ATCs, Gardening, Summer's Come to Ireland

Phew it's hot! Come on, this is Ireland, it doesn't do this hot. Ah well, we'll make the most of it. First it's ATC (artist trading card) time.

Received


This gorgeous one from lolo is R is for Rabbit and Radish! Her whole theme is blue this time and I just love this cute fellow. It came in this pretty organza bag:


and was accompanied by this lovely card:


This is called 'Molly and the Night Toads' and is from the 'Purrmaids' series by Lolo. Isn't it just great?


Lynn is doing the Hebrew alphabet and this is the 18th letter meaning Ninety! She explains on the reverse:


Accompanying this was a cute little card and I think Lynn must be psychic:


Lynn must know that I still haven't finished the curtains for the sun room - ok ok, I'll get a move on Lynn!

To be Sent or Swapped

Firstly, my S for Snake in the Grass. This is going to Lolo!


I hope you like it Lolo.

The following 2 cards are to swap if anyone would like one of them - or both of course:


'Harmony'.


'Funky Fish'

I love ATCs!

Pets


It's all too hot for Buster.


An interloper? The Labrador is Max and he belongs to a couple who live over the back from us. He pops up over the field and meadow and comes to play with Buster! They do get a bit robust at times but it certainly gives Buster some exercise!


Of course he knows which side his bread's buttered. Jim and Buster having a love-in.


Something caught BlackJack's attention! the 2 on the right look the same! Oh well.

Garden News

The arboretum lawn is progressing slowly. Jim has seeded the dark section. It's much bigger than it looks and took some levelling on his part.


The stones that you can see are edging a new bed I made. It was a small bed with just a few plants in it, so it has in face been extended. It looks much better. The 'grey' area will remain 'road' or hard surface. It'll be lovely when the new grass grows.

Do you remember my Judas Tree? Last year it produced blossom for the first time but, because of the awful weather, it all fell off before it came out. Not so this year. Hurrah:


The blossom comes from the bare branches, which looks most odd! The tree was barely a foot high when we moved here so it has certainly grown:


Here it is in situ on the larger arboretum bed.

Jim grew some aquilegia from seed and planted them last year. They are absolutely beautiful:




This is a black one called Guinness! The flowers are a bit smaller than the others but still very pretty. Below is the front.



Do enlarge any of the photos if you have the time.


These aquilegia are from other parts of the garden but are still very pretty.


I love the way the sun has caught the petals.

Finally, I cleaned up our porch, which gets used as a general dumping ground!


Tidy boots and coats.


Our recycling bins!


Tidy shelves! It's good to get it clean once in a while. Jim's just laughed at my putting these photos up! It'll remind me of all the work I did that day!

I think that's enough excitement for one day. I have had a rotten cold, brought back from Kitty and Jack. The sunshine helps though.

Have a great weekend everyone.

A Walk on the Wild Side, The Cat Sat on The Mat

Walk through Dillons' Wood and Lough Graney

As the days get shorter, Buster gets less playing time with his friends, so we took him for a walk to Dillons' Wood which is right next to Lough Graney. This is probably Buster's favourite walk. The floor of the wood was a real carpet of leaves today and the beech trees looked fabulous in their Autumn colours:
Jim at the brow of the hill in Dillons' Wood. What colours.

A Carpet of Leaves. Click on it and you might spot Buster.
Look at that tiny toadstool on the top right! Beautiful rich green moss, bronze beech leaves and some more fungi on the stick.
Buster was waiting up ahead and I called him back for a 'sweetie' (dog treat)!
I saw several leaves with single oak apples or galls on them then I spotted this leaf with 4 on. Apparently they have an insect inside them.
The first thing Buster does in Lough Graney is have a drink.

The Blue Green algae is back in the lake. It looks like paint but is actually a naturally occurring phenomena. Bea, I'm sure there's an art quilt in this photo for you.
No Lough post is complete without the bull rushes.
Jim found a stone to 'bounce' on the water!! It looks like a duck I think.
2 Mallards climbed up onto the rocks, they were quite a way away so it's not a wonderful photo. The 2nd one is hiding behind the bush!

This one is holding his wing out to dry.

Jim on the rocks.

I caught Buster jumping from rock to rock. He's so fast it's all a blur!
This one's a little better!
A good shot of Jim.
We called Buster away from the rocks. Of course he could smell where the ducks had been and kept trying to find them. He did follow us though and we walked to the end of the wood and followed the path up to the road. We passed the amazingly large leaved oak tree above.

A close up of the top stem.

Jim took this photo of drops of rain on blades of grass contrasting with the bronze beech leaves underneath.
He took this one of me - is this what they call soft focus?? No? You're right, it's blurred!

Buster had fallen some way behind so we called him and here he is charging to catch us up, ears flapping!


Back at The Deenery, I took this photo of the 'Liquid Amber' leaves before they all fall off. I then played on the computer with photo shop and changed the photo with lots of different filters!
This was using a 'Fresco' filter and I love the effect it gave. If you click on it to enlarge, it is even better.

In the afternoon we set about putting up the bathroom 'furniture'. Toilet roll holder, glass shelf above the sink, glass cabinet and a hook for flannels. I took one more photo to show you the latest stage! Almost done.

The last thing to buy is the mirror for above the basin and we are going to Ennis to buy that tomorrow. Can you see my arm reflected in the cabinet?

Bertie Boiler was belting out heat this evening and I put one of my rugs in front of it. BlackJack soon discovered it:

The Cat Sat on the Mat I think!

Then Buster joined him. He pretended BlackJack wasn't there by turning his back to him.

Jim took this shot of them later on. Doesn't BlackJack look all neat and tidy? Buster just splays out all over the place. They look like real homely photos to me.

Today the weather has been a bit chilly with a little drizzle but really just very Autumnal.

I have started a new latch hook rug tonight. Buster ate one of my latch hooks but luckily I found another. Bad dog, no biscuit, as Rachel would say (one of my daughters in law).
Happy Tuesday everyone.