Thanks for your photos Philip. I'm away from our home dogs for a while and I really miss taking them for walks. So I can vicariously experience walking Molly through your photos!
Frank,..delighted you enjoy seeing the 'Old Sod',..i always imagine scenes in my pictures will remind you of your area,..those old metal gates painted red,..or the rusty ones,..secured to the post in different ways,..of course with the dogs will bring it all home to you,..first thing i did when i came home after a nine year working period in England was to walk through green fields,..nothing like it
At the beginning of the 'Nature Walk',..a friend lives there,..every year he plants an old boat with a nice splash of blooms,..'Red Begonias'.
We are having a heatwave here,..looks like its similar in most parts of the world just now,..ours is as below. That's in the garden,..outside is pretty similar,..walking the dog isn't comfortable. The grass is much taller,..one could lose a dog. A change from Buttercups now,.. to Filipendula ulmaria 'Meadowsweet' also named 'Meadworth',..it gives off a sweet vanilla like scent all over the meadows,..Bluegrass in the distance. Want the river.
As it was a beautiful day,..warm with just a slight breeze,..i decided to walk along the canal road down to the river,..as mentioned before this is a long walk but with the heat rising up from the road and the sound of birds singing plus the wonderful scent coming from the meadows,..Meadowsweet,..Honeysuckle and Mint,..Molly the dog and myself were enjoying ourselves. No traffic on this road so a dog can walk and sniff to hearts content. Soooooo i decided to cross the canal bridge,..Molly always follows me across. Oops not this time,..i heard a splash looked over the bridge and there was Molly swimming across the canal. Not such a bright idea,..though i could understand,..its a nice way to cool off,..however the bank is VERY steep on the far side,..Molly managed to get into the reeds then found she couldn't progress further and hung there until she fell head over heels back into the water,..she tried going along the bank but was getting her back legs stuck in the mud,..panic!,..i thought i would have to get in the water and help her out,..not a good idea as the mud is deep and one would get stuck,..luckily Molly got afloat and swam back,..well muddy of course,..so down to the river to swim off the mud. Coming out of the reeds. Nice view. Muddy view. Hay being cut. Mud washed off.
Phew! That was a close one Molly. I would definitely panic a bit so I'm glad she decided to swim back before she was too tired. You can tell that she loves the water and who would blame her with fantastic weather like that. Yes this group of photos definitely made me homesick, especially when I saw the round bales.
I spent about 2 years living in Ireland, so I can relate to the beautiful nature there. Mostly I stayed in west cork, but also Galway and Dublin and Wexford. Ireland was where I realized that I wanted to be a gardener.
Oh dear Molly nearly came a cropper didn't she? Not that it seems to have bothered her too much as she's still grinning from ear to ear even when she's covered in mud. You have some wonderful scenery around you Philip and a road without traffic is something you certainly don't see very often.
Frank its not too long ago since the Town Council dug out the canal making it deeper and the sides steeper,..i knew Molly couldn't make it up the side along there,..near where the canal meets the river she could,..no point in my shouting at her to come back,..she being stone deaf,..when she gave up trying to climb,.. the back legs must have let her down and she fell into the water getting stuck in the mud,..by pure luck she sorted herself and swam back,..the canal is very low at present,..warm weather. Ah yes the round bales,..familiar sight just starting around here just now,..in fact that was the first. ==================================================================================== Odif,..soooo you spent almost two years over here,..Galway,..Cork,..Wexford and Dublin,..you got around and that's where you realized you wanted to become a gardener,..must be all the greenery not the rain ,..well you sure did become a great gardener,..i hope you enjoyed your visit here. ==================================================================================== Eileen,..when things started to go wrong i headed down to where i took the pictures of Molly swimming back,..not too sure if it was to encourage her to come back to where i was and where she set out from,..or was i intending to go in to help her,..it was acting on instinct,..thankfully i didn't have to go in,..it would not have been a good move unless i kept myself on the surface area of the water,..if that were possible in under three foot of water
The round bales of hay are ready to be taken away. Water Lily. Wagtails. Swan Nesting. Its a Boat. Stag Party. Oh yes,..Trouble.
I so enjoy your pictures. The scenery, that is so different from mine, the flowers and fields, and of course, Molly!
Thank you 2ofus,..delighted you enjoy the pictures,..the difference where we all live makes our pictures interesting,..even Molly ============================================================================== Thanks Cayuga Morning,..nice to know you were smiling ,..yes pets can put ones heart in mouth with the antics they get up to. ============================================================================== A few pictures taken on the opposite side of the river from where i live,..in the newly extended park,..if you look at the top right of the first picture you will see a red line,..that is where the canal meets the river and where that long walk i do is alongside the canal. They have left sections of the park grass uncut to allow wildflowers to grow. The tall building above is the Sheraton Hotel.
I like the fact that some of the grass is left uncut. We need more spaces for wild flowers to thrive as they are so important for our wildlife.
