After a good May and June weatherwise, certainly by comparison to the last few years, July has been less clement or predictable.

On Monday 19 July we rose to find the river in full spate.........

...............and it was still pouring rain.

But the next morning, the 20th, was misty in the way that many a good day starts.........

..........and indeed the sun broke through and dispersed it in a matter of minutes...............

...........and the river was on its way back down to where it should be.

And by Sunday the 25th, just six days after the flood in the river, the temperature was in the mid-twenties and we had another major clean-up of the terrace......

..........to get things ready..........................

.....................to clebrate Alice's birthday outdoors.

Alice, Fergal and Fergal's mum, Lillian whom we welcomed to Ballyduff for the first time.

And yesterday it was overcast and heavy with the temperature in the high twenties when Jude, Dylan and I made and erected a new door into the girls coop.

No pics of the work in progress I'm afraid.

And by the way, my Burford Brown whom you can just see behind the new door, has been named Prudence. I have no idea why - the name just came into my head and wouldn't go away.

So the naming of names is now complete - Sinead, Helen, Irma and Prudence.

They are all doing well though my neighbour, Ollie, reckons it will be late autumn before they will start to lay.