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My Yearly Review – 2014

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, Nature, PaganismNo Comments

This year I did very little in the Spring, a lot in the Summer, bits in the Autumn and Winter. Here’s what I’ve been up to this year, click on any photo for full size image:

March

dame-edna-march-2014

Sye & Me at Barry Humphries Show

Sye and I went to see Barry Humphries: The Eat, Pray and Laugh Farewell Tour. We had a great time. Here are some photos:

dame-edna-march-2014 dame-edna-march-2014 dame-edna-march-2014

May

Penrhos Cottage near Corris Adam and Andy's cottage

Simon popping his head out of The Lovely Cottage

Simon and I went to Mid-Wales to The Lovely Penrhos Cottage for the weekend. While there we took the time to relax. The Saturday it was gloriously sunny and hot, so we went to Aberdovey Beach. On the Sunday we went to King Arthur’s Labyrinth.

I published my short story The Good Teen. The Good Teen is a modern-day telling of The Good Samaritan parable, with a hint of magic. I wrote it after I saw a call for submissions from the BBC Radio 4 ‘Opening Lines’ programme. Unfortunately it wasn’t accepted, but it’s still a good story – even if I do say so myself.

June

Rivington-June14

Rivington: A Gorgeous View

I spent several days walking around Rivington. I feel fortunate to have such a beautiful and gorgeous natural place close by.

My at-the-time boyfriend and I went to Blackpool to the Sealife Centre and Madame Tussauds. We saw various fish and waxworks respectively.

Steve and I went watching The Lady Boys of Bangkok in Manchester. We were both slightly disappointed with the Lady Boys to be honest, but it was still good to get out and we even managed a few alcofrolic drinks afterwards.

July

Manchester Museum Gorgosaurus Skeleton

Gorgosaurus Skeleton

I watched After The Dark (The Philosophers), which became my favourite film of 2014.

My at-the-time boyfriend and I went to Lancashire Science Festival 2014 which was both educational and intriguing. Plus it had free parking!

My at-the-time boyfriend, his housemates and I visited Manchester Museum. I loved the dinosaur exhibit.

August

light-michael-grant-book-cover I had my blog Theme Redesigned by TRH Development. I started Being Creative Everyday and sharing some of the results on the blog.

I felt saddened at the unexpected death of Robin Williams and began thinking about the importance of good mental & emotional health.

I read and reviewed Light by Michael Grant, which was the last book in The Gone Series. I thoroughly enjoyed The Gone Series which was about kids being trapped in a Dome without adults and developing powers.

September

Wales animalarium lemur

Animalarium: Lemur

I got some Amazing Illustrations from the Talented Sye Watts for my blog. I am so lucky to have such a talented friend.

A friend and I went to stay for a weekend at Penrhos Cottage and visited the Animalarium, which is Borth’s Zoo on the way home. There where some lovely animals there that looked well cared for.

October

pagan-stone-circle-large Chrys, Simon, others and I celebrated Samhain!

November

harry-potter-studio-tour

Various Magical Creatures.

My at-the-time boyfriend and I broke up.

I made small Charitable Donations to JDRF, The Human Rights Campaign (US), The Brain Tumour Charity (UK) and to make a film about the sell-off of the NHS.

Mum and I went on a Trip to London where we shopped and visited The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour.

December

wrapped-christmas-presents-2014

Some Presents I’ve Wrapped for Christmas

Christmas has been relaxed, enjoyable and fun. I have celebrated it with family and friends. People have kindly bought presents for me:

christmas-presents-2014

Presents Kindly Bought For Me.

But the best thing was the opportunity to spend time with people that I love.

