A week in photos in Ireland

What can I say about Irish April weather? Wet, dreary and more Autumnal than Spring-like, with accompanying low mood and blahness!

I decided to take a few photos this week, a sort of pictorial diary of what I see on my travels out and about the South East of Ireland.  I hope you like... :)

 

Hoping you're having a lovely late Spring wherever you are!  ~Siobhan xx

Reasons to be Cheerful, One, Two, Three...

I've never been one for Gratitude Journals, for me they seem a bit contrived, a bit like hard work.  I can imagine myself chewing the end of my pencils trying really hard to think of things everyday to be grateful for.  Not exactly the point of the exercise.

But being grateful and happy has taken on a little bit of urgency these days.  The news is bleak, everywhere you look people are worried and anxious, and if you do work outside the home, there is always a niggling thought of, what if I'm let go?  So, in the interest of self-care and providing a fairly sane and pleasant persona to those around me, I am making an effort every day to be very, very grateful for things (and people) no matter how mundane or ordinary they may be.  And I do feel so much better for doing this. 

So, in a collection of photos taken over the past couple of weeks, here are some things that I am grateful for and that make me warm-and-fuzzy happy:

My new walking stick, about 5 feet tall and made from a fallen piece of Ash.

I feel like the Wizard Gandalf striding about the fields!

Our two lovely boys - they make me happy and smiley every day

Making homemade pizza

Simple, fresh, nothing artificial

Bellini cocktails to go with above pizza. Notice the empty bottle?

Signs of Spring everywhere

Hazel Catkins

Early Spring sunsets outside our back door

Just a few, simple things that have made me smile over the past few days.

What makes you happy? What are you thankful for?

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you from me!  ~Siobhan xox

Magical Moon

We're at the tail-end of a Full Moon now and my darling other half took this photo just now of the most peachy, creamy, magical Moon, it is so beautiful.  I sat out just gazing up at it, taking in the lunar energy, it is so enchanting tonight.

Hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are...we are all looking at the same Moon.

~Siobhan xo

If I Was...

I've been in blog-limbo the last couple of months.  A series of minor health issues, work stuff and general blah-ness have kept me from writing.  Caroline from the wonderful Coeur de La posted her list of 'If I Was' and asked her readers to join in.  What a great way to un-limbo myself! So here goes (thank you Caroline):

If I was a month, I’d be late October.

If I was a day of the week, I’d be Friday.
If I was a time of day, I’d be dusk.
If I was a planet, I’d be Venus.

If I was a sea animal, I’d be a starfish.

If I was a direction, I’d be South.

If I was a piece of furniture, I'd be an old, faded ottoman sofa.
If I was a liquid, I’d be champagne.
If I was a gemstone, I’d be a moonstone.

If I was a tree, I’d be a beech tree.

If I was a tool, I’d be a super-sharp scissors.

If I was a flower, I’d be a tulip.
If I was a type of weather, I’d be an early hot summer morning.

If I was a musical instrument, I’d be bells.
If I was a color, I’d be purple.

If I was an emotion, I’d be reflective.

If I was a fruit, I’d be a blueberry.
If I was a sound, I’d be windchimes.

If I was an element, I’d be water.
If I was a car, I’d be Toyota Rav 4, what I drive now, preferably shiny black.

If I was a food ... I would be a mozarella, olive and basil homemade pizza (with garlic bread).

If I was a place, I’d be right here...south coast of Ireland.

If I was a material, I'd be a soft, luscious velvet.

If I was a taste, I'd be fresh.
If I was a scent, I’d be oakmoss.

Do feel free to join in over at Caroline's (Coeur de La ).

~Siobhan xo

The Cold and Eerie Month of December

December 2011 has begun in a cold, stormy and windy fashion. This time last year I had crashed the jeep on black ice (yikes) and one day last week, on my way to work, on a very small country road, I passed three car accidents and one overturned jeep in treacherous conditions. I don't think we Irish are very skilled at icy roads!

Anyway, a few photos from around home and what I've been up to so far this December.

This has been a familiar scene everyday:

Pleeeeease take us for a walk!

Which of course I do, no matter what the weather. Because I love them so much! I try to take the camera and snap a few shots, in between throwing sticks and chasing them around.  These are few things I photographed:

Red berries

Holly Berries

Blackberries!

The berry photos were all taken a couple of weeks ago (very late blackberries and fairy-blasted no doubt) and there isn't a berry around today. Sure sign of a very cold winter!

Lovely pheasant - doesn't she blend in well?

And busy bird-feeders!

And, after all that, I come in to sit before our wood-burning stove and dry out the boots.  I wish I could have pretty, flower covered, clean boots, but these ones really earn their keep!

Then there was a spot of baking, as that's something I love to do when it's cold and wet outside:

Dulche de Leche Brownie ingredients

The finished article! Notice the gooey caramel and slightly underdone centre? Yum!

Drunk with a cup of hot Earl Grey Tea.

So, that's been my December so far.  Christmas is coming swiftly.  I want to wish all of you a peaceful, happy and lovely Yule holiday, and I hope that you get everything that you wish for.  Thank you so much for visiting my little blog all year and thank you for your lovely comments - they mean so much.

Merry Christmas  and a wonderful 2012, from me to you ~Siobhan xox

Blog Award!

Wow! My first Blog Award!  Thank you so much to Emma over at Little Gothic Horrors  - a really lovely Blog-Friend and mood-boosting person.  When I happened on Emma's blog I was totally charmed and felt so at home!!  She loves the supernatural and the spooky, as do I (of course!) and brings all sorts of creepy-wonderful to her posts such as the Addams Family (swoon), Delightfully Dark Finds and other such ghoulish emphemera.  Please do pay her blog a visit!

Liebster ("Dearest" in German) Blog Award

The Rules
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog.
2. Pass the award on to 5 blogs with less than 200 followers.

Thanks again Emma and here are my nominees for Liebster Blog awards:

1.  Petra's Blog  -  Delightful and pretty blog of Petra Brown, illustrator.

2.  Tales from the Dryad Forest - Magical blog of Natalee May who lives the Enchanted Life in Cornwall.

3.  A Pretty Book  The most  delightful blog for all book-lovers.  JT's pictures and posts will have you enthralled.

4.  Art of Virginia Lee The wonderful artist Virginia Lee's blog. Ethereal art.

5.  Dream and Vision The truly dreamy blog of artist Susan Sorrell Hill.

Please do visit these lovely bloggers!  ~Siobhan xox

Halloween silently approaches...

I love the expression on this adorable girl's face as it mirrors a little of the way I'm feeling at the moment  -   bewildered, bemused and a little scared.

There's a very peculiar energy around at the moment and I'm finding it most uncomfortable.  I feel insecure (for no particular reason), ungrounded, tired and most annoyingly, fearful.  I wake up in the morning and I feel apprehensive.  I think about the day ahead and there isn't anything to be scared about, but there it is, like a big grey fog all around me - this indescrible and vague fear. 

I've also found that the spirit clearing work that I do through my website has increased hugely in the last month or so, which is a nice lift for the old bank balance, but quite a drain on me.  Everyone's paranormal problems are also based on fear - could it be that I've absorbed some of their feelings?  Or is this energy that seems to be worldwide stirring up the restless souls that do, most definitely, wander the Earth?

I'm trusting this peculiar time will pass.  I am so looking forward to Halloween - it's my absolute favourite holiday and usually revs my energy up no end.

I'd love to hear how you all have been - is life treating you wonderfully or are you sensing the strangeness that I am?

Wishing you an enchanted Halloween with much fun and merriment! More personal photos next blog entry, I promise! 

~Siobhan xox