A story of the falling rain …..
Nikon Coolpix A
Nigel Borrington
A Short Story of Falling – Alice Oswald
It is the story of the falling rain
to turn into a leaf and fall again
it is the secret of a summer shower
to steal the light and hide it in a flower
and every flower a tiny tributary
that from the ground flows green and momentary
is one of water’s wishes and this tale
hangs in a seed-head smaller than my thumbnail
if only I a passerby could pass
as clear as water through a plume of grass
to find the sunlight hidden at the tip
turning to seed a kind of lifting rain drip
then I might know like water how to balance
the weight of hope against the light of patience
water which is so raw so earthy-strong
and lurks in cast-iron tanks and leaks along
drawn under gravity towards my tongue
to cool and fill the pipe-work of this song
which is the story of the falling rain
that rises to the light and falls again
Images from the Garden , Clematis
Images from the Garden
Clematis
Nigel Borrington
2018
Each May and June the Clematis planted in our Garden flowers and produces some of the best colour during the early and mid summertime , I love just how full of flowers it becomes. My mid July most of the pink flowers have gone but the leaves still offer a full canopy above pergola and give some great shade on warm and sunny days.
Description
Clematis is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners, beginning with Clematis × jackmanii, a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars are being produced constantly. They are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin. Most species are known as clematis in English, while some are also known as traveller’s joy, a name invented for the sole British native, C. vitalba, by the herbalist John Gerard; virgin’s bower for C. viticella and for C. terniflora; old man’s beard, applied to several with prominent seedheads; leather flower for those with fleshy petals; or vase vine for the North American Clematis viorna
Etymology
The genus name is from Ancient Greek clématis, (“a climbing plant”). Over 250 species and cultivars are known, often named for their originators or particular characteristics.
Botany
The genus is composed of mostly vigorous, woody, climbing vines / lianas. The woody stems are quite fragile until several years old. Leaves are opposite and divided into leaflets and leafstalks that twist and curl around supporting structures to anchor the plant as it climbs. Some species are shrubby, while others, like C. recta, are herbaceous perennial plants. The cool temperate species are deciduous, but many of the warmer climate species are evergreen. They grow best in cool, moist, well-drained soil in full sun.
Clematis species are mainly found throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, rarely in the tropics. Clematis leaves are food for the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, including the willow beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria).
The timing and location of flowers varies; spring-blooming clematis flower on side shoots of the previous year’s stems, summer/fall blooming clematis bloom only on the ends of new stems, and twice-flowering clematis do both.
Taxonomy
The genus Clematis was first published by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753, the first species listed being Clematis viticella. The genus name long pre-dates Linnaeus. It was used in Classical Greek for various climbing plants, and is based on κλήμα (klēma), meaning vine or tendril.
Gallery
Images from the Garden, The Rose Buds of May. Rosebuds, A poem by Raychiel Smith, Jul 2013 …..
Images from the Garden
The Rose Buds of May
Nature Photography
Nigel Borrington
Rosebuds.
Why does the deepest part of me resemble the seed that grows inside the bud of a rose? My maker knew me & he knew what no one else knows. but with time i grew cold. Eyes opened, mind closed. In the land of the wicked, eyes hoping mine closed. so i keep eyes open but, sometimes mine doze. My rose couldn’t bloom in this land we call Green. So before you I stand …hurt. With thorns in my hand. Searching for man in this wicked land & found none. judging by the outcome i’m now questioning my makers plan. Still wondering why the deepest part of me resembles a seed that grows inside the bud of a rose.
Raychiel Smith Jul 2013
The Cycle Of Seasons – Poem by ann rta’s
Spring, days lengthening and warming slowly
green shoots daffodils and gambolling lambs.
Summer, sunny and hot lazing in deckchairs
rambling roses blooming strawberries and cream.
Autumn, wind blustering with nights drawing in
dying leaves changing to red/gold before falling
Winter, cold and bringing frosts, snow, ice,
dark brown trees stark and bare animals hibernate.
Seasons whirling in a revolving cycle,
marking the endless passage of time.
I was once;
the Spring child
the Summer teenager
the Autumn adult,
now, I am approaching
the Winter of old age.
Oh, that I could go back and return
like the Seasons
to the Spring again.
County Kilkenny Landscape images, south east Ireland through a lens
Kilkenny Landscape Images
Nigel Borrington
Summertime in County Kilkenny can bring some wonderful changes to the surrounding landscape and today I just want to share a gallery of images taken during the following months.
