POINTS OF VIEW

Since buying my new camera I have found myself becoming rather attached to it. 

There are times when it is not with me that I scold myself especially when I see a particular scene that, to my mind, would make an interesting photo.

So here are just a few of those photographs, things that have recently caught my eye.

The Ship on a Stick.

This can be found on the outskirts of Portumna, Co. Galway quite close to the River Shannon

upon which I doubt very much it will ever cruise again.

A conglomeration of coastal properties that sit under the Burren uplands and on the banks of 

Galway Bay. The smallest of them always attracts my eye.

The Keep

A very well preserved circular building made of local stone. 

I often wonder whether it was once a lot higher, though I guess that we shall never know.

Kiosk Lady

She must have plenty to natter about for she is always there, 

chatting away at all times of the day and night.

Rainbows on the wall

I captured these lads early one morning floating about and looking rather attractive, 

my one complaint is that the pots of gold are nowhere to be found.

Fresh leaves in Sunlight

The scene caught my eye this morning while visiting Mrs H in her studio, 

so I dashed indoors for my camera.

The Dog in the Doorway

How could I not resist capturing the magnificent Toby

guarding the entrance and enjoying the scent of spring.

It is a rambling garden that we have, with worn down paths that flow easily amongst 

whispering wild flowers where bees and other small creatures live in harmony.

Seasonal Weather Unwelcome

We awoke this morning to an all-over whiteness everywhere, snow lay like a lovely, smooth velvet, that draped itself over our rural scene. 

Mrs H fed the birds who hopped here there and everywhere so the white mantle became pock-marked by their little feet or claws,alas !

We took photos, mine from indoors with the window wide open and then quickly closed again, as I enjoy fresh air but at a temperature that is above freezing. Mrs H, not hardier, just younger and more full of vigour, braved the outdoors. 

Well, we hope that you enjoy our photos.

Below is the worst winter that I have ever experienced, the Winter of 1963 when I was a youth working in the Teignmouth shipyard [Devon, England]; when the sea froze and there were large snowdrifts on the beach that the tide took simply ages to melt away and on Dartmoor fires were lit under lorries to thaw out the diesel which had waxed up.

Anyone For A Cuppa ?

We purchased a loose tea strainer the other day or perhaps you could call it a steeper - strainer. It is very efficient, easy to use and clean and cost very little.

I do not drink black tea and on the advice of my doctor I have recently stopped drinking coffee because it was raising my BP. My preferences now are for organic infusions and mainly Rooibos or Green tea (thank you Rachel)

Our new strainer is made by a German company Finum who call it a brewing basket. They also make a lot of other interesting applicators.

See for yourselves at http://www.finum.com

I think my fresh brew is now ready

to enjoy, so bye bye for now Heron.

PEACE IN THE FOREST

There are places which call to me and attract me by an indefinable quality. Sometimes it is a certain type of light that flows over the landscape or a peaceful secludedness, a stillness in the air. It might occur in a forest, on a river bank, on a mound in a field or in my chair at home.

 Copper Beech, this one is roughly 150 years of age in Coole Park, Gort, Co Galway

it is known as The Autograph Tree.

Perhaps a junior Stag

I was lucky that he turned to face me

A King Stag, isn't he wonderful ?

A particular ambience arrives when I sit sometimes, it is as though a large unseen pair of wings carries me away into a different state of being and I wander amongst the clouds, seeing a myriad other creatures and beings who inhabit a place where harmony reigns. Thus I return refreshed and knowing…

This me

Coole Park is one of those places, The Beara Peninsula and The Burren are two others although they do not complete my list of special areas.

Perhaps you also have special places that call out to you ?

http://wordsofaramblingmind.blogspot.ie/search?q=COOLE+PARK+2010

http://www.coolepark.ie

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/west/coolepark/

WOODLAND and BEYOND

We have been feeding the birds every winter, from October through to the end of April, for some years now. This year we made the decision to feed them throughout the summer months too with one exception, no peanuts. We feed them on a small amount of softened cous-cous, prepared by pouring hot water over the grain and leaving it to absorb, swell and cool, until cold.

©MRL2017

Our local woodland

©MRL2017
Our four footed neighbours

©MRL2017
A fledgling, speckled like a thrush.

We’ve enjoyed watching the parent birds feeding their young and the odd looking fledglings, who are very different in looks to the adults. 

One bird, who feeds on the windowsill, looks like a dark thrush and yet the parent looks like a  blackbird complete with a yellow beak.

Is this a young blackbird, I wonder, or is it something different, a cuckoo perhaps ? 

Is there an ornithologist or a twitcher reading this blog who could help ?

©MRL2017
Same fellow beak wide open expecting food.

This summer we have seen more birds than previous years and noticed a lot of different varieties too. Some that we have been able to identify and others that we were unable to put a name to.

I think that the rising temperatures and change of climate may very well have attracted a wider range of species to Ireland.

©MRL2017

© MRL 2017
Same handsome fledgling

One photograph that I have never taken is an image of Mrs H feeding and conversing with her feathered friends as I would never disturb those private moments when she communes with nature.

How do you commune with nature ?