Northern Weekend :: January 23 to 24, 2010
Since my house-mate Oii was planning to move back to Thailand, we decided to take a quick weekend trip up to Northern Ireland, since there were a few places there she wanted to visit before leaving Ireland. We started our journey early in the morning, in order to make it to the Beltony Stones in County Donegal shortly after sunrise, which is a very ancient and peaceful stone circle reputably older than Stonehenge. We continued north with a short stop in Derry, along the coast of Antrim to the ruins of Dunluce Castle, which perches precariously on the edge of a cliff, bits of which often used to tumble off into the ocean unexpectedly! Just a few minutes further down the road we arrived at the Giant's Causeway, which was the main purpose of our visit, and didn't disappoint. Navigating the road towards Belfast in the dark, we stayed overnight with some friends in Bangor, who then toured us around more of County Down the following day, including the Mourne Mountains. It was a great trip and we packed as much of Northern Ireland into 40 hours as possible!
A Canadian Winter in Ireland :: January 2010
With very low temperatures and snow on the ground for over three weeks, the West of Ireland had the coldest winter recorded in over forty years making it feel rather more like Canada than Ireland! Snow and ice caused havoc on the roads, as they are not surprisingly quite ill-prepared to deal with such extreme weather conditions, and it resulted in a lot of the country just shutting down for the early part of the new year. Kids had an extra week off from school to extend their holiday vacation, so they didn't mind too much at least!
Christmas in London :: December 24, 2009 to January 2, 2010
I had a fantastic time in London with Deb and her friends over the holidays! Arriving from snowy Ireland on Christmas Eve, we spent Christmas day with Kiren and her family enjoying a great holiday feast and learning how to play wii. Deb and I attended an amazing orchestral concert at St. Martin-in-the-fields at Trafalgar Square on Boxing Day. Over the new few days we toured many places including the picturesque village of St. Albans and the seaside town of Portsmouth, as well as the Design Museum and London Eye. Ringing in the New Year at the fireworks in central London with a crowd of thousands was an unforgettable experience, thanks to everyone who made it a great trip!
December in Kiltimagh :: December 14 to 24, 2009
For most of December it has been either cold and clear, or mild and wet, though we have actually received a bit of snow in the past few days and it might actually be a white Christmas here this year! There has been some great weather for taking walks in the countryside, with the camera of course, and occasionally finding a nice Connemara pony to visit :)
Weekend in Galway :: December 12 to 13, 2009
Galway City is only an hour and a half from Kiltimagh by bus, so I decided to spend the weekend doing some shopping and being a tourist. It was a beautiful sunny weekend, and it was hard to tell that the city was badly flooded just a few weeks ago, except for the normally calm river which was surging along at white water levels.
Kiltimagh :: November 21 to December 11, 2009
While still in Emyvale, I had a call from a company called designwest who were looking for a graphic designer, so I caught another Bus Eireann to the small town of Kiltimagh in County Mayo. I have now been working here for almost three weeks and enjoying a variety of projects. Since apartments are pretty scarce in a village this size, I ended up looking at houses to rent, and I'm now sharing a nice three bedroom house with my roomate Oii, from Thailand. It's walking distance to work and the town, and I'm still getting used to life in small town Mayo, but I like it so far! More pics of Kiltimagh and Mayo to come...
