Football, football, football

All I hear is football. I fucking hate it. July 10th can't come soon enough.

Ballycrochan

Star Wars

My son Martyn got chatting with the barman  in Farren's when we were in Donegal last week. As mentioned in a previous post Mark Hamill had visited the bar. As a souvenir he left a stormtrooper boot signed 'Forcefully yours'. Here's a shot of Martyn with the boot

 A happy Star Wars fan

This is Ireland

Spotted in a bookshop in Donegal...

A tail of a snail

Some people drive LIKE snails - this guy drives WITH one

Gumby (garden planning) update

The stuff growing in the greenhouse and the raised bed is now coming on really well. We've had our first strawberries and a few gooseberries and a feed of home-grown peas. The broad beans are nearly ready too and my potato plants look like trees. All my other bits and pieces are doing really well too. Such a contrast from last year

 

Donegal break

Martyn and I spent a couple of days in Donegal checking out a B&B for future visits. I managed to get plenty of photos and Martyn got to visit Malin Head, where part of the new Star Wars movie was filmed and also Farren's Bar, Ireland's most northerly inn where Mark Hamill paid a visit

 

Malin Head

Culdonagh Manor, the B&B near Carndonagh where we stayed

Big Yellow Tree

It's May, the time of year when the big Laburnum tree in my garden comes to life with yellow flowers that bloom for only a few days.

Ta Da!

At last father-in-law's greenhouse is finished. Because it was bought greatly reduced/no return/open box, numerous parts were missing. Nevertheless over the course of the last couple of weeks my pal Gary and I managed to get the thing built. Screws, washers, angle iron, silicone and duct tape were all pressed into use. Hopefully it won't fall down.

 

 A proud Gary with the completed greenhouse

Cowboy builders

My pal Gary and I are going to get a reputation as cowboy builders as we're currently alternating between several jobs. Gary's own greenhouse is on its way and we're also in the process of erecting a garden shed for a neighbour and a greenhouse for my father-in-law. Dominic Littlewood and Judge Rinder are going to be after us. Hopefully we will get better weather than in the photo below

Double rainbow after a heavy shower

Gumby (Garden planning)

The weather has been good this week. In addition to assisting father-in-law to build his greenhouse I have been doing a Gumby and tending to the heaps of stuff in the garden. Here are my greenhouse and raised bed with loads of things bursting into life

 

Walking the dog

Colin, my close friend and next-door neighbour, had to go to hospital for a couple of days due to an unexplained pain. I volunteered to walk his dog Moxy until he's fighting fit again.

Moxy, patiently waiting for Colin

2016 Elections

Voting was today. Despite knowing that the usual bunch of useless wasters will get re-elected I voted anyway. The sheeple will vote as they always do along sectarian lines. Is it any wonder so many young people bugger off to somewhere else as soon as they can? By this time tomorrow night we'll probably have the usual lot back in power again. Ah well, that's Northern Ireland politics for you

Back to work

I'm now back at work 6 months after my cancer op and chemotherapy. To start I'm doing a few days a week working from home. After a month or two I'm hoping to get hiking up mountains again but for now I'm starting to increase the speed of my daily walks a little and jogging short distances as I go.

River Barrow, Co. Carlow

Snow

Bloody hell, it's nearly May and we have snow.

 

Snowy fields near Omagh

Today I have been mostly planting...

I had a quick stock-take of this year's garden plantings and so far I have blueberries, rhubarb, potatoes, onions, scallions, celery and chives growing outside in the open air. There is also bay, rosemary and a planter full of herbs which has a few gaps needing filled outside the back door. In the greenhouse I have normal tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, courgettes, cucumber, sweet peppers, 3 different kinds of chilli plants, herbs and a few pots of salad leaves (lettuce, mustard etc). There is also a sunflower almost ready to move outside. Although they are at various stages, most seem to be growing fairly well so I'm pretty sure I'll have a decent crop this year.

Bangor Marina

WTF?

I nearly fell over when we went to father-in-law's 80th birthday and this was on the table. A huge cock with enormous black balls; it's like something you'd find in a porno movie. Apparently it was there because he keeps chickens as a hobby. 

Summer is here

Two days of sunshine in a row... in Northern Ireland that qualifies as a summer heatwave. I got the grass cut and power washed the green stuff off my paths

The moon was out in daytime

First Run

I meant to post last night but by the time we got back from our meal at Pier 36 it was too late. As usual it was an excellent meal with a great selection of seafood. Tonight the weather was good so I went out for a walk and for the first time since my op had a quick jog, only the space of three lampposts, but it's a start on the road to fitness again and I'm chuffed with myself.

