Spring is here!

So whatever with you Boston people complaining about your cold and your snow. It's friggin' spring here, and Dublin has had a few really nice days. By spring, I mean, no hat weather, so don't get too excited, it's still jacket weather. But not heavy parka weather. Spring weather! Yesterday I spent a few hours in our back garden, clearing dead growth and rearranging the space to look a little snazzier. Now there's lots of room to grow flowers, some bulbs sprouting, and fiddle heads nearly popping.

On Thursday, my friend Aoife and I took a lovely walk in the Phoenix Park. Despite my many outings to the park, I had never been to the visitor's centre, which has a cute little restaurant. The restaurant was closed, but I will definitely return to sample their fare.

There was also this castle looking building with labyrinthian hedges. The sun was fixing to set, which made our shadows long, so I couldn't resist taking this little photo to commemorate our warm weather walk!

I took another fantastic walk through the Phoenix Park a couple of days ago. There's nothing like walking a few feet from over 50 grazing deer. I tried to take a photo of them, but it was too dark! However I did take a few photos.
The sun setting:


You'd never know from these photos that this is a city park, would you?

These bumps of hay looked like they were little ents being born (that's a Lord of the Rings reference, for those wondering):

The sky was doing it's cool sky thing:

City lights off in the distance, backgrounded by the Dublin mountains:

The old Magazine fort against the darkening sky. It looks haunted!

It was the perfect evening for a walk, even though I did find myself at the magazine fort after dark, realizing I should be hurrying back to the main road!

Today I was cleaning out the photos on my cell phone. I figured I'd post a few that I never got around to posting before.

First off, what I wouldn't do for some Kraft macaroni and cheese. I mean the kind in the box. This is Ireland's version of mac and cheese. Um, ew!













Sometimes you see things in the store and you wonder, what on earth were they thinking when they named this product? And this is was one of those times.

I've been sick for ages! First I had just a mild cold, and then when that was over, I got hit with what appears to be a sinus infection. Every time I think I've gotten it beat, it's like, "Yo, here's a new shipment of snots for ya!" But as happy as I usually am to hermit myself indoors, yesterday afternoon I decided to take myself out for a walk in the park. It was duskish. I walked over to the back of the Dublin Zoo, where you can get a really good look at the seals. One was hanging out on a slab, sunbathing (cloud bathing?), and another two were playing in the water. I tell ya it's really time I got a new camera. My old one takes such bad photos and is so huge that I barely ever bring it anywhere. But my camera takes even worse photos. Anyhoo that won't prevent me from posting this one of the seals:

As I walked through the park's main drag, I noticed the old fashioned lamps and realized that I have never walked through the park at night. I bet it's pretty cool! Even at dusk it gave a nice view of the lights from south Dublin and the hills. I really, really love living so close to the park...
Yes, those are mountains, not clouds.

Today was one of those days that, when I'm old and gray, I'll think back on and say to myself, "What a lovely time that was."

First, I got up early (ok, for me), made breakfast (two poached eggs and two pieces of toast), and then leisurely made my way over to the Phoenix Park Wellington Monument for yoga in the park. I've been wanting to go for months, but I kept forgetting to write it down. So finally this week I made the effort. Holy crap it was so fantastic! First of all, the weather was glorious. I was afraid I'd be too cold, so I layered up before I left the house, but by the time the yoga started, I was nice and toasty. The yoga class was taught by a woman named Fiona who introduced herself to me before the class. By the time it got going, I think there were about 20 people there. I was afraid that I would get a migraine (yoga sometimes does that), but lo and behold, I had a wonderful session, and after the hour was up, I felt fantastic. I took a photo of my yoga mat in front of the monument (objects in the photo are larger than they appear):


So I arrived home, ate lunch (amazing vegan quiche that my live-in chef made yesterday), showered, and then Mark and I headed out for a bike ride to St. Anne's Park, which is only about six or seven miles from our house. Mark's grandfather, the gardener, worked there. The ride there is through Fairview and Clontarf, along the water:

We walked through this meadow, and at the edge of it, there were these knotty trees that looked like ents from Lord of the Rings. I tried to take a photo, but as you know, I only had my cell phone, so of couse you can't see it at all:

Then we came along a little tree swing, so of course I swung:

Then we came upon a little pond, which wasn't very clean, but the ducks seemed happy enough with it. I decided to take a photo, but in the sunshine, it came out a little streaky. I have a sort of embarrassing theory that maybe this photo is slightly otherworldly.

We explored the woods, which had all sorts of little hobbit trails and towers in it, like this old relic:

It had a load of graffiti on it, including the text "Magic Mushrooms are a part of our celtic heritage." Here's Mark debating where we should go next:


Finally, we went to the Rose Garden and settled in for a nice little picnic (including blanket) of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges, and ginger snaps, plus a half bottle of cheap wine left over from yesterday. Here's the view from our spot:

After our gourmet meal, we sat in the sunshine and chit chatted. We reclined, closed our eyes, maxed and relaxed. I took one final photo of the sky and the rose bushes:


We biked back towards home, stopping in town for some tahini, and we actually ran into a friend of ours. I love when that happens to me in Dublin because it makes me truly feel like I live here. I mean, we all know I live here, but sometimes I still feel like a tourist. Heck, I am a tourist. But I also live here. And it's nice to have local friends!

Today was kind of a poop sandwich for the most part, mostly because the day started out with a nice migraine accompanied by vertigo, a foul mood, and an upset stomach. Oh, the joys of chronic migraines! But once that was over, and once I was over being a baby about it, we decided to get out of the house. Even though it's actually quite pleasant in our little back patio. Our landlord has some nice flowers and ivy out there, and then Mark's uncle Billy came by with some hanging plants. He has a real green thumb. Here's Mark catching some rays:

Of course, once we decided to leave the house, it, it looked all cloudy and not the best weather for going to the beach (our original plan). So instead we decided to pay a visit to a place called Farmleigh. Farmleigh used to be owned by the Guinness family, but is now owned by the Public Works and is nicely enfolded in Phoenix Park, which regular readers will know is a five minute walk from our house.

So we set off on the bikes and headed out. Here's the cool thing, though: Mark's grandfather, Alexander Perkins, was a gardener at Farmleigh for many many years! The green thumb runs in the family! And we'd never been to this place we'd heard so much about, not even Mark! So after hearing all the family tales, I was looking forward to having a look.

When we first rode up to the house on the estate, I had to stop and take pictures of the cows. Cows always remind me of where I grew up in New Hampshire. But I'll spare you the photo because they just look like blobs in the grass. But here is the photo I took of the pretty horses:


We passed by a cute little restaurant, but we didn't stop in. However it looks rather reasonable with sandwiches running a fiver. I might stop in next time! The outdoor seating looked inviting.

Once I'd used the estate's facilities, which I was extremely thankful for, we walked around a little. There are sculptures around the grounds, like this one Mark is pondering:


Then we came upon this cool fancy pants garden aka Dutch-Style Sunken Garden. It was like something from a movie! Do you see the topiary peacocks?

Swans are a particularly Irish motif, and this one is interesting to me because of the expression on the swan's face.

And also the cute little bum bum of the cherub:


Then we walked around the walled garden, which has some of the most beautiful flowers I have honestly ever seen. I took two more photos, and then wouldn't you know? My camera battery died!



So I am really excited to go back again, because Farmleigh is less than a 15 minute bike ride from home, and they have tours. I think I may have found my new favorite spot to go. It's enchanting!