Artist Trading Cards and Trip to Tralee

Artist Trading Cards

Our little group of 10 'ABC of ATCs' have been busy with the 2nd time round alphabet. I have received some lovely cards already.

This is from our 'boss' Teri, who is a talented artist. She is not only doing the letters but is writing a Haiku for each one. How clever is that? Teri is also a big fan of daisies, so I have 2 pink ones on the ATC too. Teri's blog, full of lovely things, is well worth a visit.

This was enclosed in a very pretty card:

The colours aren't very true for some reason, the 'beige' here is actually a real spring yellow.

I received the 'C' from Lisa, who is doing a series of painted butterflies. I wish I could paint!

This one is called the Clytie Ministreak.

Now Marianne in The Netherlands must be very organised as she has sent me her 'F' for Flax Fairy. Marianne always includes a circle in her ATCs and this is no exception:


Again, the colours aren't very true, but you can still see the beauty of the painting.

I sent the 'D' I made to Marianne and it is a collage of various items beginning with D:

If you would like to see all the ATCs both from the previous alphabet and the start of this one, do visit the site 'ABC ATCs Around The World'. Some of the little cards are real works of art.

Trip To Tralee - that sounds like a song! 'Hey, Ho, trip to Tralee'

Jim and I took a day out on Thursday and drove down almost to the Ring of Kerry, in fact to the town of Killarney. We had bought a cooker from a chap who lives there and as well as picking it up, we thought we'd be able to have a tour around this beautiful part of Ireland. Sadly the weather was against us and it rained virtually all day. I still enjoyed the drive but the weather wasn't helpful for taking many photographs.

On our way, we went through the pretty town of Adare, a historic place which has won many awards. On our return journey, we decided to stop there and have a coffee and a bun and a walk round. It was still raining, but we just ignored that. I did manage a few photos - you'll just have to imagine the sunshine.


This little row of thatched cottages is so pretty. Some have been turned into little businesses - the whole town is turned over to tourism. It must be pretty hectic in the Summer.



I was amazed at the thickness of the thatch - and don't those hydrangea heads look pretty?

This shot shows the whole row - I managed to avoid any cars passing by.


A well wrapped up Jim outside the cottages.

One of the many churches - the railings were pretty:



A fine pair of gates.


As we had driven through Adare, we crossed a narrow bridge, on the left of which was a splendid ruin. We took our life in our hands and walked onto the bridge, the only view of the ruins we could see - as they were 'shut'!


The river was really wide. It was a pity we couldn't take a look around the grounds.

We'll have to come back in June.

We parked outside the Heritage Centre, noting that it had a cafe inside.


I think this may have been one of several monasteries around the town.

It did have rather splendid railings.

There is a large park in the centre of the town. I loved this splendid gazebo. A little later, we saw a bride, groom and small wedding party taking photos in it.


A pretty stream ran through the park, then under the very busy road and out the other side.

This is where it flowed under the road.

This is the Heritage Centre front with its wintry looking garden. We partook of a cup of tea and piece of cake - and were the last couple to leave the cafe!

Inside, on the wall, I noticed this photograph. It certainly confirms that Buster is a foxhound:

Lots and lots of Busters. We put Buster in the kennels for the day so that we wouldn't have to rush back.

On the drive back, I had a little doze! A visit to Wickes in Limerick was our next stop, to look at curtain poles for the sun room. To our delight, all their paint was half price as they were going to use a new supplier, so we bought paint for the kitchen/diner, laundry and snug. We also did find some curtain poles, so it was a successful shop.

In the Summer, we sometimes visit a place called Coole Park, which is just outside Gort. In Spring, they have been holding a series of talks and events and Jim had looked on line to discover there was a one hour concert happening on Thursday from 8 - 9pm. Our timing was pretty good and we made our way to Coole Park. The car park was pretty empty and we had visions of having a private performance, but it soon filled up with more eager audience members.

The entertainment was provided by a trio of musicians, 2 on violin/viola and a pianist. They are called Cantabile. What a delight this was. They played a variety of music from Mozart to by Debussy, ending with 'Oklahoma' which left us all tapping our feet and singing inside our heads! It was a wonderful way to end a delightful, if rather soggy, day. I have tried to upload a U Tube video of them playing Oklahoma but can't make it work. Here is the URL if you'd like to see them. It's very short! I think this link might work now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iex-Uh3kMQ

We stopped for a bite to eat on our way through Gort and then headed home.

The only down side is that I seem to have torn a muscle in my shoulder carrying our new cooker from the car to the cottage! Oh well, I'm sure it'll mend.

Have a good weekend.