A pain in the head

We are back to fairly normal routine now, after the holiday long weekend and unfortunately part of that routine recently has been a recurrence of migraine headaches.  These had eased off for me over the last few years, but recently they have increased in number and strength.  

Yesterday afternoon was a classic demonstration of how a migraine can take over your day.  I'm lucky in the respect that the migraines I experience don't have any visual disturbances attached.  The throbbing pain behind the left eye and the nausea that accompanies it are very unpleasant and there is no other option for me but to lie down and try to sleep.  Over the years (these began when I was about 9 years old) I've realised that there is no way of diverting a migraine once it has a hold.  Lying down in the dark is the only course and IF I'm lucky I won't get sick.  

Yesterday I just about made it home from work at 3.30 pm and lay down.  I finally surfaced at 8.45 pm feeling a bit woozy but ready for a cup of tea.  So much for all the plans I had for yesterday afternoon!  

I think that the reason I've written about this at length is that there is often confusion between a bad headache, which is very unpleasant and a migraine, which is often completely debilitating and in some cases can need hospital treatment.  Generally with a migraine it's impossible to do anything while you're suffering from it - light hurts your eyes and movement makes you sick.   I find it difficult to hold my head upright when in the grip of a migraine, because it hurts too much and makes me feel, and often be, sick  So, that was my Thursday afternoon!!  

There may be an upside to migraine for some sufferers, however, as this treatment has just been approved.  

Anyway, on to more pleasant things and while we were away at the weekend, we visited various places around the Antrim Coast, including the Walled Garden at Glenarm Castle.  It's a very peaceful, tranquil place to spend an afternoon - there's something about a walled garden that really takes you back in time and creates a sense of the rightful order of things.  The photograph at the top of the post shows one of the displays - I haven't identified all the plants yet from my trusty RHS Encyclopedia, but I thought the colour contrast in this part of the garden was beautiful.

There are wonderful borders of mint, which is quite rampant and attracting butterflies.  

The mint is also trying to invade the old greenhouses that run the length of the front wall.

The layout incorporates variations of themes that probably would have been seen in 18th or 19th Century gardens, including hedged walkways, water features, a herb garden and a sundial.

There's also this statue, which I loved.  I haven't been able to find out who the artist is or when it was made, but I'm still looking.

There are plenty of flowers, with many varieties of rose 

 and fruit trees which were producing fruits very enthusiastically.

We also came to the conclusion during that afternoon that slowly but surely we were turning into our respective parents!  How do you get from rolling your eyes at the thought of going out for a run in the car to look at a garden, to actively enjoying it?  We've become the people we never believed that we would be!  Thank goodness we're enjoying it.

Restored to gilted glory

part of the nineteenth century wall for the walled garden

One of the places we like to spend some time at weekends is a local Country Park - it's close to family if we have to return quickly and there's not a lot of driving involved in getting there. There are walks, woods, a maze, plenty of wildlife and birds; there are beautiful views over the North Channel and the Antrim Coastline.

There is also a 19th century walled garden which is now laid out in flower beds, trees, benches and a collection of sundials, both freestanding and placed on the old wall. The wall is the original one that was built for the estate, and the brickwork is weathered, mellow and has a lovely mixture of colours throughout it.

It's a tranquil, beautiful place to spend some time. This is one of the more complicated sun dials, displayed there. As you can see it's a highly decorative piece of work as well as a practical instrument.

Over the last few years, my favourite sundial has been a much simpler one - it's round with a clown's face in the centre. The clown is playing a flute and it's the shadow of the flute that tells the time. I've always loved it for the details in and the expression on his face. Not clowning at all, he has a quiet dignity.

Inevitably over the years he's become weathered and at some stage his nose disappeared as well as his left hand, so he looked a little the worse for wear - but none the less dignified throughout.

On our last visit about two weeks ago we found that the clown had been restored, and not very sympathetically. He's been given a replacement nose and a (bad) paint job.

I find it hard to believe that this was how he was originally meant to look, gilded like a piece of very cheap jewellry, with a nose that has been carelessly stuck on and the cracks simply painted over. It made me wonder where the value is in restoring something when after restoration it actually looks worse and in the end loses the character that the years have given it.

I really hope that this will weather down as the time goes on and will begin to fit into it's surroundings a little more sympathetically. The picture below, showing the path in the walled garden, with the sundials on the left wall, shows how it fails to blend in at all at the moment.

I'll continue to pay my respects when we visit, after all underneath the badly applied make up is the same face that I've come to love; perhaps he'll reappear once again when the autumn and winter winds and rain have had their way.