Some not-so-ugly ducklings

© Brenda Long

Right, so I promised I’d start blogging about something other than my lack of blogging today, so here we go. I’ve a folder full of lovely things I’ve encountered in my travels through cyber space which are just dying to be shared, but instead I thought I’d kick things off with a wee story I was working on for the paper last week  which warmed my cockles, and I hope it will yours too.  It wasn’t what you’d call earth-shattering breaking news, but it was one of those little tales that fills you full of warm fuzzy rainbows and sunbeams  :)

As any of you in the British Isles will know, summer has yet to grace these shores. Aye, it’s been fairly warm, but it seems like everywhere is taking turns at been washed out of it, and here in Inishowen it’s been no exception. Around two weeks ago we had a month’s rain in one day, with flash flooding in many areas. One of the places to be quite badly hit was a little local island called Inch, which is home to a beautiful lake and wonderful wildfowl reserve.

The reserve itself is a sanctuary for many migrating birds and other aquatic animals, such as ducks and otters, as well as hundreds upon hundreds of swans. Usually they make their nests off the beaten track and are best viewed from the observation huts dotted around the lake, but this year one of the swan couples built their little home right alongside the main causeway road into the island, in full view of all the passing locals. As anyone who’s ever witnessed it themselves will know, swan couples are really very sweet and endearing – especially the way the cob is so attentive and protective of the pen and their eggs – so as you can imagine the small community on the island, who had been watching them build their nest and grow their brood for weeks, became quite protective of the young family. 

© Chiara Boyle

Then disaster struck – during the recent rains the lake tide began to rise and the nest was in danger sinking. The eggs were actually floating away! Thankfully, someone spotted what was happening and called in the help of two local men who braved the torrential weather in attempt to save the unborn cygnets.  They rescued the eggs from the water and built a pallet for the nest to float on, and after a nervous wait the mother even sat back atop of it despite the interference. At that stage it was still unclear whether her babies would make it or not, though, because the eggs had been ice cold by the time they were put back in the nest. 

That was yesterday fortnight ago, and on Monday morning I got a phone call from one very excited Inch resident – the eggs were hatching! By the time I went up only two of the six had hatched, and while there were fears not all would make it, anyone I was talking to was just so happy any had survived at all. Eggs had perished in years past due to bad weather because people couldn’t get to the nest in time to save them, so you can imagine their joy this time. I was especially pleased for the local children – there was a pre-school nearby and the teacher had been taking her pupils down daily to check on the nest and to teach the kids about wildlife, so they were especially concerned then excited to watch the whole thing unfold. Then there was the proud swan mammy herself – she kept lifting up her wing to show us the two little cuties, as if she was boasting ‘look what I did!’ (I realise she was probably just giving them a little air, but don’t ruin my fantasy.)

It got better too. On Thursday a local man – David McCauley – sent us in these beautiful images of the proud family. Yup, all six cygnets hatched safe and well! 

 © David McCauley

As I said, it’s not the most hard-hitting news story I’ve ever written, but I challenge anyone to go up and see those little fluffy babies, and talk to those locals who are still brimming with pride, and not be cheered up. Go on, tell me you’re heartless!  

At this point I’d like to say thanks to Brenda Long, Chiara Boyle and David McCauley for the wonderful photographs. I have some of my own but yours were so much better.

[For more on the story, you can read it on our paper’s website here and here.]

The Internet should come with a breathalyser

Following on from that oh-so-cringesome  theme of my last post, I have a wee confession to make today – I didn’t remember that I’d actually written it until I came on here this morning!  That’s sounds really bad, doesn’t it? Hear me out: I’ve been insanely busy at work this past while; long gone are the days were the weekends were for anything other than sleeping for 15 hours at a time, with beer being replaced by copious amounts of tea and books. It’s not exactly rock’n’roll, but that’s how I like it. (I’m an auld woman now, you know.)

It’s not that I was ever the biggest drinker in the world, but these days I can really see where that old cliché about getting drunk at the smell of alcohol comes from. I’m totally and utterly useless! So you can imagine what I was like last Saturday when I went on my friend’s hen night, of all things. I knew I was out of practice, as they say, so I was pacing myself and trying my best to take it easy. In fact, if you had asked me at the end of the night I would’ve told you I was totally sober , it wasn’t until the next morning that I realised I’d been away with the fairies! And then to come on here today with the intention of making my first post in months, only for the cold realisation to hit me that I’d been on that night… Well, let’s just say it was unsettling. I completely remember writing it now (I wasn’t that bad), but still. I suppose it could’ve been worse, I could’ve done one of those soppy ‘I love you guys’ posts like I’ve been guilty of in the past. 

