The digital home of author, artist & photographer Chris Elphick | All content, unless otherwise stated, is copyrighted © Chris Elphick

Friday, 10 May 2024

A Night Down Rhossili To Remember

With my better half's Aurora-Watch app kicking off big style this evening, we decided to head on down to good old Rhossili, where we arrived just in time for a perfect sunset.

Free-roaming horses on Fairwood Common








Settling ourselves on the top of Rhossili Cliffs for the evening, we then waited for dusk, then the darkness to fall. 


The weather was perhaps the warmest it's been all year, and the sky was clear. Our hopes were high for a good Aurora display, as it was for many other people who later filled the clifftop until, by 11p.m., it was busier there than on a hot Summer's day in August!




And then, around 11p.m., the skies suddenly came alive with colour! And not just in the northern portion of the sky. These lights literally filled the sky in a phantasmagorical display!








It was one of, if not the best, natural phenomenons I have ever seen and definitely a night to remember.

Thursday, 9 May 2024

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Viewings

Today, we had the first couple of sale viewings for the house we are temporarily living in. In the meantime, I cracked on with writing my ninth novel, Familiar.

Monday, 6 May 2024

Bank Holiday Monday

A lovely Sunday morning saw us out in the garden. Even Fudge joined us, her first time outside since the fire. She was a little nervous and stuck close to us, but she enjoyed her time in the new garden:







A rare pic of Fudge with Monty:


Whilst out there, I also made good headway with my next novel, Familiar.


The light in our temporary home is gorgeous. I think I'm starting to fall in love with the place.


Sunday, 5 May 2024

Slugs by Shaun Hutson

Started reading my first Shaun Hutson book 😱 - saw this 42 year old book going for a fiver so I thought wth!

Trichocerues brisdgessi Monstrosa (Long form)


A Day in the Garden

The first real warm and sunny day of May. Took the opportunity to sit outside to catch up on some writing and give Monty (who is 20 next month) a much-needed day out in the sunshine :)





My Niciotian rustica plants (centre right in the pic below) are growing nicely, and I am still hopeful of getting them to flower by the end of my GNS zine project:

Friday, 3 May 2024

Tarte Soleil Garlic & Pesto 🍞

 Friday May 3rd

A lazy(ish) day...



... made all the more purfect with this home made Tatre Soleil garlic and pesto bread:

Thursday, 2 May 2024

Catch Up

Gutted I missed out on this year's May Day festivals in Glastonbury yesterday (especially after seeing these pics by someone who did attend 1  2 ), but I made up for it by getting a lot of work done on both my Swansea and Gower websites.

It's been a busy few weeks, as regular readers of my blog as facebook page will be aware, so I thought I would use today's post to publish some recent photographs I haven't has the opportunity to publish yet.

I'll start with this pic of our 8-year-old chickens, who remain at our old home while it's being refurbished but get daily visits to ensure their wellbeing. Here they are, photographed sometime during mid-April freelancing around the garden:


Next up are a few 🪴 pics (yes I still like to keep my fingers green).While I lost one Mandrake during the awful wet Welsh winter we have recently emerged from, this one survived and has sprung back into leaf: 🙂


And while my Mandrake is doing well, this gorgeous Crassula ovata (money tree) is currently displaying a Ruby flush that is gorgeous:


And finally, for now, here is my prize cactus, which is now sitting before the landing windowsill of our temporary home:



Well, that's me all caught up here now. Until my next post, keep well and happy.

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Chillax

A quiet day, spent variably chilling with my cat, working on my GNS and Explore Gower projects  and writing.


Chuffed

Tuesday, 30 April, 2023

Making the most of my week away from the office. My Guy N Smith book is coming along nicely, as is my next novel, Familiar. My Explore Gower and Swansea Photography sites are up and running, I've cleaned up the design of this blog, and now I've started work on my next Gower guidebook, Tidal Gower.


Picking up our mail from our old house in the evening, I found a very special package waiting for me. If there is such a thing as grail items in the world of Guy N Smith collecting, then these are two are top of that list.


Tuesday, 30 April 2024

GNS - Day 30/100

Monday, 29 April, 2024 

Day 30/100 of my project to produce a GNS fanzine. All going well.