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Saturday 20 December 2014

The White Lough, County Tyrone ...


We've made it ... all the way home to beautiful County Tyrone for the Christmas holidays. 

I am always so relieved when I get off the car ferry in Dublin. Emi and I are the world's worst sailors. Any little swell and we're ill. Luckily the Irish Sea was in a pretty good mood yesterday afternoon when we crossed her, but the weird thing was that one of the engines on the ship wasn't working properly and so, with very little explanation from the crew, our three hour crossing lasted an extra hour. 

I spent my time knitting a sock and watching the horizon through a window in the lounge. Mr B, who's never ever sick, always tells me that the secret to not being sea sick is to watch the horizon. So I sat there, watching the horizon, and then the (very) distant lights on the horizon when darkness had fallen. And then my watch because those distant lights seemed much too distant for a ship that ought to have been docking. 

Everyone else was calm and didn't seem to notice, but for someone like me who spends the trip sitting still and wishing the whole thing was over, it felt uncomfortable.


We were very happy to make it back to our little village in South Tyrone. 

This morning we went for a lovely winter walk around our local lake, the White Lough - or White Ness, as Emi calls it in hope that one day it will grow its very own monster that he can boast about to his friends at school. 


I was very taken with this cheerful little robin, who was hopping around on the bare boughs of the lakeside trees. 


This little house sits on the brow of a hill just beside the lake. It's a cowshed these days, but once upon a time a family lived there with their children and all their animals. It's very small, but it must have been a magical place to live. 


The lake looked cold, very cold. Amazingly there were quite a few fishermen sitting patiently at the end of the jetties waiting for fish to bite.



I had to admire their determination. Sitting there for hours and hours in the damp, cold of the lakeside air must have chilled their bones all the way through to the marrow. I hope they caught a few whoppers to make it all worthwhile.

All the best for now,


Bonny x

As shared on Texture Tuesday

14 comments:

  1. Your shot of the cute robin is AWEsome, Bonny! :) And I really like all your photos today, I hope to visit Northern Ireland one day soon. Enjoy the Holidays in your homeland. We won't leave till Wednesday, ouch! Hope to arrive safe and sound and celebrate Christmas Eve with my parents. Merry Chrismtas to you and yours. xo

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    1. Thank you, Kia. I wish you a safe journey back home and a very Happy Christmas with your family. All the best, Bonny

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  2. Beautiful images! Your robins are very different from ours. Yours are more brilliant in color! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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    1. Thank you, Cathy. So glad you enjoyed them. All the best and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family too, Bonny

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  3. Such wonderful photos. Looks so pretty where you are. Would love, love to visit Ireland some day. The puppy is cute too. :)

    Peabea, visiting from Texture Tuesday.

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    1. Thank you, Peabea. So glad you liked the photos, and hope you make it over to visit us all in the Emerald Isle one day very soon. All the best for a lovely Christmas in the meantime, Bonny

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  4. Wow, nice pictures. It's funny they remind me of the pictures I just took this weekend and we're half a world away.

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    1. Thank you, Lyn. It's a funny old thing how similar both the countryside and the people who live in it can be from one area to another even though we're all a world away from each other. All the best for a lovely Christmas, Bonny

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  5. Lovely images, I especially love the one of the robin . I really do miss seeing them and hearing them sing, living here in the USA.....Merry Christmas !

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    1. Thank you, Caz. Yes, for many of us over here the Robin is a cheerful little friend, who always shows up to keep us company in the garden. All the best for a lovely Christmas, Bonny

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  6. Fishermen are a curious bred. I include myself. I can see me sitting there in that wonderful place in full contentment.

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    1. On a warmer day I've often sat on the end of one of those jetties letting the world go by and enjoying the beauty of the lake, but on a mid-winter's day it's a bit too cold to linger long without moving around. Hope you have a very Happy Christmas, Bonny

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  7. and all this time I had been thinking American. :-)
    How lovely to have such a complete contrast to the metropolis. I envy you.
    Hope you can stay on there for a while longer.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, it is a lovely change to life in London and, for me, my quiet little corner of County Tyrone will always be home. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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