Shades of Summer

By Theatre Clouds on Etsy.

Hello boys and girls. How’s everyone doing this evening then? It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Too long really. I think I needed a bit of a break after last week’s blog hopping siege; I don’t know about you lot but that carry on really took it out of me! Great fun though, well worth it. Anyhoo…

So it seems summer has finally arrived on these blustery shores. I’ve been spending my afternoons dandering and daydreaming, taking pictures and collecting sea shells - basically just making the most of the fine weather and my free time while I still have some (finally got myself a new job, woo hoo!). It’s been really rather lovely. I would share some snaps but I feel like I’ve been saturating this blog with my mediocre photos recently. Plus, there’s simply no way any of my own pictures could ever convey my present mood as beautifully as these:

The work of Canadian artist Elly MacKay, the images you see before you were created using hand cut painted paper and photographed in a miniature theatre. I just adore the light, airy feel to these fairytale-esque scenes. So fitting for how I feel right now, like walking on clouds made of marshmallows. Incidentally, you can find many more instances of Ms MacKay’s heart warming work at her aptly named Etsy shop, Theatre Clouds. Eye candy for little girls of all ages :)

p.s. I’ve only just discovered she has a Flickr page and a blog too, where you can find even more dreamy delights! Check them out here and here respectively.

Let the Partying Begin!

Right, so at this very moment, as I type, a large proportion of the people I know are on their way to rock it out at an honest-to-god actual real life festival. The rest are either off sunning it up somewhere, or at least making plans that involve going outside at some point over the weekend. What am I doing? Preparing for my busiest blogging weekend since last Halloween’s madness. And do you know what, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When they’re all waking up in their stuffy wee tents, on a soggy Donegal beach, with the mother of all hangovers, I’ll be sitting right here sipping tea, fresh as a daisy in my dressing gown and slippers, lapping up all the fairytale delights set to grace the land of blog over the coming days. Before that, however, there are a couple of matters to attend to. The first being my party post for today’s fae gathering!

I had prepared a totally different post for this, to be honest. I’d it all ready to go last night and everything when I had a change of heart literally at the eleventh hour - or to be more precise the twenty third… Anyway, it was late yesterday evening when I decided to abandon my post on fairy fools and other unseelie types for something a bit more light hearted.  This is a party after all, lets leave the darker side of fae till another day.

The result of this, though, is that I haven’t had much time to prepare any sort of a coherent post. Instead I’ve just put together a collection of some of my fairy-esque photos and things which (to the best of my recollection) I haven’t shared here before. Hope you like them!

Finally, all of the above I either dug up from old folders or had already uploaded to Flickr but I sat up late last night making these digital collages especially for the party :) Sorry, the little quotes on them are fairly corny but it was very late and, as I pointed out in my last post, my brain goes into shut down mode when I’m tired.

p.s. I have to go out now but I'll catch up with all the party posts as soon as I get home. Hope you're all enjoying the festivities!

p.p.s. I'm home now and I was just about to set out on my party adventure when I remembered I forgot to post this! You've probably seen it before but I only came across it the other day. Proof, my friends, proof.

Midsummer Dawn

You’ll have to forgive me this evening if I’m not too chatty.  When I’m tired my brain tends to turn to mush and basic things like constructing a sentence can be a challenge. So I’ll be keeping the words to a minimum tonight since I’m just the tiniest bit exhausted from traipsing about the countryside at all hours of this morning.

A few of us from my local camera club set out at ridiculous o’clock so we could catch the dawn of the solstice sun. And not just from any old place, from the home of the sungods themselves, An Grianan of Aileach. During daytime hours you can drive right up the fort, but at 4.30am the road was closed and we had to climb (ok, walk) a large part of the 800ft hill while still rubbing the sleep from our eyes. (It’s at this point I want to add that, cliches bedamned, I’m just not as young as I used to be!)

It was well worth it, though, and we were even lucky with the weather for once. It was raining all yesterday evening, and then all afternoon today, but at dawn this morning the clouds parted just long enough for the sun to peak its proud head over the hills so we could get our snaps. After that it was all tea and biscuits and picnic blankets- at five o’clock in the am, on the solstice, at a millennia old site of sun worship. I could think of worse ways to pass a few hours.

