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Life Pay
My story 'Life Pay' is available to read online in the 'Futures' section of Nature magazine.
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Two Poems
Two recent poems. 'Breathing Room' written for Poetry Day Ireland and 'Python' written for the annual 'Poet's Breakfast' during Fleadh na gCuach 2021.
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2021: new year, new hope
Hello 2021! Let's try again, (and again) shall we?
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control, an illusion
Life is unpredictable. Just when you think you’ve got a grip on how to endure its fickle moods it decides to remind you what a beast it can be. Often, it just has to gesture to Nature to pull up alongside you in its blundering tank, and direct it right across your path. This rather picturesque scene is not a lake, but one of the main access roads to my house – thoroughly flooded. A code red storm tore through Ireland just after Christmas, and dumped a tremendous amount of rain upon already saturated land. Nature, being its usual contrary self, then offered up a little temporary sunshine and preened…
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gorse beads
We’ve had a mild, wet winter in Ireland. As a result the gorse bushes have continued to flower. This was taken at dusk a few days ago and it was tricky getting my camera to focus on the flower in the low-light conditions. I love capturing water beads balancing in this wondrous fashion on flowers or foliage. Nature’s marvellous balancing act.
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dead grasses
I didn’t rest much last night due to the storm charging past my house. Whenever dreams crept close volleys of hailstones ratt-a-tatted against my bedroom window and scared them off. I resigned myself to sleeplessness. There was a short break in the rain this afternoon and the adage in my house is: walk the dog while the sun shines (if it shines at all, of course). I marshalled my gear and marched through the woods with Minnie, buffetted by the gusts. During my excursion I took this shot of dead grasses against the sunshine. They were whipping about madly so it was an exercise in patience at times. This is…
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solstice witness
I took this image at sunset on December 21st, the evening before this year’s solstice. The darkest days are upon us, but the wheel turns, unrelenting. Soon the heralds of Spring will appear. Best wishes to everyone, and may you have light, warmth and friendship to ward off the dark.
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seed pearls
This picture of water beads on a dandelion seed head was taken today on my walk in the woods with Minnie the dog. It was only misting rain, but because the undergrowth is summer-dense and sopping wet, I returned with my jeans soaked almost to my hip-bone. Minnie looked like a seal just out of ocean. So this was a nice shot to come out of a overcast, drizzly day.
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minnie through grass
Taken this evening, during one of our rare sunny periods this summer. Minnie the dog watches the path while I snap pictures through the tall grass.
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take a seat
This is another image from my February trip to Mallorca. I snapped this in a tiny pebble beach in Santa Ponsa at dusk. Someone had set a plastic chair on the beach and left it there. Probably one of the locals or off-season residents, who would climb down the short set of wooden steps to enjoy the magnificent sunsets, even in Winter. There are many things I love about this image: the colours, the light, the contrast of the cheap and artificial with the natural and beautiful. But I also enjoy the sense of how you can project yourself into that seat, and how you can add details such as…
