Category Archives: Photography

Strollin’ through the town today

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Yesterday morn I took the dogeen for a walk, and I saw a lot of things that made me think about where I live as seen through a stranger’s eyes. It was a positive experience – but as walking the dog isn’t conducive to taking photos, I didn’t break out the iPhone.

So this morning, I took a walk without her – but I didn’t get to see all the same things as my walk was shorter. Sorry!

One of the very first places I come to is the church. They are painting it. Yesterday was what they could reach with a long roller, but today the heavy machinery was involved.

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After the church I hit the main drag. The sun was playing peek-a-boo.

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It looks so colourful like this. It’s a terrible shame that at least 1/3 of the buildings you see are empty. Some for the entire 8 years I’ve lived here, and longer.

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An example – a business that has come and gone again since I’ve lived here. They sold ink. The pile of unread post inside the door is astounding, and that terrible white-wash window covering didn’t last even a few months.

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Another empty business – but this one (unoccupied since well before I moved here) used to be rotting and quite the eyesore. This year they cleaned it up and put up fake window stickers to make it look like it is operational. Fair play to the for that (click and zoom in to see the fake rows of goods).

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We still have a phone booth! There used to be three, but a couple of years ago they took the other two out. I have no idea what it costs for a local call – I’m afraid that it smells of urine in there. Probably not, but some things you are better off not knowing.

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Another shot of Main Street, heading back home now. You could almost see the church again in the far distance on the left. Almost!

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Someone’s well cool door knocker. I’m also looking for things to paint – so this one is hopefully a goer.

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The former bell at the church – hubby is quite happy to tell how he “helped” get it down, back in the day. It’s all programmed bong bong bongs now, which we can hear from our house quite easily. I want to try to paint this, too.

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Of course, I had a very, very, disappointed dog waiting for me when I got home. Funny now she looks like an orang-utan, isn’t it? And hey! There’s me taking the pic!

Sun has cooked my brain

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Randomness will abound. Forewarned is forearmed!

I have a hammock now.

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Actually, I’ve had it for nigh on 10 years. Now I have a stand to hang it from. And even that took 3.5 hours of fiddling, giving up, and having some fabulous local welder a make me a longer centre pole so the massive hammock would fit.

My arse still hits the ground when I sit up, but it’s lovely. I’m desperate to sleep in it overnight. Maybe tonight?

I’ve been off work, because my brain finally had a big crash and now I’m on happy pills. About time I admitted I needed help. Coincidentally, the weather has been amazing and just what I needed. I’m actually peeling from a sunburn – I don’t think that’s happened to me since I moved here. I got so hot today I had to go inside to cool off with a damp towel. Woot!

I also went swimming today, but I didn’t bring my iPhone as it was scary enough leaving the car keys on shore while I snorkelled about. It was cold! But I had a good time. Here’s the view from where I parked.

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Well, that’s a crappy photo. But I didn’t want to take a pic of the two little boys in their underwear (knickers, they kept saying – thought only girls wore knickers?). Don’t you just love that warning sign?

I’m out front – and getting chewed up by midges so I don’t know how long I will last. I was out here last week (before the midges hatched), and the sunset was pretty interesting.

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I washed the car yesterday so I bet the reflections tonight would be clearer if the sunset was cooperating.

I still don’t know what this is. Help?

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It apparently comes in more than one colour.

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Okay my face is on fire from bug bites and I’ve retreated indoors. Little noseeum bastards. Like I’m not itchy enough on a normal day? Perhaps sleeping outside isn’t such a good idea. A bird pooped on my hammock today, anyway.

A bird with better aim pooped somewhere else this afternoon.

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That’s my iced tea, in the cup holder of my favourite camp chair. I was sitting and reading and suddenly – splash! tea all over my right bicep. I look in my cup, expecting a chunk of moss from the roof. No. It’s a perfectly aimed bird shit. Right in my cup. Thanks, avian friend. The tea was all warm and nasty from the sun, anyway.

Now, some say that having a bird crap on you is good luck (why o why). Immediately after this happened, I checked the lottery ticket my mother in law bought for me last week, and I’d won €12. But it was purchased May 31 and I only thought to look at it because someone said bird poo was good luck. Ooooo, spooky, eh? Hehehehe.

Peekaboo outtakes.

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I had a few more shots from the other day, that didn’t fit in with the eye theme. But I like them anyway.

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Lokii’s snake-like teeth and curly yawning tongue, while blurry, make me smile.

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I’m sure there’s a term for getting the perspective all wrong. Help me out if you know it. I did it here, with the phone below his nose looking up: his schnozzola looks gigantic and he looks cross-eyed as well. It doesn’t look like Lokes any more, but it’s cute.

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So I did the same thing to Spot. He just looks like he’s smiling.

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I wish I could meditate like that. Hey, Dianda – if you want the last pic for your Monday caption contest, I couldn’t come up with anything clever myself!

