Weekly Photo Challenge: Details

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closeup, Details, flowers, photography, photos, plants, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Details

The details of my life are currently quite boring – after all I am spending my days in front of my keypad or, when I can’t write anymore, behind a book. And while I am currently trying to get the details of my novel right, and hope it is turning out better than I think it is, that too isn’t really something I can show.

But yesterday morning I noticed a few seed capsules that I think are beautiful in their own way. The tiny husks carefully designed, the smallest detail perfectly formed, and to think that they are what is left behind, not the main attraction.

left behind after the pale blue flower fades away

waiting to seed

carefully crafted by nature

urban gardening

Tags

after-hours mutant, city living, Dublin, gardening, photography, photos, plants, sunshine, urban gardening

Like so many city dwellers I don’t own a garden, only windowsills and a bit of pavement. While that does bring the advantage of not having to cut grass or weed it also means fewer flowers and no trees.

Since the weather has been so lovely I abandoned my cleaning (yes, half way through dusting the lure of the sun was too strong to withstand) and took a trip down to a garden center with one of my neighbours. We had some lunch and emptied out our pennies and stocked up on  a few plants.

Back on the street we weren’t the only ones  enjoying the outdoors and soon the neighborhood felt like a Italian piazza – everyone was sitting out enjoying the sun, chatting to each other and  enjoying food and drink on their doorsteps.

Now all I can hope is that the sun stays around for a while allowing me to enjoy my blue bench and my very own urban gardening.

brightening up the street

urban gardening

cement, clay and sunburn

Tags

cement, clay, community garden, crafting, flowers, photography, photos, plants, sculpture, workshop

This weekend I spent my time getting my hands dirty in Mudisland Community garden. But I wasn’t digging up dirt or planting spring greens, I was mixing cement and forming clay at a sculpture workshop.

It was all about getting to know the material – as our wonderful teacher Vivian told us- and I have to admit I think cement and I have stayed somewhat strangers. Unlike clay you can’t mold it, you cant make it hold it’s own weight, unless you create a mesh backing or a mold.

After the first day of spending time elbow deep in cement in the sunshine I went home somewhat disappointed in what I had created – nothing of that would last or I really liked. But yesterday I think I may have made a tile I’ll be able to use and work further with, and I think the hanging balls I made do have potential.

But somehow it wasn’t really about the outcome, it was about the work itself. Instead of sitting at my desk for hours and wearing the keys on my keyboard thin, being out in the sunshine, using my hands, was what this weekend was all about.

The only downside to the beautiful sunny weekend was that got a little bit sun burnt, not much, a patch on my leg and two bits on my arms, and of course my nose. But since bad weather seems to be on its way I will just enjoy the sun as much as I can while it lasts.

bowls

chicken wire

some mini clay men

hanging cement ghosts

in full bloom

pods

Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons

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autumn, photos, phoyography, plants, seasons, spring, summer, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons, winter

As someone who is living in Ireland you quickly learn that while Seasons are something that happen through out the year they can also happen within a single day. The sun can be shining in the morning, a sense of Spring lingers in the air at noon you suddenly get hail storms and biting winds and you can’t help but feel like Autumn. Then maybe the sun breaks through and you realise you are wearing way too much clothes and an ice-cream is all you really want suggesting that maybe it’s summer after all. But then the evening arrives and the temperatures plummet and frost paints pictures with ice on your windows  and you know it’s really still Winter. Sometimes the only way to truly know what season it is, is to look at the trees and plants and see what they are doing!

this trees have decided it’s Spring

 

new beginnings

Tags

back-yard, Dublin, job, masters, new beginnings, photography, photos, plants, spring, work, writing

Today is the first day of the second semester for my masters, so I am back to being a student again, even if only for a few hours a week. But this week there is another new beginning – I’m starting a new job tomorrow.

It may be only two days a week (I’m still lecturing after all) but it is a new endeavour with lots of new challenges. Over the next six weeks or so I’ll be writing a user manual for an interesting tech company here in Dublin. I’m quite excited about this, but also a  little nervous. After all I have written guides and a manual in the past but the are of tech is new to me, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to quickly adapt and produce exactly what the company is looking for.

And I spotted some new beginnings in my tiny back yard …  some tiny shoots of (I think) snowdrops have appeared on my windowsill and I can’t wait to watch them bloom. But this also means I need to carve out some time to tidy up my pots and windowsills and invite spring to come along.

attacked by a cactus

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accident, at home, cactus, cactus attack, home, needles, plants

Last night I sat in front of the fire, knitting and watching some TV. I was minding my own business when suddenly a cactus attacked me, it literally jumped me and I bear the scratches to prove it.

