Canal Walk

Since Farmleigh will close at the end of the month, when today dawned bright and sunny (and frosty) with blue skies we thought we'd try to fit in a trip there this morning. But the car wouldn't start, and rather than spend a long time trying, we went for a walk along the canal instead. It hasn't done my cold any good, but it was better than staying indoors on such a glorious morning. The strange thing is that when C got the battery charger out and tried the car once more before connecting it up, it started perfectly first time and doesn't appear to need charging at all. Maybe we'll get to Farmleigh tomorrow if the good forecast holds. Maybe we just weren't meant to go to Farmleigh today.

Reflections 1

Reflections 2

Bolts and Braces - a new railway bridge

Man was this horse hungry - I was waiting a long time for it to raise its head

Just for fun - ghost bird

We're still trying to identify that bird - I do have a better picture for ID purposes, but this was just as it flew off. We had a delightful time watching a whole bunch of long-tailed tits flitting around  (the first time C has seen any in years), but this bird was too big for that, too long and blocky a tail to be a sparrow, too big for a wagtail, not yellow enough for a grey wagtail. A mystery bird, all in all.

Autumn Splendour

Last week's photo challenge on SCS was Fall Splendour. As things turned out, we had the most dismal dull grey skies after the challenge was posted - and not rain, but almost like a mist that never lifted for a couple of days. Then last Saturday when it started to get a bit nicer, we were going to be out all day up North. So the only photos I got were a few I took on the walk down to get the paper and some bread and milk on Saturday morning before we went out.
Actually it seems to me that for the end of October there are still an awful lot of green trees around - even driving through the Glen o' the Downs last weekend and again  on Thursday this week, I'd have expected it to be a riot of colour, but it's still pretty much green.

I also finally found enough sunshine for a picture of these berries, which I wanted for the Berried Treasure challenge. I do know what the tree is called - I took a photo of the label on a tree in Farmleigh last year, but I'd have to scan through a pile of photos to find it - or get out my RHS book of plants, which probably wouldn't be any quicker.

Scene in town

We were going down to friends in Avoca for dinner yesterday, so after work I had some time to fill in before meeting C at his office. I got some bits and pieces I needed, and some wool to knit a baby sweater for friends who have just had their first baby. I've plenty of wool here, but a lot of mine is not as smooth as I'd choose for a newborn. Then I walked through Stephen's Green, hoping to find a couple more pictures for last week's Fall Splendour photo challenge. Alas, it had got fairly grey and overcast by then, and with two shopping bags and a big bunch of sunflowers as well as my backpack, taking photos wasn't the easiest thing to do. But I had a lovely time watching this swan grooming itself.

This decorative painted swag was on a pub on Baggot Street, and the building is the old Royal City of Dublin Hospital - it had got nice and sunny again by then.

Bits and pieces...

Still plugging away winnowing out some photos and picking the best for uploading. I managed to get through a good few tonight while on the phone to my dad. I mentioned that the old town was on the hill - quite a few of the streets are steps, as in the first photo here.

 

These lovely red shutters were on the Port Authority building. We couldn't see it from the beach at all, but once you'd swum out a little bit, there they were, a lovely splash of colour.

And this cat on a roof under the moon was just across the road from it, on an evening walk.

There were two main churches in the town - one near us, much newer, complete with air-conditioning.
This one was up at the top of the hill near the castle.

No air-con in this one, but benches around the outside and lots of shade from the trees.

Beacons on the hill

When we were looking at the sketch map of Astros, we couldn't work out what one of the little drawings was - turned out it was a castle!
In the bakery where we used to get our breakfast, there were three photos on the wall of Astros going back to the early 20th century, from about 19-something to 1928. At that stage it looks as if it was pretty much a few houses tumbling down the hill with the castle on it. There's a small open air theatre, and a little lighthouse. When you walk up to the castle, there's a hidden bit of the headland, with another beacon on it, this one solar-powered. Someone in the village was telling us that one hadn't been there all that long, only since the area got developed more so that the original beacon was lost in all the village lights. The hill top was covered with almond trees - with tiny, very bitter almonds. There were also splashes of little cyclamen growing here and there - even in cracks in the rocks.  I can't find a date for the castle; it was remarkably spacious inside those walls, but not all that old looking. However there used to be a much older settlement on the same site - you could still see traces of the walls. In the night photo, you can see the lit-up cross on the church that was downhill from the castle.

Athens Miscellany

Just a few snippets to wrap Athens up. On our Sunday morning there we started off by finding somewhere for coffee and then went for a walk in the National Garden just beside the Parliament building.
The Zappion was built in 1878 and donated to the nation by the Zappas brothers from Ipirus. This building was the first to hold an indoor Olympic event, in the 1896 Olympics.

Zappion Palace

On our way from there to the Acropolis we passed this brass band gathered at an entrance. We were hoping to hear them and would have waited around, but it turned out that they were just waiting for a coach, so we didn't get to here them. Last year in Zakynthos we heard a Cypriot marching band one evening - it was lovely.

Dionisiou Aeropagitou, leading up to the Acropolis, is a pedestrian street, full of street performers and buskers but also quite residential, and with a church. The balcony and lantern were along this street, as well as the church.

Athens continued...

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Erechtheion (on the Acropolis)

Herod Atticus Odeon (I think - there were two amphitheatres)

Gate of Andrianos

Roofscape and cityscape

Athens

Thinking laterally about interpretations of "Berried Treasure" made me think of the bottom drawer of my freezer, and the fact that it has far too many packs of cranberries in it, given that they'll be appearing in the shops again soon. So I made these:
Cranberry Spice Squares
1 cup cranberries
1 tsp each soda, cinnamon, cloves, ground nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg

Chop the cranberries coarsely. Sift the flour with the salt, soda and spices.
Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy, then add the egg. Add the flour in three parts alternately with the milk. Stir in the cranberries.
Bake in a greased 8" square pan at 350F / 170C for about an hour. Cool in the pan for ten minutes before turning out.
There's an optional frosting which I have tried but don't usually bother with - 3 oz cream cheese beaten till light, then beat in 2 tblsp cranberry sauce, then 3 1/2 cups icing/confectioners sugar.
This recipe comes from Boston Tea Parties - Recipes from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
A much loved and well used book. Back in the days when C started his job in a fine-art supplies company there were three members of staff and the boss, and I used to make a batch of cookies for them every week. By the time I joined the company there were six members of staff including a couple who were not too disciplined and the cookies didn't always last even a day, so at some stage I gave up making them, but by then I had worked my way through a considerable amount of recipes from Boston Tea Parties.


I'm starting my brief tour of Athens with a picture from our last day. We met relatives of C's sister-in-law and had a lovely time with them. They met us at the bus station and we went to where B works before they brought us back to their apartment. From up on the roof there was a great view across to the Acropolis!

I think we were lucky in that both times we were in Athens it was actually cloudy and overcast much of the time and consequently not too hot. It was such a mixture of old ruins in amongst all the buildings. The Parthenon itself is undergoing extensive restoration.

Parthenon

Temple of Athene Nike (I think)

A Fishy Tale

I think I mentioned that Astros was a busy little fishing harbour as well as having some very (VERY) fancy yachts and so on.
Quite apart from the fleet of little fishing boats, this was also evidenced by the number of fish shops in the village:

Plus one other more sterile, less photogenic sign which I didn't bother with.