Wednesday 27.8.08 Trip to Gort

Bit of a late start today. It was the day to view the kennels and see whether it's good enough for Buster's holiday! It was quite a long drive, but as this particular kennels has been recommended to us by our neighbours Hilary and Jo, we thought it should be ok. The owner met us in her yard with about 7 assorted dogs! They really were a motley crew, all shapes and sizes, some of them 'borders' who have been so many times she lets them stay with her dogs and the others all hers, all rescued. I guess she likes dogs. Buster behaved impeccably. Amazing! We were shown the actual kennel section. It was a bit dark and the rooms didn't have runs but there is a large compound, full of long grass and completely fenced, where Buster could spend most of his time with a couple of other dogs she thought he would get on with. He gets on with most dogs! So we decided to go for it. All booked in for next Wednesday morning. Noreen, the owner, thought Buster was 'such a good dog'! As my mother used to say about me, 'you ought to follow her home'!!!

We headed back to Gort and I went to Treasures, a rather splendid, if expensive, mixed gifts and clothes shop. They always have some rather unusual fashions and today they had a sale on. After much umming and aaahing, I thought 2 of the things I'd tried on would be fine for the wedding. I just fitted in them, unlike some of the other things I'd tried. Must lose some weight! Then I had to go and find Jim to see what he thought. I headed to Supermacs and Jim crept up behind me! We forced ourselves inside, alas, the coffee machine wasn't working! Ah well, made do with diet coke and had a meal between us.

Back to the shop and we ended up buying both outfits. Thanks Jim, you're a star. At least I know nobody else will be wearing the same outfit. I might get a hat, haven't decided yet. At least it means I only have to get some shoes in Worthing. So, clothes sorted for wedding and maybe holiday.

Back home and I took Buster for a quick walk along the lane to Kevin's farm. None of our lanes and roads have names, so I don't know what else to call it! I'd hate to be a postman around here. About 6 of us have the same address, yet we're some distance apart. Still, the post seems to arrive notwithstanding.

I did take a few photos of course, although the light wasn't good. It's amazing how I see different things each time I take that short route. It felt so autumnal this evening, the air smelt damp and musty, it was lovely. The bracken has started to turn it's fabulous autumn gold:



This one piece seems to be ahead of the rest. Must have had a tiring Summer!









It seems Kevin has used some old gates to add strength to his fences:























Here he has used an old concrete gate post as part of the fence:
















The other gate post just sits in the field and is very crooked. I guess it might fall down one day

















I was on the look out for some flowers, but most of them are coming to the end of their life now. There was a lovely patch of this pink flower, I think it's a relation of Rose bay willow herb:








Although the flowers on this plant have mostly died, the structure of the plant is still very striking:













I also found some more honeysuckle, it's so pretty but I couldn't smell the scent this evening:






The rose hips have ripened considerably since my last walk here. They are so luscious to look at, I can't resist photographing them. In our orchard, we have some huge rose hips, they are stunning.








The blackberries were everywhere, much to Buster's delight. I took this shot of some ripe and some unripe ones, as the dark reds stood out against the ripe blacks.


I might just have eaten some of these!


I caught Buster on camera today, munching away though in the first shot he was just hunting for the ripe berries.
Yum yum!
The cows were in the lower field and Buster had a bit of a 'face off' with one of them. This photo was very dark and I let the photo programme 'auto adjust' it. Although not terribly realistic colour wise, I did rather like the effect achieved:


He looks so alert as he watched the cow watching him!
Here's the object of his worried face!












What a wonderful pastoral scene. Lucky cows, to have this view of Lough Graney.
As we were walking back up the lane, Jim joined us, so I didn't take any more photos. Buster popped under the fence of another field, where there were 2 bullocks. He soon ran as they made a move towards him.





Oh, you know the saying 'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'. This cow thought so too. I loved her splodgy markings, quite unusual.








Hardheads, dried grass and barbed wire













As we've been talking quite a bit on various folk's blogs about my tiny ginkgo tree, I thought I'd show you 2 of the other ones we have. Jim's children bought them for us last Christmas, so we put them in pots until we decide their eventual resting place on our acreage.

They were just sticks when we first had them but they're thriving now.

















Buster is usually left in the kitchen/diner and conservatory when we eat our evening meal. When I came back into the conservatory, he had emptied a whole bag of night lights all over the floor!

Oh, our meal: pasta parcels, 2 different sorts, one was ricotta cheese and spinach, the other bacon and something, all in a carbonara sauce, with home grown runner beans, cooked to perfection. Are you hungry??

Must get to bed a bit earlier tonight....