I’m a Laird

Monday, May 20 – Today we had breakfast at our diggs and then we headed down to Burgh Quay to catch our bus to Killarney. Our eldest daughter walked down with us and then we said good bye to her. We likely wont see her until next May when she comes home for a wedding. She headed off to the airport to return to Orkney. It was a 5 hour drive to Killarney on the bus. We went via Limerick and of course I had to post a limerick on Facebook while I was in Limerick. We arrived in Killarney about 3:30pm where we were met by my Internet Pen-pal, who is also a fellow photographer (see http://www.davethom.net) and his wife. We did a little bit of shopping and then we headed out to our cottage in the Gap of Dunloe. We had a great evening catching up on all our news and then we had a lovely walk up the Gap of Dunloe.

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Sunday, May 19 – We had a slower start today. We headed back down to O’Connell Street and found Murray’s Pub and Grill. We had a wonderful breakfast and our server mentioned that they had live music and dancing in the evening. She promised to book us a great table and so we went a head with the reservation. We then joined the Dublin Hop On and Off Bus tour. We did one complete circuit and then it was time to say good bye to our youngest daughter as she had to return to London for work on Monday. The three of us then walked through the iconic Temple Bar district of Dublin and we ended up at Christ Church Cathedral and had a great tour. We rejoined the Hop on Hop off bus tour and took the other route they offer and saw the rest the tour including the Teeling Distillery and the Guinness Brewery. We then did a bit of shopping along Henry Street. After our shopping we ended back up at Murray’s Bar and we had a wonderful dinner. We were basically on Stage with the Band and the Dancers. What a great evening we had, the music and dancing was awesome.

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Saturday, May 18 – No time to waste sleeping in on our first full day in Ireland with our kids. We were up at the crack of dawn. We took a taxi down to the meeting point for our tour of Northern Ireland with Wild Rover Tours. Starting out at 7am on the bus, we headed north from Dublin on our way to Belfast. Two hours later we arrived and got off the bus for our Black Taxi Tour. Our driver was an actual ex-IRA member who had been involved in the “Troubles”. The 2 hours we spent with him were very emotional and moving as we heard from his perspective the conflict between the two groups. We then re-boarded the bus and head further north to Dunluce Castle..unfortunately the fog and rain prevented a photo stop. Dunluce Castle was used in the HBO Series Game of Thrones. We continued down the coast a little bit and we arrived at the Giants Causeway. The rain and fog lifted just in time for us to explore the World UNESCO Heritage site. We then re-boarded the bus and again drove down the coast a bit to the Carrick-a-Rede Cliff and Rope Bridge walk. We then re-boarded the bus and drove along the coast line to the village of Ballintoy. Ballintoy harbour was also used in the Game of Thrones, but unfortunately our tour did not stop here, instead we turned south and headed back to Dublin. We were serenaded by our tour guide with live Irish music on the way back. We arrived back in Dublin about 8:30pm…a great day all around.

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As mentioned before, we had planned a Family and Photographic adventure to Ireland.

We left on Thursday, May 16th and arrived in Dublin mid day on the 17th. My wife and I booked a tour for the Book of Kells at Trinity College and then we had a nice dinner out at Flanagan’s on O’Connell Street. We stayed at the Harvey’s Guest House in the Drumcondra section of Dublin. It was only a short walk down to the center of Dublin and the room was great. We actually were able to stay up till our daughters arrived late in the evening (one of their flights was delayed.) Here are a few shots from our flight over and our afternoon and evening in Dublin.

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I had a couple of hours this weekend to my self. I went and checked out an Astronomy gathering at our local Chapters Book store. After that I headed back to Petrie Island to check out how the flooding here in Orleans is doing. I actually spent more time looking in the field beside the flooding. Snakes, Birds and Turtles galore. Tonight I did a couple of macro shots in front of the house.

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A very good friend of mine has created a signature file for my photos and the website.

I ordered a new lens for my camera. It’s a 50mm F1.8N Standard Prime Lens. The lens is made by YONGNUO. While looking for a prime lens, I did a lot of viewing of videos and reading of articles. So many opinions! While the 35mm offers a wider field of view, most people recommended the 50mm. So I went a head and ordered it.

After waiting a couple of weeks, it has finally arrived.

I have only played around with it a little bit, but so far I really like the results. It’s not as smooth to put on the camera, nor as quiet as a genuine Nikon lens, but for the money, I think it is just great. Here are a few pictures of the lens and some test shots I took with it.

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Exciting news – We are in the early stages of planning a new family adventure to Ireland! The plans are coming along to spend a few days with our daughters in Dublin and as an added bonus we are meeting my Pen-Pal and his wife for a few days in Killarney.

If you remember, I was taking a camera course called A Year With My Camera. I have finished the 52 week course and I am really please with the results from the course. Am I a better photographer? I think I am much better than when I started the course and that was the goal. I learned how to get off Automatic mode. Are all my photos perfect? Not even close. I do however take more of the better ones than I used to. So mission accomplished.

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After nearly a full month away it was time to say good bye to Orkney, but we had one more special night before we left. Although the weather was not supposed to be good, we discovered that the Northern Lights were out. My daughter and I made a quick run out to the Standing Stones of Stenness and we were able to capture a few photos of the Stones and the Northern Lights before the weather moved in.

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We were up fairly early as we had a full day of travel ahead of us. Kirkwall to Edinburgh to London Heathrow to Montreal. We overnight-ed in Montreal and took the bus back to Ottawa the next day. Our amazing family adventure was over for now.

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Today we took a run down through the southern islands that make up the mainland of Orkney. These islands were joined to the mainland through a public works effort by Italian Prisoners of World War 2. The work resulted in the Churchill Barriers – basically two lane bridges that connected all the southern islands to the mainland. These bridges also act as barriers to the entrance to Scapa Flow and so had a dual purpose of allowing the islands to be more accessible for the locals and keeping German Submarines out of the Flow. Scapa Flow is a huge natural Harbour and the British Fleet was often at anchor here.

In one of the prisoner of war camps, on the island of Lamb Holm, the Italians left behind a beautiful example of a chapel. They used whatever left over concrete they could find to make the front facade and a statue. They bartered with locals for paint and other items to finish the inside of the Chapel. This is a must visit if you go to Orkney. I am very please to say that I am friends with the daughter of the man who painted the interior of the Chapel. Truly a talented man.

We visited a beach below one of the barriers and searched for Groatie Buckies which are considered to be lucky. My kids found several, but I have yet to find one.

We then made our way over to the little picturesque village of St. Margaret’s Hope before we headed backed to our home in Orphir. The evening was so still that the local Loch was like a mirror. Then as we pulled into the drive way the moon was rising and I got a couple of shots of it. Truly a great day out.

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