Well folks, I hope you’re all having a lovely Midsummer and now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to conk out somewhere…

p.s. Is anyone else having trouble viewing their dashboard? I swear, Blogger’s really beginning  to try my patience!

Apologies, Promises and Predicting the Irish Weather

 Image source.

 

Sorry folks, I’ve been at it again. Slacking off. I’m getting worse too. All I seem to do these days is crawl back every so often, full of apologies and promises, and a lot of chat about the weather, then slink away into obscurity again only to return a week later with a lot of the same.

So I’m going to try not to do that tonight. Though I suppose that ‘sorry folks’ is a form of apology, and saying I’m not going to go slinking away again does kind of count as a promise. Plus, I am going to talk about the weather! Well I’m Irish, it’s what we do.

As they say in these parts, ’tis a while night out there. Terrible windy. Though that’s not quite the type of weather chat I was on about. I was thinking more of the ‘reading nature to predict a storm’ sort.  In fact, I hadn’t actually intended talking about the weather at all until I sat down to write this. I had meant to post about local fairy tales for the lovely Laura.

Most of you won’t know Laura, she doesn’t have a blog, but I’ve known her in the real world for years and believe me, she’s just brilliant. She lives in England and doesn’t get home much, but I met her at a wedding the other day and she promptly reminded me that she likes to keep up to date with the blog. At least she did when there was stuff to keep up to date with. Sorry missus! (Shit, that was another apology.)

Anyway, as I said, I had planned on hunting down some local fairy stories which I knew she’d appreciate. And I did, I found some from right by the area she’s from. They’ll have to wait for another day though (and that’s another promise) ‘cause on the same site I also found this adorable guide to forecasting the weather from signs in nature.

As far as I can tell, it was written by an Inishowen schoolboy in 1938. It’s a just wee bit hilarious, especially considering the storm that’s blowing out there tonight. And I’m sure it’ll be as helpful in Yorkshire as it is here!

 Weather Signs 

by Liam Grant, Maghermore 17/01/1938

When the moon is pale it is a sign of rain.
When there is a ring around the moon it is a sign of rain.
A coppery or pale sunset is a sign of rain.
A rosy sunset means good weather.
When the stars are very bright it is the sign of a storm.
When the cloud are heavy it is a sign of rain.
When it starts to rain if the hens run to their house it is a sign it is going to fair but if they puck about it is going to be a wet day.
When the mist comes up from the sea it is a sign it is a sign of good weather.
When the mist comes down Meentagh glen it is a sign of rain.
When we hear Binion strand roaring it is a sign of rain.
When we hear Carrickabraghey roaring it is a sign of frost.
When the cow shakes herself in the byre it is a sure sign of rain.
When the smoke blows down the chimney it is a sign of rain.
When the hares comes into the fields it is a sign of a storm.
When there are clouds in the sky like goats hair it a sign of rain.
When the crows are up high in the air and fly straight down to the ground it is a sign of rain.
If you see the rock glistening in the distance hills after a shower it is a sign of rain.
When you hear the rivers sounding very loudly it is a sign of rain.
When you can see the hills very close it is a sign of rain.
When you see the merry dancers in the north it is a sign of storm.
When the hills look far away it is a sign of good weather.
When you see the dogs eating grass it is a sign of rain.
When the sun goes down red it is a sign of good weather.
If there is anybody who see wild geese it is a sign of storm.
If you see cows with their backs to the wind it is a sign of rain.
If you see a blue light in the fire it is a sign of storm.
When you see sheep coming in to the front of the hills it is a sign of storm.
If it starts to rain out of the south and the wind to change to the north it will fair.
When you see the cat sitting with the back to the fire it is a sign of storm.
If the new moon has her horns sticking up it is a sign of good weather.
When the horns are sticking down it is a sign of storm.
If the crain goes up the river it is a sign that there is going to be a flood.
If the floor gets damp in wet weather it is going to be good weather.
If the floor gets damp in good weather it is going to be wet weather.

 

THE END

Read more about the 1938 School Manuscripts here.

A Fairy Tree for Bealtaine

“All around the thorn tree, the little people play; and every one that pass there, they turn their heads away.”

- Count John McCormack, ‘The Bush Beyond Clougheen’.

