A Robin in Spring

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Click to visit Around the Island Photography

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No, you're not wrong, there are no red red robins bob bob bobbing along here in Israel. (Well, except for the two-footed, zero-winged, camera-toting, stupid song about red breasts hating because kids sang it to make fun of her variety that is.) This much less neurotic finely-feathered little guy was spotted in Ireland on a breezy early spring afternoon. I'll bet he doesn't have quite so many issues as certain other Robins we won't mention but who lurk around these parts either...
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Visit Skywatch Friday to see what else there is to see when you look up.
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My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!
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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.
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Tiny Windows

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Click to enlarge

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Actually, I'm not even sure the little holes on this old stone building across the peninsula from Howth (yes, Howth again, what can I say, it was incredibly photogenic) can be called windows, they're more like little air vents, but I figured they'd work in a pinch.
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And if this isn't enough for you, I'm also over here today, and was interviewed here a good while back but completely forgot to post the link. It's all Robin all the time around here folks. You never know quite how or where I'm going to pop up, and of course if there's any doubt you can always find me over at the shop.
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PS We're halfway to the weekend already - have you thought about your Summer Stock shots for this week yet?
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Ooh, look what I just did!

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Just listed in my etsy shop and customized to match your decor!
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Cool, huh?
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Wearing your heart on your... sky?

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Fence detail, Howth, Ireland (click to enlarge)

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You'll all be amused (and hopefully smile ruefully but empathetically) when I tell you that I spent an enormous amount of time trying to smooth out the mask of the heart element to avoid those little jagged bits on the inside before I finally realized that they weren't sloppy masking - they were paint drips from the last time it had been painted! Like with actual paint and a paintbrush! Sheesh...
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And if you'll permit me to be a bit of a pest a little while longer, have you starred my Artists Wanted portfolio yet today? Yes? Thanks! No? That's okay, there's still time to do it now :). (Look here if you haven't heard about the incredible photography contest I'm participating in. To "vote" for me all you need to do is click on the appropriate star (hint: the one on the far right is "fantastic"). That's it, it only takes a second, no registration or identifying details required, and will be very helpful in getting my portfolio in front of as many industry buyers and bigwigs as possible. Thanks so much for your help!)
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Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.
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Chimney Pots and Cloudy Skies

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Dublin Rooftop, April 2010

(click to enlarge)

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Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.

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My photography is now available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

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Sea View

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Window in the boundary fence of a very (VERY) nice looking property on the cliff edge in Howth, overlooking Ireland's Eye. I don't know who lives here, but they had a vintage gold Rolls Royce in the driveway.
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Click to enlarge

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More windows and doors can be seen here.

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Bicycle Hire

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Bicycle hire? There? Seriously?

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If you say so...

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Taken on the banks of the River Boyne, Newgrange, Ireland. Click to enlarge.

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying this week.

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My photography is now available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

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Cloudy skies over Newgrange

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Click photos to enlarge

It is an unbelievable feeling to stand at Newgrange in Ireland's Boyne Valley, knowing that what you are seeing has not changed since it was constructed over 5,000 years ago. This ancient temple, built by a stone age farming community to mark the coming of the winter solstice, is 500 years older than the Pyramids and 1,000 years older than Stonehenge - and in all that time, with all of Ireland's rain, pouring down on the day of our visit as well, the roof has never leaked.
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Imagine, standing inside a room that was already ancient when the Egyptians first began building the Pyramids, that was already lost to antiquity before the first great Gothic cathedral pointed its spire to the heavens. It's almost too much to comprehend, too much to put into words.
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And right across from the ancient, the newest of the new. Lambs. Dozens of them, cavorting over some of the greenest fields I have ever seen.
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What a day we had. Visit Skywatch Friday to see what others' days - and skies - were like.

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My photography is now available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

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If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

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Samuel Beckett Bridge

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Click to enlarge

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The newest bridge over Dublin's River Liffey is the Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava to look like a harp lying on its side.
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More skies can be found at Skywatch Friday.
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Trinity College Windows

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Just to the left of the Campanile I showed you yesterday is this delightful building (which thanks to Heckety I now know is called the Graduate Memorial Building), also part of Dublin's Trinity College. I think I'd literally feel smarter studying history in a building that looked like that, wouldn't you?
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Click to enlarge

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Look here for more doors and windows from around the world.

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Trinity College, Dublin

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Click to enlarge

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying this week.

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All the colors of the rainbow

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Click to enlarge

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I found these brightly colored pussy willows at a Dublin flower stall and absolutely fell in love with them - their wonderful colors just seem to exude happiness and SPRING! (Hurray! It's spring! And you know what that means (especially here with Israel's blink and you miss it spring) - winter is finally over and it's nearly summertime again!)
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I mean seriously, how can you look at this and not smile?
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Like this? Visit Ruby Tuesday each week for more reds (and yellows and greens and purples and blues and violets and...) from around the world.
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Cloudy Skies over Ireland's Eye

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Click to enlarge photos

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Just twenty minutes outside of Dublin (via a very undartlike DART - there were times when Jay could have biked faster than this commuter train was running) lies the delightful little village of Howth, and just a mile off the coast of Howth lies this, Ireland's Eye.
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Back on this side of the water, Howth was our starting point for an absolutely glorious 10km cliff walk (the purple hiking trail) past stunning views (and a completely mindblowing (and shoe-wrecking) amount of mud), quaint old buildings, luxe estates (I was told that Bono has a home there as well) and oddly enough right through the middle of a golf course (walkers are to follow the white rocks please, speak quietly, and mind the flying golf balls).
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The entire time the skies cycled rapidly and unpredictably through bright sunlight which set sapphire jewels dancing on the seas below to drizzle to rain to hail and back again, often before you'd even finished putting away your sunglasses and putting on your raincoat.
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By the time we completed the circuit and returned to Howth, footsore and muddy from top to toe, the heavens finally opened up and it began to rain in earnest, at which point the lead item on the agenda quickly became "find the closest pub and settle in for the duration", which we did at the first possible opportunity. And after a very well-deserved mad dash to the ladies room (I had made it FIVE hours without a stop - only due to lack of opportunity and very possibly a world record for me) I also rekindled my deep and abiding love of Baileys coffee (two of my favorite things - together, what better?), which warmed up my cold,wet and muddy toes and fingers from the inside out. After that it was back on the DART and back to Dublin for a much needed shower, and equally needed nap, and a delicious dinner at a local Thai restaurant.
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Ahhh, I love vacations...
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Visit Skywatch Friday (once it's up a few hours from now) for more skies from around the islands (mine and otherwise) and around the world.
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Back

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Passover is over, a nearly didn't happen getaway trip to Dublin for Jay and I has come and gone again, we've said goodbye to my parents, the kids have returned to school, and I'm blogging catching up on work and on endless mountains of laundry and all the usual crap which piles up when you're not looking. There was a serious health issue underscoring everything we did which made this visit a lot more complex and challenging but at the end of the day we all enjoyed each other and treasured our time spent together all the more despite, or perhaps because of, the difficulties which nearly (and in all honesty should have) prevented its happening.
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I'm not going to go into the details here, it still feels too raw for blog fodder, but keep those good thoughts heading towards my mother as she recuperates (we still don't know how much or how long) from a debilitating (and debilitatingly painful) injury.
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I'll leave you instead with this picture from a very lovely but very chilly Dublin (waving to Mimi whom I had the pleasure of meeting last week), taken while Jay and I were away and my parents were fulfilling the promise to watch their grandchildren which my mother flatly refused to break.
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Click to enlarge

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