RETIRING

A new life in a new house looms on the horizon,August the 24th to be precise.
It is with great sadness that I leave the Castle as I will have such a lot of memories and love for the old place.
The fact is,we can not keep up with all the work required to keep it up any more,the house,the guests,the entertaining,the gardens,require constant attention and we need to retire and let the new generation take over.
We are moving to a small farmhouse just 2 miles down the lane,next to my daughters farm.I say farmhouse,that is what it once was but it has been gutted and modernized by the previous owners,to make a modern,clean,easy to look after  home with a pretty garden and a small paddock.
In the master bedroom there is a picture window which frames the peak of my beloved mountain through a gap in the trees,so I can see it when I wake in the mornings.

I will visit often,but it will be good not having the responsibility of it,but I will miss it and it will be hard to adjust to a life......put out to pasture......
I will post photos of the new house when we move but here are some photos of the place we are leaving.

I am busy packing up ,sorting out what to take with me,we have to down size big time.!! The charity shops will do well out of all the donations coming their way and the family are benefitting from the leftovers as well.!!
I will still be on line until August then I will be off line until September as we will have to get the internet installed in our new location etc,when they will do that is anyones guess.
I will still post as ..Views from the Castle..out of sentiment though it should be ..views from the farmhouse.!!
Have  a good week.
Carolyn.

LIFE IN THE GARDEN

A lot has been happening in the last few weeks hence my lack of posts to date,the winds of change are blowing and new beginnings are afoot,but I will tell you all about our news at a later date when things are finalized.
In the meantime here are some photos of the fauna and flora I have taken in the garden this week,quite a bumper crop for me,everything  was there just begging to have it's photo taken.!!

 The squirrel,one of a pair eating the young newly developing pine cones.

 A bank vole eating the wild garlic flowers.There was a family of them but could not get them all in the shot.

  All the baby birds are being brought to the feeder to be fed.

 The sparrow hawk with it's prey,plucking it before taking it to it's mate to be fed to the chicks.

 A kestrel on it's nest

Foxgloves growing in the wild part of the garden.

I have had great fun following the wild life this week,even though the weather has not been good.I have managed to get these photos in the very brief moments that the rain stopped and the sun peeped out.
I wish you all a pleasant week,have fun.
Carolyn

FUN WITH BUBBLES

You are never too old to enjoy blowing bubbles,we did it as children and children of all ages  can still be kept amused with some soapy water and a bubble ring.

At the weekend three generations of children passed the time laughing and trying to blow the biggest bubble,my son won first prize for the biggest bubble,his daughter won for blowing the most bubbles in a single go and Grand dad won for putting up with bubbles being blown at him in an attempt to land them on his head or pop them on his beard.!!

The photo I wanted to put up of Freddie chasing the bubbles would not load,but here is one of him by the lake,he has discovered he can now swim,no photos of that yet,but hope to show some next time.
Have a good week.

Carolyn.

BOB

Some time ago a foal was dumped on the mountain,my daughter was told about it and she  with the help of some neighbors,went up the mountain to rescue it.

The foal was in a really neglected state,its coat  was eaten by mites,it was starving and it had really bad infections in it's eyes. my daughter decided to keep him,she got him seen by the vet and after a few months,he had put on weight,his coat was improving and the infection in his eyes cleared up,unfortunately one eye was so badly damaged that it left him blind in that eye.

He was named Bob,this is him while recovering.
It is two years since this photo was taken,just look at him now.....

He is a beautiful animal,so gentle and affectionate,my G daughter loves him and he will soon start to be broken in for her to ride,by the horse whisperer method,much kinder than any other method. when he gets to be ridden,I will post my G daughter ridding him.
A happy end  for a very lucky horse.

I have a photo of the squirrel ,who must love me because he seems to pose for me every time I see him.just had to show you this.

Don't you just love him.!!
Until the next time....
Carolyn.

