Meanwhile back on planet earth

The backsides of two bullocks grab the warm morning light and become walking terracotta canvasses. They rustle the swan into alertness and she glances over her shoulder as they pass.

Not too many more trips around the sun before we will slow into winter, and this morning I am back on planet earth savouring the moment. There are so many people to thank and acknowledge, so many kind messages to respond to. What does it feel like to win Best Photography Blog? Unsettling has to be the word!!!

For now thanks to the Blog Awards organisers Lorna, Amanda and Beatrice for a fantastic event and to Damien O Cearbhuil Photography sponsor of the Best Photography Blog Category.

Congratulations to my friend Dee of Greenside Up who swept the boards and who kept me a seat at the "Outdoor" table of friendly wellie wearing types where I felt so at home!!

Later I will try to share more of the story with you all. To be honest it's all a bit overwhelming..........but that's me.........and it will take a few more long walks before I fully absorb it!

Meanwhile back on planet earth.......she seems to be saying to me, slowly, slowly..........take it all slowly........

Rabbit, headlights.

It was so good of you all to put me into the final of the Blog Awards 2013  Thank you! What can I say?

For about 30 seconds after I heard the news I was delighted, but then performance anxiety set in and I wanted to go right back into the burrow and hide! Rabbit, headlights.

Immediate next thought? What kind of rabbit would have to be pulled from the hat for my next blogpost?  Nothing would be good enough.

It was all rabbits, burrows, hats and headlights. That's when this pheasant came striding out of the long grass. He puffed himself up, strutted up to my window and the cheeky divil even winked at me saying, look at me, just LOOK at ME!

I didn't wish he was less of what he is, or a bit more rabbity, or a bit less in my face. I lapped him up, his crimsons and golds, his feathery coat, his cock sure command of the world. We are what we are.

The rabbit in the headlights moment has mercifully passed, I have a subject for this week's blog and I didn't even have to lie out in a wet field to capture the photos.





More golden colour in the Autumn Gallery here

The tangy orange of the Blog Awards 2013

The cafe near Coumenoule

The lush Montbretia hedgerows of the Dingle Penninsula

The Surf School in Inch

Mr Orange Shorts in Coumenoule

Does all this orange clash horribly with the foxglovish purples on this page? Yes...... but it goes nicely with the new Blog Awards badge which you will find there on the sidebar! Thanks for the nominations in the Best Photography Blog and Best Great Outdoors categories. Here's to night out on the town if the whole shebang shakes down in my favour. Congratulations to all the other wonderful Irish Bloggers who were also long listed, I nominated a few myself.

Once you keep an eye out for orange it is uncanny how often you will then see it. Last week on the annual jaunt to Kerry it was there in the quirky cafe on the a cliff above Coumenoule on the Dingle Penninsula.  We had breakfast of Rhubarb Tart and Cream like your Granny used to make, at the table of your dreams, with a view to die for. In case you are wondering what it is called, there is a sign which simply says CAFE.......

You could also easily die in the crashing waves on the beach there! The call of the wild Atlantic seems to outweigh any fear and the water's edge is dotted with risk takers of all ages. I stopped swimming enthusiastically in Coumenoule a number of years ago when I took a thrashing in a washing machine like three waves in a row. Be sure to keep a close eye and a tight grip on your offspring, or cut a dash in orange shorts......

Those orange flags are of the Surf School in Inch where we usually manage to get a swim on the way home from the west. But most of all the endless bulging hedgerows of Kerry, a blaze of orange in the late summer with the beautiful wild flower Montbretia absolutely everywhere.....magic......

Best of luck to all my blogging friends and take a peek at my new blog one half shut eye which is nominated in the Best Newcomer Blog Category......