Post party Chat (including Tatjana appreciation)

Thanks for your help and guidance, Tatjana - all systems go now.

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Thank you! I’m honoured I could do this for you all!

Thank you @aran. Yes I’ve travelled a long way - from Slovenia to Wales and back :slight_smile:
On the sirious note … this journey wouldn’t be possible without all of you. Every single member has put a little piece of mosaic into the path I’ve walked and my journey continues. There’s only 5 lessons to go to finish the level 3 and the whole south material with this. Next challenges are in plan but not too good shaped yet.

Diolch o weldo galon i chi gid. Dw i’n hapus a fach iawn!

Da iawn! Hapus ydw i yn helpu eto! :slight_smile:

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Any suggestions for good poppy growing? For some reason I can’t seem to grow Welsh poppies despite previous attempts. Diolch

@tatjana, Beth yw ‘ear worm’ in Slovenian?! :grin:.

I’ve been driving my other half around the bend for most of this evening, absent mindedly singing the chorus of y Rap penblwydd! He’s threatening divorce but I’m sure he’ll come to like it if dwi’n cario ymlaen yn ganu e! :joy:

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All the heartless people,
Where DO they all come from?

Well, this Fforum keeps telling me I’m all out of hearts…

What do I have to do to get a bigger allowance?

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Funnily enough i took the chance to ask Meinir what soil,where etc (yes we are on first name terms now, as people in this whole scene are all just so lovely) as, of course, she has her gardening programme on S4C. And it’s not much help, but she said “Anywhere, they just grow anywhere!”

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My only experience of growing wild flowers is in work (highways). But strangely, they tend to like rougher, less well cultivated and less rich soils. So they will grow in soil that wont support posh flowers. :sunglasses:

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Diolch yn fawr, Tatjana, for giving us that wonderful gift that brought a great celebration to a fitting end!
I can’t be the only one who can’t get the lyrics and the rhythms out of my head and long may they stay there!

And diolch o galon, too, to everybody who organised the best birthday party that I’ve ever been to!

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Hi, me again. Just to record a massive thank you to Aran, Catrin and the many others who took part in organising and made this such a lovely and memorable weekend.

Also thanks to fellow guests and the townspeople of Caernarfon, Bangor and the surrounding settlements who made us feel so welcome.

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I sent my dad some of my poppy seeds last year and he had the same problem - they still haven’t sprouted, but as some of the others mentioned, whilst Welsh poppies have a reputation for growing anywhere (equally happy in shade or sun) they particularly seem to like stony, poor, well-drained soil. I don’t have good, deep soil in my garden but they grow like mad - I’ve even got them growing out of gaps in the brick walls. I’ve found it’s best to scatter the seeds and leave them rather than ‘plant’ them under soil.
It seems the less special treatment they get, the better!

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Yes thats what we found in work for the new wild flower areas. Originally we thought it was a typo but the topsoil had to be poor quality. Ie would fail the requirements for farming or gardens.

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Can’t wait to get sowing mine and see how they do in the chalky soil of the south downs!

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Why do poppies grow in Cornfields and where wars have brought layers of mud and earth and gravel from lower layers to the surface, where shells and bombs exploded? They like disturbed soils!!! Yoi must disturb the layers of soil to allow seeds to germinate and flourish while they have the advantage over stronger perennials etc. Yes, also, most wildflowers like meadow/ rough ground conditions. They can’t compete with cultivars and the sort of garen plants that thrive in deep layers of well-manured soil. Some may need frost to germinate or exposure to light - air- grittiness - sandy soil - nutrient deprived soils etc

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Diolch o’r waelod 'nghalon, Catrin ag Aran, helpers all, and everybody (especially @tatjana :slightly_smiling_face:) who made the parti and the weekend such a happy blur of faces, names, voices, music ,laughter and, of course, Cymraeg :grinning: Just wish I was able stay on for the bwtcamp as well!