Anyway, I’m not quite sure why I’m even drawing attention to it since I’m a tad embarrassed by the whole thing and should really just let it pass and hope no one noticed. I think it’s a compulsion of mine to point out things that I really should try to cover up. I also wanted to explain why I’d wasted both yours and my own time with yet another one of those whiney ‘I’m sorry I’ve not posted anything in ages’ tirades, put it behind me, and resume with regular ‘normal’ blogging. I’ve a post lined up for this afternoon and everything! 

By the way, the image I’ve used with this post (and the last couple) is a page from my digital art journal, which I’ve not been updating as much as I’d like but which I’ve not totally abandoned. I’d just thought I’d point that out because it’s the type of thing I used to blog about before I got in the habit of making these pointless posts. This is the last of them, promise. Expect a return to the randomness of old, whether it’s some silliness that’s been on my mind or some loveliness I’ve encountered online.  

Bless me bloggers for I have sinned…

Art journal? I don't have an art journal!

…It has been two months since my last post. The biggest sin of all is that in that particular post I promised I’d be back soon! Obviously I was in an optimistic mood that evening. Said post was sincerely intended to be a preliminary, re-introductory set-up to my return to the blogosphere, just as this is now. Lessons have indeed been learned that post, however. 

Tonight I do not mean to make any more unfulfilled promises of regular postage – I’ve learned to accept the fact my free (i.e. blogging) time has been sucked into a vacuum of local intrigue and mundane mystery –  but I can tell you the compulsion to return to this weird and wonderful world of whimsy and marvel has been growing. 

The intention behind the last failed post was to rekindle the addiction which in the past had me dependent on my dashboard, and hooked on the hokum. (You’re all some craic!) Like an alcoholic sipping the nectar of the gods for the first time in a decade, I expected the lingering taste to consume me once again, filling me with the unquenchable desire to log in and cop out, just as in the glory days of old. 

Yet it came and waned, too easily ignored my liking. I have many friends in this little corner of cyberspace (you all know who you are), and just like my friends in whatever the non-cyberspace alternative is (some people call it real life, but personally I find that a tad philosophically contentious), I have neglected you all for the sake of everyday survival-esque pseudo-necessity.  

Sorry about that.

But you don’t want to read yet another guilt-ridden apology – I’ve already said sorry for not having called by to say hello so many times I’d imagine it’d be insulting to ask for forgiveness yet  again.  Instead I’d just like to say ‘hello’. ‘hope you are well’, and ‘promise I’ll be back tomorrow’. (Whoops, didn’t mean to do that!)

Back Soon

Don't know if anyone's still around to notice, but the blog's been on a bit of a hiatus for a while. Too many things, people, too many things. Anyway, just thought I'd check in and let you all know I haven't fallen of the edge of a cliff somewhere (yet!), and I haven't completely given up hope of getting back to blogging something this century.

I do still have a few online hideaways, and have been a little less neglectful with my Tumblr and Flickr pages if you're bored and fancy a nosy/catch up.

Also, if any of you are local to the North West of Ireland, or just want a wee glimpse into the often weird and wacky world of Donegal news, call on over to www.donegalnow.com.

It's the parent page for the news paper I write for and I'm a regular contributor myself :) We're not long on the go, so if any of my lovely local followers - or any of you equally-lovley international ones who know any Irish expats - could spread the word that would be fantastic!

You know, I didn't intend to come here to give the website a shamless plug, just thought I may as well when I was here ;(

Oh, and if you're wondering what relevance the above image has to any of this, the answer is very little. It's just the latest in my very-much flagging digital art journal project - yet another one of my hobbies which has sadly been abandoned in recent times. Hopefully that'll soon change, though; many of the extra-cirricular activities I've been at since Christmas are coming to an end in the next few weeks and I'll be back in business then. Well, hope everyone's doing wonderfully and have a lovley weekend!

A pretty paper dress

 © Carrie Ann Schumacher

I keep forgetting I've actually returned to the world of blogging and therefore actually have somewhere to share some of the loveliness I find on the web. Like this beautiful paper creation from artist Carrie Ann Schumacher, which I came across the other day. Ain't it just beautiful? Wouldn't it be just perfect to wear to a fancy awards do or something like it - well, as long as it didn't rain. Find more of her wonderful work here, including an equally exquisite Alice dress.

