Birds here, there and everywhere.

I would be embarassed to admit how many bird photos I have taken in the last two days. I'll just try to pick a few and spread them out all week.
Last week when I was getting more of the fat-balls I got the half-coconut as well, thinking that I hadn't seen a blue tit in ages, and maybe it would tempt one into the garden. Well - as you can see it did, but a lot of the other birds seem to be enjoying it too. I was so happy to see a blue tit again. We see a pair of coal-tits most days, and they're used enough to us that they don't fly away instantly, but while they're endearing little birds I always think they're a bit scruffy looking, and they don't have the cheeky charm of the blue tits.There's something about the face of a blue tit when you see it front onwards that always makes me smile.

We had more thundery showers today - not as much thunder as yesterday, but some pretty heavy rain when it came. I was weeding one of the borders while the soil was soft after the rain, and found a nigella bud for last week's SCS challenge.

...and flowers

The hawthorn is out in full bloom all along the roads and hedgerows now. It feels to me as if it's been out for a long time - I'm sure we noticed it on a trip to the North in early March, but along the canal banks it's cascading down in falls of blush and cream..

We had a lot of heavy thundery showers this afternoon - the lightning must have been to the front or side of the house, as I didn't see it. I like the smell of warm wet earth after a dry spell!

Birds...

I tried to post last night but Blogger was down. I had to get some more rolls and extra bacon when we had an unexpected lunch guest yesterday, so I walked the long way to the butcher's, down the canal. We saw several thrushes in the woods - it was hard to take a good photo because of the low light levels - I had to push the ISO level up, which has made them a bit grainy.. I was puzzled, too, as to what sort of berries it could have - all the ivy is long gone at this stage. But this afternoon I noticed a couple of ripe mahonia berries on the patio, so perhaps that's what it was.I could be wrong, but I think it's actually managed to tuck three in there.

The hooded crow I saw on a green area, when I was trying a second local shop for ciabatta. No luck - we had to have our BLT on demi-baguettes instead.

Feeding Birds

Chaffinch

Robin

I think the sound in the background of the robin clip must be a train. It's not that I don't hear them - I do. If I'm awake early and hear the first one go past at ten to six, it usually registers on my awareness that that's the first train I've heard, so it must be ten to six. And if I'm going out in the car and going to be crossing over the railway line, I might realise that I've just heard a train go by so it's a safe bet that the level crossing will be open. But to hear the level of noise on the video surprised me. I've seen that little robin starting to venture into the back porch where all the seed is kept, but he's so much more timid than last year's ones - the slightest movement and he's gone again.

I tried a different curry over the weekend, using a Mughal-style Masala. C is not (to put it mildly) a fan of cardamom. I don't like it on it's own, but as part of a background flavour I tell him it's like trying to paint a picture and not having any yellow - or whatever colour. So I use it anyway, and just do my best to remove all the pods before serving, or he's bound to bite into one. Anyway, this recipe had a LOT, so I was surprised that he said he liked it and I could make it again some time. Admittedly I cut back a bit on the cardamom - there was so much in the Masala that I left out the extra 1/2 tsp of ground powder that was meant to be added also.


Spicy Lamb ( I used beef, our last curry was lamb).
2 1/2 lb lamb or beef, cubed.
1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tbslp oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1" ginger root peeled and finely chopped (I usually grate it)
1 tblsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper / ground red chilli
1 tblsp lemon juice,
salt
* 1 tsp Mughal style Garam Masala
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 green chillies, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
3 tomatoes skinned and chopped
fresh coriander / cilantro to garnish

*Mughal-style Garam Masala - this makes 4 ounces, I knew I'd never use that much, so I scaled it down.
4 ounces green cardamom pods, husked (I'll admit I'm not clear if this is the weight of seeds or of the pods before husking - I went with seed weight)
2 cinnamon sticks broken in pieces
1 ounce each whole cloves and black peppercorns
1 tblsp ground nutmeg.
Roast in a small heavy pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Grind to a fine powder and store for up to 6 months in an airtight jar.

Stir the turmeric into the meat and leave for half an hour.
Heat the oil and fry the onions, garlic and ginger till soft and golden-brown.
Add the curry powder  and cayenne and fry for one minute.
Stir in the lemon juice and salt, then add the meat and stir till it's coated with the spices.
Add the Masala, cardamom, green chillies, mint and tomatoes, cover and simmer till tender - obviously longer for beef than lamb. I added some water as well, as we tend to prefer a wetter curry. This was quite hot, even though I scaled the cayenne back a bit. The chilli peppers available just now are pretty hot.

I don't think I ever posted a favourite card for April. There are three or four I really liked and enjoyed making, but I'd say these two are my favourites.

Bud hunting, bug finding.

In point of fact I wasn't hunting for either. Today was the day for the annual clean-up in our area. I must admit that while I knew from a neighbour that it would probably be today, I hadn't read the  Residents Association newsletter that came through the door, and it wasn't till I saw the same neighbour in her An Tasice bib that I remembered. So I went out to pick litter for an hour - and just like last year, my arm is sore from using that picker-upper.  The council guys who do it every day must have great muscles in their arms!! So while I was litter-picking I came across some field poppies, and went back after lunch to grab a photo - to the bemusement of the guy who lived in the house they were near.