 Binnian Lough, Mourne Mountains

Weather report

Today was a fairly good one weather wise so after a good walk I was able to get a bit of stuff done in my greenhouse. Tomatoes have been planted, herbs potted and the whole lot given a good watering to get them going. If the weather gets a bit warmer I'll soon be able to get a few of them moved outside to the garden. There's still a couple of things in the propagator that need to be potted on and I'll hopefully get them done this week

My greenhouse today

Wine on a Friday?

Normally Saturday is wine night but as I had some Castella Blue and some Pie D'Angloys in the fridge I decided to crack open a nice bottle of red. It would be rude not to.

Florida birds

Aha, sunshine

Today was a nice spring day so I got some stuff done in the garden. I spotted the little bug below sunning itself my compost bin. Dinner was home-made ratatouille done at low speed in the slow cooker (v tasty) and served with couscous and roast duck

Vegetarian Heist

This chemo-brain is really taken its toll on me. I am 100% certain that I purchased a pack of steak pieces on Monday when I got my groceries. This was so I could make a beef curry and leave it to cook while I met a work colleague for coffee. This morning there was no sign of the beef, either in my fridge or freezer, I even checked the boot of my car in case it had fallen out in there. The only thing I can think of  is that the lady who bumped into my trolley in the bread aisle stole it and that she was a vegetarian who didn't want to be spotted at the meat counter.

Graiguenamanagh, Co. Carlow

Sick Game

Martyn purchased a game called Cards Against Humanity and we played it last night. It's a fun party game if you've had a few drinks and aren't easily offended. Answer cards contain racism, disablility humour and other taboo subjects. The fun will probably wear off after we've been through the cards a few times, but for now it's good for a laugh.

Circle of Friends (Inistioge, Co. Carlow)

Twisted

My latest kitchen gadget is a spiralizer. It can be used to turn most vegetables into decorative spirals for presentation and healthy eating. I'll be on Masterchef next

Carrot spirals made by my own fair hand

I haven't won the lottery, but it feels like I have

My next chemotherapy Cycle, 6 of 8, was due to start today but the doctors have decided what I've had so far has done the job and there's no need to continue. To all intents and purposes that means I'm now free of cancer, though I'll still have to go for regular checks to make sure it doesn't come back. BIG Celebrations will be taking place this weekend. Hopefully it won't be to long before I'm able to go back up mountains again. My last hike, prior to my operation, was to Hen mountain near Hilltown in The Mournes (photo below).

Hen Mountain

Up yours Cosyroof

I have finally got around to setting up a music room/man cave by installing a nifty little hybrid amp and speakers in the conservatory. It's somewhere I can retreat when The Boss wants to watch X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent, The Voice or (insert other crap tv show here) and it's more than suitable as a den for me. And Cosyroof can take a hike, because despite what they say, it's not too hot in summer nor too cold in winter.

Scrabo from Killynether Wood, Easter Tuesday

April 2016...what a surprise, I'm still here

When I first started this blog way back in 2006 I subtitled it 'An infrequently updated online photo diary'. I didn't realise how infrequent that would actually turn out to be. With my most recent post being way back September 2011 I thought it would long since have disappeared. I was a bit surprised to find that after all these years it's still here. I was further surprised to discover that my even older Direct Net Access website is still there. They were swallowed up by UTV Internet years ago but the website is still lurking on the interwebs. So what have I been doing for the last 10 years? In the intervening period I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes which I'm fully controlling with diet and excercise. I've also had colon cancer in the last year. An operation in October 2015 and ongoing chemotherapy should see and end to that. What next then? Well, you know what, I have loads of time on my hands  and it will be at least another couple of months before I will be allowed to return to work so I've had the bright idea of starting to update this blog once again. I'm still taking lots of photos and I'll post a few of them here. So that's it...the blog is here, feel free to read it if you like.

 

Today. Broad beans, strawberries and peas springing to life after the winter

The Balls On The Falls

As I drove home from work yesterday I noticed a man with a tripod and a TV camera heading across the Westlink roundabout at Broadway. It was pouring with rain, and I nearly didn't see the group of important looking people getting drenched over on the grass. I assumed it to be some sort of opening ceremony, and sure enough, when I was going to work this morning there was the Balls On The Falls all lit up for the first time ever. Fortunately I had my camera with me and grabbed this photo

Nice Morning

The sun had just come up as I drove from Warrenpoint towards Rostrevor and Kilkeel. These photos don't really do justice to the great colour that was in the sky or the warm glow from the sun on the Cooley Mountains on the southern side. Carlingford Lough was flat calm

The Walled Garden

I paid a visit to the walled garden at the Valentine playing fields in Bangor this week and spent a nice hour or so taking photos. Dean and Laura were getting some engagement photos done and I wanted to make a more unusual print for them so I practised using one of the walled garden photos. This is what I had in mind...

Seven Miles

From home to Groomsport and back is a nice 7 mile (ish) walk. It's OK if the weather is dry, problem is this summer there have been only a few days when it has actually stayed dry for long enough to do this walk without getting drenched half way round.

