A Dry Journey To Water

On a short journey when going nowhere in particular we turn a corner and meet with a traffic jam

consisting of a nosey dog, a tractor driver and a postman exchanging news and we after sharing laughter, we receive a letter.

A rural traffic jam

The gable end of the Augustinian Priory in Lorrha, Co. Tipperary

We have a tranquil place to park on the banks of the River Shannon that tourists rarely find

and we never share.

I am always fascinated by the rapidly changing light of how its reflection sparkles 

on the surface of the water and the cloud formations too, all of which keep my camera busy.

So do you always carry a camera ?

HORSE FAIR - BALLINASLOE

http://ballinasloeoctoberfair.com/events/equestrian-events/

The town of Ballinasloe in Co. Galway can expect about 100,000 visitors this week to it’s the annual horse fair. This event brings horses of all sizes and types from all over the country together with dealers & traders, musicians, singers with literally craic for all. 

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"The Ballinasloe October Horse Fair is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland, at one stage renowned as the largest and greatest in all of Europe. While now predominantly associated with the horse, in its heyday the October Fair was an agricultural event of much greater significance, serving as a market for the sale of cattle and sheep by the farmers of the West to their counterparts in the East of Ireland. In the London Times of 1801 and 1804, the October Fair was referred to as the “Great Cattle Fair” of Ballinasloe. It is only since the early twentieth century that the fair has become exclusively associated with the horse.

Very little is known about the origins of the Ballinasloe October Fair, as there is little in terms of documentary evidence referring to its early development. In the past, fairs and markets were such a common feature of life in Ireland that contemporary observers perhaps felt little need to make special reference to them."

©Damian Mac Con Bladh

http://ballinasloeoctoberfair.com/history/history-of-the-fair/

An unscheduled event by a bareback rider was a quick shopping trip to Tesco so how do you do your shopping ?

http://imgur.com/XRH3sbO

UFO ?

I often look out across the this field at all times of the day because my desk is set cross cornered. So last night I espied the light of the setting sun glowing on these small trees that stand in the East and so I rushed out to take a photo of the scene.

I was not fast enough to obtain the shot that I wanted

This second shot was taken a few seconds later and reveals a small light with a smokey tail on the right of the photo.

Detail of thing

I sent the above two photos to my photographer daughter for her appraisal (it is good to have experts in the family)

Her comments were :-

"Hmmm its too big for a shooting star ... The space station isn't over you at the moment? It does look like something moving! The tail will be the movement from a normal shutter mode, .... Not a plane too bright i would say. I presume it wasn't visible to the naked eye ?"

I replied saying "No it wasn’t to my eye but here is something strange when I first moved here a light such as this was often visible at night and then the farmer had a Mass said and it was never seen again !"

That was until now....

Daughter final reply:-

"Its very odd, well we don't really know what's out there !!"

Now I am sure that some of you folk Following and others who are Readers of this blog

may very well have your own ideas and I would love to hear from you?

THREE LADIES

The Elder Rose

I don't suppose that there are many people who have a rose in their Elder tree, but we do!

  Pink Lady

I very much like roses, though I would not call myself a rose expert, nor am I a gardener

in the accepted sense. I like to allow these plants to flourish and grow to their natural height and since I have been doing so we have noticed that a quite a few people in the locality are doing the same. Roses are now showing themselves mingled with all sorts of trees and shrubs and adding colour in surprising places.

Old Rosie

Old Rosie was grown from a cutting. She has a single layer of petals with a wonderful 

scent. The only way I care for her is to remove the hips during her flowering season and 

to cut out the dead wood. Then she has the freedom to grow how ever she chooses.

Old Rosie's gift to us is her scent, which wafts through the open window on warm summer evenings such as these.

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.

SHE IS BACK AGAIN!

We have named her Philomena the pleasant pheasant

where once she was a morning visitor is now an almost

constant guest who squawks as soon as Mrs H sets a

foot outside.

The ever hungry bird 

Philomena

On the hunt for morsels