Daily photo challenge round up (week 4)

Oh my lovelies, I can't apologise enough for my absolute forgetfulness; it's shameful and believe me I am writing this with my head hung. I still haven't written about the allotment from 2? weeks ago and last weekend we did more hiking which I have neglected to get blogged for prosperity!

I need to go on an intravenous caffeine dip or I'll never get stuff done...

HOWEVER it is Friday (again!!) and thus it is time for a daily photo prompt round up in association with Fat Mum Slim.

We've come to the end of our alphabet and towards the end of the month - eek!. It's been enjoyable and I think I may be getting my camera groove back 😀 The last few days are non-alphabet prompts, as you will see here with 'Words' being today's prompt.

 U is for Unicorn talisman; always on my backpack.

V is for a View of the Virginia Creeper through the Viewfinder of a Vintage camera 😀

W is for Woven.

 X is for, well an X. Cross stitched with many little x stitches to make up the whole.

 Y is for the Yellow signs we followed all along the Cumbria Way this spring.

Z is for Zen-like (how I feel when meditating with my Tibetan singing bowl)

Words...of encouragement spray painted on the tarmac 🤗

And there we have it for another week. I endeavour to my fingers tippy tapping on the keyboard more this week coming and catch up on myself. 

HUGS

Carrie x

Ulster Way Hike - Ring of Gullion (pt 2)

Saturday 19th

In the car we hummed and ha-ed about the weather, it being rather cold but now raining on top of that, which we hadn't expected. It was time to pull into a garage and get a coffee in our new fancy Keep Cups and have a think...

"Well fortune favours the brave" said I, "who dares wins" said Andrew and on we went; the Ring of Gullion required a good conquering beneath our boots.

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Slieve Gullion from Jonesborough

Jonesborough, is where we started again (as with pt 1) parking in the village car park. It didn't take us long to get ready and start the hike, the weather here being lovely, cold yes but blue skies poking through.

Moyry Castle

It was a lovely narrow road walk surrounded by farms and great views to get to our first point of call; the 17th century Moyry Castle (fort). What a surprise and what a situation, up on a hill with commanding views all a round for miles on end. It defended 'The Gap of the North', the main direct north-south route in Eastern Ireland. Truly, it had so many gun loops.

the best bit where I felt able to take my camera out

On again along lovely lush high sided lanes until we arrived at a battlefield; here all the trees had been cut down in a sweet bit of forest that looks so good on the map. Left behind was a mess of bog, holes and branches and brambles. We found it hard to get ourselves out the other side, thank goodness for the map app on Andrew's phone!

the border!

I was glad to get back onto the little roads, crossing over the border and back I don't know how many times. At one point Andrew used his phone map and we watched ourselves cross the line on the map - it was denoted by nothing more than a bit of hedge on one side in real life. Lovely.

* I have to keep reminding myself that I felt pretty good - all the beautiful little ruined farm steads, the views, the lush plants and now horses and donkeys! *

Awesome fungi - wood ears and ?

Making me smile now was my most favourite part of the walk - a trail round a ruined house, past a friendly horse in his paddock, down to a river with another gorgeous old house and some awesome fungi, a hibernating ladybird and lots of coconut in the air - gorse. It was heavenly.

At other end and we found ourselves in Forkhill. Here we stopped for a small pint and some crisps in The Welcome Inn (which we discovered a little late was for members only). They were very nice though and on leaving they wished us luck with our mountains, haha.

On the walk out of Forkhill we came across one of the most joyous experiences ever - 14 donkeys in the one huge field. We stood there for some time just admiring them, then had to drag ourselves away and on along the main roadway.

At a right turn onto a lane we met another donkey - more feisty and demanding attention; just gorgeous.

Then we began our slow and agonising ascent up the side of Slieve Gullion (so many false summits!). That's when it all started to metaphorically down hill - the drizzle started. Soon it was heavy and we stopped to put away the camera and put on our coats; we had climbed up into a cloud. Soon came heavier water drops and we (still climbing upwards) had to stop again and put on our water proof trousers and for me, take off my glasses - they were useless.

Miserably wet and now in some difficulty with seeing at all we slowly but surely made our way to the Slieve Gullion Forest Park - yay! Here we found coffee and toilets and a hand dyer which I used almost everywhere but my hands!!

