Springish

sheep

Spring is the morning of the year…  The Golden Rod by Frank Dempster Sherman  is written about autumn, but I couldn’t find a better description for the season. All the forces of Nature awaken, the Sun is regaining his strength, a seed begins to sprout and a lamb is born. Life is young.

lamb

Morning in the mountains is quiet, hazy and cool. I get out of the car and all the sheep run away. Then they stop, and slowly come back. You think they look at me and pose for a photograph? Not at all. I left the car door open, and it is the music that fascinates the sheep. It is Camille Saint-Saëns, The Carnival of the Animals. I am not joking. The old sheep didn’t move until the music was over. The lamb were not overcome by art to that extent, and soon went around jumping and just being lamb.

sheep

The sun goes up and soon the rolling hills are lit and warmed. The weather in March is never the same too long.

comeragh

The fowl of the earth are celebrating spring too. No chicks yet, but I came across some moorhen chick photographs in Sarah Potter blog . They are so cute, have a look ! 🙂 I love these green legs! This moorhen is marching around the pond in Stephens Green Park in Dublin.

moorhen

A young gull with dramatic wings looks like a Fallen Angel. In fact, he is just trying to catch a slice of bread.

gull

I took this picture in The Burren, right beside the Poulnabrone Dolmen. These cheerful sprouts are Lamiaceae family members, but I am not sure what exactly they are.

This picture was taken in Clonmel, between Lady Blessingtons Bath and Raheen Road on St. Patrick’s day 2007. Sadly, this daffodil field doesn’t exist any more. It was leveled during the City Council reconstruction works.

daffodils

You wouldn’t believe, but the next three pictures are taken in March too. It was in 2009, we got a word that the famous Magnolia trees in Lismore Castle park were in bloom.

lismore

magnolia

Camellia, Lismore Castle garden.

camelia

An when you think that the winter is gone, there comes a hailstorm.

storm

The weather changes in a matter of minutes.

storm

reflection

On days like this, you want to sit in the beach and listen to the surf and the rustling sound of sand…

beach

…or build a castle.

castle

They say that Mark Twain once observed “one hundred and thirty six kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours”. That must have been in March. Capricious March! Sometimes it is difficult to be nice and balanced in the morning, even if it is the morning of the year 😉

inesemjphotography  Have a wonderful weekend!

155 comments

  1. I am happy sheep have good taste in music. I need to listen all over again to Carnival of Animals. The lambs jumping and happy to run around makes sense since they are so young, like “kids.”
    Inese, the rainbow and the spring beauty in flower blossoms brightened my evening. Thank you.

    1. Thank you for your lovely comment, Robin! The sheep locked her eyes on the car and didn’t move. I was very impressed.
      Have a wonderful and happy weekend!

  3. Inese, what a lovely uplifting post to celebrate Spring in all its glory. And thanks for mentioning my moorhen chicks. I love Carnival of the Animals. It was on the A-side of the first LP I ever owned (aged 8 at the time). On the B-side was Peter and the Wolf. Methinks the sheep would have run from the B-side!

    1. Haha Sarah, you are right! They would run for sure 🙂 I wouldn’t listen to the Wolf theme being alone in the house at the age of 8 🙂 That music is scary!
      When I saw the sheep come to listen to the Carnival of Animals I found it amusing, but then I felt sorry for the poor animal, and then I felt sorry for the people who don’t know music and don’t know many other wonderful things, and I was almost crying there ( that’s totally me!). If I lived closer, I would visit the sheep and play her some music now and then.

      1. My Labrador has been brought up with music, as you can imagine. She was a bit caught out the first time she heard me singing, as she couldn’t understand how I was opening my mouth and yet the song was sounding at the other end of the room (musical projection). But she soon sussed. She knows all the different signature tunes to programmes on the tv. Her favourite tune is the Dr Who one, as it reminds her of the first time she was allowed up on the sofa for cuddles. I swear that she was really in love with David Tennant when he was the Doctor!
        It’s so sad that they don’t do so much music in state schools anymore. It’s always the arts that suffer when there are cutbacks. Now it’s the turn of libraries.

        1. What an amazing story about your dog! Yes, it is very sad that the people who are in charge of education don’t understand an importance of arts.
          Your libraries are one of the best things your country has got. It would be a disaster if you lose them.

