spirals with the machine again! 

Meanwhile, we are in the grip of a big freeze.  Not thick snow like the north of the country, but the wisteria has a white covering now:

When I ventured into the garden I took a few photos as well.

Last night it was very foggy and on my walk I took a few experimental photos on my new Blackberry.  The camera on it seems a bit hit and miss but I am pleased with the way this one turned out!

I couldn’t see very far in front of me.  It was magical.

The reeds were dripping.

There was still quite a lot of colour, however…

Especially contrasted with the surroundings.

Still that downwards diagonal movement…

I think I’ll be sad when this monthly photoshoot is over at the end of the year.  I’ll have to find another theme for 2011!