A running girl is framed by a hoop thrown into the air alongside her in Bishop Lucey Park during the “Peace in the Park” event 2 months ago.
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Waves crash on the beach at Allihies in Co Cork.
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A sign at the base of the short hill below the white pillar near Bantry in Co Cork warns of high cliffs. Unfortunately Adam was asleep in the car and I couldn’t venture any further so I’ll have to return some day to take photos of that pillar.
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The Organic Shop in Douglas Cork obviously has problems with non-customers parking in front of the shop. Why else would they put a wheel clamp on prominent display next to their warning sign? Lucky for us we were buying something ..
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It’s Halloween again and ghosts and zombies are about. Would you spend a night in a cemetery, tonight? What sorts of noises do you hear if you live next to one? oooer!
I’m going out tonight for dinner with a friend, I wonder if they’ll be serving Halloween Brack?
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Golden balls hang from the ceiling in the Clarion Hotel, Cork.
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Struggling up the what-feels-like-vertical hill from the North Harbour in Cape Clear is a nightmare. At least Adam was asleep. He was the lucky one.
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Tags: Adam, Canon 10-22, Canon 40D, Cape Clear, Cork, Cork Photos, hill, Ireland, Irish photos, irishblogs, Oilean Chleire, Photography, Photos, slope, steep... 
A solitary boat in the North Harbour, Cape Clear Island.
PS. Check out Jolt++, a new photoblog created by fellow Automatticer Michael Pick. Great photos, and I really like the Tumble theme. I wonder how I’d squeeze my adverts into such a theme?
PPS. My brother Donal was featured on the envelope of the first issue of new Irish stamps commemorating Irish pipers. If the day job ever fails, you can always try your hand at modelling!
PPPS. Server was down for several hours, sorry. VPS was upgraded to “Xen” and failed to reboot. I didn’t realise I could reboot it until a few minutes ago..
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Kinsale Co. Cork, last July.
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The “Shell to Sea” stand in Bishop Lucey Park during the “Peace in the Park” event a few weeks ago.
Like a lot of people I’m sick and tired of the protests in Co Mayo against the pipeline Shell want to build to bring gas to an onshore facility. This story and photos of an exploded natural gas pipeline in Virginia, USA almost changed my mind. Then I realised there must be tens of thousands of natural gas pipelines and they very rarely blow up in such a spectacular fashion.
Still, does make me think twice about dismissing the protesters as a bunch of crazies.
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Lifeboats are dotted around the The Queen Elizabeth 2. They’re high up above some of the lower decks as far as I can remember and there are plenty of them. Hopefully won’t ever be needed.
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Blarney Castle is that way. Go out the gate, turn right, turn left and park. Right in front of you.
I got back to Ireland yesterday afternoon. A mostly uneventful flight home, except for some problems with check in and I had to check in twice more. On the last attempt I got bumped to Economy Plus with more legroom and to an aisle seat thanks to the very nice lady at the gate.
The check in computer should be smart enough to offer an aisle seat in Economy Plus to me, even after I’ve declined that upgrade first. An aisle seat is worth the extra $109 because I was late checking in.
I hope Lenny and Eoin got home without much hassle. We had hoped to meet up in Heathrow but my text to Lenny only delivered moments before I boarded the Aer Lingus flight to Cork. Guess United is faster than... 
Crowds gathered to see the Queen Elizabeth 2 off from Cobh 2 weeks ago, but they weren’t getting on board unless they had a ticket!
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A singer outside the Commodore Hotel in Cobh kept the crowd entertained and attracted the attention of my son Adam who wasn’t happy unless he was outside listening to him.
Photos of Breckenridge, Colorado to follow, although I didn’t take that many. Too busy to leave the house much unfortunately!
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Tags: Black and White, commodore-hotel, Cork, Cork Photos, cowboy, entertainer, Ireland, Irish photos, irishblogs, singer, Street... 
An Siopa Beag ar Oilean Chleire is the small shop on Cape Clear Island in The Club in the North Harbour. It’s more than a shop of course, and tables are set up outside for customers to enjoy their tea or whatever they’re eating.
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Fruit and veg on display in a shop in the English Market, Cork.
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The remains of a boat lie in the water by Dunboy Castle in Co Cork, Ireland. We were there last March, only days before 3 young men were killed when their car went into the water.
As you may know, I’m in Colorado along with most of Automattic. You can check out photos taken by me and my colleagues. It’s a beautiful area, but the thin air at such a high altitude is playing havoc with my body: breathlessness, a racing heart while lying down, sinuses out of whack, the after effects of 3 drinks feels like a heavy night of boozing.
Budget Day today in Ireland. If I don’t catch the RTE coverage of it live I’ll watch Twitter and check the headlines after.
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Chains on a quayside in Schull, near where yesterday’s shot was taken, I think.
I’m in Colorado, at 9,00ft. The air is noticeably thinner here. Won’t be any running about or physical exercise for a few days!
