Here Come the Magnolia — The Fleeting Landscape

Some recent snapshots here, all done on iphone, mostly edited with Snapseed.

Early April and some trees were still quite bare this year, all that rain let up slightly and we got to visit Farmleigh , Phoenix Park on one of those cloudy days, the Magnolia leaves glowing against bare branches and grey skies. Despite the tardy damp spring, feeling at last, as if this relentless winter of lockdown maybe easing.

Here Come the Magnolia.Farmleigh Gardens,Dublin.

Mid May and a long bout of low-hanging cloud over Dublin, rain or mist seeping down now for days on end. Us wondering where the summer is gone. Caught this chap passing through a puddle of water off Dame St. I remember thinking on a drenching day like this, wouldn't it lift the spirits to call into the Cobblestone this evening and have a few pints and a natter with a pal, catching the trad session rising and falling in the backround, maybe even cut loose with a song and relieve all that tension that the relentless drip drip of rain brings. Alas such a fantasy, harking back to life before lockdowns! In the meantime, traversing the city through the downpours.

June Bank Holiday weekend and the first trip down the country since last September!! A visit to Helvick Cove, where the more adventurous among us swam out to the rocks without wetsuits despite the cool winds. I, still a reluctant swimmer, just enjoying the sunshine, the deep blues of sea and sky ,the thrill of being on the Waterford coast again. Is iontach an rud é do scíth a ligint ag Cuas Heilbhic ar lá mar seo!

Snámhaithe ag Ceann Heilbhic, Co Phortláirge.

Lupins in June from the orchard in Lismore Castle Gardens. They looked so vivid when the rain eased off and the sun began to break through. It seems to have been a very good summer for lupins somehow, don't know how they could have thrived through all that rain in spring and early summer.

Lupins in the Orchard. Lismore Castle Gardens, Co Waterford.

And lastly a shot from High Rock, Malahide, July, just before all the balmy weather kicked in, a long exposure image from the phone, moody clouds brewing all that humidity over us and my first swim of the year. Have enjoyed the swimming so much this summer!