Listening to Radio Four news over the weekend I was very surprised to hear coverage of the Anti Water Charges marches which have taken place here in Ireland, seldom does the BBC cover news relating to Ireland. What made this reporting even more surprising was the BBC's total lack of reporting on the UK's Anti-austerity march which took place in London back in June. It was something that they must have found hard to ignore given that that march started outside Broadcasting House in London. I just wonder who made that decision or was it a gagging order from No. 10 ? One thing is for sure, if you want real news don't look to the mainline media to deliver.
The weather is now decidedly changeable, warm sunshine followed by heavy rain, but so far no frosts, we are still getting ripe tomatoes from the tunnel, this is the latest we have ever picked them and that is including when we lived in Spain.
The cauliflowers and calabrese are giving far better heads now than the summer grown ones, and the Roses continue to bloom alongside
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| White foxgloves with Rose Campion in the background. |
Foxgloves an early summer flower ,and Rose Campion a midsummer plant, also blooming are Chrysanthemums and Nasturtiums.
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| Fresh from the garden. |
Three seasons flowers all rolled into one.
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| Little by little it's getting there. |
A little more headway has been made on the straw bale project, more grass turf has been added to the roof but any hope of finishing it this year has now gone, we can probably lime wash it but the pargetting will have to wait for warmer weather again as lime putty requires 60f to go off, still we will be able to use the building once we have decided what we are using it for.
Wednesday is supposed to be D day for the front porch to be completed but as we were told that it was ready last week we won't hold our breath, I just hope the double glazer doesn't upset the builder with yet another change of date.
As Autumn slowly moves towards winter the seed catalogues begin to arrive, I will be resisting ordering new varieties, seldom are they truly an improvement and we have saved a lot of our own seeds this year including tomato seeds, I might get tempted to try another variety of first early potatoes though, not that there is anything wrong with the ones we have grown for the past three years except we can't remember what variety they are.
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| Upper Lough Macnean. |
A day trip out to Enniskillen gave us a chance to explore the area around Marble Arch caves, one day we will go into the caves but on this particular day there was a coach load of children visiting.
It is a very beautiful area, with lots of lakes and an interesting geology,
time seems to have stood still around here with a landscape changed only by farming. A day out is never complete without a picnic so I made some
Spanakopita, (spinach and feta cheese pasties) to take for the picnic plus a couple slices of Dorset Spiced Apple cake,
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| Plenty of holly berries for the birds. |
we prefer to take food with us and find a nice spot with views and the sound of silence rather than visit what normally turns out to be a mediocre café where other customers feel they have to share their 'phone conversations with everyone around them.
Anne, i am in agreement that the news is definitely flavoured by who owns the media. The good thing about the internet and blogging is that we are not censored. I've learnt a great deal about real life in the UK with the austerity measures and the food banks and when i tell people that we are indeed the lucky country im sure they dont quite believe what im telling them because its not reported at all here. My son believes America is like that portrayed on TV and wants to live there. Little does he know what life is like for the average person.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up in the country without newspapers, TV and spending most of our time outside, i am still surprised by things that i come across on the net. My friend tells me i grew up in a bubble - well i liked that bubble.
Ireland looks exactly as imagined, all rolling green hills with craggy rocks, lakes, streams and historic sites. I enjoy your trips but im missing the sound of your accent for the full experience.
Hi Lynda, I don't know if you are familiar with the quote ' The news is what we say it is' This statement was made by Fox News back in 1998, Monsanto had threatened to sue Fox News if they aired a program made by two of it's journalists regarding the use of a growth hormone given to dairy cattle to promote more milk. The program was never aired and the two journalists were sacked by Fox News. There is no doubt who waged that dogs tail.
DeleteIreland is a truly beautiful country, we try to explore as much of it as we can, but you would be disappointed in our accents, definitely English.
I can recommend Marble Arch caves, they're well worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos and the Spanakopita looks very tasty. :-)
One day Deb we will make it into the caves, when we lived nearer to them we just never had the time, now we are further away we will have to make time!
DeleteThe Spanakopita pasties sound wonderful, Anne. We often make meat and potato pasties. They remind me of Cornwall. I always wanted to live there or Herefordshire.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm making beef stew I keep back some of the seasoned meat add potato and onion and make pasties for the freezer, left over chicken is also turned into pasties, great when you suddenly decide to have a day out to have ready made food in the freezer. Another good one is Country Pie, half and half sausage meat and minced beef, add some onion, seasoning and make into pasties, good hot or cold.
DeleteYou are absolutely right about the news! I went on some protests when I was at uni and they would state that there was a tenth of the people there. Bizarre when you have photos of Trafalgar square completely packed, Scary.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers and photos are so beautiful...as are those pasties! yum!
Straw bale looks good though! It can be mine and Jasons house when we come and live in your garden, hehe!