Weather in Ellicott City, MD
...and in Betws-y-Coed, Wales
A �C/�F switch is at the top of the page.
A few miles west of Betws-y-Coed lies Mount Snowdon, which is the tallest mountain in the background to this webpage. Clicking here will take you to a webcam so you can see for yourself what the weather is like there (scrolling down to "LIVE VIDEO FEED" and clicking the start button will give you a live scene of the Snowdon Horseshoe). Snowdon sits at 53º 4' 6.59" N, 4º 4' 35.5" W. The camera is at the Plas-y-Brenin Climbing School and Centre where I was a student in 1956. I think that was the inaugural year.
{The image updates every 5 minutes).
This view of Snowdon is looking at the western slopes. Don't forget to consider time zones; it could be dark in Wales even if it isn't dark where you are}
By the way, you might like this old truism you sometimes hear from local people:
"If you can see the top of Mount Snowdon it's going to rain. If you can't see the top of Mount Snowdon it's raining already."
This Week's Puzzle*:
GoGeometry.com

*Answer at the bottom of this column.
E-mail me with your thoughts.

Click on the above logo to see the Astronomy Picture of the Day

Click on the above logo to go to WYSAWYG What You See Ain't What You Get!
What's News:
The DGS "Lost Boys"
The following group of DGS Old Boys stays in contact via e-mails. If you recognise anyone, drop me an e-mail and we'll add you to the list.
          Peter Bradford�USA           Bert Collins�UK           George Craggs�UK           Peter Denton�UK           Alan Farrer�UK           Peter Fittock�UK           Dave Fox�Canada           Keith Freeman�UK           Mike Gray�Canada           Ron Hickson�UK           Graham Luck�Australia           David Mitchem�UK           Peter Newton�Australia           John Pope�UK           Brian Warren�UK           Bryn Wootten�Canada
Bet you'd just LOVE to know what the strange British custom of Swan Upping is all about.
I don't wholly concur with Charlton Heston's views on gun control, but his views on freedom in general, as spelled out in his Speech to the Harvard Law School Forum are well worth a look.
Want a good laugh? Check out recent winners in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
If you're Welsh, Irish, Scottish or English, and can take a joke, check out my W.I.S.E. Remarks
Talking of the Irish, are you aware that my father-in-law, Justin, wrote a book on the History of the Naval Armed Guard?
YOU CAN NOW ORDER THIS BOOK IN PAPERBACK
Talking of the Scots, here's a wonderful chart showing the range of flavours and complexities of the various families of Malt Whiskies: How do you like your Malt?
And talking of the Welsh, have you heard of the village in Ynys Mon (The Isle of Anglesey) that is fifty-eight letters long? Click here to see it.
And do you know what this is?
It's a Welsh Lovespoon, traditionally carved by a young man and presented to the girl he wishes to be his bride. Note the chain links and the ball in a cage, yet the whole thing is carved from a single block of wood!    
Click to see a selection of lovespoons
RECIPE ROUND-UP
Any time Easter is on its way "I Could Write a Sonnet" about Simnel Cake an Easter favourite in Britain. Spend "Salmon-chanted Evening" with Salmon in Shrimp Sauce
Here's a recipe that uses any leftover Salmon you may have cooked for the above recipe. It's based on an Indian dish and is called Kedgeree.
"The Science of the Lamb" is applied in my recipe for Shepherd's Pie
"Slow and Easy Does It" My wife was so impressed with this dish, I hardly dared tell her how easy it was to make! I add my own signature to it through the addition of 2 Tablespoons of Tomato Ketchup or Paste and one teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce. "Marie's Easy Slow-Cooker Pot Roast"
One of our favourite Chicken dishes, and one that makes me look like a gourmet chef, is Coq au Vin
Here's one that belies its name, It is not Welsh, and contains no Rabbit! Welsh Rabbit
And just like the Welsh Rabbit, Scotch Eggs were apparently not invented in Scotland! The London store of Fortnum and Mason claims to have invented them in 1738.
Here's an alternative version that doesn't require deep-frying Baked Scotch Eggs
After our Paris trip we've become hooked on crepes. Here's a recipe for a lovely dessert Crepes with Nutella
And here's a recipe for another dessert, Summer Pudding
Finally, here's a recipe for the "World Famous" Cornish Pastie
Answer to "GoGeometry.com":
Actually I'm not going to give you the answer, but I will suggest you draw in the other diagonal and go from there. Good luck!
E-mail me with your thoughts.
|
|
|
|
...Please Sign My Guestbook...Please Sign My Guestbook...Please Sign My Guestbook...Please Sign My Guestbook....Please Sign My
Click here to Sign my Guestbook
Click here to View my Guestbook
Croeso!   Welcome!
Hi, everybody! I'm Peter Bradford, thanks
for dropping by..
Now Playing:  
'Butterfly'
Chris Bradford & "Hag" Stephenson, Speckler Studio
About Me. Hey, it is my page, after all!
If you're somebody who knows me you can check out the stuff to the left, and a few of the links I add from time to time. If you're somebody who thinks you might know me, but aren't sure if I'm the right Peter Bradford, the following paragraphs will give you all the clues you need, together with an update on what I've been doing for the past several years. If you neither know me nor think I'm that long-lost somebody you're looking for, just feel free to surf, learn a thing or two, send me a message and move on.
I have worked as a Tutor at Mathnasium for close to a decade, since I officially retired from full-time employment, and I'm now the senior tutor, both in age and years of service! I typically help the High-Schoolers, though I have to sometimes run pretty hard to keep up with some of today's lessons way beyond what I ever learned at school. But I thoroughly enjoy working at this wonderful learning centre for kids who want to hone their maths skills.
My wife, Pat, was born in Texas and, like every Texan I've ever met, she's "Damn proud of it!" She retired, about the same time I did, from the world-famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The Johns Hopkins Hospital has recently been named #1 Hospital in the USA for the 21st consecutive year
by US News & World Report.
I was born in the UK, part English part Welsh the Welsh part is my heart. I was educated at Days Lane Primary School, Dartford Grammar School, The University of Nottingham and later at the University of London, where I received a Masters Degree in Solid State Physics. I moved to the United States almost forty years ago. We live in Ellicott City, Maryland.
I am a triple cancer survivor, having had a tumour on my right kidney removed almost 40 years ago, prostate cancer nearly 20 years ago, and several brushes with skin cancer over the last decade. Thank you everybody for all your prayers. And thank you God and St. Jude for hearing them.
It's strange; I'm not a Catholic, nor even a regular churchgoer come to that, but I have thought often about the powers of St. Jude. If you click on the link below, it will take you to the St. Jude Shrine, which is right here in Maryland.
St. Jude Shrine
I'm a Mensan, and my interests range from Jazz to Motor Sport, from Cricket to Crossword Puzzles (cryptic only), and from Rugby to Crib, Cribbage here in the States. Don't know what that is? Check it out. By the way, there's a link at the bottom of this page to the Welsh Rugby Union web page.
Check out the book I have written, called BritSpeak. This attempts to explain to Americans some of the words and terms we Britons use.
Among my 'heroes' are Norman Anderson, Phil Bennett, Joshua Chamberlain, Graham Hill,
Lt Col 'H' Jones (I had the privilege to work with 'H' at Warminster when he was a Major),
Gary Sobers�the first cricketer to hit six sixes in an over. For you Americans that would be like hitting six home-runs off six consecutive pitches! Harry Beck, 'Professor' Stanley Unwin, Arthur C Clarke, Tenzing Norgay, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
If you haven't heard of some or any of these, check them out, too.
Oh yes, and I enjoy a good pint of ale like you get at the Silver Plough in Pitton, Wiltshire. Pitton lies about 5�6 miles east of Salisbury and about 15 miles south-east of Stonehenge which is at the
junction of the A344 and the A303.
Things I Like
I love to vacation with friends or family in coastal Maine or in a cabin in the mountains�but only if I get to take some creature comforts like my Jazz CDs with me. I get back to the UK as often as I can, especially North Wales. Check out Snowdonia if you don't know it already.
Favourite Movies: Saving Private Ryan (Yes - it should have won!); Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Lady and the Tramp; Local Hero; Fandango.
Favourite Authors: Dylan Thomas; Bill Bryson; Arthur C Clarke; P D James; Douglas Adams;
Stephen Ambrose*;
Ken Follett; Isaac Asimov; Edward Rutherfurd and Leslie Thomas. *Click here to sign a petition to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to "Band of Brothers" hero, Major Dick Winters.
Favourite Time of Year: Fall�by a long chalk!
Favourite place to "Hang Out": My family room, or any "Pub" that serves a decent, fresh cask-conditioned brew in a 20oz glass at around 40-50 degrees!
My Favourite Music: I like "everything" from Mozart to Male Voice Choirs�Welsh, of course, like the ones you can hear at this website. Try "Hyfrydol" (Huv-ruh-dol). Ah, those top-tenors!
But although my heart lies in Wales, my soul lies in Jazz. My true favourites are The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ); Dave Brubeck; Gerry Mulligan; Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. Being a drummer myself, I have many favourites on the skins, but best of all is Joe Morello.

