The country came to town ...

And so did 3 million people ... or so it seemed while trying to navigate one toddler through the thronging crowd.

There were ladies in bicycles ...

animals galore ...

tractors and steam engines ...

tanks (hey this is N Ireland) ...

wagons ...

and an American preacher

Award

Thank you Flomom for the award :)

Around Armagh

Another humble abode

I'm determined to get the most out of my NT membership but it just won't stop raining. A couple of Saturdays ago, we drove to the coast thinking we'd do the Giant's Causeway and beach. Although not quite biblical proportions, the deluge must've been getting pretty close. For those of you who don't have the privilege of inhabiting this cold, damp island, we've had the worst flooding for over 40 years (or something like that.)

One afternoon the last weekend in August, it did stop raining and the sun actually shone so I took a walk around the grounds of The Argory which is an old country estate in the county where we live. Here are some snapshots of the well watered garden.

I'm not sure what these great plants actually are. The leaves are huge and the inside intriguing ... to little old me anyway. Any clues? I'd love some in my garden.

Next weekend our local shopping town hosts 'The Country comes to Town' - one day a year when they close the town off and bring in animals, tractors and stalls etc. Usually it's the same old stuff from the previous year, even down to the layout of the stalls but this year is the 10th anniversary, so there may well be subtle changes. EJ is tractor and animal mad so it will be nice to go with an enthusiastic charge. The full report shall appear here.