4.30 AM

It's 4.30 in the morning and as I drive back to Dublin from Cork the dawn breaks. What a beautiful moment, what a beautiful time to be alive.

Daybreak

The sky changes colour by the minute.. Mist gently hangs over the land..

Temple Bar Food Market

I came across this open-air food market by chance as I walked through Temple Bar. It seems to be a weekly Saturday market and there was a huge variety of foods on sale including a lot of organic and "home-made". I must go back there when I have more time to indulge.

Summer ...

In Blackrock

Postcard Friendship Friday

This old postbox is near Deansgrange. It has definitely seen better days! Overtaken by email perhaps?

Roundabouts/Rotondas - Dún na nGall/ Murcia

I love roundabouts that double as street art pieces. Two of these are from Puerto de Mazarrón in Espana and the other two from Leitir Ceanainn, Contae Dhún na nGall (Letterkenny, County Donegal)

Loch na Cuinge

Ag Teacht

The DART train arriving at Blackrock station.

Ag Imeacht

The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport)leaving Blackrock, heading for Dun Laoghaire.

Oil On Canvas?

Today I spent some time on Sandymount Strand, watching the ships go by. If I was a painter perhaps I would paint this picture.

Ireland's Most Photographed Chimneys

The chimneys are part of the ESB generating station in Ringsend and can be seen for miles. The concrete structure in the water was once a swimming pool but has sadly fallen into disrepair and is covered in grafitti.

Lady In Red

Vertical View

The Tide Is Out

This is Seán Heuston bridge beside Heuston Railway station. It's a wonderful cast-iron bridge which was built in the early 1800's and is now used only as the Luas right rail crossing of the river Liffey and as a pedestrian crossing. All other traffic was moved to the new Frank Sherwin Bridge which was built in 1982. The tide actually comes this far up-river and you can see from my photo that the tide is out and that there is a lot of rubbish lying on the riverbed. You can also see a lot of moss and vegetation growing on the river wall beside the station. Heuston Station looks very well nowadays after a welcome bit of investment in recent years, pity somebody wouldn't organize a clean-up of the adjacent river!

The "Met" HQ

No Rain Today

No, no, it's not the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police - it's the HQ's of Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorogical Service in Glasnevin.

Monsieur James Joyce

I finally located "James Joyce", the street performer in Henry Street and he certainly was the centre of attention, with lots of people taking his photo and laughing at his antics.

"Rain Rain Go To ...

Spain, and never come back here again." It's just a children's rhyme, but all these people waiting at the ILAC shopping centre exit for the torrential(Summer?) rain to stop must wish it was true!
And the people in Totana, Espana (see earlier blog) would probably LOVE a few drops of rain!
Global warming?

Well Holy Cow!

This nice sculpture is in the square in Wolfe Tone street behind the church which I featured in a recent blog. This square was once the church graveyard and the graves were moved to one end of the square where you can still see them. I know cows are sacred animals in some parts of the world so it's nice to see this one on sacred ground. She is a great favourite with children and one day as I was passing I saw a mounted Garda's horse standing in front of the cow staring at her and obviously thinking she was a real animal.

Mercado, Totana. 1pm - 34 Celsius

The outdoor market in Totana which lies at the foot of the Sierra Espuna mountains takes place every Wednesday. It starts around 7am and continues until 2pm and attracts a lot of visitors, some to browse, others to buy clothes or shoes or from a huge choice of fresh fruit and vetetables. Totana has a large number of immigrants from South America - Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Columbia.... - even Brazil although their language is Portugeuse. Some dress in clothes traditional to their countries which is fascinating and it is nice to observe the distinctive features of some of the original inhabitants of South America (before the Spaniards and Portugeuse arrived there). As you can see from my photo's the sun is beaming down from directly overhead and the temperature reached an incredible 34 degrees around midday. The trick is to walk in the shade of the canopy over the stalls and make your way to the end of the market and into the beautiful Park and enjoy a coffee at the cafe there.

Aguilas, Espana

Aguilas, Espana

Aguilas, Espana

Aguilas, Espana

Afternoon In Aguilas

Windmill, Aguilas

Classic Coches

There was a Classic Car rally on Sunday, which I missed, silly me, but I caught these beauty´s parked outside a local Restaurant later.

Maja's other Jaguar?

Playa, Bolnuevo

The Fisherman