Solstice

Across white silence
fog horn's mournful echoing -
shortest, sunless day.


Minus 10 this morning and the snow keeps on coming. A simple walk around the neighbourhood brings so many new things to see.

Birds sheltering in foliage, feathers fluffed for warmth. Trees outlined in startling white, blooming like May time - big wavy branches of Horse Chestnut, smooth limbs of Beech, upright Maple, writhing Cherry.

Furbelows decorate rooves and fences, cars disappear under white hillocks, scraped footpaths are covered again in minutes, the distant hills have vanished.

Sumac, so colourful in autumn, has a few berries left for the birds

Song Thrush amongst crab apples

Carysfort park in the heat of the afternoon

Mandarin Duck, Carysfort park

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More snow fun!!

Snow falls, chaos reigns
Panic throughout Dublin's streets
I'll simply walk home


Another big dump of snow today - started out light, as you can see below, then it looks like nature decided to mess with the Dubliners again. It took me an hour and a half to make about half the journey home on the bus (to UCD from IFSC for anyone who knows Dublin) so I got off and walked. Left the bus far behind.

The first fall of the day

It's actually amazing. At the first sight of snow or ice, drivers panic everywhere. Everyone pretty much ups and leaves their jobs, desperate to get home before anyone else. Most of the time, if someone falls over on a patch of ice, people won't stop to help, because they're too busy fleeing for their homes.

I am possibly a bit too bitter about this, as it happened to me during the last lot of snow and ice a few weeks back. I hit some black ice, went over on my side and no one helped me or even asked if I was ok. And this was when I was full-time in the sling following the shoulder operation, so well done Dubs!


Ahem... rant finished, I promise. Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Again, from this morning

I like this one, looks like it's from the same land as a nightmare before Christmas

Our car on the right, currently hibernating. All of that snow fell today

Looking up the hill towards the N11. You can see people at the roundabout with shovels, helping any cars that get stuck. The road was already pretty much solid ice by this time

The big chill

Bands of cloud, light edged,
behind stark leafless branches.
Fresh snow lies aground.


Thursday last week we saw flattened grass appear through thawed holes in greying ice. By Saturday the world became coloured again - never was grass so vividly green or churned mud so chocolate seeming. But with the return of colour, brilliance fled.

And now, a week later, not quite rid of the vestiges of our last icing, we are frosted again. Sodden ground is now frozen stiff (is this an iron frost ?) and snow lies gently like icing sugar, in a light layer. Only a couple of light falls in Dublin, nothing compared to much of the country and the rest of Europe but without any warmth during the short days, it stays.

Footprints of a foraging magpie

And yes, I am dreaming of a white Christmas...


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And still it snows...

I like the silence
of snowflakes gently drifting
- my boots sink deeply

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Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes...

Tyre tracks in the snow
cutting through the white blanket
I wear a huge grin

Quiet time

Skeletal remains
of trees, once full-leaved and green
bend before grey skies.


As the nights close in and the frosts linger later and later, it is time to cook up a big pot of minestrone. Hearty and warm, chasing the winter chills away.

No expeditions for the next few weeks at least as Neil recovers from his shoulder surgery (still two more weeks before he can lose the sling/straightjacket) but we can still appreciate the local beauty - the last few golden leaves hanging on tenaciously, mushrooms popping up  in sheltered corners, trees stretching gracefully bared limbs toward heavy grey skies.

Bare of leaf but buds ready for spring

A splash of colour in an increasingly grey world

Last golden leaves strung out like a line of washing

Knotted silver birch bole in late afternoon sunlight

Westering sun and ragged remains of birch leaves

And so, home to defrost cold fingers, to warm bread and hot soup, to snuggle up with a good book. Fingers crossed for snow...

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Work Days

Wild rain on my face,
a humdrum day is transformed
when I ride to work

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