A New Year's Wish!

So another year pants and coughs its way to an end, its ying and its yang leaving us in two minds whether to bid it a fond farewell or a true good riddance! 

Maybe a little of both.

Certainly it would be great if the new year could ring in new hopes and raspberry away the negatives of the one gone by: the gratuitous warmongering,  the beatification of mean-spiritedness, the normalisation of greed, the neutering of truth and all the other other self-serving nonsense that has more or less defined the last twelve months on this planet. 

But it won't. 

Nor will the death this year of so many heroes who took a stand against all this bad craziness help things. Instead, their collective loss will only make 2023 a more difficult place for the disenfranchised and the less fortunate on this mortal coil. But to all those heroes, from Terry to Vicki and everyone in between, we thank them for their strength and drive and resistance and love and wish them a heartfelt farewell and safe passage to the new Jerusalem. 

The world is weaker for their loss for sure but it's up to all of us now to perpetuate their ideas and continue the fight in their absence even if we are smarting from their passing. 

But when one hero departs, there will, in time, come another to take his or her place, bringing with them new ideas and energetic ways of leading the charge. Here's hoping 2023 will be that time.

So, onwards and ever upwards, me hearties and let's raise a glass to high hopes and sweet dreams.

Happy New Year !

More soon ...

Onwards and upwards!

Sweet Mystery

This arrived back into my orbit today out of the blue and after a near forty-year absence! God I remember being able to solve this in a minute or so, with my eyes closed, back in the day but now I've to start all over again. 

There's knack I know - but finding it is the problem.

Still, challenge grudgingly accepted!

(Maybe) more soon ...

Right, first step, remove all stickers!

Snotgreen Seas

First noticing the sea's colour, and then taking a shot of it near Sandymount Strand this morning, I was reminded of my first time reading the opening chapter of Joyce's Ulysses and being amazed and amused to hear the sea being described thusly:

"- God, he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a great sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton."

As a snot-nosed student I remember that gave me a big laugh, as much for finally understanding something after five long pages as it was for its originality! 

Now, of course, it's all as clear to me as ... eh, snotgreen dishwater!

More soon ...

The self same sea!

C'mon Ye Birds in Blue!

January has been such a sunny and mild month overall here on the east coast, in Dublin anyway! Uncanny, I suppose is the word ... but, by now, we're all too aware of the reasons for this.

And while bird numbers and species variety are, to me, more than a little down on last year, there were still plenty of beauties to see and hear and, most of all, to savour recently.

Here's a selection of what I was lucky enough to encounter over the past couple of weeks. I do hope you enjoy viewing as much as I did capturing them out in the field!

More soon ...

Birds of a feather!

In Rainbows

Walking to the Poolbeg Lighthouse on the Great South Wall is one of the simple pleasures of quotidian Dublin life. I am lucky to be able to do this a couple of times a week and never tire of it. The other day was a special treat as a soft shower led to the formation of a rainbow, a simple things that made the walk perfect!

More soon ... 

"How sweet  yon rainbow to the eye!"