Portmarnock

My new glasses were ready for collection  - and the options were to drive over on Saturday, or for me to get the train out on Wednesday and then go all the way the other direction to Greystones. It would have worked - but it was a fine sunny day, so C suggested that we could collect them and then go for a walk along Portmarnock strand. 

Until I was about 3 my parents lived nearby, and my mother often used to push the pram along the seafront, but my first personal memory of it was a school trip when I was in 1st or 2nd year - and I loved it! So different to our Greystones beaches - much sandier, and many, many more shells.

In the second photo, looking back towards the town, you can see an old Martello tower (fortifications built along the coast by the British).

This is a photo-heavy post, but it didn't seem worth splitting them into two.

The beach is under one of the flight paths to Dublin airport, so every five minutes or less a new plane kept passing overhead.

Lambay Island

Portmarnock Hotel

As we returned to the car-park, there were two people walking right along the edge of the water and stooping down regularly to pick something up and drop it into a bag. I'm guessing it was must have been some sort of shellfish.

The jury is out on my new glasses; there was the option of getting a free upgrade to reactive lenses, with the option of downgrading at no charge within one month. I don't normally bother with sunglasses and have to admit that it was very nice not to be squinting, but I am not sure, as someone who lives with a camera in her bag, whether I can cope with the colour distortions. It was also rather disconcerting that when reviewing a photo to see if the exposure was correct, I had to look over the glasses; not doing that was one of my main reasons for switching to varifocals last time I got new ones! I'll give myself two weeks to decide...

Switzerland part 4

We had a snack lunch, and then got a small local train back to Neuchâtel, which meant that C had recovered enough energy to walk around the town again. I had loved the mail box when we'd seen it on a night-time walk on Friday night, and was glad I remembered where to find it. I was thinking I could have used the window display in a Bernina shop for Clare's "inspiration" prompt in January!

cellar access, I presume!

church roof

On the way to work...

I took most of these photos on Tuesday morning - it was a clear bright morning, and I needed to lodge a cheque and buy some stamps, so I got the bus in to town and walked back out.
The colours in the Burton Building were looking extra-vibrant in the sunshine.

And another of the City of Physics utility boxes - this one is on the corner at Christchurch.

There's a very small stretch of old thick wall just at Cornmarket. It's not on the side of the road that I normally walk on, but a couple of times I have crossed the road to look at it and see if there was any information about it. There never was, but the new Tourist Trail signs (I used one for me "new" in Clare's photo prompts) now give more information.

You can see the reflection of St. Audeon's Church in the top photo. It's where my sister was married - she lived nearby, and walked to the church and then to the reception in the old Tailor's Hall (guild hall) just across the road.

Friday morning was my day off, and when I went to shut the gate after C had left, I was greeted by this sight ~

I'm glad that it didn't lie. By the time I left to take bottles for recycling and pick up something from the library, I did have to scrape the car but the roads were clear. I liked the way our  sitting-room light reflected in the window, almost like a sun.

Switzerland part 3

More photos from Auvernier...

Take something, leave something

This goes with the photo of the house underneath: Unique in the Neuchâtel vineyards, the "Square House" stands out because of it's silhouette. It was built in 1805 by Henri and Frederic Brandt... The roof reminds me of a Chinese building near Parc Monceau in Paris... I'll add a photo at the end of this post, since I haven't previously uploaded one.

And the Pagoda Paris:  we regularly go to the Monceau area, so I was surprised that we had never seen it before out last trip to Paris.

Switzerland part 2

We walked along Lake Neuchatel from the town to the next small town - about a 5 km walk. It was quite windy but not too cold, and we enjoyed out. Auvernier was very picturesque - and very wine-oreiented. We passed several playgrounds and barbecue areas, I'm sure in summer it must be much busier than on a cold January day.

February Favourites...

Not many favourite cards for February - two weeks sick and a week still recovering meant I didn't spend much time upstairs...but there are a few, even if most of them were made over two or three days. I think I'll use the anteater one as a birthday card for my nephew, since I don't need another get well card.

This month's blog header is a photo from last March of a cormorant in breeding plumage. I just saw one this week, and am thinking I need to walk down to Heuston Station one (drier than today) morning and see can I get some more photos.