seasons

This post was written in May 2015, but something new came up, and the post was left in draft until I found it this week, and rewrote it, and added some new pictures to fit the season. The opening photograph was taken in Kilmokea Country Manor House, the best place for event photography around here.

The real horses belong to Kildalton Agricultural college. The college offers 18 courses, including Farm Management, Horsemanship, and my favorite Plant Identification & Use. I took the pictures in spring – the time of rejuvenation of life.

This Wisteria grows in beautiful College park.

I am not sure if the rapeseed field is a college property, but it lays right across the road.

Short Irish summer is not worth to mention 🙂

You wouldn’t notice a difference between July and October anyway 🙂

This horse is posing in front of a cottage in Connemara in the end of October.

These two snack on hay in the paddock at the foot of Slievenamon mountain in December.

The last leaves are still hanging on.

Sometimes an occasional sun beam breaks through the fog…

… but ‘Winter turns all the Summer’s love to grey… Winter takes what the Summer had to say’…

Seasons come and go.

I took pictures of a semi-wild horse in winter. These are less fortunate – hairy horses with narrow eyes live outdoors most of the year.

This post is supposed to be about horses, as the title says, but you know how it is with the internet – many titles are misleading, and many contents cannot be trusted.

The truth is that there are other farm animals grazing on the mountain slopes. Like cows. Some of them spend nights under the roof in a warm shed, but some stay outdoors for almost a year. The ‘wild’ cows grow a coat to stay warm.

These cows live at the foot of the Comeragh mountains in Clonmel, and walk up and down the steep slope every day.

There are also sheep in the mountains, white dots. They look so very lonely in this picture, taken in the middle of February.

I used to hike for hours, but I have never seen different kinds of animals fight with each other. I mean, I have never seen a horse kick a sheep, or a cow attack a deer, or a sheep give chase to a rabbit. If it is not food, they let it be.

I wish all of us were wise enough to control our tendencies towards hate and aggression; towards being irritable, demanding and petulant. I wish we didn’t waste our time on being a smaller individual than we have the potential to be.

I also wish that all political leaders demonstrate the best in judgment as they govern their countries, and never encourage their people to raise a hand against another human being, regardless of their race, political views, or anything else.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! xx

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Camellia, Lismore Castle garden.

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

The weather changes in a matter of minutes.

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

…or build a 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 😉

Have a wonderful weekend!