And just like bloody buses…

…you don’t get a post for months then two come along at once. You see how committed I am to my promises in the previous post? I had parties to go to tonight, people to kiss and hug and spill beer on, but nope - I just told them they could keep their champagne and sing-songs, I had a blog to resurrect! (It has nothing to do with the fact I’m shattered and my old back complaint’s playing up, honest it hasn’t.)

Anyway, this is another of my resolutions for the new year. This time last year I committed myself to keeping an art journal. Well, I did, but the results weren’t always great. I’m not the most tidy person either, so any time I made a page I usually made a mess too. (Glitter glue and paper everywhere - my room usually ended up looking like it was hit by a playschool class on the sauce.) So, since I spend most of my time at a computer, and since I’m a little bit more adept on Photoshop than with hands-on arts-and-crafts, I set myself a more manageable target this year - digital art journaling. This is my first go, I’ll post another one each week.

Happy new year folks!

New Year, New Me

image source

Well, not really. I’m still the same old me, just a little older since I’ve last been here. Though not much wiser… So then folks, how the hell have you been?!  All’s well this end, I’m glad to report. Happy to back in this weird and wonderful land of fanciful findings and frivolous fantasies. Where’ve I been without you all? As soon as I logged in here and saw those familiar names scrolling down through my dashboard I felt like I’d never been away. It’s really rather comforting.

Anyhoo, to answer that rhetorical question to myself, I’ve not been anywhere particularly special. Just hanging out with the neighbours, in a virtual metaphorical sense.  Spending too much time on Twitter and Tumblr, to put it more literally. In the past wee while I’ve gone beyond my lingering guilt at committing cyber adultery on you guys and fully embraced my micro-blogging addiction. Hence my total abandonment of this, my true internet home.

So - and you may have guessed this already - I’ve made it my New Year’s resolution to do something about that. I’ve already started giving the place a bit of an early spring clean (it’s not finished yet, I’ll get my blogroll and other wee foottery things back up soon enough), and I’ve decided to take a new approach to how I blog here, too. My addiction to Tumblr and the like isn’t hard to figure out; I’m pretty well occupied in my real life at the minute and only have the time and enthusiasm for popping in briefly, throwing a few posts up, and making a quick and quiet exit.

Tumblr makes that easy with its anonymity - on Blogger I’ve always felt an obligation to respond to each and every comment left here by visiting that person's page. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE catching up with you all since you’re all so damn lovely and have the bestest blogs ever, but that’s exactly the problem! I’ve been lucky enough to meet so, so many wonderful kindred souls on here over the past year or two that I always have a lot of loveliness to catch up with. And because of sense of duty to visit you all every time I post… well to be honest it puts me off posting. Not because it feels like a chore, but because I know how long it’ll bloody take! Not a bad complaint, I know. Just an impractical reality of my (previous) Blogger blogging habits.

I think it was the lovely Kathy who, in her infinitely witty wisdom, once told me blogging buddies should be like the people you talk to at the supermarket. You like them, enjoy and even look forward to hearing what’s been going on in their lives or whatever, but you don’t think they’re terrible and throw a huff if they’re in a hurry and don’t have time to stop for a chat. (Well, not unless you’re slightly insane.) It makes sense, for an analogy in which blogging is groceries. So, from now on, I may not always be able to stop for that wee natter, but then again I might have loads of time for a good auld chin wag… What I’m trying to say is I might not stop by your blogs every time I stop by my own, but I will get around to say hello eventually!

image sorce

Then there’s that other issue I need to address - POSTS LIKE THIS ONE!!! When I haven’t been on in a while I feel compelled to spend ages posting a big warbling apology for not having posted in a while. And just like with my self-imposed visiting obligations, the longer it’s been since I’ve posted the longer I’ll spend apologising for not having posted - sure just look at the length of this post! No more of this carry on, is what I’m saying.

Shorter posts, but more of them; meaningful catch ups not obligatory visits; blogging because I want to, not because I feel I have to; and no more months on end of random apologetic posts! That’s my blogging resolution for 2012. Well, hope you all had an excellent night. Good thoughts and best wishes for the coming twelve months!

Just a little note…

…to say hello. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve put the blog on hiatus for a little while. Too many other things on the go at the minute I’m afraid. Anyway, I couldn’t possibly let this - the most wonderful night of all the year - go by without popping in to wish you all the happiest Samhain’s Eve. I’ll be back again soon but until then, oíche mhaith.

