floatingingalway wrote:

I've got my hang sangwiches packed and just about to head off to the hills and plains of Connemara for the day to catch some rays.

That's the spirit. Bring a few bottles to get some fresh water from a spring up there to avoid the lead back home in the city. Be careful there's no dead sheep upstream though.

Lough Nafooey here I come

Anyone else noticing the leaves begin to turn, ever so slightly?

I was in the gorgeous Tullynally Castle grounds over the weekend - home of the tree fiend Thomas Packenham and while most trees are still resolutely green, there has begun a trend to yellows and golds. Some of the oldest trees in Ireland and Europe are there I think - worth a visit any time of the year, but like most of these grand places, especially meriting a visit once in the heart of each season.

Trees on the road have gone a tinge of red almost overnight. The trees in the garden are evergreen so they'll look the same yesterday, today and forever!

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

The Trees by Philip Larkin.
I know it's the wrong season but maybe it will console us somewhat in evergreen land....

Maples and sycamores in my mother's garden have been turning for a while now - stunning reds and yellows.

Kate P wrote:

Anyone else noticing the leaves begin to turn, ever so slightly?

I was in the gorgeous Tullynally Castle grounds over the weekend - home of the tree fiend Thomas Packenham and while most trees are still resolutely green, there has begun a trend to yellows and golds. Some of the oldest trees in Ireland and Europe are there I think - worth a visit any time of the year, but like most of these grand places, especially meriting a visit once in the heart of each season.

I was on the upper level of a bus coming out of Town and at the level of tree leaves and yes, some certainly had flecks of gold and amber through the still-dominant verdancy.

johnfás wrote:

Trees on the road have gone a tinge of red almost overnight. The trees in the garden are evergreen so they'll look the same yesterday, today and forever!

Until you bleach them for the fun of it!

Kate P wrote:

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

The Trees by Philip Larkin.
I know it's the wrong season but maybe it will console us somewhat in evergreen land....

Maples and sycamores in my mother's garden have been turning for a while now - stunning reds and yellows.

Great stuff in that poem. All still green here in Clare for now or I just haven't noticed the colour changing. Bit of Indian Summer and still a good few tourists around enjoying the weather.

I think I was one of the luckiest tourists in Dublin this summer. I got a whole weekend of "no rain". From Friday to Monday. I had a great weekend.

Friday: Had a fascinating conversation in my local with the young Chinese lounge boy. He was well informed on the Shanghai property boom and if 6 years in Ireland has taught him anything, it was the need for proper infrastructure planning.

Saturday: Morning....shopping, shopping shopping. Shirts, ties, overcoat, belts, cufflinks, shoes. Every receipt accompanied with taxback receipt.

Evening. Dinner with girlfriend in Chapter One. Hype well deserved. Food excellent, Service excellent, Ambience excellent. She was impressed.

Sunday. Nice drive out by Donabate & Portrane early in the morning followed by lunch with the sister and mother. Evening brought a session in the Diggers, the only pub on the planet apart from Mulligans where I drink Guinness.

Monday. Dublin Airport. Head straight for the tax back facility. €122.35! Nice. "Credit or Cash?" Cash is king in this economy now and it finances all my duty free purchases.

Best weekend in a long time in Dublin. And the city is looking better than it has for some time (excluding, of course, Dublin Airport, which remains a national embarrassment.)

Glad to hear that Chapter One was good for you. I was thinking of you lately and wondering whether you had been in Dublin yet or not. Sounds like you had fun...

I love chapter one, it's a real gem.

I am SO cold today.

Kate P wrote:

Glad to hear that Chapter One was good for you. I was thinking of you lately and wondering whether you had been in Dublin yet or not. Sounds like you had fun...

It was excellent Kate. The girlfriend was mightily impressed. Her happiness is my main concern in life and she was happy all weekend. The weather was benign. If only the airport was not such a source of immense irritation.

The city was looking better than I can ever remember it. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was just me. But I was pleasantly surprised and i hope this improvement can continue. Looking forward to Christmas already.

cookiemonster wrote:

I love chapter one, it's a real gem.

I am SO cold today.

It is indeed a gem, cookie.

