News From the Hill

Posts Tagged ‘Hedgerows’

This spring there were really beautiful whitethorn (hawthorn) flowers to be seen across the countryside.

Our own whitethorns were not as spectacular as last year and I have been told that often happens with flowering or fruiting trees, they seem to rest every now and then.

Whitethorn

Luckily I happened upon some very lovely trees this springs and took some photos….. I hope our trees won’t be jealous!

Here are a few more photos from springtime which I didn’t get around to putting up until now, enjoy…

Daisy and Friend

These are common flowers found in the shelter of hedgerows and easily overlooked if you are moving quickly. Sometimes it really good to slow down and really see what is all around you.

Unfurling Fern

These ferns are now all stretching skyward, drinking in the sunshine and the rain.

Forget Me Not?

Sometimes I am amazed at the ability of a  mobile phone camera to get detail at the macro level. I rarely think to carry my camera when I nip out for a wee stroll however the phone is often in my pocket and it comes in very handy.

I was struck by the beauty of the spring flowers all around me this year and took some photos which I never posted…

Better late than never…

Wild Woodland Bluebells

Pretty as a Picture

Today was just magical outdoors. It was a cold and frosty start to the day with strong sunshine at first which quickly gave way to freezing fog. I had planned a walk today however the fog put me off a bit and I took the easy option of staying in by the stove – after all it had been a very busy week and I was happy to do very little.

In the early afternoon I decided to take a trip into town to get some groceries and get some more peat briquettes for the stove – the weather forecast is for more cold weather. I was glad to be out and about and was enjoying the fresh air with the window open, hat and gloves on.

Everything looked very pretty as I drove downhill and I was surprised to find that the hedges and fields were more heavily frosted the further downhill I went. It was so beautiful that I had to often stop the van to admire the view – unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me so you will have to take my word for it!

Every now and then I would come around a corner and just gasp at the beauty of the frost rimmed trees standing so white against the backdrop of pale green fields or hedges of startling white with the strong green of ivy spotted throughout.

I really wished that I had my camera with me so that I could share the images. The advantage of not having the camera is that I will remember these sights better myself. I know this from previous occasions on which I wished I had a camera, looking at the scene as though planning a shot, wondering about the best angle, breathing it in. Somehow I find that I can be more present without the camera and I do remember the scene better.

The snow is softly falling now and tomorrow is another day filled with beauty to be discovered just around the corner…

I copied these question from another blog so long ago that I cannot remember where I got them – apologies to the blogger who should be getting the credit for them. Thanks to the blogger who gave me the bones for this post.

I imagine that it must have a simple living blog of some sort and I am sure that it was a very good blog if I was reading it

QUESTIONS:
1.Why are you simplifying?
Keep it simple is a piece of good advice that I heard many years ago, you can choose to apply that advice to any aspect of living, I try to apply it to most. Complicated living becomes stressssssfull living – who needs to bring added stress into their lives? I certainly don’t, so I try to keep life as simple as possible, it’s not always easy but it is worth it.
I have never thought of what I am doing as “simplifying”, I am just attempting to keep it simple.

2.What convinced you that you should change how you live?
I am not aware of any sudden change in attitude, I have always had high regard for the environment and was brought up with great respect for nature. My parents both grew up in a time where things were reused whenever possible, recycling had not been invented, it didn’t need to be, people were not well off and made the utmost use of everything, nothing was thrown away. They passed this on to my siblings and myself.

3.What was the first thing major thing you changed?
Moving to a green field site in the countryside gave us the opportunity to live off-grid and learn to build a wind turbine and our own house (on-going project)

4.How do you see yourself changing in the future?
We want to become much more self-sufficient with regard to food and transport. Transport will probably be our biggest challenge living where we do. It is the one major disadvantage to living in an isolated place in Ireland, public transport is very poor still in most parts of rural Ireland.
As we become more independent with regard to food then that will already mean less journeys to town for basic shopping so increasing our food independence may help reduce our reliance on private transport.
I also want to learn more about making use of the woodlands and hedgerows around here and perhaps learn to make rudimentary furniture for our garden.
I would love to have a horse in the future however that would require more land than we have at present so it is not likely to happen anytime soon.
As to more personal changes – I guess that is another post…