It's starting to feel a bit like Christmas!
Cold nights, clear skies, icy winds, cosy fires; it's starting to feel like Christmas is around the corner.
The drive over the Wicklow mountains to collect the first Christmas trees is truly breathtaking, each and every time. Seeing the sun rise over Glendalough, the mist hovering in the valleys and clouds clinging to the soft mountaintops, the hawthorns dark red with fruit and ancient ruins dripping with moss and lichens, one could be forgiven for thinking that all was alright in the world. Maybe it is. Selling the trees out on the street is also part of the Christmas experience, for buyer and seller. Some people spend more than half an hour trying to find the perfect tree and have to have a whole line of them twirled and paraded until they can make their decision. Other people take the first one they see. Some people haggle ferociously and othersare not especially interested in the price. In the shop we keep the fire blazing and the door closed so that we can create a warm and cosy atmosphere.
One of the most fun toys this year; springy insects. Press down and they stick; a second later they fly upwards.
Customers enjoy playing with these - not just the young ones.
Childrens' books - especially the strange ones you don't see elsewhere.
Tillandsia / Air plants. Really, plants without roots are about as basic as it gets.
Lovely white Ponsettias with small bracts; very different to the normal red ones.
Spanish moss to give your home that southern feelin'.
Stuff, stuff and more stuff! Tables and racks with Hugrugs and Pappelina plastic rugs.
Which would you prefer: a bootle of wine or a bonsai?
Wall-mounted cast iron swallows: a popular ornament for a wall.
Good old traditional Nutscene twine in a tin.
It's full! Throw in some customers and it's really packed!
Pots in the window; these German made terracotta pots come in a whole range of sizes from teeny tiny to big.
Nothing to do with gardens or nature - but we like them! I guess they're called beetles...