Things I Don't Like
Officious Twits. Tomato juice. Any member of a group who across the board dislikes all members of another. Bagels. The modern trait of labelling or categorizing everybody: I feel people shouldn't be judged on whether they are male/female, black/white, young/old, Jew/Christian/Moslem etc. They are all just people. Most I like, some I don't, but it's the person I dislike, not the group.
|

Here are links to my favourite websites. Click on the titles to visit any of them.
|
|
|
My Favourite Site to Send e-Cards from
Truly, a Cut Above the Rest

Help Feed the Hungry
PLEASE visit the Hungersite, below. Just click on it, it'll cost you nothing, and could save the life of a starving child

Shop and Help a Good Cause at the Same Time
Many of the internet's most popular merchants�places you would patronize anyway�will donate a portion of your purchase payment to the International Myeloma Foundation*, but only if you enter their sites using the link below.
*The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for multiple myeloma patients while working towards prevention and a cure. The staff and doctors associated with the IMF are super, dedicated people. And the fellow patients and caregivers that Pat and I have met through our association with the organization are wonderful, too.
CricInfo
My only way to keep up with cricket scores. The game might as well not exist here in Maryland. I even get to listen real-time to ball-by-ball commentaries on-line through this site.
The Electronic Telegraph
Once again, my only way of keeping up with what's going on "back home". Plus I get to do the Telegraph Crossword every day!
Cribbage
I don't have any crib-playing friends or immediately available family members, so playing on-line is my only way of getting a game.
Bridge
Pat and I play a moderate game of Bridge, usually one afternoon a week with a group of fellow Seniors. To hone our skills we use the FunBridge program.
Snowdonia
This is where my heart lies. Wales at her most rugged and awesomely beautiful. I've hiked around the Snowdon Horseshoe a few times, often with pretty cruel weather.
Where's George?
Do you ever wonder where that paper money in your pocket has been, or where it will go next? This is the place to find out!
|
|
Click on the postbox to send me "Royal" e-mail.

Cymru Am Byth!
You are visitor number to this site.
Click here to leave this page. You'll be surprised!
|
Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source
|