Hello folks! Just dropping in quickly this evening to let you all know I haven’t given up blogging or anything, I’m actually still struggling to escape that time warp I mentioned last week. You know I seriously believe The End must be fast approaching, what with time speeding up and the fact that I don’t remember the last time the sun wasn’t shining! The rest of the world’s getting blown away and washed out of it, yet there hasn’t been a drop of rain here in around a month. Something’s definitely up. 

Anyway, I’m sure now that’s it’s officially summer the grey clouds will be back with a vengeance soon enough, and once I’m stuck indoors again time will return to it’s normal blog-friendly pace. I know nearly every other person in Ireland would probably hit me for saying this, but I can’t bloody wait. Bring back the gloom, all this pleasantness just isn’t normal!

(Oh, and sorry about my half-assed attempt at a Bealtaine post. My photo of the hawthorn is out of season and everything - it has to be in bloom to be Beltane-y. I did have some lovely shots of a flowering thorn from a couple of days ago but I deleted them from my camera by accident last night. Typical!)

Garden Fairies

Since I haven’t posted anything fairy-related in ages I thought I’d share my latest Flickr uploads with you today. I may have already shared a couple of these ages ago, they’re from last summer, but if I did they would’ve been without the textures (since I only added them last night). I know, it would probably fit me better to get out there and take some new photos instead of playing around with oldies, but everything just looks so dreary at this time of year! No sparkly ice or fluffy snow, and no flowers in the garden or sunlight through the trees. Just heavy grey skies and dull wet streets. Miserable. 

Gimpy Days

Check out my new Flickr page! 

I’m a terrible one for going through phases, particularly when it comes to pastimes. Case in point being my Etsy treasury obsession a little while ago. I’ve actually not been on there for ages now, but no doubt when the notion takes me I’ll throw myself right back into it. That’s the way I do things, when I come across something I enjoy I tend to overload on it for a while at first. Like playing online Scrabble, or reading too much of the one author.

My current obsession is with the image editing software Gimp. I couldn’t afford to buy Photoshop again when my laptop packed in so I got this free alternative instead; it really is almost as good. At least it is for my purposes, I’m sure proper graphics people would wrinkle their noses at it. Anyway, aside from making my blog banner and buttons, I hadn’t put it to much use until recently. Then about a week ago I was saving some photos when I realised how many I had taken since I got my wee camera. I’ve hundreds! Most of them are quite poor but I have that many I thought I should do something with them. So I started playing around on Gimp and I’ve now found a new outlet for my procrastination. Many hours will and already have been consumed!

Here’s a few examples of what I’ve come up with while playing around with layers and textures. These are only my first attempts at this kind of thing and I’m still only learning, so please don’t judge them too harshly! I’ll have creepy ones to post as the season approaches. And I haven’t forgotten about the promised fungi photos, either, I’ll post them some day soon too. You’re going to be sick looking at photos here by the time this phase passes!

p.s I’ve even started a Flickr account, which you can check out here.

New Month, New Journal

It’s been a while, I know, but I have actually been keeping up with my new journaling habit. I’ve even gone and got myself a lovely little handbag-sized book I can carry around with me. I’m still using my original July spiral pad but I keep starting and not finishing pages in it. I’ll get back to that one someday soon, but for now here’s a couple of wee pics of my new one and it’s first page. I can’t wait to fill the whole thing!

 

I got the book for 30p in a thrift shop. I really must decorate the cover next:

It’s Enid Blyton’s ‘The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat’. I never liked Blyton, so I don’t mind messing it up!

And here’s my first page, as messy as usual. Hopefully I’ll start improving soon:

p.s I just want to say thank you for all your much-too-kind comments on my previous pages. I’m always really paranoid posting them ’cause I think they look like something from playschool.  But it was blogging that got me started on this so I sort of feel an obligation to share. Anyway, thanks again!

Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?

I don’t care what it is, I want one! I was out a wander with my friend Siobhan this evening and as we were admiring the lovely sunset this guy came whizzing past in his fantastic flying machine. He nearly crashed into us at one point, and at another we thought he was falling from the sky! He wasn’t.  Anyway, my camera’s playing up a bit at the minute (it’s really unresponsive!) so I missed some great shots of him. Oh well, these will have to do:

And here are a couple of the sunset over Lough Swilly, which translates from Irish as ‘The Lake of Shadows’.  I wonder why…