Ahem - you may have noticed that we flew under the radar last week! My mother was staying with us in the new chalet for the first time, and it was all a bit hectic…
And then every time I got close to catching up at the start of this week, something came flying out of nowhere… but now, time to get saddled up again, and introduce:
Seren yr Wythnos #13
Diane Owen
Or, as you might recognise her more easily, @tahl… 
Diane (who I find it very hard not to call Tahl even in ‘real’ life!) was one of our earliest learners - and one of the first learners from the USA to make real, serious headway, at a time when it still seemed incredibly difficult to imagine people using the course outside of Wales.
She’s been a hugely generous supporter of SSiW - both financially and in terms of time. She was one of the guiding voices on the first forum, and became a valuable and reliable Angel (which is what we call our moderators).
I can still remember the surprise (I’m not sure if it was after her first Bootcamp, or her second?) when she visited us in Mynytho, and we ended up having a fairly serious conversation about economics and theories of growth - back then, it still seemed pretty startling when we met SSiW learners who were already capable of that kind of conversation!
It got less startling, though, as we got used to Diane becoming a go-to ‘Welsh-speaking voice from America’ for Radio Cymru - I remember her saying once that she was looking forward to getting a call that didn’t involve a ‘how amazing that you’ve learnt’ angle - but I’m not sure if Welsh media are ever going to be quite as used to USA speakers as we’ve become…
She has also been a tireless promoter of SSiW in the US, most particularly with her extremely generous work with NAFOW (the North American Festival of Wales) where she has run an SSiW stall (very kindly provided for free by NAFOW) and worked her fingers off following up with people who expressed an interest in the course.
And I’m fairly sure (unless my memory is failing me) that she’s even badgered Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, about SSiW when he was on a trip to the States - which is a rather lovely thought…
And, of course, she continues to arrange the Welsh conversation group in Washington D.C. - because even 8 years down the line, there really is no stopping her…
Diane, diolch o galon am bopeth ti wedi gwneud…
Even if Diane’s contributions haven’t directly affected you, now would still be a lovely time to thank her for all her huge support for SSiW…
Iestyn ap Dafydd
Catrin Lliar Jones
Cat Dafydd
Dee McCarney
Spenny
Jeff Lewis
Ifan Baines
Kev Smith
James Mahoney
Louis van Ekert
Rob Bruce
Huw Jones
Diane Owen