Saturday PhotoHunt - Furry.

Yes, this cactus is furry, honest!
Very furry - between the spikes!

For more sensible furry photos, or to join the PhotoHunt fun, visit TNChick.

Happy Hunting!

Awards

I've been honoured with more awards!

This lemonade stall came from Jientje.
If life gives you lemons - make lemonade!

And this came from Debbie.

They are both such fun, and such delightful things to receive.

I know I should pass them on to more friends by name, but how do I choose just a few? It's not very long since I did that before, and I found it so hard.
So this time I'm passing these on to all of you, all my lovely friends who keep visiting me even when I don't return the visit.
I love you all, so these awards are for all of you!

True Colours Thursday - Pink.

This week's colour is
PINK.
Pink is a name applied to a variety of shades.

The frosty pink of a January dawn.

The pale pink of an early clematis flower.

There are many pinks in this double daisy.

And of course there's the dianthus, otherwise known as the Pink.

A pink rose.

A purply-pink foxglove.

I'd be lost without my garden flowers - can't wait for them to bloom again!

This fun meme is hosted at My True Colours. Participants are linked in the sidebar. Why not find some pink and join in?

ABC Wednesday, Round 4 - B.

Continuing my stroll around Dungloe, right down the bottom end of Main Street, here are some
BUTTRESSES
on the
BRIDGE.

The
BANK of Ireland
(BANC na hEireann)
building,
with two benches outside to enjoy the sunshine.

And here we have
BOYLE Bros BUTCHERS
next door to the
BUTTER ROCK Restaurant.

Right at the top of Main Street is the Old Chapel, and outside it is this
BELL
which still rings the Angelus twice a day.

That's all I have for B - more next week.

ABC Wednesday was started by Denise Nesbitt.
To join the fun post your contribution, visit the Linky page, and sign in.

Monochrome Monday

An experiment in portraiture.

Monochrome Monday is hosted by Aileni.
Participants sign in on the Linky.
Why don't you join us?

Saturday PhotoHunt - Chipped.

In 1990 we packed our family of five children aged (12 years down to 5 years) into a minibus for the two-day journey from Wales to Ireland. We were in the process of moving from a Welsh council estate to an almost deserted island just off the shore of north-west Ireland.
We travelled with sleeping-bags, many changes of clothing, favourite toys and treasures, food, drink... We also had unbreakable enamelled plates, bowls and cups.
Most of these utensils no longer exist, but I still have two cups.
The enamel is rather
chipped.

More chipped photos can be found by visiting TNChick's attractive new pages. Why not come and join the fun?

Happy Hunting!

True Colours Thursday - Turquoise.

This week's colour is Turquoise.
Now that's a colour that always confuses me, so I'm playing for safety.
Here, from my goody-box, is a small silver-mounted turquoise pendant and ten tiny turquoise beads just 4mm in diameter.

True Colours Thursday is hosted at My True Colours.
It's simple and fun.

ABC Wednesday, Round 4 - A.

I've decided on a complete change for this round.
I'm taking you on an alphabetic tour of my locality, all within easy strolling distance from home.
I'll start in Main Street, Dungloe.

This is Arthurs
(I write the name as seen on the building.)
Nice medium-priced jewellery and gifts, nothing to break the bank.

And there's a bank opposite, on the other side of the road.

The Allied Irish Bank.
But the door is closed, so maybe I'd better just go home.

This is the sign on the fence at the end of our road.

Ard Mor
(Ard - Rise, High ground; Mor - Large)

ABC Wednesday was started by Mrs Nesbitt.
More participants can be found through the Linky page.
Why don't you join the fun?

Two Fer Tuesday.

Two pictures taken yesterday during our annual snowstorm.

A robin near the house...

...taking a lunch-break!

Two fer Tuesday is hosted by Jonna.
Sign in with her if you want to join the fun.

Odd Shots On Monday

I want to apologise to those of you who left me kind comments last week and didn't get a response. I've been lagging far behind (again!) but I should be back to normal visiting very soon. Thank you all for continuing to put up with me.

