Robert's Ramblings

Have bookshops now entered the world of quirky eccentricity?

It seems like only yesterday experiencing the novelty of buying a book through Amazon for the first time and now its almost all digital whether screen or audio.

I noticed Simon Prim’s bookshop in Kinsale and the word ‘Bibliotherapy’ in the signage and it made me think about the role books and bookshops now have in our digital world.

Having a place where you can explore books, hold them in your hands and feel the weight of their pages as you turn them; where words transport us to other places, other times and other lives, is perhaps a therapy we all could use a little more of again.


#simonprim #kinsale #bookshop #books #street #bibliotherapy

Reflections, reflections everywhere.
Reflections on the water painting squiggly lines of sailing boat masks.
Reflections in shop windows of passersby on the other side.
Reflections in car windscreens of street lights above.
Reflections in doorways of a stranger behind a lens.
Reflections, reflections everywhere.


#Selfie #kinsale #selfportrait #reflection #abstract

The curious thing about the Black-headed gull is that it changes its head from white with a dark smudge to a full black-brown cap when it’s in the mood.

This guy playing with his mates on the shores of Loch Leane is probably only interested in one thing right now, tidbits from visitors! Come breeding season he’ll don his black cap, find a black capped mate and the two will stay that way for the duration.

When parenting is over for the year they’ll leave their black caps in the empty nest and head out into the world again.


#ireland #killarney #landscape #lochleane #seagulls #blackheadedgull

There are ducks a plenty everywhere; it’s the perfect weather for them. For the most part I was ignoring them around me as having been used to being fed by visitors they can become quite annoying.

Suddenly a ray of warm light from the setting sun burst through the Irish winter sky bringing a splash of amazing colour to this lone mallard.

The light only lasted a moment, the duck, oblivious to his moment in the spotlight simply swam on.


#killarney #waterfowl #ducks #mallard #anasplatyrhynchos #reflections #ireland

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." In this case perhaps the title should have been ‘with’ instead of ‘in’.

This quote by Ratty to Mole in the novel 'The Wind in the Willows' echos my own thoughts about boats. Many of my most joyful times have been spent either in them or under them.

These two boats, in the backwaters of Loch Leane, might be docked for now, but come the opening of the season, their owners, fishers for sure, will be be feeling just the same; messing about in boats.


#Killarney #lochleane #boats #reflections #ireland

While I’m not the greatest fan of seagulls in populated areas they make for great sport shooting with camera in hand.

Here on the shore of Loch Leane, attracted by the day visitors to Ross Castle, I’ve plenty of opportunity to practice getting these fast moving birds in focus.

My success rate is still not high but with my newfound appreciation of the benefit of seagulls as target practice I can only get better!


#Ireland #landscape #killarney #lochleane #seagulls

It’s the last light of the day and a stillness has settled on Loch Leane.
Lingering on the balcony, with family inside at dinner, I’m juxtaposed between light and dark, between calm and bustle, between cold and warmth.
I’ll linger just a little longer before saying goodnight to this scene.


#Ireland #landscape #travel #killarney #lochleane #twilight #blackandwhite #siloutte

There a good reason why the Irish countryside is so green. It rains a lot!
Still, a bit of rain or its aftermath never stopped a true local from their family Sunday drive.
Just seeming their beaming faces through the car windows says it all.


#ireland #killarney #water #driving

It had to happen sooner or later, a pub session at the Oliver Plunkett in Cork city.
We came in for a quick drink; my first real Guinness in nearly 5 years.
We stayed for meal while being entertained with great live music.
And captured a few images to remember our first night back in Cork.


#Cork #ireland #pub #oliverplunkett #hotel

A winter bare tree looks out over Lough Leane.
A stray ray of sunlight hits the mountains of Killarney.
Pool sized puddles bear witness to bad weather.

I’m told January is the worst of it and the weather will only get better.
I’m really not sure what all the fuss is about.


#Ireland #killarney #loughleane #silhouette #blackandwhite #landscape #twilight

All day long the sun toiled hard to burn away the stubborn clouds. Hiding below, in the gloom, life continued in a manner familiar to anyone living through an Irish winter.

In the distance, defiant at last, a few lucky homes emerge from the mist to glimpse the setting sun.


#Ireland #clouds #village #mist #misty #landscape

The more I learned about the European Robin the more I wondered where it came in the running relative to the movie character’s actual angry bird, the Northern Cardinal.

Apparently, the friendly and inquisitive robin red breast, one of Ireland’s favourite birds, can develop quite a temper when confronted with another red bearing antagonist.

Fortunately I was wearing green today.


#Ireland #europeanrobin #robin #redbreast #birds #kilarney

For most of the day we found ourselves shrouded in fog with a landscape of frosted green and white vanishing into the mist less than 50 meters away in all directions.

Where the sun should have been was a vast brightness while somewhere above a hint of blue suggested we had been under a receding ocean of white.

As evening approached, like a tide, the mist ebbed away leaving us in a land above the clouds.


#Ireland #cork #landscape #clouds #aerial #panorama

2023 is now part of history and was our last year in Australia before embarking on a new adventure.
I have been to Ireland many times before but coming here to live is completely different.

This is a move my wife and I have been planning for many years. For Jennifer it is a long awaited homecoming. For me it is fair trade between the comfort of living in Australia and the challenging but exciting opportunities of Irish landscape and underwater photography, of getting involved in traditional Irish music, and being close now to my family in continental Europe.

For now we are being looked after by Jennifer’s family in their cosy Irish countryside home. Tomorrow I start working again, and after than we’ll see how this adventure unfolds through 2024 and beyond.

#Ireland #countryside #rural #home #aerial