Pretty Paper Things

White Paper Press

So I was planning on doing a wee catch-up post this evening, complete with my usual apologies for not stopping by in a while, but now that I’m here I just couldn’t be arsed. Sorry, but it’s been a long day and my poor wee brain can’t handle any more words. Instead I’m going to share some of this beautiful hand-cut paper art from White Paper Press. I haven’t posted these before have I? I thought I hadn’t but when I wrote those words there now I got a terrible sense of deja-vu… Apologies if I have posted them before.

And the winners are…

(Random unrelated photo to brighten the post up.) 

Hello strangers! How’re you all doing? Once more I’ve set a new record for blog neglect, but at least I gave advanced warning about it this time. Anyway, I’m back now and I’ve plenty of posts (and possibly another giveaway) lined up for the month ahead. Which, it turns out, is October! I love October.

First things first though, time to announce the winners of my giveaway. Thank you so much to everyone who entered, and for all your kind words and wishes too. All went well with the op, I’m glad to report. But enough about that! Winners…

So I assigned everyone some numbers depending on the amount of entries they had in and then submitted that to that random number generator thingy. I have to say, everybody had at least two or three in there - there were 36 different people in with 106 entries. Not bad going, eh? The first number who came out won the first photo, the second number the second photo and third etc etc.  Ok, so here’s how it all ‘went down’, as they say:

*drumroll*

And the first winner is…number 62 - Pabkins!


Next up we have number 82 - that’s Kristin!


And the third and final number out is 77 - the lovely Mademoiselle G!

Congratulations ladies, I’ll be contacting you soon to get your postal info. I actually feel really quite guilty now that I only had three prints to give away. I wanted everyone to win! As I mentioned earlier though, I may be holding another giveaway in the very near future. And this time it’ll be something from someone who knows what they’re doing, namely my very talented little sister and her boyfriend.  So check back soon for more details! Hopefully I’ll manage a post or two in the next week as well, I’ve no excuses this month.

Anyhow, thanks again to everyone who entered and I hope everyone’s doing well. Must get a good catch up with you nice blogging folk very soon!

Moons, trees, stars and a giveaway.

Oh look, what a surprise. Last time I checked in I said I’d be back in a couple of days and here I am over a week later wracked with guilt as usual. Ok, maybe ‘wracked’ is a little strong, but I do sort of feel as if I’ve been cheating on you guys with those floosies over on Tumblr and Twitter. Serial blog adulteress, that’s me.

So here I am with the proverbial bunch of flowers, hoping to earn some small iota of atonement for these weeks of neglect and excuses...  There I go with the drama again, but you get idea. Anyway, it's time for the previously promised giveaway!

Especially for my Blogger friends, I have one A4-size print* of the picture above and each of the two below to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post to be in with a chance of winning.

That’s three prizes, so three winners. Unless by some freak of chance someone gets picked out thrice. That’d be a bit heebie-jeebiesish.  Unlikely as it may be, it could happen, though, for I’m going to stick with what appears to be blogger tradition and allow extra entries. Just do any of the following:

- share a link to this giveaway on your own blog;
- follow this blog;
- follow me on Tumblr;
- follow me on Twitter;
- or add me as a contact on Flickr (alternatively, to be fair to those who don’t use Flickr, you can just tell me which of my photos over there is your favourite).

Shameless self-promotion, I know. But sure you can’t blame a girl for trying ;) Anyhow, in your comment let me know if you’ve done any of the above and for each one you’ll get an extra magic ticket in the random-number-generator hat.  And don't worry, all you lovely folk already following here will automatically get an extra entry. I realise a lot of you are already following me elsewhere on the web too, but I’m a bit scatter-brained about these things so don’t forget to remind me!

Now for the timeline. Since I’ve giving up fooling myself and accepted that I just don’t have as much time to blog these days as I used to, I’m going to leave this giveaway open for a little while. I’m due in for surgery in a couple of weeks too and, while I’m expecting it to go well and be back on my feet pretty sharpish, I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. How does a month sound?

Ok, so I’ll leave it open until the end of September and on Saturday October 1st I’ll announce the winners. Thanks folks and best of luck to you all - though I know that’s a wee bit impossible. Believe me, if I had lots of money I’d send you all something :)

*The photos seen here may be slightly cropped in the printed version.

Days of happy nothingness.