Maybe I should explain how I even got myself into the position of being attacked by a cactus as I am not really a cactus fan – I find them quite ugly and I have never really owned one.

Anyway, a good friend of mine bought a house this year and since she is still doing it up and no one, not even a cactus, can live in the house in the moment she has found a bed-in-a-shed at her boyfriend’s house and has asked me to cactus-sit. And I have been – dutifully ignoring it (which is not that easy as it is 180cm tall and very prickly) and watering it from time-to-time. And yes, I have even given it a name – Fred.

So, Fred and I have been living side by side, peacefully enough, and every now and then he will pull my hair or prick me if I come to close. Until yesterday that is – for no reason what so ever, no provocation or to-close-cleaning, Fred decided to topple on top of me. No warning, no ‘timber’, just a silent, slow topple.

Luckily, I was able to ward off the attack with my right arm, and while I am now quite badly scratched – looks like I’ve been in a fight with a very large and angry tom-cat – Fred stayed mostly intact, all he lost was a tiny little ‘branch’ (no idea what they are called in cacti lingo).

Now I am truly looking forward to the day Fred will move out – no hard feelings but I don’t like prickly pranks

backyard de- (and re- ) construction

Tags

backyard, disaster, flowers, gardening, photography, photos, plants, windmill

Last week a minor disaster struck my backyard. I was getting the car ready to bring my niece to the airport when she closed the front door behind herself, leaving us locked out on the curb.

Luckily my neighbour was home and in a daring act of trapeze agility I clambered up onto her backyard wall and balanced across to my own tiny one. It really wasn’t that difficult as the ledge was wide enough, but as I stood and looked down into my yard I realised that I was pretty high up – two meters ten or so (about 6ft9)  plus my own height (nearly 5ft7).

Jumping was out of the question and since I have a shelf positioned against the back wall dangling down was out of the question, too. When I tried stepping on the shelf it swayed – not the sturdiest of constructions – but I really didn’t have any other option.

As I slowly lowered my self down, keeping as much weight as I could on the back wall I managed to jimmy myself downwards into the backyard. However as I found my footing on solid ground the shelf came crashing down around me.

One bruised hip, a scraped knee (yes like a seven year old) and a sore ankle later and my backyard was a mess. Having to leave the chaos behind as I drove my niece to the airport I decided it would be time for a bit of a revamp- so finally yesterday I got around to putting thought into action. Now, a week after destruction day and a visit to the garden-center, my backyard looks pretty again.

path tomatoes

Tags

gardening, herbs, photo, photography, plants, tomatoes

I am not much of a gardener, don’t really know many plants nor what they need to blossom and grow. But I do seem to have inherited a bit of a pale green thumb from my mother who is a wonderful gardener and is to be able to coax flowers to grow just about anywhere. My abilities may not be on par with my mums but I do have a few plants flourishing around the house and on my windowsills.

The one thing I particularly love to have are fresh herbs so I always have some in my window-boxes, chives, parsley and oregano are favourites of mine. This year I decided to try something new and when the community garden was giving away baby tomato plants I decided to give two a new home. Now , to my increasing delight and fascination, I have managed to grow a few tomatoes, still green and tiny but they are there and seemingly enjoying life on the path beside my blue bench.

So who knows, in a few weeks time I may be able to make a small salad with path tomatoes and window sill herbs.

 

 

brightening up the back-yard

Tags

back-yard, Dublin, gardening, home improvement, masonry paint, painting, plants, sore elbow, tennis elbow

I think I may have a tennis elbow, not that I have ever played any tennis but my right arm/elbow is really quite sore. However instead of improving my non-existent backhand I have been brightening up my miniscule back-yard with white masonry paint and brush.

I really only store my bike in this space but my little office looks out onto it and it is less than inspiring. So since the sun is out and  my lovely neighbour helped me anker a bike-lock to the ground in the front of the house, I decided it was time to change my view.

After a good few hours of painting (it was much harder and took much longer than anticipated, since masonry paint isn’t like other paint), a visit to a garden store and a sore elbow my back-yard is now a much happier place. All I need to perfect my view is a little birdhouse to encourage my winged neighbours to visit now and then.

My tiny yard before

The other unloved corner

And now with a lick of paint and some plants and storage.

Happy pansies

sping in cork

Tags

cherry blossoms, cork, miscellaneous, nature, outdoors, photography, photos, plants, random, spring-time, UCC, University Cork

Since I’ve had a busy day today, my head is spinning and a stack of corrections is glaring accusingly at me, I decided to just share a few snaps I took on Saturday in Cork.

It was a sunny morning and as I strolled up to Cork University (UCC) I could help but enjoy the spring-time feeling around me. But what filled me with joy was the sight of the first few brave cherry blossoms.