It a great time of year with so much to look forward to ……
County Kilkenny Landscape Gallery
Three Poems with the title : Primrose
Springtime Primrose
Nature Photography : Nigel Borrington
Primrose
By Pud
Primrose Stirs Lifts Up Her Head
Stands Up Tall On Softened Bed
Resurrected, As Winter Dreams
Primrose Smiles Or So It Seems
Primrose
By : Charlotte
You looked at me as if I were a
primrose
A delicate flower
with tiny petals
opening up to you
with little thorns to prick you with
when you make me angry
You plucked me up
away from the sun
and the moon
and the sky
and my little primrose friends
You put me in an expensive vase,
caring for me the best you could.
But sometimes you go away,
and alone
I am wilting
Primrose
William Carlos Williams
(1883 – 1963)
Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow!
It is not a color.
It is summer!
It is the wind on a willow,
the lap of waves, the shadow
under a bush, a bird, a bluebird,
three herons, a dead hawk
rotting on a pole—
Clear yellow!
It is a piece of blue paper
in the grass or a threecluster of
green walnuts swaying, children
playing croquet or one boy
fishing, a man
swinging his pink fists
as he walks—
It is ladysthumb, forget-me-nots
in the ditch, moss under
the flange of the carrail, the
wavy lines in split rock, a
great oaktree—
It is a disinclination to be
five red petals or a rose, it is
a cluster of birdsbreast flowers
on a red stem six feet high,
four open yellow petals
above sepals curled
backward into reverse spikes—
Tufts of purple grass spot the
green meadow and clouds the sky.
Feeding from the Dandelion, Image Gallery
Feeding from the Dandelion, County Kilkenny
Wildlife and Nature photography : Nigel Borrington
A few days ago while out walking , I took a rest and sat-down for a while in the corner of a field.
I noticed these Dandelions and that they were providing a feast for all kinds of insects, so I took lots of images a few of which I post here.
I love this time of year as life is everywhere, so why not just take a moment or two and take a look at all that surround you.
Gallery
Rhododendron laden hillsides, Poem and Image gallery.
Rhododendron at the Vee, County Tipperary
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Rhododendron laden hillsides
Summer
Comes ’round again,
Bringing life back to flow’rs.
Roses shall start to bloom once more,
And mighty White Oaks shall be green with leaves.
Rhododendron laden hillsides
And Lady Slippers nod:
Slowly fading
Summer.
~Timothy~
Rhododendron hills , Image Gallery
Easter (Ostara) Holidays in the Landscape.
Easter Holidays in the Irish Landscape
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Easter (Ostara)
Easter to many Christians marks a religious holiday and the two weeks around Easter weekend is traditionally a Holiday time.
Before the Christian tradition however it was still marked as Ostara by the Pagan world, marking a time of rebirth and new life, Life has returned to the landscape with new growth and natural foods available. Wild life is on the move again starting to make plans for a new breeding season, finding foods themselves and getting to put some much needed body weight back on.
Over the next two weeks I want to get out and capture these changes, as the march towards the summer months feels ever closer and closer.
Image Gallery
Fishing boats at Castletownbere
Nikon D700, 18-200mm vr 2 lens, iso 100
Fishing boats at Castletownbere, west cork
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Fishing boats at Castletownbere and a cool Sea Breeze
Another very warm morning here in Ireland it’s already 24’oc and it was warm over night, sleeping with all the bedroom windows open.
I thought I would find an image to post that at least created a cooler feeling, so here we are, these two fishing boats at the harbour of Castletownbere, West cork. I took this image a little time back while I sat on the wall of the quays in the town and watched the boats coming and going for the afternoon. From what I can remember the temperature was about the same as today.
Nigel Borrington 
Summer Heat Wave, In pictures ….
Irish landscape photography
County Kilkenny
The heat wave of 2018
Nigel Borrington
Ireland’s is currently in heat wave conditions with no big change on the horizon, so today I headed out for a walk and started to capture our local landscape in these conditions. Here in County Kilkenny we have not been affected quite as badly yet as in county Dublin but as you can see from these images the hedgerows and fields are starting to turn to a light brown and some of the trees are only just hanging on.
Share this:
Like this:
July 2, 2018 | Categories: Comment, Down on the farm, Gallery, images of ireland, Images of Summer, Irish Landscapes, Nature and Wildlife | Tags: Changes in the landscape, Heat wave, Ireland, Irish landscape photography, Nigel Borrington, summer, summer 2018, The Seasons | 3 Comments