By Brooke Shaden

Seventeen days - that has to be a new uselessness record from me. Where-oh-where has the time been slipping away to… Ok, better not continue with that train of thought or I’ll end up sounding like my granny. So people, how the hell have you all been doing? I wish I had lots of riveting tales of adventure and excitement to fill you in on, but to be honest it feels like about five seconds since I last checked in here. I’ve literally been doing nothing. It’s been good nothing, though.

Anyway, to make up for my current bout of blog neglect I’m planning a little something for the week ahead. Yup folks, I’m going to host my first ever giveaway! It’s about time really, I’ve won so many lovely things from much-too-kind bloggers over the past while it’s about time I reciprocated the love. More details on that in the next couple of days. For now I’m going to leave you with some images from one of my favourite photographers on the net, LA gal Brooke Shaden.  Find many, many more of her hauntingly beautiful pictures here.

p.s. I forgot to mention that I’ve recently succumbed to the ways of the modern world and finally got myself a Twitter account. My user name is @Child_of_Danu, I’m in much need of new people to follow so stop by and say hello!

Best. Greetings cards. Ever!

Don’t you agree?  They’re from Shop Sapling Press on Etsy in collaboration with Dear Blank, Please Bank. Check out the shop for more!

The Joys of Local Journalism (or How I Discovered I Was Heir to the Throne of Camelot)

Local Man Arthur O'Neill

I mentioned a while back that I’d recently found a new job. Well I haven’t lost it yet, I’m glad to report. It’s up at my local newspaper, where I’ve worked on and off over the years. I love where I live and I love being a journalist so it’s pretty much perfect really. Especially when you get stories like the one I wrote last week; the one where I found out that not only was King Arthur actually an honest-to-god real-life person, but he was from Inishowen!  And there’s more - it turns out there’s even a chance I’m descended from him. You could be too! Seriously folks, the King Arthur.

Let me explain. According to new research by English historian Dane Pestano, Arthurian legend may very well have originated from a historical sixth-century High King of Ireland. Said king being Muircertach MacErca, who ruled from An Grianan and was the great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages. For any of you  not familiar with him, Niall was a legendary Ulster king who was apparently quite the ladies’ man. Genetic studies have found that around 20% of males in the north of Ireland and south-west Scotland carry his Y-chromosome and it’s believed up to six million people in the world today could be descended from him. As I said, he must’ve got around a bit.

An Grianan- the original Camelot?

That means there’s probably a fair chunk of the population round these parts who are related to MacErca too. Until recently not much was known about him, but a few years back Mr Pestano uncovered a lost tale in an old manuscript which led him on his Arthurian adventure. In his short book, Dane explains how the life MacErca, who also ruled from Grianan, almost exactly mirrors that of the man the Welsh and Britons knew as Arthur. Drawing upon both historical record and old folktales, here are just some of the links he identifies:

• MacErca was supposedly the first Christian king of Ireland and ruled at the same time as the mythical Arthur;
• His name can be translated as ‘Arthur’ and his wife’s name mirrors that of Gwenevere when translated into Welsh;
• As a child he was fostered by a driud;
• He conquered Gaul and assumed sovereignty of Britain, The Saxons, Scotland, The Orkneys, and Denmark;
• He was in possession of the Lia Fáil (the Stone of Destiny);
• There was a Merlin-type character, the bishop Cairneach, who guided him in his conquests and who could apparently perform magical feats;
• The idea of Morgan LeFey may also have originated here since there is one folktale which tells of a fairy woman who tried to seduce then murder MacErca;
• Finally, according to legend MacErca succumbed to the symbolic ‘triple death’.

MacErca was also the grandson of Eoghan, whom Inishowen is named after, and he was the uncle of another famous local lad, St Colmcille (aka St Columba), who had the gift of prophecy and was a bit of an Irish Nostradamus.  I think the Glastonbury tourist board are going to have to review their brochures because if MacErca is indeed Arthur then his links to this area are incredible. When I was chatting to Dane on the phone about his work he said that Bettina over at Guarding Grianan Aileach may even have discovered the actual Round Table at the ring fort. How cool is that!

I think by now you lot know how much I love history and folklore, especially anything to do with Grianan, so you can imagine how excited I was about this story. I’m such a geek I was as thrilled working on it as someone else might’ve been if they’d gotten to interview their favourite actor or singer or something. Niall and Arthur are like celebrities to me :) 

 I think everyone at the paper thinks I’m a wee bit loopy for getting so excited about it, but I’m not just saying this - I think it’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing a story.  I even discovered a new favourite word, toppling ‘troglodyte’ from it’s long-held first place spot. It’s ‘Galfridian’, as in ‘pre-Galfridian’ meaning ‘existing before Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his famous twelfth century work on Arthur’.  Nice, isn’t it? The stories about MacErca are pre-Galfridian.