I like this photo because the reflection is actually of deep red cyclamen but it reflects brown because of the leaves in the bowl. It reminds me of a castle painted in sepia shades. It's also upside-down!

This is the original photo, cyclamen and fence reflected in the bird-bath.

Odd Shots on Monday is hosted by Katney.
She is also having Linky trouble, so entries are available through her comments.
Come and join the fun.

Monochrome Monday

I want to apologise to those of you who left me kind comments last week and didn't get a response. I've been lagging far behind (again!) but I should be back to normal visiting very soon. Thank you all for continuing to put up with me.


Monochrome Monday is hosted by Aileni.

More participants can be found on the Monochrome Maniacs page - as long as the Linky keeps working!

Come and join the fun.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Hat(s).

This week's theme for the Saturday PhotoHunt is Hat(s).

I thought of the various hats that languish in my wardrobe.
I thought of the hat displays in my local shop.
I thought of the numbers of different hats owned and worn with style by my wee granddaughter.
Then I realised that the perfect example was standing by my bed, scaring night-time troubles away.

This delightful scarecrow was knitted for me, a couple of years ago, by my second daughter.

Here's a close-up of his hat.

As you can see, he makes room for a mouse to live in comfort.

For more hats, visit TNChick.

Happy Hunting.

True Colours Thursday - Black.

True Colours Thursday this week features
BLACK

I have so many black things around me, but very few photos of them. I should use my camera right now, but time is very short. I'll just have to use what I have available.

This is my camera, shortly after I started using it.

And this is a rather black photo I took with it from my back door.

True Colours Thursday is hosted by Poopsie at My True Colours. Other participants can be found through her blog.

ABC Wednesday - Z.

This is the day we've been waiting for - the end of the alphabet.
Yes, we've reached the letter Z.

Z
is for
ZIRCON

Now, I'm not talking of cubic zirconium, the sparkly synthetic diamond substitute. No, this is the naturally occurring crystal.

My sample is an unworked example, about an inch in diameter. I've tried to show the brown crystals in the stone - they're easier to see if you enlarge the pictures- but it wasn't an easy thing to photograph!

ABC Wednesday was started by Mrs Nesbitt 18 months ago, although I've only participated for the last year. Now I have to decide on a theme for the next round - oh yes, I'll be back next week with letter A again!
For more participants this week, visit the Anthology site or follow the links on the Linky Page. And most of all - have fun!

Monday!

This week I'm combining Monochrome Monday with Odd Shots on Monday.

Please visit Aileni and Katney for more examples of these memes.

Friendship

My dear friend Barbara has passed this lovely friendship award on to me.
I've mentioned before how much I enjoy the friendships I've made through blogging, and this award celebrates those friendships.

It comes with the following instructions:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I can certainly go along with that!
My difficulty is to restrict the recipients to eight.
It's made a little easier (in some ways) by the fact that Barbara and I share some friends, so I really need to take them out of the reckoning.

And then I discover that I've taken too long to publish my list. Another dear friend has beaten me to it and given me the award a second time. I'm truly honoured to have so many great friends.
Thank you so much for those kind words, Seev, even if you did take yourself and Kate out of the running!

I'm keeping my list to eight, just the same, and here they are:
Damama - loving, and with a heart as big as the world
Liz - amusing, thoughtful, caring, Welsh
Daryl - such a sense of humour!
Poopsie Blue - photographer and dog-lover
Dr John - fellow dragon-lover and a wonderful person
Jane - glorious wildlife photos, and a good friend
Siani - another Welshwoman, always friendly
Nydia - a love, busily starting a new life.

So that's it, folks. So many more friends on my list, and I love you all.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Aftermath.

The theme this week, for TNChick's PhotoHunt, is
Aftermath.
The word has several meanings, but I've chosen to illustrate an individual definition - the consequence or result of an action.

These two collared doves were seen two days ago, mating on the roof of our bird table. The early aftermath appears to be fluffed-up togetherness. No doubt the later aftermath will be a nest-full of eggs. They look very pleased with themselves!

To see more takes on the theme, or to join in the fun, visit TNChick's comments page.

Happy Hunting!