The Glaswegians give fun names to their bridges; Dubliners give nicknames to public sculpture. Herewith, Anna Livia, personifying the River Liffey which passes through Dublin. AKA the Floozie in the Jacuzzi.
She has good core muscles, at any rate.
Bilingualism is a wonderful thing. Except when it’s not.
As a non-cyclist, I am either required to do or to refrain from doing something on the river walk in Dublin. What that something is, though, I have no idea.
On our first, last, and only day in Dublin, we had a guided tour of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Now, St. Patrick looms large in Irish history and mythology, and it can be tough to distinguish the one from the other, sometimes.
Our visit to the Cliffs of Moher counted as a success on two fronts:
The gas/petrol sign comes into view along any highway in Ireland.
The Canadian members of our tour react to the posted price in a predictable sequence.
OK, that’s a little pricey.
Oh, that’s in euros, not dollars.
Yikes.
Surprise!
The Americans also react, also predictably.
Wow, that’s a great price.
Oh, that’s euros, not dollars.
Well, that’s still not bad.
OMG, that’s for a litre, not a gallon.
Yikes.
Surprise, surprise.
After our trans-Atlantic flight, we overnighted in Dublin before joining our tour of Ireland. Our hotel was across the street from a large-ish city park with a small-ish pond at one end. A grey heron stayed well out of the range of my camera lens, but the mute swans let me get reasonably close.
In theory, I’m against wild birds (or any wild animal) getting habituated to the human presence. In practice, I find that it makes photography a lot easier.
What this guy (?) was doing with a feather stuck in its nostril, I don’t know, but I sympathy-sneezed for 10 minutes.
Early-morning photography has one obvious disadvantage: It must be executed in the early morning. Pre-dawn, typically.
But there are some undeniable advantages, too: empty streets, reflections of lights in placid rivers, and no people milling about interesting locations. It allows me to get photos I can’t get any other time of day. Continue reading
How do you play the violin?
It’s easy.
Just put it under your chin,
and drag the bow back and forth across the strings
to make the desired notes.
It’s an old joke, albeit one I can’t find online. On the other hand, I did find out how to draw a violin in just 15 steps. Continue reading
Psst!
Sometimes my subconscious speaks to me.
Psst! Isabel!
Or maybe it’s the emergent God that Nancy Ellen Abrams posits, pulling me towards the best version of myself. Continue reading
Posted: 2025 Jun 21
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.
This space is available for other submissions.
