Catching Up

Summer has been most delightful so far this year.  Lots of sunshine, warm days and bright evenings. It's  been the ideal summer for holidaying at home, for enjoying the Irish countryside, for spending time in the garden and going for evening walks.
I've been neglecting my blog because it seems a shame to sit  indoors at a computer when I could be enjoying the warm sun outside or relishing those special long summer evenings.
So here is a quick collage to catch up with both June and July.

In June I enjoyed the excellent Co Louth Agricultural Show which was held just down the road in Bellurgan Park, we discovered the beauty of Connemara on a short trip to the west coast (which really deserves a post of its own) and the garden began to bloom.

As the warm weather continued in July, I loved spending time in the garden, taking my breakfast out before going to work in the mornings.
The perfect summer evenings enticed crowds to Gyles Quay where local teenagers had great fun jumping off the pier.
Even those days with showers brought their own beauty with rainbows.
The teen is learning to cook in preparation for  leaving home and going to college in September - he treated us to a delicious meal of turkey and mozzarella meatballs.
Doris, who has a very interesting blog over as Inspired Follies  has kindly nominated me for a Liebster Award, even though I've only been an occasional blogger of late. I'm deeply honoured by her nomination and will fulfill the tasks in the coming days. If you  haven't read Inspired Follies, I suggest you pop  over there and have a look.

A Backward Glance At April

April already seems so long ago. Those mostly perfect Spring days have been replaced by a miserable start to May, especially this Bank Holiday weekend.
This year's Spring was particularly pleasant, with lots of blue skies and warm sunshine, and who cared if there were a few showers. Hey, April wouldn't be the same without some rain.
The air was filled with birdsong with a songster in every tree and bush. There was the sweetness of spring flowers - the blackthorn blossom was really spectacular this year, and, of course, the sweetness of chocolate eggs at Easter.
April was also a month of firsts, the first swallow, the first butterflies, the first bees, and the first ladybird, all milestones to be marked as welcome signs that winter was well and truly gone for another year.
We got out in the garden and enjoyed seeing how the work which we had done last year was bearing fruit (figuratively if not literally). Plans were made for new projects for this year  and the pets loved the freedom of joining us  outside.

March in Pictures

March has been a busy month. Spring arrived, first the flowers, then the lambs. There have been days when it was warm enough to venture out into the garden and I'm pleased with the colourful results of my autumn planting.

We've had St Patrick's Day, birthdays, and trips across the country to bring the teenager and his portfolio to a number of art colleges. A banjo was bought and I've been spoiled this Mothers' Day.

Life should settle down in April when hopefully I'll catch up with regular blogging again.

This is my 100th blogpost and I'm grateful to everyone who reads and comments on my blog.

Looking for Spring

Between bad weather and bad health, it seemed like an eternity since I'd been out and about with my camera.
So when Saturday came along, I was determined to go and seek out some signs of spring. Ideally I would have inspected the garden, checked on the bulbs I planted last autumn, and maybe taken a walk though the fields.
But still it rained. And rained. And rained.
I'd have to  find spring indoors and what better place than Strandfield Flower Market? I had time to pop in for some quality 'me time' before going into town.
There was a cosy fire to chase the chills away but the blinds were pulled in the coffee shop making it too dark for photography.

However, there was plenty to see in the large conservatory and flower shop.
The spring bulbs look tempting so I think I might buy some later in the week to augment those I planted.  Perhaps I will drop a few hints that they would be preferable to overpriced roses for Valentine's Day.

I am really drawn to that botanical print and would love to buy it but unfortunately I  don't think there's a space for it on our already crowded walls.

Fortified by a hot chocolate, I made my shopping list, read some of my book, and left refreshed to face the weekly grocery shop.

Dreaming of Spring

These days, I'm longing for Spring. Tantalising signs of this much longed for season are appearing everywhere. The hyacinth bulbs I bought fill the sitting room with their wonderful sweet scene, there's a profusion of snowdrops growing beside the old farmhouse down the lane, and the spring bulbs I planted in the autumn are popping up.

But our weather remains very unsettled. Sunshine, showers, wind, rain, fog, frost; we've had the lot this past week. More winter storms are forecast over the coming days, so it's still time for keeping warm, cooking wholesome food and dreaming of warmer days.