(Alarmed to see you are sliding further to the right, if the avatar is a genuine reflection of political philosophy and not just a wind-up.)

Wednesday 01 October 2008


Today's Weather
Today will be bright and breezy, with sunny spells and scattered blustery showers. Some of showers will be heavy and possibly prolonged - especially across the north and west. Cold and windy, with highest temperatures 11 to 14 degrees, in a strong and gusty northwest wind.


DOES THIS EVER CHANGE?? Are we destined forever to have "Sunny spells and scattered showers"?

Mary Coughlan (not the Tanaiste, the talented one) even sang about this generic forecast in "My Land is too Green"

"Sunny spells and scattered showers
and still it rains for hours and hours".

Amazing.

The record went up to 770 MW on the 10 September and it's heading that way today too. All we need is a bit of sun now too.

I've started packing away the lighter clothes this morning as I do the laundry - following a week of being downright cold no matter where I went. And deliberately put a chicken on to roast this morning too so the smell would help me acclimatise to winter in a homely way. And it has Hot milk on the weetabix this morning too. I hate weetabix - I should have waited for the chicken and had it for breakfast instead...

Kate P wrote:

I've started packing away the lighter clothes this morning as I do the laundry - following a week of being downright cold no matter where I went. And deliberately put a chicken on to roast this morning too so the smell would help me acclimatise to winter in a homely way. And it has Hot milk on the weetabix this morning too. I hate weetabix - I should have waited for the chicken and had it for breakfast instead...

Chicken for breakfast? Almost as good as microwaved pizza

Anytime I've ever eaten Weetabix I imagine it's what eating a bale of hay would be like.

I love breakfast, though I don't always make time for it.

Home -made granola with Glenisk yoghurt, scrambled eggs and home made brown scones (says she, turning on the chicken-warmed oven again).... I must go and see is the Doolin breakfast bar open...

Kate P wrote:

I love breakfast, though I don't always make time for it.

Home -made granola with Glenisk yoghurt, scrambled eggs and home made brown scones (says she, turning on the chicken-warmed oven again).... I must go and see is the Doolin breakfast bar open...

This almost sounds appetising, Kate. When the girlfriend comes here, I always make her the breakfast she likes most of all (I kinda like it myself) Eggs smoked salmon Benedict with Bucks Fizz accompanied by a couple of Latte Macchiatos and concluded with a double espresso. And to have this on the roof terrace in summer looking at the mountainous expanse of the Uetliberg in bright sunshine is bliss. Not one for every day. But she is worth it.

And I married a man who can open cereal boxes.

Kate P wrote:

And I married a man who can open cereal boxes.

He doubtless has many talents and attributes that others do not possess. For example, I am utterly useless at DIY, loathe IT with a renowned passion and allow the infrastructural disaster that is Dublin Airport depress me at least 20 minutes before I land in it and for 3 hours after I leave the bloody place. These are things I know my girlfriend does not particularly like but thankfully she never comments on them.

And the weather here today? Sunny and getting cold (10 degrees) with snow in the mountains (where it belongs).

Greetings from Deutschland.

Lovely and warm here. Sunny this afternoon. A bit cloudy now.

Going for some Badische Beer.

horizontal rain, grey/black clouds, premature dusk, everything looks dank and miserable here in D4.

i blame the recession. in the heydays of the celtictiger i remember it was permanently sunny.

zakalwe wrote:

horizontal rain, grey/black clouds, premature dusk, everything looks dank and miserable here in D4.

i blame the recession. in the heydays of the celtictiger i remember it was permanently sunny.

Dont tell me that - I'll be heading that direction in about 30 minutes ,well D6 actually - I was looking forward to some relief from the cloudy windswept rainy plateau that is Sandyford.

Gota Fria alert for this evening - that means big catastrophic rainfall in spanish. Sometimes it only takes half an hour of rain for a flash flood.

Today it was cool enough (22 degrees) to go for a post lunch stroll. I had a walk past the half completed tower blocks of appartments which blight the Mediterannean coast, but its all quiet. The immigrant south american or african workers and the mainly spanish-born foremen still havent returned since the summer.