Mid-summer

In Midsummer now

brightest green and lush

lasting only moments

counting every one

through one half shut eye

 land bathed in light

still promising

so many balmy days

ahead

Also posted on Vision and Verb today

First the fragrance then the fading Roses..........

Paddy was showing me two things. A large common frog and believe it or not a maggot inside the root of a cut dock plant. (Paddy may not be a hundred percent tuned into what I am doing here because he regularly calls me over to see stuff like this when he is digging, saying "Now there's a thing you could be blogging about!!") And it's true of course and I do love beetles, frogs and even maggots sometimes...... 

Then I am reading about "steering clear of the picturesque in art", and I find I just can't take that in. Well I know what Aidan Dunne means, and artists have to have to avoid cliches and romance I suppose, but mere mortals like myself can be seduced by beauty on a regular basis. And so it was today, first I got the fragrance and then the full rose tree, with the classic chocolate box fading blooms, and I couldn't resist. 

The frog will feature later, and he was a fine specimen, but today I am going with these roses, as I know they have never made a public appearance on any chocolate box and to me anyway they are simply beautiful. By the way although I took a hundred and forty nine photos of the maggot, he won't be making a showing, as no matter how I photoshopped him he was grotesque in the extreme, and would certainly frighten the children!

It's Midsummer!

In Sweden they really like to celebrate the summer solstice.  Families and friends gather for special crayfish parties which go on well into the bright night. Swedes are also fond of summer swimming in the inland lakes and at the archipeligo in Stockholm as well as the Baltic Sea. In Ireland we are are very cautious about lake swimming and it was only when my Swedish nephews came to visit me here that I followed their lead and jumped into the lake for the first time.

What amused me most was that we had no running water at the time, (another story) and so they naturally assumed we would bathe and wash in the lake. Without batting an eyelid, they walked off through the meadow, towels draped over their arms and wash bags at the ready! Ten years later I am now a confident lake swimmer. I have even had the pleasure of meeting a large trout eye ball to eye ball when he popped his head out of the water and looked at me for a moment......

Lake swimming is like the best outdoor spa in the world (although to be fair sea-swimming is the very creme de la creme). The water is soft and surprisingly warm and the scent of wild mint trodden underfoot adds to the spa vibe! The sounds are wonderful too, the breeze whistling through the reeds, the lapping of the water on the shore, and the birds and bees joining in. My favourite part is watching the swallows ducking and diving to sip water from the lake while always avoiding your head, or the heron flying across and calling like some prehistoric creature.

This summer solstice I will have a late lake swim to celebrate. I send best wishes to all the inspiring and supportive bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, friends and family who have been supporting my work since I started to blog in February. But a special wave to all my lovely (gorgeous looking) Swedish family and friends, have a wonderful Midsummer Solstice. What will you do to celebrate?