April Showers brings May Flowers

 It's bucketing rain here in Ireland.  

We had a lovely Easter but it started to rain on Easter Monday and now today, after a dry morning, it is raining again.

After working from home all day, I needed to get out for a walk. So after work we set off with an umbrella up to Ranelagh to buy the makings of dinner in Supervalu. It was fine on the way to the shop but started rain a little heavier on the way back. We are now home and the rain is really HEAVY!

But as the saying goes, "April Showers brings May Flowers" so we should see lots of blooms very soon.

I took a few pics of what are weeds really, growing on my street. And even through they are weeds they do brighten the area and they will probably provide food for bees and butterflies, so it's all good.

Musings...

There has been a lot of talk recently about the concept of the "15 Minute City". My understanding of the concept is that services are offered to citizens through improved public transport and active travel initiatives that allow for most people to walk or cycle less than 15 minutes in order use resources such as doctors, shops, restaurants and other community services.

Yesterday after working from home, I set off walking to Ranelagh Village which is only about 5 minutes from my house where I first visited the hardware store to buy some surface cleaner. I then walked on down the main street to Leech's Pharmacy where I dropped in a prescription to be filled.  After that I continued on through Ranelagh and went to The Hill pub to see what was going on there as I had heard that a Hallmark movie was being filmed at this location. When I got to The Hill I could see lots of crew and equipment but no movie stars.  

I didn't stay long at The Hill and then meandered through Ranelagh Park to Supervalu where I bought something for my dinner and then headed home.

All in all doing these little chores while strolling from my house and back took about 50 mins in total. It made me consider that I am probably living in a 15 minute area and there are probably only a few tweaks needed by the local authority to make it a better place for all to live in. It felt healthy being able to walk around rather than driving and searching for parking spaces and all that malarkey. It is to be recommended, I think!

In other news, I planted some flower seeds yesterday. I went for a Butterfly & Bee "Shake & Rake" pack. So watch this space as I will post pics when the flowers come up.  You can click here to see pics from last year in my garden.

"Lost in Thought" by PIGSY

Over the weekend I helped PIGSY hang his new solo exhibition "Lost in Thought" which opens on 21st of April in Ranelagh Arts. Bones came with us - but he didn't last long as he was whiney and bored so I dropped him home and then cycled back to the arts center.

You can read more about the PIGSY exhibition on the PIGSY website - I'd love you to see the art (with added augmented reality) so do come to either the opening night or anytime over the 2 weeks that the exhibition is on show.