I'm reading all sorts at the moment, mainly in bursts and supported by the long-drawn out enjoyment of Sara Bakewell's biography of Michel Montaigne, How to live. You wouldn't want to find out how to crack that eternal question in one weekend surely? So mixed with Justin Cartwright's To heaven by water and Giuttari's A death in Calabria I get the right balance of existential insights and undulated entertainment.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta

As a novice blogger I completely didn't think about the fact that my exploits in the Dun Laoghaire Regatta would be interesting to include here. So, two weeks after the event (at which Frank and myself did rather well), here are a few impressions of the IDRA 14's from www.afloat.ie and fotosail.com:

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Patrick Leigh Fermor died today aged 96. He lived such a well-filled, fascinating life. 'A dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness' someone said about him. I won't begin to relate all the daring adventures or describe the lovely writing, especially about his trans-European walking trip in the 30's - I only relatively recently 'discovered' him through Justin Marozzi's The man who invented history. I greatly enjoyed reading his travel stories in Words of Mercury and his correspondence with Deborah Devonshire, In Tearing Haste. A great advertisement for old age!

New collage

Finished this one a while ago.

Dolphins in Dublin Bay

Yesterday evening, while sailing in Scotsman's Bay in Dun Laoghaire, we saw (at least) two dolphins, jumping out of the water simultaneously! They were light grey and seemed to play together and with one of the rescue boats. What an unexpected treat!

Stuck with this collage

I'm working on a collage using photos of mosaics from diffrent places on a small box. Lovely colours. I've ordered recordable chips because I want a Syriana / Radio Tarifa type sound when I open the box, fusion of middle eastern / spanish / Turkish. Problem is that it is all becoming too pretty - I'm thinking that I need to place the box in a context, maybe a large black and white mountain?

New collages

Regarde

Women

Outside

Seriously

Bedroom

Distance

The Netherlands in depth

This map brings back memories of school in the seventies. It shows the height of the land, or rather the lack of it - all the lilac / grey bits are below sea level. In these days of climate change and rising seas the map has become more significant in a way.

The green Ikea box accidentally matches quite well!

Orange pencils

Whenever I see one...

Globes

Here are a few of the globes I've brought back from trips and travels over the years. I try to find ones in different languages; the one on the right is in Chinese, the little one on the blue stand is Russian.

Dun Laoghaire

Buoys in Dun Laoghaire harbour on a sunny day - looking forward to start sailing soon!

Supermoon last week

I'd say anyone with a vague interest in the moon was out last week to take a few shots of the supermoon - and I was no exception. Without professional equipment it isn't easy to do anything interesting, but luckily the clouds provided some entertainment!

La Potiche: a visual celebration of the Seventies

Went to see Potiche yesterday, the last film of the Dublin Film Festival. An absolute visual feast for those who remember the Seventies! Very funny story about a potiche (trophy wife) played by Catherine Deneuve who rises to the challenge when her unreconstructed patriarchal husband has a heart attack.

Little Luas adventure

The morning looked very promising so L and I decided to go on a little outing. The new Luas extension (tram from Dublin city centre) now brings people all the way to Brides Glen through some of the leftover nature on the city's southern flank. We had a bit of trouble finding a walk; you actually need to get off two stops before the end at Laughanstown. Luckily the Luas driver helped us out.

From the station an old country road leads towards the M50 motorway, past a few Irish crosses and a very old abandoned cemetery. This must be where the people from the settlement of Laughan are buried.

Via a new high road bridge we crossed the M50, towards a decidedly rural area; it smelled strongly of cows although we didn't see any. The views are lovely, with the sea to the east and the mountains in the south and while the motorway hums in the background you still get a sense of how far out of the city this once must have been.

We spent about an hour wandering around the fields before heading back by modern public transport towards busier parts of the city.

Ireland must be the only country where election results constitute a spectator sport. We're enjoying at least 3 days of fun before all results of election 2011 will be finalised, because the 'Single Transferable Vote' system involves many rounds of counting. The political landscape is undergoing unprecedented change; will it change much?

Cartoon by Donal Casey.

Blue ceramics

The gorgeous ceramics of Michele Michael - now for sale via her website.

What the books do...

I agree with swiss-miss, it would be so nice to think that this is what my books get up to when I'm not there! Nice music too by Rodrigo y Gabriela, who celebrated their first success here in Dublin.

Tulip on election day

Glorious tulip basking in the sun. After a gray start the day turned out fine - just as well as it's election day in Ireland and we wouldn't want to scare away the voters! This should really be a red rose when I think about it.

Think

A handy reminder on top of the bookcase: think!

Shelf

Looking for inspiration close by: a shelf on the right of my desk, clearly showing my interest (obsession?) with all things map and globe. Some of the books: Map addict by Mike Parker, The island of lost maps by Miles Harvey and Maps of the imagination by Peter Turchi. The plastic ball came from a toy shop; a genuine obsessive doesn't mind the funny looks.