IRISH SUMMER

Wednesday,the temperature hovered around  8 degrees,it was dry but grey and we had the wood burner on all day.Thursday,by 8am the temperature was 18 degrees and by mid day it had risen to 26,the sun shone all day,not a cloud in the sky and we had all the doors and windows open until 10 pm. Friday was the same,so hot I could not sit out side,there was no shade at all.Saturday was also very hot,but there was a gusty breeze blowing all day,even this was hot.!! Last night it was so hot I could not sleep even with all the windows open and the bed covers taken off.
Today,Sunday,we are back to cloudy sky,though it was a humid 20 degrees this morning it then dropped to 17,now it is 13 and trying to rain. Thats it,summer over for this year.!!
Saturday I was at my daughters,at the farm,she keeps chickens,all pets and they all have names.The following photos are some of her pets including one called Bluebell trying to steal her necklace.

 Hello,that looks tempting.

 Getting a closer look,shall I or shan't I --

I expect she thought  the yellow beads were corn ,such a temptation.!!

 Sunbathing

The prehistoric looking Guinea fowl.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
Carolyn,

THE MOUNTAIN

I  am posting some photos of the mountain in my back garden,we do not live on it,rather under it,on the lower slope.Some of you will have seen the photos before,but I decided to do this dedication to the mountain  to show how it changes throughout the seasons,in all it's glory. The photos are in no particular order and will enlarge if you click on them.

 Autumn red and orange.

 Winter storm blowing in.

 Summer,green

 Spring,covered in cloud.

 The blue mountain,a sure sign of rain.

 March

 February grey and black.

 The rainbow curtain,taken earlier this year.

 May,covered in Rhododendron.The mountain lake that local legend says St Patrick  banished all the snakes into.

A closer view of the Rhododendron that covers the mountain at this time of year,though these photos were taken two years ago.
Have good weekend.
Carolyn.

COW AND OTHER ANIMALS

Dear all,
I am sorry for my absence of late,a  lot of family business going on,sick relatives and visitors in the Castle etc.I have not had much time to settle down at my computer.I am gradually getting round to reading your blogs and catching up with all I have missed.

Wednesday I went to Cork on a shopping trip with my Daughter and Granddaughter,a girly thing,it was wrens twelfth Birthday and it had been my Birthday last Monday,so we went to spend our Birthday money.!!
With all the lovely shopping done we went to Wrens favorite Italian restaurant for lunch ,this is situated in a pedestrian area and is often filled with buskers and street artists,they were not there unfortunately but we did see an unusual sight put up by the students at the art collage.

A cow,upside down in a tree.!! ???

Today the sun is out but the wind is very cold,so hat and coated I took the dog for a walk and took the following photos,the ones of the squirrel were taken a day or two ago.

 A vole in the woods

 A female chaffinch

My favorite resident hare heading off to eat my flowers.!!

 The elusive squirrel ....

 eating or collecting moss.

Now it has seen me,off it went into the canopy of the tree.
Photos will enlarge if you click on them.
This is all I have for this week.I wish you all a pleasant weekend.
Carolyn

BACK HOME

I have had a hectic few  weeks,first having to go to England for a week to take hubby to see his brother who is unfortunately very ill,then when I got back I only had couple of days and I took off on my own to America and have only been home for three days.
My trip to America was wonderful,I was staying with a friend who lives in Delaware,a friend I had never actually met until then.!!
I won't tell you who she is except that I met her through blogging,then emailing each  other,then talking to each other on Skype at the weekends.This wonderful lady invited me to stay with her and her husband and something inside me knew the time was right to go and meet her.My family thought I was mad to travel so far to meet a stranger,her family thought she was just as mad.!!!
My friend and her husband were lovely people and the welcome I got was from the heart,they gave me the most memorable holiday I have ever had and I hope with all my heart that one day they will come and stay with me so that I can show them my part of the world.
There is a lesson in this story,through blogging I have made a wonderful ,hopefully life long friend,though geographically,it is not possible to drop in for coffee,I know she is there to talk to when I feel the  need  and she cares for and likes me.
A STRANGER IS A FRIEND WHO YOU ARE DESTINED TO MEET WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.
This is the inscription on a little gift I gave her and it is so apt.

Here are a few photos from my trip,

One of the fabulous covered bridges.

 I was enthralled by the Amish quilt shop,the quilts were beautiful

 Farming the Amish way.

Interesting bit of Lewes history,a beautiful little town that I enjoyed tremendously.

 This cheeky bird  posed for his photo

So did this one.

DARN!!! I was going to apply for the job and stay with my friend.!!
Well thats all for now,I have more photos but have not sorted them yet.
Have a good weekend,I am having a rest,still suffering jet  lag.
Carolyn.