back in Belfast

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Belfast, northern ireland, photography, photos, travel

A few weeks ago my mother came for a visit and we took a trip up to Belfast. Sadly the weather wasn’t great (wet and windy all day Saturday) and a little to cold for my mums liking. But all in all it was a lovely trip filled with interesting sights.

graphic door

a slender pub

inside City Hall, the decor was the inspiration for the Titanic

the wonderful St George Market

Queens University

Botanic Gardens in belfast

the Grand Opera is much smaller than the name lets one believe

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waiting in Dublin

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building, chnages, Dublin, photography, photos, waiting, waiting in Dublin

Yesterday i spent the day waiting for things to happen – a phone call, a meeting, at an appointment, on the bus, and in the end on a friend, who never showed. Waiting in Dublin isn’t uncommon – after all we are a land of queuing – but yesterday my waiting just wasn’t really rewarded.

As I sat in the cafe, waiting for my friend to show, I sipped a double espresso and watched strangers arrive in groups of twos and threes, one eye on my book one one the door I couldn’t help but feel hopeful every-time the door pinged open.  After a few chapters my cup was empty and I decided it was time to go. I swung my bag over my shoulder and began the walk home.

Currently Dublin is one big building site, the roads are waiting for the Luas to be finally finished, empty plots lie in wait for workmen to build houses on them, old building hold up signs of notification waiting for renovations to begin. It feels  as if the whole city is waiting on the brink of some sort of new beginning.

So while I walked through a waiting Dublin I couldn’t help but smile and think how well I fit in.

while waiting for some coffee I took a trip around the world

an empty lot waiting for some workmen

a window waiting to be done up

Easter auntie duties

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auntie duties, Easter, Easter preparation, family, gifts, photography, post, sending parcels

Easter isn’t too far off anymore so it’s time to put on my floppy ears and fluffy tail and hop along to my Easter auntie duties.

Living in a different country to my nieces and nephews means I can’t just hop around the corner and deliver chocolaty goodies by paw so I need to get down to the post office and hope they’ll deliver in time for Easter Sunday smiles.

But before I can do that I need to pack up those goodies, write a few cards and make sure I don’t get anything mixed up since the age differences between both my  nephews and nieces is more than ten years. Luckily I found some lovely little Easter bags that can help me divide up the treats and gifts to ensure the right gift goes to the right nephew or niece.

For a few weeks now I have been keeping my eyes open for small, inexpensive gifts as I don’t want to add to much chocolate to the Easter sugar over-excitement that is sure to incur.

A wonderful side effect of my Easter auntie duties is that it gets me into the Easter-spirt without even trying. So, while Easter is still a few weeks away I think it may be time to consider hanging some painted eggs into my window and maybe do some spring-cleaning while I’m at it. That means my weekend is planned!

Easter bags ready and waiting to be filled

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s easy being green

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Ireland, It’s easy being green, photography, photos, recycling, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s easy being green

Ireland is, as most of you will already know, the Emerald Isle. The fields are lush and green as they enjoy fresh rain and a mild climate.

What many may not necessarily know is that these are also the reasons for the varied plant-life that inhabits Ireland, many of which are even tropical. Palm trees grow really well, fuchsias turn into trees and monkey puzzle trees delight the children in the parks.

This means for Ireland it truly is ‘easy being green’ but what the island now needs is the willingness of its people to keep it that way. Sadly recycling still isn’t as big a deal as it should be on our shores and the lack of good cycling paths,and a varied public transport system that allows for easy access across the city and country  means people still rely to much on their cars.

So the Emerald Isle needs a little more support from the people it houses and maybe, just maybe, it will be able to stay as beautifully green as it should.

a weird looking green plant

correction time

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corrections, photography, weekend work, work

With the end of the semester creeping up on tip toes my pile of corrections is slowly growing, an unpleasant parallel to the plants on my windowsills. This means my weekend plans have already been made and anyone who wants to see me will find me with a pen in hand marking up my students words.

While correcting may not be my favorite task the one thing I truly enjoy about it is discovering what my students have lernt in the time we have spent together: sometimes surprising  other times just plain satisfying.

The only down side to my weekend plans is the fact that the weather is looking up again and the sun seems to want to come out and play again. So maybe, if I can get a lot done today , I will venture down to the community garden tomorrow afternoon and get my hands a little bit mucky to mask some of  red ink staining the finders on my right hand.

an old picture but the same intent

challenging portrait

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#jjcommunity, Aisling, Galway, Ireland, photo, photo challenge, photography, portrait, portrait challange

Meeting new people and connecting through creativity is one of the #jjcommunitys aims, to help with that they offer support and advice in how to perfect your Instagram and use the tools available to you.

So on Saturday, on the mystery tour, we lernt about some of the challenges a street photographer has: light, movement, unknown territory, spotting the moment before it passes and sometimes, with the help of a smile, asking for a strangers permission to photograph them.

The CEO of #jjcommunity Kevin Kuster led the group I was in through the drizzle of Galway and gave us a few challenges along the way. One challenge was to approach a stranger and take their portrait.

Never one to shy away from the unknown I took the challenge on and began to look for someone a little bit special. I saw a stunning woman across the road and drawn in by her colourful clothes and true Irish complexion I stopped her in her tracks. She was in a bit of a hurry but agreed to my proposal and I was rewarded with theses lovely portraits on a beautiful woman from Galway – Aisling: a full-time nurse and part-time model.

