Finding life hard?: I was licked on the nose by a lizard

Leslie is at this moment having her acrylic nails filled. I, with my bitten pathetic excuses for nails, have no clear idea of what this is so I have left her to it and come home to read a bit and blog a bit.

The last two days - is it really only two days? - have been full and I've walked Leslie off her feet. I'm so used to walking I forget not everyone is able-bodied enough to march up and down the hills of Wales. I have to remember to slow down and ... what's the saying? Smell the flowers? Which we did literally yesterday during our visit to the National Botanic Gardens.

A crash had completely closed the main road out west and though we only had to take a short diversion it took what felt like forever as the all the traffic that would have journeyed along the A road had to make its way down lanes and through small villages. Spotting a nice-looking pub I was tempted to say, 'Let's forget it and just go there for lunch.' It had by this time started drizzling as well.

But I'm glad we persevered. I've been to the gardens before but this time we were fortunate enough to see a special animal show, which was excellent. (And in a dry marquee.) With snakes - Leslie left the room at this point having a snake phobia - and a lizard, a cookaburra and a cockatoo, five baby meerkats as well as a mummy skunk and three of her babies, along with a bull frog and a toad. The presenter was brilliant both with the children and the adults, making some slightly risque comments that, it is to be hoped, the children didn't understand.

I can't remember: I think that's a python, a baby one.

Leslie got to hold the mummy skunk.

The presenter with three of the babies. It is rare but not unknown for an albino skunk to be born; a brown and one is almost unheard of. So Mummy skunk did very well with her brood.

Unfortunately the show, put on by DWAEC, was only visiting. I would have loved to take the grandchildren to see it. I could however take them to see the raptor flying display at the newly-opened British Bird of Prey Centre located in the Gardens.

Another great presenter and amazing flying displays from a peregrine falcon, red and black kites, a buzzard and a white-tailed sea eagle. As the falcon is the fastest animal on earth reaching speeds of nearly 300 miles per hour when it swoops it's not easy to get a photo ... and I was so awed when the eagle landed on the ground next to me that all I could do was gape.