Roger Casement has got himself a bird.

This is the most Irish headline ever.

Poor swans, forced to abandon the turbulent Tolka today. #floods

Smithfield Square

January books

Happy St Brigid’s Day! This is a depiction of her from Harry Clarke’s Geneva Window.

Strava tells me today is a milestone - my 900th activity. Great day for it.💦🦆

Heron tries out the new pond in Stephen’s Green.

Pick up the nearest book. Turn to page 42, post the second sentence. ‘They take pictures, shouting Look, the janitor! while I duck and dive from the action shot, the wild beast going about her business in her natural habitat.’

Today is the Eve of St Agnes 💙 How better to celebrate than revisiting one of Harry Clarke’s strikingly blue watercolour studies that he made in preparation for his The Eve of St. Agnes Window (1924), inspired by John Keats’ poem. #CrawfordArtGallery #HarryClarke #EveofStAgnes

Waking up and reading the news "I'm going to a town that has already been burnt down I'm going to a place that has already been disgraced I'm gonna see some folks who have already been let down I'm so tired of America"

Liffey boardwalk

A walk in Santry Demesne park.

Maybe people wouldn’t ask questions if they weren’t approached by a Lush staff member within 2.5 seconds of entering the shop and asked ‘Can I help you?’, followed by further pestering the longer you stay in there. Nightmare. They probably ask stupid questions so they’ll be left alone.

I can hardly believe it, but I have found a publisher. My novel, about stained glass artist Harry Clarke’s ill fated final masterpiece, is due to publish early next year with @stairwellbooks.bsky.social So happy.

The song that plays over the closing credits of Saipan is absolute perfection. But I don’t want to give it away if you haven’t seen it. Good film, very entertaining. Éanna Hardwicke is excellent as Roy.

Wordle 1,664 2/6 💪🏼 🟨🟩🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Same

It’s normal to find a few stray frozen peas at the bottom of the freezer, but this is a bit extreme. 😆

I took a walk around the now deserted Christmas market at Farmleigh House.

A delayed Christmas present arrived. Harry Clarke merch, oh yes. I’ll be haunted by those eyes as I drink my tae.

Illustrations from Japanese fireworks catalogues (ca. 1880s) — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/japanese-fireworks-catalogues #newyearseve #fireworks

Had a walk in Barna Woods today which sadly has a lot fewer trees than last time we visited. Many were damaged by Storm Éowyn. But fantastic to see the artwork created out of fallen and damaged trees by chainsaw sculptor Will Fogarty

Book gifts, fabulous.

Current bedside book, from @lilliputpress.bsky.social.

In the last two days I have been to: Dunnes ALDI Tesco M&S Foodhall Why do I do it to myself?

Dublin Bus

Every single year, around this date, I play the where-the-hell-did-I-hide-the-presents game. 🤨

Winter sunrise, Dublin 9.

This is the shortest path-to-publication story I’ve ever heard of. Celebrity authors eh? 😆

Even the big supermarkets can fall foul of the grocer’s apostrophe.

Two exquisite Harry Clarke illustrations have been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland. See them in room 20 from today, free admission.

These two stories are somehow connected. Apparently, if you lobby tirelessly for more pollution & ecological wreckage, that’s exactly what you get.

No Christmas shopping done, no decorations up. I’ve decided to kickstart the feeling of Christmas by rewatching The Holdovers.

This documentary about the wonderful Martin Parr is available on the BBC iPlayer.

Very sad to hear this news about Martin Parr. What a talented, empathetic observer of people he was. He also lived in Ireland for a while and created a wonderful body of work here too. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Pavement surprise on South Anne Street, Dublin.

I’m probably preaching to the converted here, but if you’ve never seen Nicholas Ray’s IN A LONELY PLACE, here’s your chance to do so if you’re in the UK. 22.50pm tonight for one of the best films noirs you’ll ever see! #FilmSky

I still don’t really want to post anything other than ‘we won Bookshop of the Year’! I know that I definitely have a blog to post about it & that will pretty much be my, perhaps, sort of, last post on it for the moment … other than this!

Stained glass advent calendar, woohoo.

Many people still imagine beekeeping and honey making are somehow 'good for nature'. But it's the *total* opposite. share.google/1csfRNfR3lnL...

Many thanks to Conor Pope for featuring us in this list of 100 Irish websites to shop with this Christmas. He has all avenues covered with Irish retailers listed for clothes, toys, food and drink, beauty, jewellery and more in this brilliant guide. www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2...

Great day for a walk on the strand.

A #painting I finished and sold last year. "Connemara Boats", a view from a small but storied bridge in south Connemara, east to the Rosmuc peninsula - a stunning part of the world. I painted it because I like the organic mish-mash punctuated by human made moments. #art #stunday #ArtYear #SpeirGhorm

Suddenly, sound baths are everywhere.

Stable doors and bolting horses spring to mind.

Dublin city centre stained glass. Staunton’s on the Green and St Teresa’s Church Clarendon Street.

Not only was I unaware that LED masks have become a staple of at-home skincare, I was ignorant of their very existence until today. I think I’ll soldier on without.