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Wouldn’t this be a nice entrance to one’s home…or maybe it’s a bit too pretentious for a country cottage! This is the old entrance to Kilronan Castle just outside the village of Keadue in County Roscommon. It was here we met today for the second Bards in the Woods of the year. The first was last week at Hazelwood near Sligo but I didn’t get to that one.

Just beyond the entrance is this…

Looking forward……

Andy was here today so I ventured out for my first snow walk after being housebound for a week with a lung infection. I am still on antibiotics until Friday but I really feel back to normal again. Today the sky was overcast and really very dark all day. It looked like more snow was coming but it never happened and there was actually a good thaw today.

I don’t fall into illness mode easily and…

Snow covered Hawthorn.

The weather is throwing everything it has in it’s arsenal at us here in Ireland at the moment. In the last few days we have had: torrential rain, thunder and lightning, high winds, frost and snow. The snow was beautiful but it was washed away after a day by the heavy rain. Didn’t even walk in the snow this year as I am lying low at the minute with a lung infection. The…

  Hi folks!

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this blog. Almost 6 months, 11th of July was the last post I did. Changes were happening in my life and I just wasn’t in the mood for writing.

The biggest change has been that Andy and I are no longer together. We have been living separately since last August. We are still good friends and look out for each other, we even spent…

The Longest Night..

The Supermoon, Social Media, Genocide, the Sisterhood, and Why Some Artists Get up In The morning.

bridget:

Hi folks! Sorry for nor blogging for some time but there are major changes happening in my life right now. I need time to absorb and readjust these happenings. All is well, do not worry my friends. The post I am reblogging is written by my good friend Charlie Easterfield. She writes of how the scandal of what is happening to Palestine and it’s people has affected her.

Originally posted on

Memories of Summer 2014.

Blackcurrant time again and the rush is on to get as many as possible before the Blackbirds. All our nets are in use on the vegetable beds so it a case of who gets the ripe fruits first. Luckily we have a lot of Blackcurrant bushes.

Rather than standing by the plants picking… which I find rather back breaking…I cut off the branches and sit in comfort at the table whilst I harvest.  The fruit is…

  Our period of sunny weather came to an end earlier this week.  People complain and wish for the good weather to stay. I however was happy to see the Summer rain arrive. It is after all what keeps Ireland fresh and lush and green. Forty shades of brown just does’nt have the same appeal to it. I remember the Summer of  ’95, one of the hottest on record for these parts. Andy and I came over from…

“If I had to choose a religion. the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.”      Napoleon Bonaparte

“There are three things that cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”    Buddha

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the…

Summer’s here and how lovely it is. Lots of Strawberries from the polytunnel…eaten with sourdough pancakes and chocolate sauce for breakfast.

Lots of Broad Beans from Autumn sown seeds in the polytunnel. This was from only a few plants. Next crop of these will be outdoors as they take up valuable space under cover for far too long.

A very sociable time podding them round the kitchen table…with…

A tour round the production garden.

The tunnel is chocabloc right now and the good weather is ensuring rampant growth.

Lettuces I like to have lots of as we eat salad most days. There’s red ones…

and green ones. Full Moon is coming up next Friday so it’s a good time to plant new seeds. I don’t follow the Moon calendar religiously but plants do seem to germinate more quickly and be somewhat stronger. If nothing else it’s a good…

Fracking Ireland…here it comes.

Earlier this week we heard the dreaded news that fracking is to go ahead in Ireland. Tamboran is to drill 3 test wells near Belcoo in County Fermanagh starting sometime this month.  This is in Northern Ireland which is under the jurisdiction of the UK government but I’m afraid pollution and destruction of our lands and water do not recognise political boundaries on a solid land mass. Isn’t it a…

Early morning in an Irish country garden.

It is early morning…6.3o to be precise…a bit earlier than usual for me to be up and about but I did’nt sleep very well. Probably due to being on antibiotics and steroids for an upper respiratory tract infection. Hopefully the drugs will do the trick and in a few days I shall be tickety boo again.

The only sound to be heard is the early morning birdsong. All the different voices merge together…

Bards in the Woods at the Cavan Burren.

Yesterday our Bards in the Woods gathering was at the newly opened Cavan Burren park. We had been to the park previously but it is now much improved with new roads and pathways and an unmanned interpretive  centre. There’s even some very clean public loos…

and a covered picnic area.

Spirits were high as we set off. Usually the views from here are amazing but yesterday was a very mizzly (mix of…

The Spring flowers have retreated  and the early Summer flowers have taken centre stage. These Aquilegias or Granny’s Bonnets as the are commonly known are short lived but so pretty right now.  Dead heading will keep them flowering a little longer but by high Summer their time is over. They are easily raised from seed or from division of the clumps.

Rosa Rugosa is about to show it’s first…

After our explorations at Coolavin House (see previous post) we decided to visit Clogher Stone Fort. Just down the road it is on the lands of the Coolavin Estate.

The entrance is under the stone arch and through this lovely iron gate. I believe this is called a kissing gate.

A short walk through an area with some lovely trees…mostly Beeches…brings one to the fort.

Sitting atop the hill in all…