  4. Brilliant pictures, Inese!!! I always loved sheep, but now that I know that they stop for music I simply adore them:) Oh, and you´re right: moorhens have adorable feet – we´ve got a couple in a near-by park and I could just watch them waddle around for hours;) Have a lovely spring with lots of sunshine and golden moments to picture, my dear friend! Love, Sarah xoxo

    1. Thank you so much, Sarah! She just came over and stood there listening. You can see it in the picture – the lamb look at me, but she looks at my car 🙂
      Oh you are so lucky to have the moorhens around. I would watch them for hours too 🙂
      Have a lovely weekend and nice weather! 🙂

      1. Maybe you could have convinced her and her lamb to follow you into your car?;) She surely would have loved to listen to your music all day while you could have had a cuddle with the little one:)
        I´ll try and make some pictures for you next time I go to the park, they won´t be as good as yours of course, but the moorhens should compensate that on their own;) Enjoy the sunny springdays this weekend! Many hugs, Sarah:) xoxo

  5. OMG Inese, you have captured so much, I feel like adding to that mark twain quote and mentioning you. I love them all. The sheep ones are stunning. Who would have thought sheep could be! The castle is wonderful but the one I love best is the row of ‘sheds’ where the weather has changed. Beautiful work.

        1. It is just a small part, a close zoom :). There is a Friary, a church, a mountain, two bridges, the river with a small marina for some 20 boats; sunrise on my left, sunset on my right – I could see it all from my windows 🙂

    2. well, maybe that is what appealed to me– what you saw. That picture just has something. You can show me sweeping rivers and scarlet sunsets, but that picture has something I can’t fathom but is in my head, even when I can’t see it. I am not looking, it isn’t there. Yet I can tell you the colour and the amount of the buildings and where they are. I just love it.

      1. Thank you so much for your very kind comment! I have taken an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures from my windows, just sitting on the window sill 🙂 Those sheds on the other side of the river have a dark flair and a lot of atmosphere.

      2. I think it is good to take lots of pictures of one thing though. Not only will you capture the many changing moods and lights but it increases the chances of getting that special image. These sheds are wonderful. As you say dark flair x

        1. Yes, I used to start my day with a few snaps from my windows 🙂 It is an exercise for photographer to take pictures of the same subject all over again. You are absolutely right, it helps recognize changing moods and hidden features. Thank you so much for your comments! xxxxxx

  6. I thought the photographs with the lambs were going to be my favorites until I got to the one of the sudden rain. I love the way you caught the drops falling on a slant. Great capture! 🙂

  8. Oh, the blossoms on the trees took my breath away. Wisconsin’s weather can be just as mischievous, but there are times when I think we lack the color Ireland wears so proudly. 🙂 Thank you for making my morning!

  10. Fabulous spring photos Inese and so welcome on this wet and windy Friday morning. I love the field of daffodils – pity it’s not there any more. The magnolia trees in Lismore Castle are magnificent. We knew the head gardener there many years ago (he’s retired now) and he gave us a tour of the gardens. It was really lovely to listen to him speak about how he tended each section, we could tell he was passionate about his work. Unfortunately, the inside of the castle was out of bounds – I’m not that close a friend of the Duke of Devonshire. 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Jean! I visited the gardens (on the left side from the gate) some ten years ago, in summer, but I have been in the park on the right side from the gate a good couple of times. I hope the gardens are still tended… The Duke doesn’t let anyone in, yet 🙂 I have no idea what the castle looks like inside. Magnolias must be in bloom now. The flowers are massive, they look almost unreal 🙂

      1. I think that our friend’s son took over when his father retired but in 2014 a new head gardener took over. He’s Darren Topps, formerly of Cornwall’s Eden Project, so I guess the gardens are in good hands. 🙂

        1. Wow! They must pay him a fortune! But the gardens do need a good care. I should go there again one day in summer. There are so many interesting places to visit in Lismore- Cappoquin area, and the road to Youghal is beautiful.

  14. I am fascinated for the variety of greens in these your landscapes… with lemon tones, darker, lighter… Thank you, Inese. : )

    1. Thank you Francis! The landscape changes as the sun moves. The same scene has a different shade of green in a different light. One passing cloud can change the picture, especially in the mountains. The light is such a painter 🙂

    1. Thank you! One of the trees has flowers as big as a dish. I don’t have a good picture because there was a crowd around it 🙂 These pictures were taken on March 22.

  18. “Spring is the morning of the year” – I like that. Your photos make me smile. Your spring is so beautiful compared to ours here on the coast buy we do have sand and unpredictable weather. Happy spring to you!

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