I also noticed that my little orchid iris which I grew from seed several years back had actually survived the winter, and although the leaves are in very poor condition there was a bud this morning - and a flower by the afternoon.

Come the evening it's rained and rained and rained  on and off - just what we need. C wasn't impressed at getting soaked through on the bike again - he'd only just got his gloves and jacket dry from the other night, but I've been planting seeds and I'm sure they'll be happier after this.

Budding beauties

Still with the buds for the photo challenge. If I'm early enough into work (I'm always early, it's more a case of if I think that there'll still be a distributor giving out the free paper) I'll detour to the Luas platform outside Heuston. By now the guy who's normally there is already getting a second paper out when he sees me coming - there are several Sudoku and crossword fans in work, so several papers never go to waste. Anyway, I had been noticing the cotoneaster coming into a froth of white bloom, and noticing too that under all that white froth there were still some red berries. Surprising, given the hard winter, that the birds hadn't finished them off, but I suppose there isn't a lot apart from gulls and pigeons around that area. Anyway, I also spotted some buds which do me for the challenge.

Then when I went in to work through the top gate (I'd been trying to buy strong flour in one of the little Polish shops, to avoid a trip to the supermarket tomorrow. But the guy in the shop didn't seem too sure which was the best flour for bread, even though that's where I buy my fresh yeast)  this morning I found a little potentilla - the nearly open bud looks like a carefully folded napkin,  or some fancy origami fold.

I also found another photo for the Then and Now challenge.
Then was August 09 - the bottom of a door frame of an empty house along James' Street. Now Wally's jeans are still quite blue, but his red striped top has faded totally.

A Miscellany

The photo challenge on SCS this week is buds. Well my goodness, it feels as if the spring budding season is almost over here. My wildflower seeds to sow in the borders arrived this morning, and I'll be planting them this week. All I could find in the garden was dandelions, daisies and a last couple of chive buds. I took two photos of those - one with a wide aperture to try to focus on a single bud, and one with a narrow aperture to get as much depth of field as possible.

C is always complaining that he never sees chaffinches in our garden. I don't know why - they're definitely there. Well, I do know why, he's too fast and impatient to walk out slowly, or just stand and watch. You can just see the green at the top of the tail between the wings in this photo.
When I was hanging the wash out this morning I saw the pair of robins, with one of them displaying his red breast to his mate.

The what...

...and the wherefore:

We had friends round for dinner yesterday - chicken pie, baked potatoes, salads and a baked Alaska. R. wasn't able to make it because he'd had to go in to work. but the kids tucked into the Baked Alaska with a will and we managed to finish every last bit off between us. This time I made a lighter sponge than the last time I made one - definitely the way to go. I also used frozen raspberries steeped for a couple of hours in some homemade orange liqueur. They're definitely the way to go in the future too. Because I know for sure I made Baked Alaska for this family before, when R was there with them, and that time between the heavier sponge and whatever fruit I used that wasn't raspberries, we didn't finish it all.

Blackbird

A Blackbird Singing - Ronald Stuart Thomas

 It seems wrong that out of this bird,
Black, bold, a suggestion of dark
Places about it, there yet should come
Such rich music, as though the notes'
Ore were changed to a rare metal
At one touch of that bright bill.

You have heard it often, alone at your desk
In a green April, your mind drawn
Away from its work by sweet disturbance
Of the mild evening outside your room.

A slow singer, but loading each phrase
With history's overtones, love, joy
And grief learned by his dark tribe
In other orchards and passed on
Instinctively as they are now,
But fresh always with new tears.

Green April - check.
Mild evening - check.
Blackbird singing - check. C thought it was a starling when he saw it perched on the chimney, but there ain't no starling ever sung like that.

Where the water meets the sky

We visited a new-to-us park today; a neighbour across the road had mentioned it to us a couple of times, and with today being another lovely sunny day we decided it was time to investigate. St. Catherine's is certainly somewhere to add to our list of nearby walks. We followed the signs for the woodland path, and before we'd gone too far we could see a shimmer below. Looking more closely we realised it had to be the Liffey.
Further along the path descended to run closer to the river, and there was a small un-gravelled trail which brought us right along the banks.

We saw plenty of birds - the chaffinch here, but also a heron, a tree-creeper, some jays, a wren and the first swifts or martens of the season. I don't think I've ever seen a tree-creeper before - it was fascinating watching it climb up and round the trees. If I hadn't seen him landing in the first place I'd almost have thought it was a mouse spiralling round the trunk.

We hear the birds singing all the time in the garden here, but with all the trees growing along the railway line it's rare to see which one is actually singing to identify it. No questions about this chaffinch, he was singing his heart out.

This ruin had a sign on the wall saying Lower Yard. But all my searching hasn't been able to come up with much information about what the various ruins in the park are.

Stairway to Heaven

is the SCS photo challenge this week.
I pulled a couple of photos from the archives, took some in work on a rainy day when I could stand in the shelter and then added a couple more taken in our current sunny weather.

Two from Crete -  one is a little folk museum in a small town on the west coast, so worn with age and use; the spiral stairs were viewed from the harbour in Corfu town.

More spiral stairs...

And yet more work stairs...

And one from Phoenix Park to finish off with. In the winter these were so wet and muddy, we had to take care not to slip and fall. It's lovely to see them like this.