Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I was so glad for the weekend to arrive as I was working late a lot of the nights this week- it's a long day at work from 9:00am until after 9:00pm and as I commute I wasn't home until almost 11:00pm some of the nights. It was nice today to catch up on housework and go for a nice long walk around the farm. The morning was lovely, we even had some bright blue skies... Below are some photographs from the farm... Enjoy the rest of your weekend..

July: Some good weather came our way so I made the most of it...

August: Holiday time... had an amazing holiday visiting Venice and Greece again and also Croatia and Turkey. I experienced some of the most beautiful sunsets ever...

September: Keeping it country at the National Ploughing Championships- what a great day out and no rain either

October: Another holiday, this time to France, I never took two holidays abroad in the one year but this year I really enjoyed my mini break for 5 days to the beautiful island of Ile de Re in France. I have visited France four times before but I had never heard of Ile de Re and once I saw it, I had to go. It is up there with my favourite places of Mykonos and Santorini... I will post a separate post on Ile de Re with more photographs soon...

November: Towards the end of October we found a little kitten abandoned at the entrance piers to the farm. The poor thing was very distressed and weak. How cruel some people can be just to abandon an innocent little animal. So we took her in, throughout November she was settling in with the other farm cats. Meet Millie if you haven't already seen my previous post.

December: It's Christmas time and time to reflect on a lovely year. Thankfully 2016 was good to us- good health and good times. The first six months were very quiet with most of my weekends spent at home. Life was busy on the farm... then once August came it was time to get out and about and make the most of the year. I visited five countries on holidays this year and had the most amazing time with those that mean the most to me (My husband and my parents). Many memories were made both on holidays and in the simple every day things which I will never forget. 2016 you have been good, so here's to 2017 and remember in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years~Abraham Lincoln 

                                                                  

Well Summer is well and truly over now and Autumn has set in. The evenings are much shorter & it  is getting darker much quicker. This Summer I spent a lot of time in my garden and set a lot of flowers. This weekend I hope to set some bulbs for Spring time.

This year we visited the Tullamore Show and the National Ploughing Championships, both of which were great days out. I took note of all the home grown produce at both events. Tullamore Show is Ireland's largest one day agricultural show and country lifestyle event with approximately 60,000 visitors and over 1,000 competitions taking place. This year the weather was great on the day and I really enjoyed all of the show marquees- there was one for home baking, flowers, poultry, photography and craft. There are all types of animals- cattle, sheep, pigs, horses and rare breeds along with exhibitions and trade stands.

This week myself and my husband visited the annual National Ploughing Championships which is a three day event. We went for the first day of the event. It is Europe's largest outdoor exhibition and agricultural trade show. Different types of ploughing takes place and judging takes place each day. This year 283,000 people visited the event over the three days. It was extremely well organised and there is so much to see and do. For anyone interested in agriculture it is a great day out... Below are just some photographs I took of vegetables and flowers from the two events.

Take a look at these- buffalo, rabbit, pig and cattle... Really no words are needed... they speak for themselves :)

I know I posted already about the Tullamore Show, but I had such a good day and saw so much that I will have to share a few posts of my photographs from the day. Below are pygmy goats which were adorable, I wanted to bring them all home with me. They look like they are lots of fun and really energetic.

Today myself and my husband visited the annual Tullamore Agricultural Show. It was nice to get a break from the farm and spend some time away. I enjoyed all of the livestock and the craft and flower displays. There were so many animals and rare breeds. It was a great day out! As you know if you read my blog, we don't have sheep on our farm but I really like them. Below are some of the lovely sheep I photographed today. Which is your favourite? I love them all!