Summer's Winding Down

With only 10 days left in August, I have to think back at where the summer went and how I can get the most out of the final 10 days.  I preserved 4 jars of Summer Berry jam this year.  So good and so easy. 
While at retreat, I finished 3 quilts and an apron.  It was a productive weekend.  We also got to see our friends new house and Potfest in the Pens.   Would have loved to have purchased one of everything at this festival.  All the potters were so talented.   DH and I couldn't resist the urge to pick fresh red raspberries, so we brought some home with us. 
We went on a coach trip to Scotland for 7 days.  It was wonderful.  We visited National Trust properties including some walled gardens and Culzean Castle.    This sounds spooky like the horror movie with Vincent Price, but we also visited  Hill House which was commissioned to Rennie Macintosh to furnish and decorate in his signature style.   Another place we visited was Falkland Palace and Garden which was just gorgeous inside and out.  Even the village of Falkland was quaint with historic buildings and locals ready to welcome visitors to their corner of the world.   Johnny Cash visited here several times, there is a memorial bench in the village green in his honour. 
Of course, the International Quilt Festival of Ireland was in June and I must mention this as one of our highlights of the summer.  If you go to this link, they are planning next years event, so you may not see much of this years festival.  Attending the festival in a venue like Galway was an experience of a lifetime.  If you plan to go in the future, I would suggest you stay in the downtown area of Galway and not in the outer lying hotels.  Parking is expensive, when you can find it, and you cannot park on campus so you will be walking anyway.  From Eyre square, the campus is just a short walk past the Cathedral.  We stayed at Park House Hotel.  Everyone was very eager to please.  The bus station was just around the corner.  A ticket to the airport was incredibly reasonable.  From Shannon airport, the bus to Galway only took about 80 minutes. 

I don't want summer to end.  Often, I look back on these days and they seem so far away.  We always take hundreds of digital photographs and sift through them discarding only 10-20%.   They all become precious as our tour here is also winding down.  Some day we will move to a new location with new places to discover.