going sock-less

Tags

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

turning the page on the calendar

Tags

clothing, photography, photos, spring, warm, weather

A day later than usual it’s time to turn the page on the calendar and welcome Spring. Now I know that many may follow the astronomical beginning of Spring, which is the 20th of March, but I prefer the meteorological way. After all it’s easier to divide the year into quarters.

So, with Spring arriving on our doorsteps I can only hope the weather will follow suit – today it seems to be delayed with strong winds dominating Dublin. I long for a bit of warmth, not just because it will make my bike rides easier, but mainly because I am fed up with wearing all these layers of clothing.

I long to put away my boots and socks and slip into my sandals. I can’t wait to shut the drawer on my vests and stash away my jumpers, short sleeves and trouser legs are calling out to my pale sun unkissed skin.

But for now I will just have to keep warm and wait until Spring fulfills its promise and delivers some sunshine.

the new picture on my calendar today – Newgrange 2015

frost flowers and daffodils

Tags

cold, cold weather, cycling, daffodils, Dublin, frost, photography, photos, spring

The last few mornings have been very cold, when I open my eyes I am greeted with frost flowers covering the skylight above my bed. On the bike I pedal hard to not feel the cold but my lungs aren’t enjoying the excessive intake of cold air as I draw breath. Freezing from the inside out – I wonder if that is a thing. Cups of hot tea and a blazing fire in the evenings are the upside of the cold weather.

Snowdrops, crocuses and tiny daffodils are emerging from the earth, buds bursting open in flashes of colour on my windowsill and under the trees in the park and it makes me think of Spring.

So to counter act the ice flowers on the windows I decided I wanted to brighten up my home and bought two bunches of daffodils – at fist they were still closed up and hiding from the world but two days in the warmth of my home and they have exploded into bright yellow trumpet heads – as if heralding spring. I added a colorful runner to my dinning table and now the bright burst of colours really cheers up the room and me up too– a small sign that warmer weather isn’t too far away, a hopeful promise of sunshine.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons

Tags

autumn, photos, phoyography, plants, seasons, spring, summer, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons, winter

As someone who is living in Ireland you quickly learn that while Seasons are something that happen through out the year they can also happen within a single day. The sun can be shining in the morning, a sense of Spring lingers in the air at noon you suddenly get hail storms and biting winds and you can’t help but feel like Autumn. Then maybe the sun breaks through and you realise you are wearing way too much clothes and an ice-cream is all you really want suggesting that maybe it’s summer after all. But then the evening arrives and the temperatures plummet and frost paints pictures with ice on your windows  and you know it’s really still Winter. Sometimes the only way to truly know what season it is, is to look at the trees and plants and see what they are doing!

this trees have decided it’s Spring

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Vibrant

Tags

flowers, photography, photos, powerscourt gardens, spring, summer, Vibrant, Weekly Photo Challenge, Wicklow

The world around me is anything but vibrant – grey skies lots of rain and a different storm front everyday. But because winter seems to have taken a grim and grey hold of the world it seems perfect that the theme of the week is vibrant – a visual counterbalance to what we see.

I am looking forward to the vibrancy of spring and summer – Powerscourt Gardens, Wicklow

new beginnings

Tags

back-yard, Dublin, job, masters, new beginnings, photography, photos, plants, spring, work, writing

Today is the first day of the second semester for my masters, so I am back to being a student again, even if only for a few hours a week. But this week there is another new beginning – I’m starting a new job tomorrow.

It may be only two days a week (I’m still lecturing after all) but it is a new endeavour with lots of new challenges. Over the next six weeks or so I’ll be writing a user manual for an interesting tech company here in Dublin. I’m quite excited about this, but also a  little nervous. After all I have written guides and a manual in the past but the are of tech is new to me, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to quickly adapt and produce exactly what the company is looking for.

And I spotted some new beginnings in my tiny back yard …  some tiny shoots of (I think) snowdrops have appeared on my windowsill and I can’t wait to watch them bloom. But this also means I need to carve out some time to tidy up my pots and windowsills and invite spring to come along.

foggy mornings, sunny afternoons

Tags

Dublin, fog, frosted glass, fuzzy world, magical atmosphere, spring, sunshine, weather

Over the last few mornings a thick curtain of fog has covered most of Ireland dipping everything into a fuzzy world of haziness. Early today when I looked out of the window it was like gazing through frosted glass, a magical atmosphere of surreal reality.

But as the day matured the sun finally broke through the fog, the warmth of it’s rays penetrating through awakening the world and everything in it. Edges emerging from the haze, colours suddenly appearing.

As I walked home after a few hours of lecturing I couldn’t help but feel a promise of the summer in the air, a few brave souls baring chalky legs to the spring sun and birds singing in the trees. I can’t believe that there are only four weeks of teaching left in this semester, time is speeding up and the year is advancing quickly.

But for now I’ll enjoy these slow foggy awakenings, allow the day to start off a little unclear and be surprised by what the sun then later brings to light.

spring is on its way

Tags

flowers, gardening, spring, tiny yard

Over the last week or so I have been watching spring appear on my windowsill. It may be still January but most days have been quite mild and since my tiny yard is very protected from the winter cold I think Spring decided to take a a peek and is now bobbing its colourful head.

So every morning I am thrilled to see the progress and it makes me happy even when the sun stays behind grey clouds. However, like this morning, it is a particularly joyful sight when the sun shines down from blue sky’s and it puts a smile on my face.

And to think that it snowed in Germany this weekend, only one hour time difference but obviously a whole climate change away!

 

 

sunshine and art classes

Tags

art, art classes, arts, creat, creative, pinting, spring, sunshine

The sun has found it’s way back to Dublin and since yesterday afternoon clear blue skies and warm spring sunshine has been mocking my cold.  But while my nose dribbles and glows a vibrant red I must say my spirits have been lifted by the return of spring.

And because the new rays of sun have given me an infusion of energy I decided to make good on a promise I made to myself at the beginning of the year.

For a while now I have been thinking about getting back into drawing and painting. As a child and teenager it was my favourite pass-time but over the years other things have taken over my time and my scribblings have turned into blank pages. But every now and then I feel the urge to create, get my hands painty and attack a canvas with my arty attempts.

Because I wanted to do new and more things this year I decided to give art classes a try, however time flies by and all I have to show for my ambitions are a few new paint brushes. So this morning I decided to turn thoughts into actions and I found myself  an accessible art class and next Friday I’ll drop down and try it out for the first time.

I am quite excited about this and can’t wait to let my inner artist out to fingerprint. Who knows maybe I will even not be as bad as I think I am, which will hopefully motivate me to keep it up.