I made my favourite soup, leek and potato, for lunch today (will post the recipe later in the week) and
was delighted when I discovered the pansy flowering in the garden.
And I'm busy reading for The Year in Books. I've already finished 'Gone Girl' and am now reading and really enjoying Zadie Smith's 'NW' as well Richard Yeats short stories 'Eleven Kind of Loneliness' which are perfect for dipping into and savouring one at a time.

Reclaiming the Garden

Armchair gardening

I've been away from here for so long that I've a lot of catching up to do. But seeing as it's November,  the month when writers and  bloggers are typing their fingers to the bone,  I've decided to see if I can maybe, just maybe, write a post every day, and finally put all those half composed thoughts and waiting photographs where they belong.
Although it seems a long time ago now, memories of the Summer of 2013 will linger. It was the perfect summer, full of warm sunny days, when all sorts of records were broken for the warmest, driest, sunniest summer in years.
For us, it was also the summer of the garden.
I've always been an armchair gardener, with dreams of a wonderful cottage garden but no desire to do any hard work to achieve it.

Toffee surveys the improvements

A combination of miserable wet summers and a lack of enthusiasm for embarking on outdoor projects unless the weather is perfect, meant that our garden had become seriously neglected and overgrown.
Think jungle without the tropical climate.
At  one stage, I dared to suggest that perhaps we'd need to get 'help' in order to reclaim it. This was just the sort of challenge that my husband needed, and, with the surprisingly willing assistance of the teenager who had finished his exams, he set to ensuring that I'd eat my words.
First, I  had to accept that we were never going to have a cottage border and that the weeds were always going to win. Out went all the plants except the forsythia, down went black matting and gravel.
Colour could be provided by plants in pots, containers, boxes.
Then, the piece de resistance, which strangely enough was the part of the project which captured our son's imagination and made him a willing worker,  a corner arbour.

Newly erected arbour

We first saw one in the showroom of B&Q in Newry, just across the border, and after a few days deliberation, decided that we must have one. But getting it proved more difficult that we'd imagined.
We discovered that we had missed out on buying the last one in the Newry store and they didn't know when they'd get another one in. I phoned around all the stores in Northern Ireland and it was the same story.  Frustratingly, there was no shortage of arbours from several DIY stores and even supermarkets for gardeners living in the UK, but Irish gardeners, were, it seemed, out of luck unless they  had the budget for a bespoke creation. I told a friend about the difficulty we were  having and she suggested I'd try B&Q in Dublin. I'd forgotten that they had stores in the Irish Republic, and one phone call later and the arbour was ordered. Even better there was a sale on.

The finished product - painted

Once it was delivered a few days later, husband and son set about erecting and then painting it. It looks even better than we had hoped and has proven a great addition to our garden.

Me time

When the weather was good, I liked to sit out with a cup of tea and read. Most mornings during the summer, I took my breakfast outside and enjoyed a few minutes tranquility before heading for work.

Arbour with a view

Even now when the weather is colder, it's a good spot to sit, sheltered from the wind, and watch the pets.

Inspiration

And best of all, I've now got the enthusiasm to do some gardening even when the weather's not perfect.
When I was on holidays last week, I planted lots of daffodils in containers and am looking forward to seeing them bloom in spring.

Still Waiting For Spring

I am growing weary of waiting for spring.  Fed up of wearing my winter clothes. Longing for warmth, sunshine and bright colours.
After a long winter, I want to come out of hibernation, to enjoy evening walks along the beach, to venture into the garden and  prepare for a new season. I want to pack away the winter woolies, the greys and blacks, and bring out the cottons and silks, the pastels and the jewel colours, the dresses and sandals. I want to feel the sun on my skin, a warm breeze in my hair, the sand under my feet.
Instead, winter is reluctant to let go its grasp on the countryside. After a few warm sunny days, it's back to cold showery weather, raincoats and scarves.
But the swallows have arrived. Maybe they know something we don't and perhaps my wishes will come true.
In the meantime I content myself by bringing spring indoors.

Autumn's Paintbrush

I love this time of year, always have done.  I love the changing colours which mark the transition of the seasons more spectacularly now than at any other time.
Autumn has got her paintbrush out.  Splashes of colours are transforming  the country lanes and the streets of town. The leaves are changing from calm and lush greens to a vibrant palette of gold and crimson hues. Late blooming flowers pick up the warm tones in an exciting symphony of orange, pink and purple.
 Mother nature is giving us the gift of colour to enjoy before the greys and browns of the winter  landscape arrive. Colours to soak in, to remember, to keep us warm during the cold months ahead.