Next year I’ll be spreading out activities, experiences and goals throughout the year. So keep an eye out for my Goals & New Experiences for 2015 blog post.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Back To Penrhos Cottage & Visiting Animalarium Borth Zoo

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, NatureNo Comments
Wales Black Berries

Blackberries

Last weekend a friend and I went to stay at the lovely Penrhos Cottage for some rest and relaxation. I’ve previously stayed at Penrhos Cottage, see my blog post: Mid-Wales, Part 1: The Lovely Penrhos Cottage. We spent the time catching up, enjoying nature, watching TV and reading books. It was great to have no schedule.

On the Saturday I took the opportunity to walk up into the hills and found a private garden with some miniature buildings. I hiked further up the hills and found some abandoned slate ruins. See some photos below:

Wales Garden Buildings

Private Garden Miniature Buildings 1

Wales Garden Buildings 2

Private Garden Miniature Buildings 2

Wales Slate Ruin 1

Slate Ruins 1

Wales Slate Ruins 2

Slate Ruins 2

On the Sunday we stopped off at Animalarium, Borth’s Zoo on our way home. Animalarium is a small Zoo that also takes in unwanted pets. You can really get close and interact with the animals at this Zoo. You can even buy pots of food and feed some of the animals. This animal interaction makes it an ideal place to take children. Throughout the day it had a number of free talks about some of the animals and some opportunities to see animals getting fed. My friend and I had an enjoyable time, here are some photos of the animals:

Wales animalarium lemur

Animalarium: Lemur

Animalarium Monkey 1

Animalarium: Monkey 1

Animalarium: Monkey

Animalarium: Monkey 2

Animalarium Meerkats 1

Animalarium: Meerkats 1

Animalarium Meerkats 2

Animalarium: Meerkats 2

Animalarium goat

Animalarium: Goat

Animalarium Cat

Animalarium: Cat

Animalarium Wallerby

Animalarium: Wallerby

Animalarium jaguar

Animalarium: Jaguar – Sunbathing.

Animalarium bird

Animalarium: Some sort of Bird

Animalarium calf cow

Animalarium: Calf

Animalarium Pythons

Animalarium: Pythons

Animalarium pythons sign

Animalarium: Pythons Sign

Animalarium is a small Zoo and as such felt like a place that needs more financial support. My friend and I talked about maybe adopting an animal or two there, it’s something I certainly intend to do when money is less tight.

Hope you enjoyed the update and photos.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Happy Belated Litha & More Rivington Photos

By Adventures, Happiness & Joy, Inspiration, Life, Love & Relationships, Nature, PaganismNo Comments

Happy Belated Litha (see Pagan Festivals)!

Boyfriend-A and I took a spontaneous outing to Rivington on Friday. It happened to be Litha, which is the longest day of the year. It was bright, warm and the perfect evening to explore Rivington. We spent quality time together and I also took the opportunity to appreciate nature.

I have previously blogged about Rivington and included plenty of photos. But I felt compelled to take some more photos of this beautiful place on Friday. So here are some of those photos (click on any image for full size):

Rivington-June14

Boyfriend-A Looking at the view

Rivington-June14

Rivington Ruins 1

Rivington-June14

Rivington Ruins 2

Rivington-June14

The Pond 1

Rivington-June14

The Pond 2

Rivington-June14

Rivington: A Gorgeous View

Rivington-June14

Rivington: Another View

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Pigeon Tower Information Board

Rivington-June14

Pigeon Tower

I hope you all had a equally fantastic Litha.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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10 Gay Animals

By Gay, History, NatureNo Comments

Homosexuality has been found in 1,500 species of animals through behaviour observation research studies. There’s probably many more species, if you consider that the number only account for the animals that have been studied. Here’s ten animals were gay liaisons or relationships exist:

gay-animals-lion 1. Lions
Male lions in Africa have been observed disregarding available lionesses in order to form their own same-sex prides. These same males have also been seen mounting one another and doing other actions commonly associated with male to female mating interactions.
chester-zoo-2012-08 2. Cheetahs
When cheetahs bond together, they do for life. Cheetah partners spend about 93% of their time together and male same-sex partners are quite common.

