Sat, 25th October, Torrential Rain, Coole Park

We knew it was going to be hideous today and the weather men were right. They always are when it's going to be awful! Rain, wind, floods all over the place. Shall we stay in or take Buster for a walk in Coole Park? We'll go for a walk! We set off about 2pm and headed for Coole Park, which is the other side of Gort. The roads were covered in water and streams and waterfalls sprouted from everywhere.

We stopped at a yard to buy some peat blocks to burn on Stanley then arrived shortly afterwards at the park. In spite of the rain, the colours were magnificent.

A real carpet of leaves











There are a lot of beech trees and oak too. We walked down to the Turlough to see how high the water was. I took my camera in a rucksack to keep it dry and Jim took some photos. The Turlough rises and falls according to the water table and it was a very full lake today.


You can just see Buster in the foreground. The last time we walked here, it was a little river in the middle!









This shot is a bit dark and the raindrops on the lens show up, but you can just see the trees' feet underwater!









We walked around the various paths and there was some shelter from the rain under the trees - that was until the wind gusted when all the large raindrops bombarded us. However, it wasn't cold and we still enjoyed ourselves. Buster did too, although he looked a bit sorry for himself towards the end of the walk. Maybe he was getting a bit cold.



Within the wood it was pretty dark. Beach leaves cover the path and Buster snuffled about among them. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, the detail shows up better.
















A better, if more dull shot of the path, with Buster waiting for us. His eyes look like little lights!








I'd brought a towel to dry Buster a bit and he didn't need much persuasion to get back into the car. We had a mini picnic of coffee and biscuits in the car then headed off to look at an auction not too far away.

It's the first time we've ventured into these auction rooms. In the UK, Jim used to buy books and I bought china and odd little mixed lots at our local auction rooms in Worthing. We both sold on eBay and did quite well. I learnt a lot about pottery and china and Jim about books. That was half the pleasure. The worst part was wrapping the tea sets and other china and trusting them to the post. I became something of an expert and am pleased to say very few of my goods ever became broken en transit.

Jim also bought quite a few 'lots' of postcards, which we have brought with us. He's started sorting them and hopefully they'll be on eBay before too long.

The auction warehouse was vast and packed with a motley collection of furniture, china and all sorts of strange items taken from 2 houses. A large stuffed bull's head took my fancy!! We may go to the auction proper on Monday but probably not to buy. A lot of the furniture was very attractive, but we really don't need any just now. There wasn't a lot of china and what there was didn't appeal to me much and as for books, there were very few.

Having said all that, it was great fun poking around but Jim was beginning to get cold as his trousers were soaked from our walk, so we headed off home, via Lidl to pick up some spaghetti, a paper and some kidney beans. Unfortunately they didn't have any of those! A quick nip into 'Centra' where we managed to get the spaghetti. Kidney beans? No call for them in Gort, obviously!!

I had a great hug on the settee with all 3 animals! It's not often they all cuddle up together, so Jim ran for the camera:



BlackJack sitting on Buster (he really is too big to go on my knee now) and Sandy at the side. Me underneath!










BlackJack likes to bash me under the chin! Buster's fallen asleep again and Sandy is washing, as he so often is.













Sadly, Buster disgraced himself later on by weeing on the rug. I don't know what came over him. He had been sent out while we ate, then allowed back in but he seemed to get all excited and then just stood there as large as life and proceeded to wee! We couldn't believe it. He was booted out pretty quickly, I can tell you. The rug has been washed and we caught him before he'd managed to wet the carpet too much. What a dog. He's been in disgrace for the rest of the evening and has stayed firmly in his bed. I don't know what the answer is..

Ah well, it had been a good day until then!