Aisling

the windows in Galway

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#jjcommunity, dreams, Galway, imagine, Ireland, Mystery Tour, photography, photos, travel, windows

Galway is one of those wonderfully colorful cities that attracts locals and tourists alike.  On my recent trip my gaze was often drawn upwards at the eclectic selection of windows that adorned the houses I walked passed. Like people, they seemed to have individual personalities and I enjoyed looking for them as I walked by.

In doing so I couldn’t help but think about how people say ‘that eyes are the windows to your soul’ and wondered if it then follows that windows are the eyes into a houses soul- if such a thing exists. And if so what would the windows of the houses I was photographing say about the home they hid behind their glass.

Still musing these thoughts on the train ride home my eyes caught glimpses of strangers lives lit up in the dark from within. And I remembered how, as I child, I often made up stories about the people I saw, imagining why they were doing what they did and what they would be doing afterwards.

Again my mind drifted, this time to one of my all time favourite fairy tales: The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. I loved the way, with the strike of a match, the wall to the house she sat huddled up to would turn into a see-through veil and display a life that she so longed for and dreamt of.

So maybe windows aren’t just the eyes to the soul of a home, but maybe they can also be an aperture into a world of fantasy and dreams, one that inspires to create and imagine – even if only for one’s own enjoyment

mystery tour in miserable weather

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Galway, Ireland, meeting people, Mystery Trip, photography, photos, St Patrick's Day

Come join us on a mystery tour – how could that not catch my eye. So yesterday morning I headed out – much earlier than I would have liked – to Heuston Station, my camera bag hanging from my shoulder and no idea where I was  going. Once there a gaggle of people was receiving bright green wristbands, so I joined the queue and followed some stranger wearing green jackets onto a waiting train.

I didn’t know anyone there, but I wasn’t the only one and I soon became part of a lovely – very lively – group of soon to be friends. After a long train ride, filled with laughs and lots of chats, we arrived in Galway – our mystery destination!

Sadly the weather hadn’t changed and we were greeted by gray skies and lots of drizzle. Not wanting the weather to dictate how the day would go we set off – ten groups in all – to invade the lovely city of Galway and discover a few hidden gems along the way. As we grew wetter and our memory cards fuller, hours passed by as the day waned.

After a long up hill hike we ended up in Ardilaun Hotel – a lovely place but a long walk away from were we started – especially in the rain. Never have I longed more for a hot cup of tea and was rewarded with a hot brew served in a lovely cup. As we waited for dinner to be served all eyes drifted towards their phones as everyone instegrammed, liked and hashtagged. Sadly the dinner was not very good (small portions, no flavour and too expensive for what we got – cheap rolls and stew that was more like watery soup) but at least the company was great and we all had fun, found friends and new followers and followees.

Back on the train the laughter continued and once we set foot back on Dublin ground everyone was tired and happy. So even if the weather was miserable, it was a wonderful day – a mystery tour with marvelous people – and all thanks to the ever expanding #jjcommunity,  Josh Johnson and Kevin Kuster.

arriving at Galway train station

a bright pink square distracting me from the miserable gray skies

ribbons on a bridge

vendor selling his wares at the Galway market

dripping umbrella

hatseller enjoying a few quite moments

dry underneath a sunny yellow umbrella

flower seller

colourful tarps

not so securely tightened

a new friends shoes

another bridge

red catching my eye

a few lit candles

Galway cathedral turned its dome green for the occasion

steps up to the alter

looks to me like across between a monkey and a fish

more friendly shoes

water everywhere

even the pigeons looked for shelter on windowsills

changed meaning

some of the group

Weekly Photo Challenge: Atop

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Atop, climbing, clouds, photography, photos, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Atop

As I child I loved climbing trees and rocks, I liked the feeling of being higher up, just looking down instead of up for a change.

When eleven or so I then discovered how much I enjoyed the solitude of being atop a tree, hidden between branches, tucked away with a book, reading my way into fantasy worlds. One tree in particular was my ‘go to’ perch, but sadly it didn’t last when the next door neighbors thought I was spying on their nudist activities and chased me away.

In my twenties I did some rock-climbing in the Pyrenees. On one of the days I remember clambering to the top, secured from below, and turning around to the view behind of a valley behind me. It was breathtaking, even more so than the effort it took to get atop.

And while I may no longer be the climbing type I can’t help but look up at the clouds and wonder what it would be like to be up there looking down.

going sock-less

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Dublin, fashion, photography, photos, shoes, sock-less, spring, sun, weather

Over the past few days spring has fully sprung in Dublin, the sun has been shining, the trees have been blooming and everything is waking up from the long winter sleep. With the temperatures rising I have decided to let the weather ‘knock my socks off’ (couldn’t resist this awful pun) and relegate my socks to the back of the drawer and go sock-less again. So over the last three days my feet have been bare in my shoes and I have enjoyed the freedom of unhindered wiggling of toes.

Now I only hope that my socklessness state can continue until much later this year and who knows, maybe by offering up an extra few patches of exposed skin to the sun my vitamin D intake will skyrocket. Additionally I won’t need to spend time sorting my socks – I like them in pairs – and I’ll even save some (even if only small) space in the washing machine.

So maybe I should look around and see what else I could dispel and discover what I may gain by doing so.

standing in a spot of sun