beautiful moments

A FINE NATURE WALK

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On this fine Saturday afternoon, two of my grandchildren and I decided to go for a walk on a land that leads towards the townland of Milland and to Russagh Mill Hostel. It was a fine distance and totally in pastural land. Ruben had come with his binoculars and his notebook, he wanted to draw some pictures of what he would see and find. Alice wanted to take photos of anything that would please her eyes; leaves, trees, plants and ourselves. I merely wanted the walk in nature and to see plenty of green countryside. (and take phots of course). We were not disappointed and between climbing some roadside trees and rocks and walk at leisure we had a wonderful time. I did not climb the trees though.

Laneway running towards the townland of Milland, a part of Skibbereen
Nice to see the land being tilled, I wonder what crops will be grown
  • Ruben picking little flowers for his collection
  • Skeleton of an ivy leaf
  • Sycamore branch?
This is where the laneway stops or becomes private and then this Boreen connects with Russagh Mill Hostel.
  • Wild watercress growing in a brook
  • And this is perhaps its flower
Celandine flower and lovely leaves
Some of the trees along this lane are very beautiful, even if only in silhouette
  • Ruben is drawing what he sees in nature, a leaf, a flower
And here is what Ruben drew in his copy book.
  • Alice has picked dandelion leaves for the canaries
The grass was so very green and the landscape flowing
  • Ferns
  • A type of hypericum

I was delighted when Ruben got out his copybook and pencil and started to draw what he saw, though I had to watch him as he plonked himself into the middle of the laneway at first and there might be the odd car passing. He was totally oblivious to all that, just wanted to do his thing. He is such a delightful boy.

Our walk took us over two hours and was well worth it. Towards the end Alice picked some dandelion leaves which she wanted to give to our two new canary birds. We came home and made a big pot of spaghetti Bolognese which was soon emptied by my now hungry grandkids.

What better to do on a January Saturday 🙂 we loved every minute.

MIDWINTER FROST

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A few nights ago we had frost. I awoke to a white world, where every blade of grass, every flower, and every leaf was beautifully decorated with glittering ice, it looked as if during the night a fairy had strewn sugary crystals all over the garden. It was wonderful. And it was cold. A clear blue sky stretched out over the houses to the west and in the east the sun was already shining making everything glitter.
These flowers reminded me of the sugared violets used in cake recipes during Victorian times.
Every year I leave some of the hydrangea flower heads on the shrubs and they never fail to be of interest all winter long in many different ways.
Some of my favourite winter foliage would be conifers, pines, firs. Some have a lovely scent, especially around midwinter, and at Christmas time the warmth of the lights bring out this scent from our live tree right inside our living room, wonderful!
These are the trunks of privet bushes, they rise up high and grow by about 50cm every year which means a lot of cutting down, by now and after 30 years their trunks have grown so close together that they are now more of a fence than a hedge.
My newest garden plants are brightly coloured Gaultheria procumbens (Wintergreen). I am delighted with them. By the time I took this photo the ice was melting a little because of the sun, but most of the garden stayed white all day long. Quite unusual for the area, but much appreciated by me.

In a day or two it will be the winter Solstice and it is also the time that Ian celebrates his 80th birthday, yes we will be celebrating!

CONNEMARA MEMORIES

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I would like to share some scenes of Connemara, I hope that it captures for you the rugged beauty that Connemara is. Situated in the West of Ireland it is a most fascinating place for lovers of archaeology or geology, or just for lovers of peace, quiet, and a special type of beauty. This view is of a stone beach near Galway city, it was a paradise for me.
Inland the landscape is quite barren with bogland, rushes, and low growing gorse which gave a yellow hue to the most fantastic shades of brown and ochre all around.
In all its barren land, there is lushness to be found too, the tender young green here of rhododendrons.
Dull days, showers of rain, mist. And as a little diversion some cattle being moved to another field. I love cows in a landscape, in paintings of pastoral life they often make the painting work I think.
On the road again, I was driving very slowly indeed so I could watch the scenery, as long as there was no traffic behind, and I was lucky that the roads were relatively quiet. I am used to driving along country roads and I usually take in plants and other interesting things that I pass.
The last day we just chilled out in the hotel, I read, drank cups of tea with Ian, and I also visited the rocky beach across from the hotel where I had a very interesting time looking at and for rocks. It was a very windy day indeed, with rain thrown in as well.
Figwort
Walls of rock, so many, and brilliantly made so many decades ago. A figwort plant still flowering, and a piece of Galway granite.
The variety and beauty of the rocks at this beach was amazing.
Peaceful lake, lovely scent of autumn, and the air as fresh as is possible to imagine, you could taste it on the tip of your tongue, delicious!
Here is one of the authentic longish cottages in the vernacular style. A little gem. And another mysterious scene from the mountainous regions where the clouds hung low.

These are lovely memories of our time spent in Connemara. I hope you enjoyed a bit of our journey too.

We took this journey during early autumn 2019 to celebrate our marriage a few days earlier, it was a fantastic journey and I am thinking back to it during this time of lockdowns, no doubt we will be travelling in Ireland and no further afield this coming summer, we hope so anyway – a staycation they have called it – well we cannot complain, we are not short of interest or beauty in this island.

A JOURNEY INTO CONNEMARA

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Connemara

Connemara was not as isolated and remote as I expected it to be. At least the part of it that we toured was not so. Even on narrow roads that literally just lead to the coast over several causeways, houses and schools were frequently dashed over the otherwise barren landscape.

Connemara was magical, the more so because the mountains were half hidden in the mist and in low clouds, throwing an un-earthly light over the bogs, highlighting the rusty colours, the sepias, the deep chocolate browns, the ochre.  Sometimes the sun would briefly take away the veil that covered the land, at other times the sky would darken and a very heavy rain would pour down on us.  But the rain did not bother us, we were after all on honeymoon and it was hard to take the smile off our faces.

The old cottages dotted here and there took my interest but the roads made it so that I could not stop easily to observe them better.  I did take in their oblong shapes however, many seemed to be empty and ruined, others were still very much lived in.

My favourite area was the road (R344) we took from Kylemore Lough, on to Recess.  On our right were the Twelve Bens, a very beautiful mountain range which unfortunately was mostly hidden in the clouds, and to our left we saw some of the Maumturk mountains. Rusty bog land, softly covered in pale lilac heathers, and in strong yellow gorse, drew the eye further along to some lakes and more bogs.  This was for me one of the highlights of our journey, the beauty and serenity that I felt there was incredible and filled my heart with joy.  The scents of autumn-like growth and fresh mountain air were invigorating.  My excellent navigator and new husband Ian had suggested this road, and I am so happy that we explored this area of Connemara.


A little fishing village called Roundstone lies on the R341 coast road, it is such a picturesque village, one that you would want to stay for a week and just soak up the atmosphere, and the views.  We had a lovely lunch there in a little place overlooking the harbour. 
Connemara has a lot of small peninsulas, connected by land via causeways.

EXCITING TIMES

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Saturday the 31st of August saw Ian and myself tying the knot, we were surrounded by our children and grandchildren, sisters and brothers, and a few close friends. It was a very beautiful ceremony led by Helen Grubert who is an interfaith celebrant here in West Cork. It is a day to remember fondly for a long time to come.
  • My brother Patrick and his wife Sarah who provided us with beautiful renaissance music during the ceremony.
  • My daughter and I

Slowly life returns to normal routine. I do have lots of material, other than our wedding to write about and lots of photos too, and soon I will be back into my blogging mood. Until then I wish everyone of my dear friends and fellow bloggers a great start to a good autumn (or spring as the season might be).