The two bonded males will groom one another (usually a sign of partnered straight cheetahs), defend each other in fights and get anxiety if separated. Once reunited the male cheetahs will face-rub one another, mount one another (fully erect) and stutter (a sexual excitement vocalisation).

It is estimated that 27-40% of wild male cheetahs live with same-sex partners and that 16-19% of wild male cheetahs life in a same-sex trio.

gay-animals-elephant 3. Elephants
Male elephants have been known to touch other males with their trunks (elephants see touch as essential for creating and maintaining a deep bond), kissing other males (inserting their trunk into the other elephant’s mouth) and even male on male sex (mounting). Relationships between two male elephants (usually one older and one younger) have been known to last for years.
gay-animals-emu 4. Emus
Emus travel together in pairs. Male emus have been seen making the same mating behaviours as female do to males. This includes: circling a passive male, patches of bare skin turning light blue (on both males), the passive male stretching his neck, erecting his feathers and swaying from side to side and the dominant male rubbing his breast against the other male’s rump.

gay-animals-flamingos 5. Flamingos
Flamingos are sociable animals, living together in large colonies. During mating season, they split off into smaller groups and perform synchronised displays. They choose their mate and stay together for the season. They generally have a new mate for every mating season.

The most famous same-sex flamingo couple is Carlos and Fernando. In 2007, when they had been together for five years, they adopted an abandoned chick. They fed it and raised it as their own. Homosexuality is said to be very common with flamingos.

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chester-zoo-2012-11 6. Penguins
Same-sex penguins have been seen performing mating calls to one another and intertwining their necks. There have been a few gay penguin couples in Zoos that have been given abandoned eggs to raise chicks. They have raised these chicks successfully.

Famous penguin couples include: Roy & Silo, Inca & Rayas and Buddy & Pedro.

Each of these couples is a separate subspecies of penguin, meaning that several subspecies of penguin has documented gay penguins.

gay-animals-dolphins

(Image Credit: JoJones @ Flickr)

7. Dolphins
Several subspecies of dolphin have gay or bisexual dolphins. One researcher discovered the incredible seventeen year gay relationship between two male dolphins. Researchers have also found pods of all male dolphins who share sexual and romantic experiences together. Dolphins are known to be highly flirtatious and sexualised.

Male dolphins have been known to engage in masturbation of other males. Same-sex dolphins engage in long foreplay, with the sexual act only lasting a short time. Male dolphins regardless of their sexuality tend to be aggressive and violent towards the other during sex.

(Image Credit: Lord V @ Flickr)

(Image Credit: Lord V @ Flickr)

8. Foxes
Foxes are nocturnal animals, which out of breeding season live alone. They often share territory were there is a dominant male. The dominant male will mount a same-sex subordinate doggy style.

During breeding season foxes generally live in a den, either as a mated straight couple or a male with several young females. I guess you could say foxes are more bisexual than gay.

gay-animals-bats

(Image Credit: Lee Carson @ Flickr)

9. Bats
Bats are said to have the highest percentage of gayness, above all other animals, including humans. Both male and female bats can be gay with their behaviours including: affection, sexual activity and bonding.

There are several subspecies of bats that are gay including Vampire Bats, Fruit Bats and Flying Fox Bats.

gay-animals-cat 10. Cats
Tom cats (males) have been known to engage in same-sex interludes. As well as humping one another, they have been seen spooning when they sleep and grooming one another.

However cats are not picky, they will get together with anyone. Even members of their family, such as their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters.

I’m sure one of my cats, Russell is gay. He loves any sort of affection, and despite being the bigger of the two cats, he’s not at all dominant.

It’s interesting that homosexuality has been found in many species of animal; but homophobia only exists in one species of animal: humans. We’ve all heard that comment being gay is unnatural. Well sorry homophobes, but Mother Nature disagrees with you.

Published by: The Gay UK on Saturday 25th January 2014.

Blog soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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