A Bunch of Birds

Various photos from the last week or so...
I'm not sure whether mallards use their feathers for nest lining, or whether this pair had just been fighting. If so, the one missing all the feathers certainly seemed to be the dominant of the two drakes, who were snoozing contentedly on the bank along with a female, until I walked along the path past them.

Mandarin drake

Redpoll

Redpoll

Goldfinch

 

I had a large heavy lens on my camera when I took this (from moon shots the previous night) so it's not as sharp as I'd like. But since this particular female robin calls to be fed from all over the place - next door, up in the trees, on the shed roof - I was happy to get any photo at all.

Moonshine

I tried posting this last night,but the internet was acting up all over the place. Yesterday (and today) we've had glorious sunshine weather - it's so warm it's hard to believe that it's only March. This would be good weather for July, even. Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon taking most of the compost out of the compost bin, which was coming apart at one of the joints. After removing a fair amount I was able to get the front panel back properly, and spread a lot it along the borders. I think that the mild winter must have made a big difference, because almost all of it was good compost, and I've never in my life seen so many worms in one place before.
The fine weather has resulted in clear (and cold) nights, so last night I was trying to capture the crescent moon. It was a bit hard from the back garden, but there'd have been a lot more light pollution out in the front. I was trying to capture the two planets that are near the moon just now, but one of them was just too high to frame in the picture with any success.

Spring Sunshine

Today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I considered going to the Botanic Gardens, but C was heading out on a motorbike run and in the middle of putting the screen back on his bike, a job that sometimes takes two. And by the time he was gone, I know it would have been hard to get parking. So I just went for another walk along the canal, and picked up some chicken carcasses that the butcher had put aside for me on the way back home again. I passed a cat enjoying the warmth of the sun; as soon as I stopped to take a photo he came over, but he was soon happy to lie back down and continue his sunbathing.

Spring is Springing

I had some rather disheartening news in the post yesterday, so in the afternoon I went for a walk along the canal and had a wonderful time listening to all the birds singing their hearts out, and seeing the signs of Spring. And this morning I had time to go for a good walk in the park after doing the shopping.

I've been noticing the chestnuts greening up nicely as I walk to the local shops, but this is the finest I've seen yet.

Front of Farmleigh, with cherry trees.

Snowflakes

Good grief - a tree peony on its way already!!

Love the acid green with the tulip

As soon as I stepped through the gate into the walled garden I could smell the viburnums. It's a shame there's not yet a way of sharing scent - at least video allows for sound.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In a break from my usual photo of St. Patrick's Tower on Thomas Street I snapped a few photos the other day, but more computer problems meant I didn't get to schedule this post.

Saints, hermits, whatever...this morning I made Hermits for our morning coffee. I normally make the bar cookie version for convenience, but I didn't want that large an amount, so this time round I made the drop cookies.

Hermits - makes 30

1/2 cup  butter beaten till soft.
Beat in 1 cup soft brown sugar and beat till light.
Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup sour milk.
Sift and add 1 1/3 cups flour with 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp soda.
Stir in 1/2 cup chopped raisins, 1/4 cup chopped nuts and (optional) 1/4 cup desiccated coconut.
Drop onto prepared trays and cook for 12-15 minutes at 375F, 160C.

What a Troll Might Wear...

I was walking in to work yesterday and was intrigued to see a washing-line hanging from the Rory O'More Bridge (or the "blue bridge" as one of the guys in work described it, when I was asking him had he spotted it). It must have been some art installation somebody put up - probably unofficially as it was gone by the time I went home at lunchtime. I have no idea whether the perpretrator knew that this is the bridge with the Troll Below sign stencilled on it, but I did, and it gave rise to some amusing possibilities in my mind.

And from a Saturday morning walk to the shopping centre. The birds all over are busy nesting. When I went to the opticians about ten days ago, I stopped to watch a starling in a tree. He was moving so awkwardly that I wondered if he had a broken wing, but he was just having difficulty manoeuvring in a very bushy tree with a large twig in his beak.(This magpie was in the neighbourhood, and while he wasn't having as much trouble as the starling, he still dropped his twig once while I was watching).

Still have to find a header photo for March. With my PC out of order, that means connecting my back-up so that I can choose a photo from last year; as the old retired computer that has come back into temporary service is so slow, I've been putting it off. I crashed the PC last night trying to edit these photos, and just had to slow down and open only one a time this evening.

Round town

Last Friday I had to meet C at work so we could head up North for a concert. I was working, so I walked into town, grabbed a bite to eat and then walked across to his office. Some lovely signs of Spring around - cherry blossom by the Huguenot Cemetery, daffodils in the park.

 

I don't recall paying attention to these two carvings in the wall of one of the buildings on College Green before. The first one is obviously the coat of arms for Dublin, but I'm less sure of the one with the sword in one quarter is.

The last two photos were taken along Baggot St.

Miscellany

I should have a few photos edited tomorrow - and a new header for March! Where does time go?

In the mean time, a quick snippet of one of our robins, with some bird song.




We're seeing a lot of a pair of chaffinches at the moment, with the male in bright plumage -  but the weather is so grey and overcast that it's hard to get a good photo.

Favourite cards for February:

I used gold acrylic paint in the first one, and loved the brushed-metal look that it gave.

Books and books - and more books

Sorry for the long gap - the weather outside hasn't been conducive to much photography, and I've been feeling a bit under the weather too. I thought that I'd better post a few photos from a recent SCS photo challenge just to keep something ticking over here... No prizes for guessing what the challenge was!

Part of my cookery book collection! All three of my various editions of The Joy of Cooking are there - the one rebound with wallpaper is the most-used. Recipes of All Nations, if I recall correctly, is the book that started Elizabeth David on her culinary journeys.

I have no idea at all how this Irish bible came to be in the family. I do know some O'Briens and asked if they knew anything about the Charlotte in the inscription. She was born in 1845, and in 1849 her father was transported to Tasmania (I wasn't told why). He had returned to Ireland by 1863 when he gave her the Bible. The curious thing is that they weren't an Irish speaking family, but they would have been very supportive of Douglas Hyde and his work towards reviving the Irish language (use of which had been severely suppressed by the British). The same Charlotte O'Brien must have been in Canada at some stage, because she was involved in setting up hostels there for emigrant women.

(For non-Irish readers - until about the middle of the 20th century the Irish language used a slightly different alphabet, as shown below).

A long-time Peanuts fan I was delighted when Fantagraphics started issuing the Complete Peanuts. It's a 12 1/2 year project with two issues a year - they're now over halfway. I think it will fill more than one shelf when it's complete. The box are indexed which can make it easier to find certain favourite strips, but unfortunately the indexes (yes, the language nerd in me, see following photo,  had to go and check if indexes was as valid as indices :D), aren't as comprehensive as they could be.

Our language/reference shelf. It has just had Origins of the Specious added to it, part of a buy with an Amazon.com gift voucher. As all my other English usage books are written by English writers and grammarians, it's very interesting reading one by an American with a corresponding transatlantic flavour.

Sunrise

It's so lovely having the brighter mornings and longer evenings. I got up just in time to see a wonderful red glow in the sky this morning and snapped these two photos. I'm only sorry I can't also share the two swans flying overhead as I walked out to the bus stop about twenty minutes later. And just think, only one other person there took the time to notice them!

Not a long enough evening for DH who is outside working on his motorbike with a friend! The job took longer than anticipated, and a dinner that was primarily leftovers to start with now has to be expanded to feed three. Bit late to start on some naan bread, I think I'd better go and do a few poppadoms!!