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Don’t know where to put this

Memet has sent you the code for buying one ticket and getting another free for tomorrow night’s performance
https://www.pontio.co.uk/Online/default.asp

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It would be “ušesni črv” but for such things we don’t really have any special expression. We simply say that we have particular thing (music, word etc) in your ear.

Rhaid i chi yn canu fo yn gilydd :slight_smile: Could be a lot of fun! :slight_smile:

Diolch i chi gyd hefyd. I’m happy to hear you like the gift presented.

Well, I did what I could. Thank you too.

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If I am late adding to this thread, it’s because it has taken me a while to come down to earth and start to process the torrent of emotions the weekend has brought out.

This weekend I came home to Gogledd Cymru. And for the first time in my life I didn’t walk around having to feel apologetic for not being able to speak Welsh. That’s huge. It’s life changing. And I’ve hardly even begun to get my head round what it means to me.

I had my first conversation yn y Cymraeg ‘in the wild’ on the Friday afternoon. I arrived and headed almost straight away for Stryd y Plas - having heard so much about it from Beca a’i Phobl. I went into Siop Manon and I saw Manon and I took a deep breath and I started a conversation with her!. And she understood me and she answered me in Welsh - and on we went!

Then Friday night. Dancing to the wonderful live music. (Missing the chance to speak to Manon Steffan Ross - boo!) Saturday morning - turning into a company of drowned rats following Aran’s treasure hunt in the pouring rain. (Funnily enough, you can’t write answers on paper that’s doing it’s best to turn back into woodpulp.) Saturday afternoon - exploring the history of Welsh Ballads with Cynefin…

Then Saturday evening - what can I say? Everyone glammed up. Being serenaded by a harpist as we arrived. The theatre at the Gallery turned into a fairy tale palace. The little present of seeds of Welsh poppies grown in @siaronjames’s garden. The poem:

Y sylwi swil, fesul sill,
Nad anodd yw adenill
Yr heniaith, yw’r gyfrinach,
Ewch am byth, a chamau bach.

“Keep on going, with little steps…” Sums up so many emotional, humbling moments, with Welsh speakers telling US how much they valued our trying to learn Welsh.

And @tatjana - you may not have been in Caernarfon, but you were most certainly with us in that room on Sunday night. Thank you!

Sunday - exploring Caernarfon Castle with the bootcampers, while nearly being blown off the castle walls in the wind. Monday morning - a precious hour before I had to leave, when I managed to find and follow the path of the old railway from the station where my grandfather was once station master.

Oh, it was so hard to leave. I wish I could have stayed to be part of the informal boot camp. One day, I am going to make that happen.

In the meantime, of course, the best thing of all was meeting folks wneb a wneb. The incredible team who make this all possible, of course. But also all the other learners. The guys from the Slack hangouts, whom I felt as if I already knew: @siaronjames, @Novem, @Lea, @KateM, @JohnYoung, @PhilgJones… And then all the people I met for the first time (who I am going to have to tag in a PS because of the forum rules :roll_eyes:

:heartbeat::heartbeat::revolving_hearts::heartbeat::heartbeat:

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To all the new friends I made this weekend: @gruntius, @Hendrik @gog, @netmouse, @joanie, @lornarhodes, @peterallen, @mintonman, @greeneyes, @Rohini… If I’ve missed anyone off it’s probably because I haven’t worked out what your ‘handle’ is on the forum. You are all - as Aran would say - completely heartless (no, we are never going to let him forget that!)

Until the next time, here’s to ymarfer siarad Cymraeg ar lein. And when all else fails, don’t forget to ymsiocoledi.

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Thank you @Catriona. The more I read all these posts, the more I wish I could be there, meeting all of you. But, well, I’m glad I could give to all of you little something of that “Come on! Let’s learn and speak together!” spirit and to say my pen-blwydd hapus to SSiW which changed my life forever to good and to all of you of course.

Or from the @Iestyn’s “Shw mae-thon” back in Spring where (if i still remember correctly) I’ve breefly met you while you pured into the hangout and I went off short time after that.

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That is a brilliant summary of the weekend to be fair!

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