Catching up

 Before it gets to be time for a May Favourites card post, I am badly behind with regular photos. 

From the bird reserve: 

There was a large assortment of bird houses installed in the trees. I'm not sure how many of them birds actually nest in , but they were certainly very picturesque, and no two the same. 

There are a few more in the small album I uploaded from that visit - https://photos.app.goo.gl/vJ2abze7sbmw8Vb56

Mid month I went down to my sister for a weekend. She works a half day on Friday, so in the afternoon we went to visit a military fort which had recently re-opened. It was interesting - a large part of it is underground - partly because it was a safe environment for storing the gunpowder. A lot of the original floors were wood, for the same reason. The volunteer who led us through the tunnel part said that as far as they know, the horses bringing the gunpowder from Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills would have been unshod, to avoid the risk of sparks from shod hooves on the road, so they were then rested for a day or two before their return journey back to Ballincollig. 

We had a great view across the bay to my sister's office, and also to Cobh, which was the last port before America for  many trans-Atlantic ships including the Titanic and the Lusitania .

https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/visitor/camden-fort-meagher

I'll only add a few photos here, but again I have a full album from my weekend trip if you have time and interest. On the Saturday we took a picnic lunch to The Lough - a small lake right in the centre of suburban Cork. I've often heard of it as C and a good friend he visits often go walking there, but it's the first time I've been and it was such an unexpected sight. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PSa6TfN9fDmfsjAY6

February Favourites

 Thin on the ground... we've been short-staffed in work and I've had to do extra days, 

I spent a weekend mid-month with my sister. The weather was pretty dreary, but we went to a forest park beside a reservoir, also the national rowing centre of Ireland - it was a pleasant walk in spite of the misty drizzle, and there was a little van selling hot drinks which was a nice treat afterwards.

An abundance of red berries, which we presumed were not attractive to the birds as there were so many of them. 

I had a rather unnerving experience on Monday when my front brake stopped working shortly after leaving home. I had felt it was a bit loose and was thinking I must book a service sooner rather than later, when it went altogether. I was careful but not overly worried because I knew we had replaced the rear cable just before Christmas, so it was quite a shock when the rear brake too stopped working totally - luckily on the flat, and luckily near work so I didn't have too far to push the bike. And luckily a day C was working at home, and was able to come in at lunch and pick me up.

As I walked I passed this utility box, which has definitely been repainted as used to be something else altogether.

Two  new brake cables and everything is fine again, but especially when one was almost brand new it's a bit of a mystery to everybody how it could have happened.

January favourites and a beach

 Are very thin on the ground...

I spent a weekend earlier in the month with my sister. On the Sunday morning we went to a beach in West Cork for a walk and a fish and chips (fries) lunch. Although the weather doesn't look great in the photos, it was beautiful for our drive over, and was in fact lovely for our walk. Queuing for the fish and chips was very windy, the beach much less so. 

Long Strand, Castlefreke.

Fota Arboretum

 On our second day, we visited Fota Arboretum. I had been there a couple of years ago with my sister, but C had never been. The walled gardens had fewer wildflower beds in them than on my previous visit, but were beautiful, and the shade in the arboretum was very welcome on a hot, sunny day. 

We got lucky with our timing after walking round the walled gardens and the working Victorian walled garden (staffed by volunteers. (I came home with some basil and some lysimachia, which you can see in the foreground of one of the photos of the pond. The lady who sold it to me warned me that it spread, but I knew that already. ) There was no queue at the coffee shop, and a couple of empty picnic benches to sit at. The jam for C's scone came in the neatest little folded paper pot, very eco-friendly. 

Our borage seems to be very late - this was in full bloom, and also in my brother's wildflower bed. Mine is only just barely starting to come into flower. I think it might be swamped by the Chinese Lanterns!

Angel's Fishing Rod

One of the many tree palms

A swamp cypress (taxodium distichum), and it really was vivid green. 

The lake was rather smelly, due to the algal bloom, but still very pretty.

Although I had chosen the day that, from the forecast, looked to be more cloudy and hence a bit better for photography, it was very bright sunshine and a bit too contrasty to be ideal. But a lovely day out. 

Warm off the needles

 This sweater has been my pandemic project - it's a design by Joji Locatelli which I got from Ravelry. The construction is very satisfying - it's knit all in one piece. You start from the centre front and knit sideways to one side, then pick up from a provisional cast-on (bind on) and knit to the other side - a partial yoke is included in this section. Then you knit each sleeve down to the cuff, creating the back yoke in the process. The back is knit downwards, picked up from the yoke. Even the side seams aren't stitched - they're a 3-needle bind off. The only reason it took so long was my tiredness and inattention to detail a couple of times. Well, that and the fact that I used to be able to knit in work and that's a thing of the past - and hopefully the future again some time.  I'd actually bought the wool to make a sort of mediaeval panelled swing-type jacket but I couldn't get the tension right for that.

It looks better on - but by the time I arrived at my sister's last Friday after a trek across Cork city, I wasn't looking photogenic enough to ask her to take pictures. The weather forecast had been dire and I'd dressed for heavy rain which was over by the time I got there.

I'm including a few unedited photos (taken with my phone) from Friday. There was a Ferris Wheel set up on Grand Parade - to C's amazement when he saw the photo. He and his friend drove down the street at some stage, and he hadn't seen it. 

The next two are a nice initiative  called "The People's Parklet". This one is near my sister's, so I've seen it through several seasons now, as it was opened in July 2019.  The city is hoping to establish up to ten more. There's a small amount of seating, and they plant insect-friendly plants in the planter parts.  It's empty in this photo - but most times I have seen it, there have been people sitting and making good use of it. 

And a sign of the times - though given the Irish climate in the first place, plus the fact that there's always a cold wind off the river, I saw this little dining domes outside one of the restaurants on Lapps Quay.