The Last Day of Summer...

It's hard to say goodbye to something that hasn't even arrived...

That's exactly the case with summer in London this year.  It's no secret that i've been struggling with the lack of sunshine, but now that it's officially the last day of "the worst summer since the 90's" (at a balmy 18 degrees might I add), I need to somehow come to terms with the fact that there's no hope in holding out for one last blast of sunshine.

Instead, I need to somehow focus on dealing with the next 6+ months - the creeping in of colder air, the lack of daylight, the grey skies, the 5 layers of clothing just to go to the shop to buy a pint of milk, the brown trees having lost their green leaves... etc etc...  Right now that seems almost impossible, adding to the fact that we're not looking to return to Australia until 2013, meaning I still have TWO long winters to get through.

I would like to say right now that I can find some positives in the thought, but to be brutally honest, I have nothing...  if anyone can find a silver lining to this picture i'd love to hear about it!

the view from our bedroom on a January morning...

A confession...

I made these yummy peach cupcakes on the weekend...

I ate 3 of these cupcakes today...

yum!

Ireland

I know i'm going to cause a bit of an uproar by my next statement, but i'm OK with it as I can now well and truly say for sure that - I still don't like Ireland... [shock, horror!]

You see, this was my second trip to Ireland, and I still don't really 'get it'.  To me, Ireland is just an extension of England - but grey-er and dreary-er.  Sure there are some pretty things to look at every now and again, but I just don't think it has any "feeling" - and if you've ever been to Paris or Italy or Swtizerland (etc etc), you will know what I mean - as soon as you step out you just get this overwhelming sense that you are somewhere special - for me, my heart almost bursts every time i'm in Paris... but little old Ireland, i'm very sorry, but you and me were just not meant to be.  

Regardless, I had a nice enough time, and our visitors absolutely loved it (which, at the end of the day was the whole point), and I did get some lovely snaps.  We did have a few memorable moments - a lovely Italian meal in Dublin, discovering a 16th century castle in a quaint seaside town on our drive to the Cliffs of Moher (where Ben made friends with some VERY friendly chickens!) and discovering that no tourist should go anywhere near Limerick!

But I can safely say I have no further desire to return, and will now focus all of my energy in continuing my romance with Bruges this weekend, and dreaming of my heart bursting moment when I arrive in Venice the weekend after!

Galway

Galway

Dunguaire Castle

VERY friendly chookies

Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle

Looking out from Dunguaire Castle

Kinvara Village

Looking out from Dunguaire Castle

Cliffs of Moher

Tower atop Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

Atlantic Ocean/Irish Sea

How time flies...

I can't believe just how busy i've been lately.  I guess it's not surprising as our lovely visitors (Ben's mum and aunty) arrived last Saturday, so we've been busy getting out and about and showing off our favourite parts of London.

Tonight, I fly to Dublin to join them, then in the morning we're hiring a car and setting off into the Irish countryside to see what we can discover for the weekend.

Hopefully i'll have some of my own pics to share next week!

Irish Countryside @ pinterest