The Chair-O-Planes at sunset beside the Yellow Steeple at the Trim Balloon Fiesta.

Telefonica tower at the Olympic Stadium, Barcelona.

Hotel rooftop. Barcelona.

The balloon fiesta continues today until Monday. Tomorrow promises to be the best day weather wise and display wise. Drop over to Trim, the kids will love it!

The Trim Balloon Fiesta starts today. Lets hope the weather keeps up and everybody has a ball!!

Winter in Barcelona.

Rooftop swimmers in Barcelona.

An old one I found while roothing around this evening. The three weeks are booked for July and it can’t come quickly enough!!

I know I said that the last one would be the last one but I didn’t know then that there would be more blown up this morning did I? Distortion thanks to the lovely Sigma 12mm.

The iconic image I have from the 1992 Summer Olympic games in Barcelona is the view over the city from the diving arena. It has to be one of the most unique locations since the ancient games in Greece. The stadium is now locked and chained and a little run down. Kind of sad actually. I couldn’t get the shot I wanted with the diving board but I think this reflects its past glory and its present isolation.

Port Vell, at the end of La Rambla de la Mer. Barcelona.

Follow on from my last post. Phil peruses the “interesting” bio of Rodney before we ventured into the exhibition.

The Museu D’art Contemporani De Barcelona had a show by Rodney Graham. It confused me no end. But at the very end it had some of his abstract paintings which were absolutely beautiful. Both Phil and myself stood for a long time soaking up the shapes and colours. No photography allowed as you can see!

Taking the madras for a strolll along the Boyne in Trim.

The only credit I can take for this is pressing the shutter. I was trying out the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens and Vlastimil came up with the idea of holding his glasses in front of his eye. It was late and we had had a good few pints at that stage!! No photoshoppery involved apart from a bit of cross-processing.

Montjuic, Barcalona.

Reliving our youth before heading to the Dara O’Briain show last night (thanks Dónall and Kate!), Phil and myself went back to our old haunt, Captain America’s, on Grafton Street. It has played a big part in our lives. From the 70’s through to bringing our young kids there, they playing with the colouring pages and finished them off by filling in their names and dates of birth on the bottom. To their amazement and joy the Captain’s birthday cards duly arrived. They are all grown up and it is now one of their favourite places when they are in Dublin.

We were also treated to free (we did run down and shove a fiver in his hat) entertainment on the street below. A special day all round!

I love the west coast so much I often forget that there are so many great places to see on the east. Laytown on the small teeny bit of sea that is in County Meath.

There is only has a few days left to bid on the auction for Haiti.  Please consider bidding. Details are here: http://pix.ie/valentia

Heavy snow over southern Germany. It looks like they have mastered the art of keeping the roads clear!

This lad has been hibernating in the blog folder for awhile. A clichéd scene I know but sure what the hell! St. Stephen’s Green shopping centre, Dublin.

The Sheep’s Gate is on the Porchfield in Trim. It was built around 1370. If you want to you can download a pdf document (1.3 Mb) and get more details on the Porchfield and the gate here. ( N.B. Clicking on the link will download the pdf document).

Time to get away from this bleak mid winter. The beehive huts on top of Skellig Mór never cease to amaze.

The Trim 2025 gig last night was, even for an ol’ fogie like me, fecking brilliant. A moxy load of local talent all washed down by The Magic Numbers. I’ve lots of photos and will post a few here and a lock on Pix.ie when I get them sorted. Here we have Brian who will appear in another guise later. He’s one of the soundest lads around and a mighty dancer!! Well done to Martin Tighe for pulling off the impossible. I’m looking forward to next year already. See more about last night’s goings on at the following locations:  Culch & Peter Donegan.

Dara Kenny & Bernadette Walsh in rehearsal for A Galway Girl by Geraldine Aron which continues in Trim Town Hall tonight and tomorrow night. To repeat the details I gave a few days ago: Semper Fidelis, by Henry Hudson, is being directed by Kevin Martin. A Galway Girl, by Geraldine Aron, is being directed by Barbera McGonagle (nee Mellerick, for those of you that don’t know!!) and Ruby of Elsinore, by Bruce Kane, is being directed by Delphine Coudray. The overall title is ‘Truth, Lies and Murder?’ A really varied and fulfilling night’s entertainment is guaranteed!

Taking a rest. Newcastle, Co. Down

A reflection from the metal sphere in Newcastle, County Down.

Trim Castle keep, late on a summer’s evening.

Another reason to rejig this blog to do larger than 720 pixels. The title of this shot is not too obvious at this resolution.  It’s the name on the lifebuoy.

Baltray, County Louth.