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Fishing tackle in Co Cork somewhere. Can’t remember where now! Love the texture of this sort of equipment, especially in black and white.
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On Friday morning around 5am the Gardai on duty at Blarney Garda Station were called away on what turned out to be a hoax. Unfortunately while they were out the Garda station was attacked, the front door kicked down and firebombs thrown into the rooms downstairs. The building itself is quite old and burned quickly. Luckily the blaze was seen by a security guard from a nearby hotel or much more damage could have been done.
The building is unusable now of course. A Garda has been posted outside since, and this afternoon forensics were examining the site.
More coverage: Irish Times, Tribune, Herald.
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Tags: arson, Blarney, Canon 40D, Cork, Cork Photos, fire, Garda Siochana, Garda Station, Ireland, Irish photos,... 
The Green House, a small cafe in Blarney near Blarney Castle. It was previously the local Post Office but is now quite nice I’m told. Haven’t been in there yet.
Blarney Garda Station was set alight last night. I half heard something on the radio about it and confirmed it when Gordon replied to my Tweet on the matter. I hope to get some shots later, even with the horrible weather outside!
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The funnel of the Queen Elizabeth 2 looms over Cobh as seen from near the Commodore Hotel.
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The QE2 docked in Cobh last Thursday. This was shot at the bottom of steps down to the water where seaweed made footing precarious. I saw a few people venture down the steps but none went further than half way down. The tide was well out so I was maybe 3m below the quayside, standing in wet and slippery seaweed. The risks I take to get a photo!
Oh yeah, there’s already something gone bust in my new Canon 40D. The pop up flash refuses to pop up unless I prise it open with a fingernail. It tries a few times, gives up and issues an Error 99 and needs to be switched off and on. The same happened to my Canon 20D, but I’m surprised the 40D didn’t last a bit longer ..
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The club and the hill. This is the North Harbour in Cape Clear Island. The club is familiar to all who visit this part of the world, as are the hills unfortunately. This particular hill overlooks the whole harbour and feels like a 45 degree struggle at times.
I still have memories of climbing it as a youngster on a hot and humid May day while a student at Colaiste Ciaran. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that!
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Tags: An Club, Black and White, Canon 10-22, Canon 40D, Cape Clear, Cork Photos, Irish photos, irishblogs, Landscape, North Harbour, Oilean Chleire, Photography, Photos... 
Luxury cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 tied up at the quayside in Cobh, Co Cork last Thursday. This was moments before she cast off. You can see a tug in the background of this image.
It was bitterly cold down on the quay, but we were lucky that the evening sun cast a lovely golden glow over everything.
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Carvery Lunch, the fast food of “proper food” IMO. Many will be going to pubs today for their Sunday lunch and it’ll be carvery on offer. Nothing wrong with it of course, but some people are snobs about eating out and want food delivered to their table. Considering the price of carvery food, I can see their point. It’s generally the same price as food in a restaurant, so why not eat somewhere else?
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A small ferry casts off and heads out of Bantry Harbour with lots of hunting dogs and their owners. This was last February and I watched with interest wondering where they were going.
More QE2 photos to come, when I have time to work on them!
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The Queen Elizabeth 2 is a British ship, and it’s likely that many of the passengers were British too. I spotted one large Union Jack flag draped over a railing and people on the ship waved mini Union Jack flags too. That sort of gets under the skin of many Irish people.
A huge crowd had gathered on the quayside at Cobh. A band was playing and people cheered and waved as the ship departed. The atmosphere was great but when the Irish Tricolour appeared on the roof of the ship, being waved by a young man, the crowd let out a huge cheer, and whistled and clapped in appreciation.
They were still waving the Irish flag as the ship left the harbour. I spotted them after she turned!
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The Queen Elizabeth 2, or QE2, flagship of the Cunard Line, docked for the last time in Cobh yesterday and left this evening just after 6pm. Here she is after turning in Cork Harbour and seconds before she increased speed and left the harbour for good.
In 2009, she will become a floating hotel in Dubai. A fitting ending for a luxury ship that has plied the waters of the world for the last 39 years.
I took over 300 shots of the Queen Elizabeth 2 today and filled almost 4GB of space with RAW images. In hindsight, many of the images would have been fine as Jpeg files but I had the space, so I used it. I hope to upload a gallery of my favourite images tomorrow.
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Tags: boats, Canon 40D, Cobh, Cork, Cork Photos,... 
Tir na nOg is the house on the right of this photo. It’s a house that Colaiste Ciaran, an Irish summer school on the island, rents during the summer and where I spent a number of weeks years and years ago. The long, low building attached to the left is a canteen.
An Oige have a large hostel further down, near the stony beach. I remember looking with curiosity and longing at the kayaks in a nearby shed. Us students never got anything quite as exciting as those!
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Tags: accomodation, Beach, Canon 10-22, Canon 40D, Cape Clear, Cork, Cork Photos, hostel, Ireland, Irish photos, irishblogs, island, Nature, Oilean Chleire, Sea, stones, Tir na nOg, Water...