unironedman

I followed up the Djouce summit last Saturday with a more traditional unironedman route on Sunday, heading out through the local park, and then around by the state labs via Tubber Lane. This road was closed to all traffic including pedestrians, while the new link road was being built, but I’m happy to see now that it is open for all users once again, from the Stacumney side. The Lucan side has been closed permanently for all vehicles. This should make Tubber Lane a very pleasant cul-de-sac, I suppose. From my point of view, I can now pass through again without having to scale fences designed to keep me out.

At Stacumney, I crossed over the Celbridge Road and headed into Castletown Demesne, and then looped around and came back out, and called by my favourite swimming spot to test the waters. I was 50/50 most of the way there, and despite working up a reasonable sweat, the wind was an easterly, and to cap it off, I made the fatal error of testing the water with my hands. So, in short, not quite ready for swimming just yet!

I’ve managed a couple of short runs during the week, and as I type, it’s Thursday evening, and the sun is shining. It would be a glorious hour or so to sit in the garden, but that damn Easterly is still chuffing away, and it’s as welcoming as the Liffey water was on Sunday.

On the upside, the wildflowers of the neighbourhood are not as shy coming forward as this runner was to dip his toes and other bits into the lake. The usual suspects are out in the park; Wood Anemones have been doing their thing for the last few weeks, as have the Lesser Celandines. Just in case you were wondering: yes; there is a Greater Celandine, but strangely no, it is not related to the Lesser Celandine. An odd one, I admit.

On some of my travels, I have been stopping to take a few pictures, so here are a selection, in a gallery format. As you probably know, you can click on any of these images to enlarge them.

Above, you can see more Stitchworts, rapeseed in bloom, Primrose, Lady’s Smock, Cowslip and Bluebell. Many of the tree seeds Tamsyn and I planted have started to pop their heads out of their pots. Indeed, the Horse Chestnut will need potting on this weekend, as they are flying up!

In other news, Odi was sleeping on the couch when he had a tragic accident and fell down between two cushions. It doesn’t appear to have bothered him in the slightest. Unlike my own shock and horror as I returned to the bedroom with a cup of tea for Saoirse to find I had been replaced by Bonnie.

Make of that what you will 😉