Andrew did a map for us all - hugs Andrew x

It had been exhausting but after finishing our coffee it was only a mile to the bus stop. Back in the relative comfort to our car the heating was turned right up. We had done it (13.5 miles) and now it was time to go home and have a very warm shower.

Love and hugs
Carrie

The First Day of 2019

 On Christmas Eve Andrew, Toby and I went for a walk around the boundary trail of Castle Ward, (the National Trust site). I was in so much pain with my hip and back that we had to cut it short but nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves and got rather muddy. Plus it made for a good appetite later on.

It was a great excuse to use our new Millican backpacks that Andrew bought in a flurry of infatuation a few weeks before Christmas.

You see, sometimes you need a backpack but don't want to take your sporty hiking one and then drag it around all day in and out of lovely cafes etc. Instead, why not have a gorgeous, long lasting, hand sewn, recycled bag of utter style and wonderfulness?

I have the Rust Smith Roll Pack 15 L with pockets (Andrew's is a 25 L smith Roll pack in Tarn) and they have a multitude of pockets, internal organisation to place special things and a secret laptop sleeve and even a chest strap and hip belt if you wanted to go up a mountain with it. But to me it is a truly stylish, going to cities and taking photos, writing notes and reading a book kind of bag - too pretty for messing about on hill sides.

I also had my new 500 ml Chilly's water bottle (which I have used loads since I got it around the same time - it fits in most handbags too and I always need water on a trip out - dry mouth syndrome, from my medication). I LOVE this as it's reusable, it keeps my water hot for 12 hrs or cold for a whole day and yet the outer shell stays at room temperature the whole time = no condensation, plus it's totally leak proof :) They come in many colours and finishes and in 3 sizes - 260 ml, 500 ml and 750 ml.

I got mine here - Amazon Chilly's Reusable Water Bottle

The matte finish makes it so easy to open with cold be-gloved hands  and feels lovely to ungloved ones too:) 

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Then on New Years Day we did the same thing, only without Toby this time. It turned out to be a drier walk and unlike the first trip I was in the mood for taking some photographs.

Thus began my new-ish obsession with photographing fungi. I have always been drawn to moss and ferns but recently I'm taking more notice of the fun array of fungi we come across on our hikes so I am collecting them in photo form.

I'm hoping to walk more here, ideally once a month or every other month (we are still tackling the Ulster Way and wish to finish it this year). I'd love to document the place change over the months and take photos of my nature highlights. I hope you enjoy these from the 1st of January..

left - dark mushroom I have only ever seen in or near cow poop

right - look at those colours! the lichen in this area is beautiful too, the bracket fungus is very wiggly here :)

left - bulbs! I think they're snowdrops as I think I remember lots in this area before
right - just an idea of the beautiful pathways through the forests

left - a single fern leaf and ivy (my faves too)

right - tiny wee mushrooms 'common inkcaps'? I must get a book on them

Left - love this hedge of twisted trees, I look forward to see them change throughout the year

Right - bracket fungus and beautiful moss

left - dead men's fingers fungi

right - gorgeous starry moss with thousands of water droplets :)

(Sorry - I don't know why my descriptions are playing up like this but I can't seem to fix it!! 😩)

Hugs and love

Thanks in sharing my first blog of the new year and hopefully this walk will become a lovely tradition

Carrie xx

My Festive Belfast

Well you can't expect a girl to miss out on the fun of the festive season and devote herself only to the cold and damp allotment or an arduous hike in the wilderness! No this girl must be free to explore the urban sights and scenes too 😁. Just because I'm not a fan of Christmas with its societal pressures, need to spend money to show love and the pretence that your mental illnesses have gone for the holidays, doesn't mean I don't love me a sparkly, twinkly decorated place, like the next person....

So yesterday was a clear and chilly day which we grabbed by both hands and went to Belfast with our cameras. I'm really loving street photography, I wouldn't say it's easy or I'm an good but here are some of my photos. Make a wee warm drink, grab a blankie and let the warm and fuzzy feels start...

My favourite hotel entrance ever - love that mural and those doors!

