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primrose heart
In the West of Ireland we’re enjoying wildly mercurial weather, as is typical for Spring. Today there were two downpours – one of hailstones – in between periods of glorious sunshine. The gusting winds rushed the clouds all over the sky. I guess they got annoyed and had a rain tantrum. Who likes being pressured? I took this picture of primroses in one of my local woods a few days ago. It was only when examining the image in close-up that I spotted the leaf uncurling in a heart-shape. So here’s some natural Spring Love. Don’t worry if the Spring breezes hurry in a shower. It will race away again…
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shrouded
A cold, dank mist smothered Galway today. There were none of the usual markers of morning, noon and twilight, just a constant grey tone that collapsed suddenly to darkness in the evening. It was the kind of day that offered no incentive to venture outside, but the dog needed her walk, so in the afternoon I braved the woods. It was still, muffled. The thick mist suggested much and illuminated nothing. A rook cawed intermittently throughout my walk, there were occasional bangs – fireworks, or a gun – but otherwise it was utterly silent. The woods were eerie and mysterious, and I thought how easy it would be to conjure…
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sky confetti
Just before I landed last night Galway threw down some sky confetti to celebrate my return, which was a lovely thought but unnecessary. As we were in our final approach the plane had to pull up as the runway failed its ‘braking test’, and we soared back into the night skies. I admired the lights of Galway and pondered how they were going to help the runway pass its test again. I assumed there was a mighty grind session, or at least grit scattered about. It seemed to work as the plane was able to stop so we could disembark. Much to my surprise my bag was already waiting for…
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the snow convention
We had more snow in the early hours of the morning, but it made getting around Wexford somehow easier today. Last night the short walk back to our guest house was a little tricky due to all the ice. Today a few brave souls dared the snow to join our coterie of sf/fantasy fans, although most had to head back in the afternoon before it froze again. The picture above is from the official opening of the new sf/fantasy/horror book store Alien8 in Wexford by the town’s native son, novelist Eoin Colfer. Over 200 people turned up on the day despite the snow (I couldn’t even squeeze in!). Alien8 also…
