Sunshine, Frost, Christmas Card Making.

The Deenery on a Sunny Morning.


I've been too too busy to blog and now of course I have loads of photos and catching up to do. Oh woe! After all the rain and flooding, on the 28th I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. I sat in the sun room which lived up to its name for a change. I took just a few photos to show the winter landscape. The photo above is of our road down to the neighbours' land. The road they are always complaining about! It looks wonderful in the photo above!

This is the view from the side window of the sun room. Now that the leaves have gone, we can see right into the orchard. It's really best in the spring when the branches are still bare but the blossom is on the fruit trees.
This is taken looking up the access road and from the top we can see Lough Graney. You can see one of our living willow fences here.

And finally the best view across the arboretum to the meadow and the hills in the distance. It was quite hazy, as you can see. The mud in the foreground will be grass eventually!

I seem to have gone backwards now as on the 27th I drove to Dromandoora to the nearest post office to post a parcel off to a very special bloggy lady. It was raining again but I didn't have any problem with the roads. I'd forgotten that the post office closes for lunch, so I drove on a little and turned left up to the GAA Ground (Irish Sports Association) and let Buster out for a quick walk. It was really cold, luckily I had a hat in the car. Buster didn't mind. The small creek alongside the road was running really fast and looked so pretty:
There was an old derelict house in the field opposite. There are many of these buildings in Ireland. Quite often, the owners have built a new house, but just leave the old one to rot as a sign of 'this is what we used to have, now look what we have'. Crazy!


Look at the standing water on the ground. It seems such a waste to leave such a house empty.

It started to pour so I turned around to walk back to the car. I took this photo but it's a bit dark:

The sky was dark and menacing.

I noticed the gates at the GAA Ground were interesting:

They look as though they need a bit of a re-paint, don't they? The bats on the gates are for hurling, and each one has a ball above it. You wouldn't see that in the UK.

Then it was back to the post office, which is owned by a delightful, friendly lady, often assisted by her 3 year old daughter. She also sells essentials and I always try and buy something there to support the 'local' store.

Jim's UK Overhaul

Jim came back on the 29th and I picked him up from Shannon airport, the roads being quite flood free thankfully. We chatted into the early hours of the morning. It turns out that Jim had had a long appointment with the doctor in the UK, high blood pressure (which he takes tablets for) and he's been generally stressed out. The never ending build doesn't help and we've both been rather 'tetchy' with each other! Sometimes it's good to clear the air and we certainly did that. I'm trying to be a helpful wife! But Jim is a bit of a worrier and always thinks the worst in any given situation, whereas I usually think, 'Oh, it'll turn out ok'. Ah well, enough of that.

Frosty Morning - Monday 30th

It was a beautiful Monday morning and Jim headed off to Ennis to teach his 'silver surfers' basic computing, which he really enjoys. Seeing the frost and the sunshine, I got up and dressed quickly and took Buster, and my camera, for a walk. Of course I took far too many photos so I will try and be a bit selective:

One oak leaf in the sun and the shaded one still covered in frost.
Lough Graney looked glass like and the frost shimmers on the fields on the other side.
Fabulous shot of the low winter sun and the glassy lake with the frosty hills in the distance.
The black hay bales at Kevin's farm have white tops.
Buster on the fishing stand, once again just above the water. The lake looks so cold. In fact it was, as I tripped on a bramble trying to get onto the stand and one leg was soaked and my boot was full! Luckily I saved my camera.
A rather splendid shot of Buster!
Sedge against the blue sky.

This is a panorama I took of Lough Graney. Please enlarge it to see the detail and the reflections.
Frosty bracken.

Red Leaf

Red tarpaulin and frosty old boot
A red thistle - it thinks it's Spring!

A frozen bucket, full of water and weeds.
The sun shone on these red willows in our garden.
The frost was thicker in our garden.

These little hazel catkins look so pretty on the arboretum.
These hazel leaves lay underneath the bush displaying the catkins.

I took well over 100 shots, so I did quite well I think! I hope you enjoyed them. I feel cold now and must go to bed. It's a coffee morning tomorrow and Ann Broderick is picking me up as Jim has gone off with the car this time. I mustn't oversleep!