Bangor Rugby Club singing carols for charity - topless!

the first gorgeous wee dog I saw with her owner

Favourite shop window - love the retro paper chains

Into the Continental Market with it's many stalls and tall people 

Little detail on the stall front at a wood carvers

The Helter Skelter seemed loved by young and old

Second wee dog of the afternoon - cute

Roasting marshmallows on an open fire - a happy memory for the future

Being a stall holder can make you a little 'humbug' I know I ran one for years

Never a truer word was written 😊 🐕

Last stunning dog of the day, chillin' with its owner

Massive German sausages were the go to food for most - they're huge!

The Helter Skelter reflected in a bar window with the words 'Nollaig Shona' (Happy Christmas in Irish)

There we go for now. We had a great time and though Andrew works close to the City Hall where the Continental Market is held, we both want to go up again one night soon and take more cherry twinkly photos and maybe meet some more dogs.

Love and hugs

Carrie

Can we do the weekend over again??

To begin with, the GOOD NEWS.... 

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Bless us all but the past few days have been sensationally uninteresting in the main part, I shall tell one part of it here but boy am I glad that brighter and cheerier (fingers crossed) days are ahead....

Toby sniffing my new Millican 'Smith, the roll pack'  adventure photo day rack sack - so beautiful

Saturday saw us get all hopped up and ready to go on an adventure into Co. Down with our cameras and Toby too of course. But lo, the weatherman had got it wrong again and instead of the promised, yes promised, blue skies and cold brisk air we had dampness - rain, drizzle, mizzle, hailstones! at one point, a cold that cut you to the bone and a sky that never cheered up all day long.

We also made the heinous mistake of going to Ardglass - a place that once boomed with fishing industry and beautiful boats and now, especially in this weather was dull and gloomy with a low tide and nothing worth looking at. I took a photo of an open door for crying out loud! Plus sometime after this, my camera lens malfunctioned, not that I was to know about it yet....

This, this is the last thing I took a photo of and why? why I ask you? It's not even a good photo!

Onto Strangford which I do love but again the weather and the already gathering darkness had turned into a place of equal sadness and despair in my eyes. But here there was a lovely cafe/bistro with warm cosy feels. After ordering a mocha - for medicinal reasons. I went to take a photo of the loveliness and our drinks and lo - the malfunctioning lens showed itself.

Zoom past the next 45mins and my sudden and complete descent into Hades itself and you find me in a high rise car park, in the dark, waiting for Andrew who had taken my camera into the specialists in Belfast. The lens has to be sent away - I disintegrate. Depression does a really good job of making annoying problems turn into massive natural disasters; my life isn't worth living without my camera and the lens will take up to 6 weeks to be assessed and reported on.

Andrew decided I needed a lens and there was one that I would have eventually saved up for right there at half price. There were many people running in and out of the shop whilst he was there buying them and he picked up the last one and rang me. "YES I NEED THAT!" I cry down the phone, waking Toby who was oblivious to all of this drama.

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And thus, here I am with a new lens on my camera and my 'old' lens (still under warranty) being sent off goodness know where.

Truly, a bump like that to a person in my mental condition can be so dangerous and still at the heart of it, ridiculous. That's what these illnesses do a person and Sunday was a write off as I slept all day due to Saturday's panic and the much need sedatives to stop me from doing harm to myself.

Andrew and Toby collected some delicious kale and chard from the allotment on Sunday and made a wonderful dinner. Photos taken with new 50mm prime lens....

Here's hoping your weekend was nothing like mine at all! May it have been all happy and lightness xx
Love and hugs
Carrie

P.S. Let's just circle back to the news I gave at the start, especially as I have had the daylight simulation bulb on since I got up today - the winter solstice is coming, hip hip hooray! 😃

National Dogs' Day

To celebrate National Dogs' Day I thought I would share some photographs of yesterday's hike from Ballynure to Ballyboley Forest and back with Andrew and TOBY!

Having completed this actually ticks the Antrim Hills off our Ulster Way Walk and thus tips us over the half way mark of the Ulster Way in total - yippee! And who cares about the absolute agony it had me in - I am crushing the Way under my very sore back and blistered foot *insert maniacal laughter here*

So, the photographs...

 the mid way point and finally the sun comes out - hurrah! This was our view, our wee country isn't so bad, right? we had walked from the lowest point in the valley to here, all up hill!

 Collages of some of the beautiful scenes I captured on the way back down 

My beautiful boy - he loves walking in the long grass verges

My best wishes for a happy Bank Holiday Monday. We are hoping to go hiking again - crazy I know, but you only live once 😉

Hugs Carrie x