2013 365 - 25

Big week here in Northern Ireland as we gear up for G8 summit down on the shores of Lough Erne, with a whole crew of world leaders  arriving. Massive security provisions were of course put in place to avoid a repeat of previous violent protests at G8 summits. Extra police drafted in, total lock down in Enniskillen, extra cells built, judges on standby, all of which proved to be completely unnecessary. I did however, think it appropriate to concentrate on the protests, at least for the first part of the week. After that, I retreated to my greenhouse in the hope of restoring some sanity.

17/06/13

I had thought about how local people wight protest about the G8 and immediately thought of the wonderful Father Ted episode about the naughty film, The Passion of St Tibulous. Particularly Ted and Dougal's approach to protesting outside the cinema on Bishop Brennan's orders. 

18/06/13

One of the really amusing aspect of the protests was the fact that the BBC were very fond of reporting about the fact that only five people were camped in the campsite designated for protestors. Even more amusing were the reports that two of these five were actually Dutch tourists who had accidentally been directed to the campsite by over-helpful police who assumed they were here to protest rather than just being on holiday. The dog who was also present got a bit of coverage too. She was from Scotland and her name was Grace.

19/06/13

And sticking with the theme of Grace the dog, I figured she must be up to something and just using the whole "I came here with my scottish owner" thing as some sort of smoke screen. Thankfully the police also had the same idea and promptly arrested her. Grace was subsequently discovered not to be a real dog but to be two anarchist midgets in a dog suit who were planning to symbolically cock their leg against David Cameron. OK - I admit I was getting desperate here and maybe made some of that up.

20/06/13

The greenhouse is really starting to take shape and I spent a wee bit more time in it this week and things were happening. The sunflowers Sarah and I had planted were beginning to flower, much to the delight of the elderly sisters who live next door. I may take one into them.

21/06/13

Got this safety tip courtesy of my dad who pointed out that having loads of bamboos sticking up out the growbags might eventually lead to me losing an eye when I'm watering and working with the plants. Luckily, being the messy and untidy person that I am, my car was full of empty plastic bottles.

22/06/13

 I hadn't planned on posting this shot of one of the sunflower buds, but there's something about it that speaks to me. The curves and colours work for me, and there's a nice quality to the light.

23/06/13

Simone Felice playing in the Black Box, Belfast this afternoon as part of the Open House Festival. This was my third time seeing Simone in concert and he was as good as ever. A talented musician and performer (he's not bad on drums either). There was something quite magical  about listening to him on a Sunday afternoon in Belfast while supping a pint or two of the black lemonade.

367-50 Week 5

Another mixed bag of goodies this week, and this was the first time I nearly forgot to take a shot on one of my days.
Monday brought a chance to go and take a few shots of my eldest daughter's cross stitch workshop at the Black Box in Belfast. Vonnie was taking some cross stitch virgins through the basics and was being extremely patient. Tea was drunk.

12/12/11

Tuesday saw the emergence of the Christmas tree. Trish had been slowly sneaking decorations up around the house for about a week - trying to break me in gently to the idea that Chrsitmas was just around the corner. Any way, after a bit of cutting and sawing accompanied with a spot of swearing, the tree was in its stand and decorated. You can't beat little reflective glass balls with twinkling lights.

13/12/11

On the way to work on Wednesday morning, a blizzard hit around the A26 turn off on the M1. Within five minutes everyone was driving at 30 miles and hour in one lane of the dual carriageway. There was a good 3-4 inches of snow within a couple of hours. I fought my way out to school in Ballymena only to find that half the staff and a similar number of children hadn't made it in; a day's work cancelled but I did get tea and toast. This was the scene outside my office at around 9am.

14/12/11

Schools were open again on Thursday, and I spent the day in a local Primary School which makes a big deal of promoting healthy eating with its pupils. I was standing considering this fact while looking at the table in the staff room. Pot Noodles - Check. Chocolate biscuits - Check. Full Fat Coke - Check. Go on - how many unhealthy things can you spot?

15/12/11

Was pottering about the back of the house on Friday at a wee bit of a loose end when I spotted Muffin poking her nose through the gate. I had been trying to take some pictures of our little Robin at the bird feeder, but everytime I got anywhere near him he buggered off. May have to re-think that one.

16/12/11

I had been contemplating getting a few self-portraits worked into this project and had an idea to try to do a black and white movie-star type thing. Got a few good shots but then Lightroom decided to stop playing with me and I had to resort to post-processing with Photoshop. This made a relatively simple job much longer and more complicated. Anyhooo - here's the net result of it all.

18/12/11

I've chalked up five weeks now and am still enjoying this project. Heading into Christmas week fired up. Here's hoping Santa brings me some kit and a wee bit of inspiration.