Eglinton Rd. Donnybrook Flowers.

I took a stroll down Eglinton Rd. today in the pouring rain. It’s a typical pattern of behaviour of mine. I particularly wanted to see the flowers that I did a video of in May of last year, and of which I subsequently used for a one year anniversary memorial tribute to ex-Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. FG. I saw these flowers and was so taken aback with joy, irrespective of them almost drooping down to the ground and me saturated to the bone to boot. I got excited and was thinking are these flowers connected to the ones that I filmed last year? I thought perhaps not because of them being so low-down, but then the rain would automatically do that to them. Update: I’ve just looked at the video and they are from the same tree. As an aside – see first Eglinton Rd. home of GF here that went under the hammer last year.

A woman parked her car beside near where I was taking photos. She came over to me and I told her how beautiful the flowers were. She said they belonged to her, that she got them from Helen Dillon’s garden. ‘Oh’, I cried, ‘is that the same celebrity gardner?’ she said, ‘yes’. She then said that I was welcome to take cuttings from them in July. I thanked her profusely. I went on to tell her that en-route to Garret Fitzgerald’s funeral last year I took some video footage and I was very nearly certain it was from the same tree as these flowers, unless there is another house with similar flowers.

She said that they would have been hers, assuredly, as sadly a lot of the houses on the road had got rid of their gardens. I thought it was such a pity. I did see an embassy or two and a splattering of surgeries, as I was meandering on this very beautiful road. So, I suppose that could be a reason for it.

Gosh, I’ve encountered so many kind people whilst out taking snapshots of flowers. It really gives one hope in humanity with all the unkindness that is about everywhere.

I think I shall have to contact Helen Dillon to find out the name of the flower. Or even better still, visit her garden, which is not too far away from where I reside.

Reading Emma by Jane Austen and surveying these flowers intermittently would definitely be my cup of cha.

A snail and her young at Nora’s Donnybrook abode

I went over to Nora’s house to see if I could get a better photo of the robin, as the one I took yesterday was slightly blurred. There were no robins, no Nora or no neighbours to be had at all. I expect they were all indoors, as it was teeming down with rain. I’d been given the go-ahead to go inside the gates to take snapshots of the roses, so I didn’t have any worries. I was surprised to see that so many of the latter had disappeared overnight or otherwise were badly damaged by the torrential rain and winds, as there were pink leaves scattered everywhere.

I saw a large snail at the side of a bin for dead leaves and greeneries. I took it off the side of the sheltered bin and placed in on a concrete slab so as to take a photo. I regretted what I’d done, as no sooner had I placed it on the flat surface when two tiny creatures dashed out from beneath her shell. See one of them not too far to the left of the shell. OMG, I thought, this is a snail and her young, and I’ve disturbed her from her breeding habitat, as there were flowers and leaves and the like in close proximity and she probably was able to keep them nice and dry and sheltered under a safe spot under the lid of the bin. I felt so guilty when the young ones – that looked like ear-wigs briskly clambered down the side of the wall. Now what have I done, methinks. I was reminded of the time years ago when I went out to gather wood for the fire at the home-place and when I finally got the fire started I discovered to my chagrin that there was a nest in the chimney. I was so distraught, as the smoke must have caused them to escape in a hurry. Only god knows if there were fatalities. I couldn’t even bear to think about it at all.

The wee ones finally landed in what would be a water gully to them and it looked like they were okay. Soon after Mama started to crawl to the edge to make her way down the side of the wall to the  section where the wee ones were. So what you see in the video is what happened. It’s such a pity that the Kodak camera has not got the proper resolution to hone in on them, otherwise I’d have got brilliant coverage of a snail and her young. It was such a relief to finally see them join their mother again and climb underneath her shell. I felt less guilty about disturbing her. I tried at one stage to put her back where I found her , but when I lifted her the two young ones were right underneath her. When I surveyed the area where I’d taken her from, I saw what might have been either her food that she’s gathered or perhaps even the remnants of lost babies. I wonder what Nora would have taught had she known I was filming a snail on her wall. A neighbour passed by from the other end and I don’t know what he thought I might have been doing, as he was hardly going to see the snail from his vantage point.

The video footage is not the best, the camera is not built for close-up work, as the rain was pelting down and was affecting the tiny lens. Blimey, if I’d had a Canon EOS 50D I could have done wonders with this snail /young incident. I hope she found a good spot to rear her young.