Local Walking

This is Hawe Rd, a short 10 minute walk from where I live. It's handy to be able to go a walk 'in the country' while living in the town. As part of my new healthy diet and exercise lifestyle I've started going out for walks in the evenings, and it's nice to walk along roads with less traffic on them. Good news is my cholesterol has dropped massively to only 3.2 and my BP is also well down, so it would seem that the changes I've made are for the better. That's as good an incentive as any to stick at it

Slieve Binnian

Easter Monday turned out overcast and the wind was making it feel quite cool, good walking weather, though not so good for photos. Martyn and I headed off to Carrick Little car park near Annalong for the walk up nearby Slieve Binnian. Occasionally the car park is full and we have to park out on the road, this time there were so many cars that we had to park a fair distance away. Looks like a lot of other people had the same idea as us

Me and Stoneface

We stopped at the crowded summit for a well-earned picnic. Some 4 1/2 hrs after starting off we made it back to the car park, knackered, but having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. This is definitely a walk we will be doing again

Martyn just below the summit

The stunning view over Ben Crom reservoir from Binnian

First 'Proper' Hike of 2011

View from Slieve Meelmore

Martyn and I set off today for our first 'proper' hike of 2011. As you can see from the photo it was a fairly cloudy, but bright day. Fortunately the rain stayed off, although it was somewhat cool in the strong wind. I wasn't sure how I'd fare as this is the also the first extended walk I've done since being diagnosed Type 2 diabetic a couple of weeks ago. We travelled from Bangor to Bryansford and headed up Trassey Road to the top car park. After getting our boots on and grabbing the rucksack containing our picnic from the car we set off up the valley to the top of Slieve Meelmore. I can tell you that the hill turned out to be a lot steeper than it looked and it wasn't long before we had to stop for a quick rest and a drink of water. About an hour and a half later we arrived at the top where we had a well-earned rest and enjoyed our picnic. Above left is the view we were looking at from the top as we ate and, and here on the right is a photo of me at the summit

Tour of the North

Fermanagh Sunset

At work today I had to visit our outbased depots which involved a 'Tour of the North' car drive. First, Belfast to Coleraine, coffee in Coleraine then off to Derry. Next, Derry to Omagh where I stopped for lunch before returning to Belfast. That's a county Down start followed by Antrim, Londonderry, Tyrone and Armagh. The only county I didn't drive through was Fermanagh. So that it doesn't feel left out I've dropped in a Fermanagh photo I took a while ago

Talking shite

I hit the 'next blog' button a few times to see what's out there and a lot of people seem to just use their blog to talk shite. 'Why not?', I ask. It's their blog they can write whatever they like on it. Me? I don't have much to say, no deep musings or philosophical ponderings, so why bother? Well, simply put blogging is a way of killing time. Blog if you're bored. Blog if you have some big statement you want to share with the world. Blog because you can. Who cares? It's not as if anyone is going to read it anyway, except maybe your family or friends, if they can be bothered. Anyway here's a random photo

HDR

High Dynamic Range photo - a test

Bloody cold at funerals

Why is it always freezing cold at funerals? I was at a funeral earlier today (a work colleague's mother) and it was well attended so a group of us stood outside in sub-zero conditions because the funeral parlour was overflowing. The graveyard was equally cold. Naturally this is to be expected in January, but it often isn't that much warmer in summer at graveyards. Strange, eh?

Getting an education (sort of)

Had to kill some time in Belfast this morning while my son was at Queen's University library getting some books. I was lucky enough to find a parking space nearby so I had a little wander through Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately the Palm House was closed so I decided to pay the Ulster Museum a quick visit instead. I'll go better prepared next time (ie Nikon D200) as they now allow photography in the museum.

Here's a photo I took with the Coolpix of the sculpture thingy at the front entrance



I'm still having problems getting good photos out of the Coolpix. Because it's so small and light I have trouble holding it steady and the colour balance seems a bit on the cool side giving my pictures a sort of blue tint. I'll have to play around with the settings a bit, maybe I'll even read the manual.

What I'm listening to

The Journey of a Feather by Ancelin. Never heard of them? I'll bet you haven't


The River Blackwater at Verner's Bridge

Update time

Time to finally update this blog. I've updated the links and included one to the new website. The template I use for the blog has been refreshed and I even have one of my own photos (Norfolk buzzard) as the page background. So far it all looks as if it's working as it should and all I need to do is put a backlink to here on the website. I'm not too worried if it's not 100% perfect as it's only a means of keeping in contact with family and friends so that I can avoid the social networking sites

Motivation

It has been a really long time, and I had been thinking I'd like to recommence posting the odd little item here, but the motivation was somewhat lacking, so maybe a 'photo-a-day'/online diary type thing would get me into the swing of it again?

Moving House

I'm in the process of moving house to a new web site at www.phenry.co.uk