One Sunny Day

When we were driving home from Coole, the skies cleared to a lovely blue. And the next morning we had another window of good-weather opportunity. It hadn't been in the forecast, so we weren't prepared for a longer drive but we took an outing to a lake that was not too far away. With the sun out, it was quite warm on the limestone once we were out of the wind. We saw plenty of wagtails, a female chaffinch and some unidentified small brown birds.

More of Clare

Our second outing was to Coole, one of our regular places to visit. I still remember the time we went over a New Year, when there had been heavy flooding in the locality followed by some freezing weather. Some of the paths were inaccessible, and some had a layer of ice over shallow water. That was a much abbreviated but memorable and enjoyable walk. 

The first two photos are part of a series, a facsimile copy of one of Yeats' poems. 

No swans (or hares, we've seen those here before) to be seen - all I found was three swan feathers. And despite the fact that apparently it has been a very dry summer down there, the lake was quite full, and towards the end of it there were parts where the narrow trail was submerged. 

There was an amazing thicket of wild raspberries - ripe, juicy, sweet. I wished I'd had something to collect some in. As it was, we just enjoyed a passing snack. 

Plenty of assorted fungi - and a young frog who still seemed to have part of his tail. 

A brief interlude

in the country. We were able to go to Clare for a few days last week. C had to take 10 days compulsory leave before the end of August, and I couldn't take any time off after July 20, so we got away while we could. The weather was mixed, but it was a really nice break. I'll share a few photos here and maybe in another post - there is an album with 58 photos HERE. 

The photos here are from Dromore Wood Nature Reserve, with the last two being the lake beside the cottage we stayed in, and the view over the lake from the house. 

July snaps

July started out raining...

and it feels as it has pretty much continued that way, although fortunately not on Saturday afternoon when I visited my sister. I had taken a couple of photos of this utility box last summer, but that was the time my memory card got corrupted, and I wasn't able to download any of the photos from that day. The last couple of times I was there were over the winter on dull grey days, but as Saturday was bright, I was able to snap it again. Just with my phone - knitting, chocolate mousse and assorted other things meant that I didn't actually pack my camera that day.

And never, in all the times I have visited the English Market, has it been so empty. However, I didn't wish to stand about in the way in the entrance blocking other people, so I only took one quick shot of the lovely Art Deco heron fountain; usually it's so crowded that it's not possible to get a full view of it.

I shared a couple of closer shots last summer. In case you missed them, here they are again:

June Favourites

...are thin on the ground. I feel as if I might even have had more in a normal year when we would have been away on holidays for half the month. The first three were all made for the occasion.

The blog header is a thistle-type plant from the Botanic Gardens, in July 2018. I didn't have very many photos from last year and had to look further back.