Escape to The Hares Corner

After four days of being snowbound we finally managed to escape from the weather enforced confinement of our bijou home. Last night, the end of the fourth day, a mammoth tractor whose size very nearly filled the width of the road cleared away the mounds of accumulated snow drifts and our car was freed.

Our first call was to our nearest store, 6km away, to top up on essential supplies like fuel for the Bentley look-a-like, turf briquettes for the stove and an essential packet of MacVitie's digestive biscuits that most cuppa's need. We turned for home when a sudden idea came to me, 

"How's about we go for lunch in The Hare's Corner ?" 

Agreement from Mrs H came very swiftly and without hesitation.

No better place for good wholesome food !

In warm weather you can sit outside on the terrace and enjoy the warmth of the day.

The great man himself, Declan Furlong,

the Owner and Chef of Hare's Corner.

Hares abound at every turn. 

I have an idea that hares might be Declan's totem animal.

I believe that this building was once an Irish grain mill belonging to Odlum's Flour, 

hence the industrial steel columns, heavy beams and stone walls. 

As a restaurant it is a comfortable and an almost homely space to dine  

whether that be for a breakfast or lunch.

We do indeed need the 'Tonic of Wildness', especially after eating one 

of Declan's meals, then a good walk in the nearby Slieve Blooms provides 

the tonic of fresh air and exercise.

Alternatively you might do as I did and have a snooze in the chair alongside

a cosy turf fire and dream of walking in the wilds !

Winter's Last Refrain

Where the snow still sits was once the home of glaciers 8,000 years ago.

The landscape that we see today, hills, valleys and rivers, were shaped by the melting of the glaciers. As large chunks of ice broke off and slid downwards, sweeping away the alluvials before, them they carved new shapes in the land. All of that is so easy to see and appreciate just before the last snow of winter melts away.

We travel this narrow road several times a week and only when a photo is taken do we actually see the beauty of its' form with all its' twists and turns.

Domestic Bliss

Midnight - Cats asleep © Llwyd 2015

The ginger female cat called Squeaky is 9yrs old and our black cat, Magic,

 is twelve years of age. The photo is slightly out of focus because 

I wasn’t wearing my spectacles.

I think it is time for a change of topic, as you all must be getting fairly bored with the ever tiresome politics of our world.


Snow is falling fast, to melt as soon as it touches the ground, small birds are at the feeders pecking at peanuts and a dozen others including robins, are on the path all stoking up on cous- cous.
Ms H was telling me this morning that in the back garden we now have
an almost resident hen pheasant who feeds there regularly along with a friendly thrush and jovial blackbirds.


In the field opposite, the ever wise yearlings/store cattle have taken temporary shelter under hedge and as soon as the storm abates they will return to strip grazing the pasture.


Inside: our forty year old Stanley cooker fuelled by Bord na Mona brickettes is giving out lots of heat and the Caframo fan is spinning madly away sending waves of hot air all around the room. 
Nevertheless I have on my old Malin-Head fleece sitting on top of an equally old denim shirt. I do appreciate the gentle warmth of 20C in the centuries old kitchen which is now our sitting room. 

Time now to put the kettle on for a pot of tea for two, why not step inside and join us? Don’t forget to bring biscuits.

SPRING WEATHER

Birds in a snow storm and on the right a clutch of hardy greenfinches

at 1515 hrs

Two minutes later snow has lessened

photo at 1517hrs

Photo taken five minutes after the first one

in sunshine

Snow and Ice

Old stone house, you stand as a sentinel small and warm, shielding ghosts of the future and, sheltering those from earlier times. Oft I do wonder what your walls, floors have recorded before and since electrification, the age of light and the age of dark. You hold your secrets close, as close as the faery tree that appears to be a post in one corner - that is to the uninitiated!

Ice Maiden your beauty gleamed as diadems on stems in crisp hedgerows, elsewhere on river bank from rock and frond, you are seen as dainty crystals, diamonds, contrasting with shadow to dance, glow and seduce a photographer to capture your shining beauty.

I am not sorry to see that a thaw has started. For cabin fever was almost upon us, restricted as we were by ice-snow compacted roads - that are now changing to deep dying dirty slush, that squelch, splash in spasms under tyres.

Enough, enough Snow Spirit you have had your fun and made your presence felt

and now thank goodness you will soon melt !