Dane’s introductory book, ‘King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition’, is available to download or order here. It’ll soon be on Amazon etc too and I’ll add those links as soon as I get them. He plans to publish a full edition next year so watch this space.

Normal Service Has Resumed (I Hope)

By Esther Vershoor

So it turns out July ‘11 was my worst blogging month ever. Not only did I post very little indeed, but I’m only realising now how long it’s actually been since I called to some of your blogs. It’s going to take me all week catching up! Stick with me though, I will get there.

On top of that the bookmarked folder where I save the little bits and bobs I come across in my travels through cyberspace is bursting with stuff I didn’t get time to share. Plus, I’ve a couple of thank-you posts to make in the next couple of days, along with some very exciting news that, for reasons I shall reveal in good time, I have to keep back until tomorrow. At least I think it’s exciting news, those out there not as geeky as me probably won’t be inclined to agree with that particular adjective. Though something tells me you folk may very well be just as geeky ;)

Anyway! What I’m trying to say is that I’ve plenty of posts lined up for the coming days so hopefully I’ll be able to breakout of this post-a-week habit once and for all. *sigh* I miss my days as a daily blogger, so long ago now…

Right, to get started I’m going to begin offloading some these links in that aforementioned bookmarks folder, namely in the form of these slightly creepy but altogether utterly fantastic creations from Esther Verschoor. Ms Verschoor actually uses real animal skulls for her dolls which she sources from a local taxidermist - they all died of natural causes, don’t worry. Cute, wouldn’t you say? But in a dark sort of way.

Aoibheann Inis Eoghain

 

Howdy folks! (‘Howdy’, a word I really should use more often.) How’re you all keeping this evening then? I took a little longer getting back to you than I’d planned, you can blame Tumblr for that one. It’s so much easier on the head to just click buttons and ogle pretty pictures than it is to sit down and write a post. Too easy really, the lazy person’s way to blog. But still, I think I’ve earned a little lazy time lately.

I seem to have taken on what feels like a million new endeavours all at once, including starting in a wonderful new job and finally getting back to learning to drive (yup, I’m a 29-year-old journalist who doesn’t have a full driving licence, that probably explains the difficulty I’ve had getting work!). And then there’s that other thing I’ve been doing which, now that I’m here, I feel a little reluctant revealing. I’ll explain why in a moment.

In my last post I mentioned I had exciting plans for the weekend. Well, my excitement was justified because it all went splendidly. You see, my friends, last Friday night saw the opening of my first ever photography exhibition! When I say ‘my’ I mean me and the rest of the local camera club I’m a member of. It’s being run as part of a local music and arts festival happening in my town at the moment.

Then, last night, we had an opening of another one. Yes another one! Sadly I couldn’t go because my old back trouble was playing up. But still, two exhibitions on the go at once? I would say I’m proud of myself, only the truth is I’m more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

 

I know I have a Flickr account and regularly share my photos here, but there’s something different about hanging them up on an actual wall in a proper exhibition and asking people to look at them. I feel like such a fake wannabe! Especially when you see the quality of work that’s hanging all around me up there - a talented bunch of lovable eejits, that camera club crew.

You’re all such a lovely bunch of bloggers who only ever have kind words of encouragement regarding these things so I know I shouldn’t feel so self-conscious telling you about the exhibition. I think it’s because I’m also aware that many of you are very talented artists and photographers, while I’m just a pretender with a point-and-shoot and Photoshop.  I’m always paranoid when I know people with a background in these things are looking at my work. (I even felt funny giving the prints to my aunt and uncle to mount since they’re professionals.)

Anyway, I know I’ve no doubt posted some of them on the blog before but the images in this post are the ones I submitted for display. I’ve said before that I hate posts without pictures and thought these were probably the most appropriate for this one.

I’ve another busy week ahead so I probably won’t be back on here again until Saturday or Sunday, which is when I hope to resume regular blogging again! That’ll include getting a proper visit to all my blog buddies; I popped by a lot of your places the last day but connection trouble and my increasing shortage of time meant I couldn’t leave many comments. I’ve a whole day set aside at the weekend to make up for that :)