Make no bones about it

Superquick post between work and Writers' Group (both very lovely outlets for me).

I had promised photos of a little work excursion yesterday. Background: our theme for Pride this year was 'Still Waiting' (for gender recognition). We marched with the lovely (skeletal) Lydia to make the point. This was Lydia last Friday, finishing up the workweek...

Anyhoo, yesterday we took Lydia out for a stroll around Smithfield to get some publicity shots: Lydia waiting in the Motor Tax Office.

Lydia outside the Four Courts.

Lydia heading home, to fight another day.

She's slumped against my desk at the moment. I couldn't take her to the Gresham with me for Writers' Group.

Could I??

Thanks for the inspiration

A few snaps from Gilbert Baker's very lovely talk last week. Baker, who worked alongside Harvey Milk back in the day, is the designer of the rainbow flag that is ubiquitous at Pride marches and has been co-opted by so many peace movements. *And* he worked with Absolut to design their Rainbow bottle.

He spoke beautifully; his talk filled with a broad perspective on activist movements & the sharing of artistic work (he had a stroke earlier this year, and he clearly wasn't sweating the small stuff anymore). He also painted the teeniest rainbow for the National Gallery, which was received by one of their  curators with great humour and evident appreciation. A moving, delightful evening.

Afterwards I gave him one of our work mugs, as a teeny token of appreciation. We had a little "Thank you" "No thank *you*" "No, thank **you**" moment. Gracious and warm to the end.

Le Grand Flump

A hectic week, with work and leaks and mushrooms growing in the Cottage and more work and dehumidifiers and decorating a skeleton and babysitting and a little cat going crazy from the dehumidifiers and plumbers (though she was ok with the mushrooms) and much more work.

And now the dehumidifier has no more moisture to catch. Grateful :-)

And the Dublin Pride Parade 2011 went beautifully. 25k people marching, 100k people lining the streets. Oodles of photos to download but for now, this one I found online captures the vibe :-)

Needless to say, this is a morning of flumping :-)

Ending on a high note

A lovely weekend, beautifully topped off with Gomez in d'Olympia.


Loved 'em!

Savour

The Botanic Gardens, where two ladies endlessly pause to appreciate the moment.

Redefining

Here is the time for telling. Here is its home.
Speak and make known: More and more
the things we could experience
are lost to us, banished by our failure
to imagine them.
Old definitions, which once
set limits to our living,
break apart like dried crusts
--Rilke

Have a lovely weekend, all X

Late home?

There are days where clearly, it matters.

Photo moment

Walking home one evening last week, there was a sea of red in St Patrick's Park...

Wacky :-)

Family Day

My big bit of volunteering this year was for Family Day - a free family festival organised by the very lovely charity One Family, and held in Dublin's Iveagh Gardens in May.

Shortly after 8am on the morning of the festival, this photo was snapped in the quiet rainy morning...

We readied the site through steady rain. And lo, when we were all set up, the sky brightened, and two thousand people came out to enjoy the afternoon.

My perspective on the day was limited but colourful (you can click to enlarge):

Thanks to all those who supported, attended and contributed to the day. At one point during the Clean Up, I thought we'd take down the Arts & Crafts marquee to reveal one large glitter-grass square in the Iveagh Gardens. But it all worked out just beautifully!

Onwards and upwards

I pass this sign each day on my way to work.

I have never seen railings more covered with fingerprints :-)