Happy New Year 2019

Last Blog of the Year 2018 Part 1

The Mermaid, Rye, East Sussex.

It is that time of year again, and I say every year, where has this year gone to? Doing these end of the year Blogs gives me a good excuse to look through all the photos I have taken throughout the year. I hope you enjoy looking at some of my years memories :)

JANUARY

No better way to spend a cold January day :) Loki enjoying a lovely warm sleep on our bed :)

Beautiful sunrise on my way to work in Sandwich.

FEBRUARY

Merlin staring at the radiator - I think he was hinting to me to either light the fire or put the heating on!!!

Pretty Spring Cyclamen in the woodland area of Walmer Castle Garden.

MARCH

Ramsgate Harbour in March sunshine. My friend and I had a lovey day out, walking round the harbour, then into Wetherspoons for lunch......

....where we had a lovely lunch and I had a great time taking photos from inside the building of the rough sea pounding the sea wall :)

APRIL

China - once again I had a fabulous holiday with my daughter and my friend in Beijing. I love the photo above, taken in The Forbidden City :)

The 18 metre wooden statue of the Buddha Maitreya in the Lama Temple, such an impressive sight.

The amazingly peaceful Garden of Harmonious Pleasures in the Summer Palace, Beijing :)

MAY

 Spring Blossom

Me, caught by The Night King (from GOT) when my friends and I went to a Game of Thrones Festival in Thanet :)

JUNE

Another rare photo of me, taken with the Sandwich Town Crier, Kevin, at our very successful Sandwich Library Garden weekend :)

To finish the first half of this years photos I had to include this one, an optical illusion if you like, but you don't very often see a Banksy with a Cross Channel Ferry on top of it!!!! 

More photos to follow in Part 2 :)

Last Blog of the Year 2018 Part 2

Photos from the second half of the year, above is the reflection of Walmer Castle on the pond in the Queen Mothers Garden, taken on a calm  October afternoon.

JULY

Just a few of the beautiful flowers in pots, in part of my garden :)

An amazing Atrium in one the buildings in the Discovery Park, Sandwich. 

The local Sailing Club out in force on a lovely day.

AUGUST

Above and below, two beautiful blooms in Walmer Castle Garden.

SEPTEMBER

Canon trained on the sea, just in case of invasion!! Walmer Castle, built by Henry V111 in 1539. One of three castles built by Henry in the area (Sandown, Deal and Walmer) to protect the Downs in the English Channel.

One of my lovely cats, Loki, enjoying some sun in the garden. The washing basket is obviously very comfortable :)

Decorated trees in St Peter's Garden, Sandwich. They looked lovely :)

OCTOBER

A perfect Dahlia in my garden, I had lots this year, they make the garden very colourful in October :)

Sunrise from my usual spot on my way to work in Sandwich. The mist hovering on the ground made it so beautiful.

NOVEMBER

A favourite place for lots of people to sit for a few minutes in St. Peter's Church Garden, the gate on the right leads into the 'secret' part of the garden :)

The wonderful Viking Ship 'Hugin' at Pegwell Bay on a very cold and windy day in November. The Hugin was a gift from The Danish Government in 1949 to commemorate the arrival 1500 years earlier of Hengist and Horsa, leaders of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. The boat is a modern replica, and was rowed from Denmark to Broadstairs by 53 Danes. When we were young the shields were all different colours, which personally I preferred, but it is still lovely.

DECEMBER

Part of our Christmas Tree this year, more of a memory tree than anything with lots of hand made decorations :)

My lovely cat Loki, posing next to my Christmas Azalea :)

That is my year in photos, it is always hard picking which ones I will include in these two blogs, but it will hopefully give you a small taste of my life :)  Onwards to new photos in 2019 :)

Merry Christmas 2018

Pugin's Church, St. Augustine's R.C. Church, Ramsgate Kent. Part 1

St Augustine's Church  was the personal church of Augustus Pugin, and is situated in Ramsgate, next to Pugin's home The Grange, shown to the left of the Church of the photo.

The Church was started in 1846, and sadly, Pugin died in 1852, before it was finished. His sons completed the work and the project was finally roofed in 1849, although further work has been carried out since then.

I have driven past this Church many times, the front of the Church is on one of the main roads into Ramsgate, and is enclosed by a tall stone wall together with The Grange, Pugin's house, so is not obvious from the road. The view above is from the back of the Church, which faces the sea and shows part of the Churchyard.

Looking from the Nave towards the Chancel and the High Altar, showing the beautiful Rood Screen. As it was Lent when we visited this beautiful building, the statues are all covered.

The crucifix above the Rood Screen, also showing part of the lovely ceiling.

The High Altar in The Chancel.

The Organ Gallery in the Chancel.

The baptismal font in The Nave.

The Lady Chapel with Pugin's stained glass window above.

One of the beautiful doors leading into the Lady Chapel.

The Garth (small garden) surrounded by enclosed Cloisters.

Above and below are two of the Gargoyles (water spouts) in the Garth.

A beautiful ceiling in one of the Chapels in the North Cloister.

Looking through to the North Cloister from one of the small Chapels.

 The following photos show the amazing carvings of The Stations of The Cross which are situated on the North wall of the Cloisters.

This is an amazing sight, the painted carvings were made in 1893, this and the two chapels in this cloister were finished by Pugin's son, as Pugin died in 1852.

The Shrine of St. Augustine, which holds a relic of St Augustine. 

St Austine's Shrine was originally in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury which was dissolved in 1538 as part of The Reformation, when most of the Saints body and his Shrine were destroyed. A small piece of bone belonging to the Saint was moved to its present position in 2012.

The Altar in the Pugin Chantry Chapel, originally this was in Pugin's House, note the beautiful tiles.