It's Been A While....

It's been a while since I've written here.
We've had the promise of spring. Warm sunny days, lengthening evenings, spring flowers and new lambs.

And then winter returned. Cold wind howling around the house,  frost and snow on the hills and even  here close to the sea.

St Patrick's Day has come and gone. Crowds lined the streets for the annual parade. Faces glum from the cold or from Ireland's continuing misfortunes.

A celebration of culture and traditions, the old and the new, young and old.

Tomorrow is Daffodil Day, so if you live in Ireland, please support this worthy cause and help the fight against cancer.

Meeting Life Head On

I've been as busy as a bee of late, both at home and at work.
There are unfinished conversations in cyberspace, un-posted cards in my handbag,  uncompleted chores on my 'to do' list, unplanted flowers and unwashed windows.
But Spring is here with the promise of warmth, of  sunshine, and of long days with more hours for dreaming and doing.
How did we ever dream that we could have it all? Time for career, family, passions and obsessions.
It's not that the dreamers were wrong,  just that the dream wasn't shared.

Days Like These

These are perfect days.   Early Spring, full of hope and promise. Crisp frosty mornings remind me that it's good to have emerged from a long dreary winter.  The cold invigorating my sleepy self.  Dawn's warm fingers creep across the landscape, over the mountains and across the fields.

There's new growth and new life. Slowly the buds are awakening, ready to unfurl after the winter months. The first lambs keep close to their mothers in the fields.

All around us nature is looking forward, preparing for a new season, for birth and growth.

There's birdsong in the hedgerows. Starlings, sparrows, finches getting ready to mate, to nest, to start afresh.

Blue skies make me happy. I am glad to be alive, to be out and about, walking, plotting, planning, dreaming.  I forget the heartbreak and hard times that is life for many today.

Christmas on the Beach

Whilst walking the dog along the beach  I found someone's Christmas today
Washed up with the usual floatsom and jetsam of seaweed and driftwood,  plastic containers and tin cans, dead birds and glass bottles, was somebody's Christmas.

Baubles, some still in the box were they had been carefully  packed away, were strewn on the pebbles.

A little ceramic crib and singing carolers, one minus a head, looked strangely out of season and out of place on the edge of Dundalk Bay.

There was tinsel and fake holly twisted with seaweed.

And a cassette of  'Give up yer aul sins' would never play again.

What had  happened to the owner of this Christmas?  How had their decorations ended up at high tide mark?
Had they moved house, emigrated or passed away? Or did they just decide they didn't like this Christmas any more and dumped it at sea?
My thoughts take flight and turn to fancy. Was it a post-modern art exhibition?
One thing is sure, no bin charges were paid before this puzzling, colourful and cheap plastic ended up
on our shore.

At the Edge of the Bay

We live close to Dundalk Bay and a short walk takes us to the shoreline.  It's a walk I do most days, except for mid-winter,  with a Labrador by my side.
Now, a Labrador (and a bright orange coat) probably aren't the best aids for bird-watching  but I still enjoy the sound made by thousands of feeding wildfowl and seabirds.

Dundalk Bay

On Dry Land 

Dundalk Bay is one of the most important locations in Ireland for migrating birds during the winter. It is designated as a Special Protection Area, especially for migratory birds, and a Wildfowl Sanctuary. Yet, apart from a handful of keen birdwatchers, most people seem unaware of this natural treasure at our doorstep.

Wildfowl Sanctuary

I'd love to say I can identify all the birds which come here, but unfortunately I don't, apart from the obvious ones like curlews, herons, mallard ducks, Brent geese, lapwings, plovers, oyster catchers and swans.

Flying Ducks

More Ducks in Flight

Low Flying Geese

The Bay supports about 50,000 wetland birds, including gulls, waders, ducks. geese, swans and divers, and gets winter visitors from Canada, Greenland Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia.

Heron