Peekaboo.

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Spot was begging me to turn on the bathroom tap yesterday, so he could have a drink. From my seat (ahem) I told him that I didn’t intend to be in the room that long, so I wasn’t going to oblige him. Being as he doesn’t understand English, he just stared at me. As he tried to convince me using all of his feline wiles – more staring – I noticed his eyes were a most unusual colour.

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It’s pretty hard to take photos of a cat who is only interested in a drink, so we left the bathroom and I grabbed my iPhone and chased him around the house until he settled by the back door. His eyes were still that odd marbled shade, like agate.

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Usually they are mostly yellow, with brown hints. I’d never seen them change. Maybe I haven’t been paying attention.

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Of course, I can’t pay attention to Spottie-pants without Lokii-trousers showing up and demanding some face time.

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His eyes never change colour, but they are still the most glorious shade of blue.

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But he does a damn creepy impression of a ‘white walker’ from Game of Thrones!

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Lob it over me, boss

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Okay, I want to do a real post, but I can’t really concentrate at the moment to line up pics and talk about them. But I feel like I haven’t posted in days – and I haven’t – so I have to do something anything.

It so happens I do have ‘something, anything’, and it’s friggin’ adorable.

Yep, it’s the boys being cute again!

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I should probably explain all the mess. Photo location- inches away from the sliding glass door (to the right, in the photos). The boys are in the dog’s bed: it gets sunny and warm there occasionally.

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That corner is also where their ‘thrones’ are – also known as litter boxes, but these are massive with pillows on top for them to sleep on, and catch the sun at the right time of day. So, there’s a bit of litter scattered in the dog bed. Meh. Cats are clean, just not neat.

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The blue thingie behind Lokii is the little cardboard zip-strip from a new box of aluminium foil. Spot loves them, so I gave it to him as a toy and hasn’t quite yet (or yet-yet, it’s still there) thrown it away when he got bored.

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But who cares about some random mess when you have a Siamese using a Bengal as a chin-rest?

The Butts Have it

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Wow, thanks everyone – the pic of Mr Spottie-pants with the grin on was really well received, and I made some new friends because of it!

But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t post this photo. Because I am clearly a 9 year old boy trapped in a 40-something woman’s body. Sled told me so, and I believe her. Well, she said 11, but I think 9 is just about right for my sense of humour.

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Heehehe! Yes, I’m in that kinda mood. Please take note, those of a scientific bent (rather than those of us who are just…bent), that Lokii’s ninth point of coloration is clearly visible. Only the male Siamese have nine points.

Road photos

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I’m kind of in limbo at the moment, mentally – getting there I hope? I’ve said enough lately to last me a while, so I thought instead of moaning, I would put up some more photos from our excursion of a few weeks ago. These are all Hipstamatic shots taken on my iPhone – not the new iPhone, the one before that, don’t ask me what it is – I just inherit the old phone when iDJ is done with it.

This is a dark group of shots, befitting my dark mind-set at the time. I still like them.

As I’ve done before, I love to take pictures of the landscape as we blast through it. We were local this time, but I think I got some good ones (out of the hundred-plus I took that day).
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The sun was going down, and it was doing some fascinating things with the clouds – making ‘Jesus Rays’ in all directions. Yeah, I know – I’m not a Christian and probably shouldn’t be using that phrase. But I love it, it is perfect after seeing all those ‘artistic renderings’ that have Jesus surrounded by crazy beams of sunshine. I think I got the expression from Stephen King, but I’m not 100% sure – I read a lotta stuff.

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Trees kept getting in between me and the Jesus Rays. I love how the motion of the car makes the trees look radically bent, leaning, in motion even, when it is me moving instead. Oddly, the Hipstamatic shots seem to be reversed – the angle should be to the left due to the camera’s forward motion, and it is to the left when using the straight iPhone camera.
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Ahh. There’s the sky finally!
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But spectacular sunsets always end…
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and you have to head for home.
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Dog’s Day Out

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And now, for something completely different. I promised A Silver Voice a dog-related post.

Hubby and I took the dogeen on a rare car trip a few weeks ago. I took a load of pictures, and have saved a huge number for posting when the elusive round tuit appears in my pocket.

These are the ones of Neko – there’s only a few.

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Her in the car – she looks goofy with her ears flat like that, but it’s because she’s a big dog in a small car and she refuses to lie down in the car! Yeah, it’s blurry. You try taking shots over your shoulder of a standing dog in a moving vehicle that’s bouncing down Irish roads.

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Even goofier. Actually, to me she looks like she’s about to barf down the back of my neck. She doesn’t get carsick. Anymore.
Not since she got that halo.

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Her in a thingie, in a place.

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Her in a thingie in a place, looking at ‘daddy’ and wondering why she has to stand there and be good and can’t go running off to some other place with thingies she hasn’t smelled yet.