A wee bit of colour.

Tried a few diferent plants in the garden this year and have been lucky enough to get some nice results. This fuschia has performed particularly well. The photo is a few weeks out of date but I thought it would add a bit of seasonal colour....

Turnberry Magic

Then there was the Open Championship at Turnberry. Bang went the rest of the weekend as the great Tom Watson just failed to win the claret jug for a record equalling sixth time. Instead of getting out and about trying to find something positive about Ballymoney to post on the blog I sat transfixed along with countless other golf fans hoping against hope that the legend would make the fairy tale come true and win. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and Stewart Cink clinched his first major. Having said that, Cink made the putt and deserved to win.
One of the most memorable things about the open was the constant smile and good humour displayed by Watson. As a mid handicapper who is constantly frustrated with the inconsistant results of my attempts to play golf I am beginning to believe that it is always important (if difficult) to be philosophical about what is really a game! This ability to accept the element of luck of the bounce in links golf was identified by Watson as one of the reasons he had taken so well to the original form of the game. An article by Joe Keefe at www.pga.com/2009/instruction/features/07/19/keefe_openchamp/index.html makes exactly this point. Sometimes we have to accept that today we are not going to post the winning score, so we might as well just take time to appreciate the view. Having said that, it is bloody difficult to appreciate the view when standing in the pot bunker half way down the fourth fairway!

North of Ireland Championship.

Held annually at Royal Portrush Golf club http://www.royalportrushgolfclub.com/ this championship makes great demands of the top amateurs taking part. This year the weather was reasonably king for the greater part of the week with qualifying on the Monday and Tuesday and match play for the rest of the week culminating with the final on Friday afternoon. Watching the young amateurs display shot-making of a very high standard was an inspiration. This year the final was fought out between Wayne Telford (Rathmore GC) and Paul Cutler (Portstewart GC). Telford may have come into the match as the underdog but walked away the winner, four-and-two.

The Belfast Wheel and some Golf Clubs

My better half had long expressed the wish to take a trip on the Belfast Wheel www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityhall/bigwheel.asp ; a successful tourist attraction or monstrosity perched over the Titanic memorial beside the City Hall depending on your viewpoint.

Anyway, we headed off to Belfast midweek and had a very nice Lunch at Nicks Warehouse http://www.nickswarehouse.co.uk/ before some shopping, then on to the wheel. Having been on the London eye the Belfast wheel was, if not exactly a disappointment, and whilst giving unusual viewpoint of the city, rotated too fast in my opinion to give the tourist time to properly survey the cityscape spread out below. At £6.50 for three rotations of the wheel, worth doing, but more time to savour the view might have been nice.

Having dodged the rain as we disembarked the wheel we headed off to look for a new driver for my golf fanatic wife. The cost of a driver (and three wood) was worth it just to see the expression of joy as she rattled ball after ball straight down the test range. I have high hopes for the weekend.

July week starts with a trip on the Bann

Well finally we get a week off and the weather was reasonably good... One the things we managed to do locally during the July week was a trip on the River Bann









http://www.riverbanncruises.com/

This actually turned out to be quite interesting as the trip to the mouth of the Bann was much longer than I had anticipated. The normal quick run down to the sea by road was replaced by a meandering passage between the green and peaceful banks of the lower Bann. Leaving Coleraine on the Lady Sandel, from a berth opposite the Water Margin Chinese restaurant (highly recommended) we proceeded past the old harbour area.
Once a thriving docks; it now provides the departure point for scrap metal on its way to Spain for recycling.






















The Water Margin chinese restaurant occupies the top floor of the building (pictured above). The lower floor houses Coleraine rowing club which has been using this building since it was founded in 1842.

















Coleraine Marina and a private marina further down the river had some very nice yachts and
motor driven vessels berthed.


The banks of the river had a surprising amount of wildlife with even a seal making an appearance. The views over the ‘blue course’ at Portstewart Golf Club and the sight of fishermen bobbing gently on the water made for an enjoyable afternoon.

The real joy of Spring is the colour that starts to appear and banish the gray of Winter.

Gardening need not be expensive!

As a reasonably keen gardener I cannot resist a bargain, especially at this time when the likes of B&Q are offering some nice bedding plants at excellent prices. Early in the season they are great value for money, however as time goes on there are some very sad looking plants. Anyway, last Autumn I was looking for some item of hardware and (as I am usually unable to resist) took a detour through the garden section. There, sitting on the clearance trolley were three pots, each with a withered stump claiming to be hosta (Plantain lily) and priced at twenty-five pence each.

Willing to risk the loss of seventy five pence and unable to resist, I purchased them, eventually planting them out in our small front garden. Lo and behold this April saw the appearance of three Hostas. Two are especially healthy plants (yes I do have a particular interest in this type of plant!) with nice markings, as yet to be identified and one smaller one which is slowly establishing itself. Being the proud (wife thinks ‘bonkers’) owner of quite a collection of these plants it is also gratifying to notice that at least two of the three are varieties I did not previously possess. So there you go, gardening doesn’t have to be expensive…

Spring Bank Holiday

The weather this year is shaping up to be as mixed as the last two, despite what the forecasters say. Last week the park was bathed in sun in the evenings but come the weekend.... Rain!


















However rain isn't all bad it can produce some nice effects on the plants.

River Bank Collapse

No not another financial instiution gone to the wall. Rather, part of the retaining wall in the park in Ballymoney has given up the unequal struggle against the eroding effects of the river. The excessive rainfall of the past few years must have been the final straw and the wall and walkway on top have ended up in the river. Luckily no one was on the path at the time; it is a well used path.

Where did April go?

This month has just flown by. All the good intentions to get out and about, record it and do some blogging have gone by the wayside.

The apparent onset of ‘mid life crisis’ seems to have taken away any ability to concentrate and get on with things. The realisation that one is too old to be ambitious but too young to give up, grind it out and wait for the gold watch, pipe and slippers causes a significant amount of cognitive dissonance. My brain is convinced that I’m still twenty-something and all is still possible, whereas the vicious, heartless mirror in the bathroom taunts me on a daily basis with the irrefutable evidence of the inexorable passage of time.

Anyway, now that that’s off my chest, what has happened this month? The only major event happened mid month when a letter informing me of my elevation to full membership of the golf club dropped through the letterbox. My joy at being able to get out and play weekends and in the monthly competitions was tempered somewhat by the accompanying bill for additional green fees and the extra charge in addition to the joining fee already paid. Seems a lot to pay out but when counted against the amount of time spent on course, maybe it’s not such a bad deal. It can do no harm to body or spirit to get out in the fresh air and lose some of the negative effects of sitting in the car or office for the majority of the week. Needless to say I am praying for great weather this summer.

Walking the dog and trying to encourage the better half to keep to her ‘training schedule’ for the Belfast marathon (Team relay for charity) on May 4^th and starting to get the garden sorted has been the sum total for the month.

Apart from that, not a lot else happened. Really must try harder in May.