Return to the Fairy Forest

I've had a few day's holiday this week - hence the increased blogging activity.  (Next week I'll settle back to just one post again!)  I have been quite productive though - written a bit more of my book (Alcluith), sent an email enquiry to the Original Paper Doll Artist Guild enquiring about membership and managed to soak up some wintry sunshine in my favourite corner of the garden.

I also accepted an invitation to a blog hop sent to me by Joleene Naylor - one of my favourite authors!  I'm due to do my bit in two week's time.  I tried to use Joleene's format to extend the invitation from my leg of the hop to a selection of authors I thought she was unlikely to have contacted as well - now I'm worried that I must have ended up looking like a bit of a crank as none of them has responded.  Oh well - I'll have to resort to some other plan when the time comes!  

Something else I wanted to do while on holiday was return to the lovely fairy forest we discovered earlier this year during my last break from work.  The photos I posted on that occasion can be found here.  This time I wanted to see the forest in all its Autumn glory and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

We repeated the same circular drive we had taken last time which is close to the area where we live.  Just past Glendalough, always a popular tourist destination, we came across these interesting ruins.  I'm not sure what this building once was but I think it would make a marvellous location for a movie.  I love this somewhat desolate landscape with its air of ancient mystery.

Standing in the same place as the two pictures above, this is the view I had to my left looking back down the valley towards Glendalough.  (Glendalough means 'valley of the two lakes')

A bit further on this looks like the ruin of a church.  Glendalough's Monastic City and the valley itself are full of well documented ruins but I still have to find out more about these buildings higher up.  

I really enjoyed putting together my last post of favourite books  Thanks so much to everyone who left comments.  I started realising that a number of patterns were emerging as I listed them - and they were clearly spotted by the rest of you too!

I mainly read historical novels - but not just set in the past - I noticed my choices all fell between the Roman Empire and Late Middle Ages.  I've always enjoyed books that are clever and contain a puzzle to be solved - typified by the traditional murder mystery - but I also realised that quite a few of my favourite books are set in monasteries - I suppose that is where the centres of knowledge (and power) were in the old days.  Many of the stories also focus on the victory of good over evil - always a staple of fairy tales and folklore!

Thanks also for letting me know that the wand cursor is not an annoying feature - I've decided to keep it as I think it is fun!