A Parting Gift

Summer returned yesterday and bestowed on us the gift of a pet day, as my mother used to call an unseasonably warm day which came when we had given up on summer.
It was a day for basking in the warming rays of the sun, for sitting in the garden, for drying clothes, for being grateful for just  one more good day before autumn's chill takes hold of the land and our hearts.

The butterflies  reappeared,  with Small Tortoiseshells joining the busy bees as they feasted on the sedum and daisies beside the front door.

A Speckled Wood fluttered in the garden hedge and rested on a leaf just long enough for me to click the shutter. And then it was off.

I've been a bit bee-hind with blogging of late,  not sure where to land, as I flutter from one social medium to the next. I'm still striving to find a voice, to find a balance between words and images, between reportage and personal disclosures.

Remembering That Summer of 2013

The long warm carefree days of summer are fading into memory, into folk memory, as this will be remembered in Ireland as 'The Summer of 2013', the summer  of the first heatwave of the 21st century.

And, before I pull out the hats and scarves, woolen jumpers and warm boots, and embrace autumn, I want to share some memories of summer in these parts.

It was a fantastic summer for the outdoors. For once, anyone planning an event, from a family barbecue to a community festival, could do so safe in the knowledge that the weather would be good and it wouldn't rain.

Louth County Agricultural Show had a new venue  in the beautiful setting of Bellurgan Park. It was very well attended with lots to see,  including brass bands, cattle, sheep, alpacas, horses, dogs, ducks, hens and even a pet sheep on a lead.

There were lots of other festivals as the summer progressed, although the weather was so good that I missed some as I preferred to stay at home in our newly restored garden (and that's a story for another post)

The great Celtic legend of An Tain Bo Chuilgne or the Cattle Raid of Cooley was enacted in a colourful pageant at Dundalk's Market Square as part of the Tain Walk which  traced the march of Queen Meabh's Army.