Walking Squares: Rossglass Beach, Co. Down, Northern Ireland

Fell back a little bit on Walking Squares, but am back now. Thank you to Becky at Life of B for hosting this challenge. November has been a lot of fun, looking through archives and at other people’s Walking Squares.

Self was fortunate enough to spend time the entire month of April writing in Northern Ireland, at River Mill, near Downpatrick. One of her fellow writers, Anna, a mystery writer from Dublin, asked if self wanted to go with her to a beach nearby. Self agreed, and that is how these pictures came to be.

We arrived at Rossglass Beach at the perfect time, just before sunset. The only other people on the beach were a group of teen-agers who decided to strip down and jump into the water. The mysterious mountains in the distance are the Mountains of Mourne. There is only one word for that setting: MAGICAL.

Walking Squares: Belfast Botanic Gardens

Again, much thanks to Life of B for this month’s Squares Challenge: Walking Squares! So much fun to create a gallery of memorable walks!

In April, self finally crossed Belfast off her bucket list. She’d been wanting to go ever since she got into Game of Thrones, the HBO series. She was a huge Gendrya fan, and every time Joe Dempsie showed up in Belfast she would cheer!

She stayed at the Europa Hotel, which was fantastic, and each day she explored a different area of Belfast. One day, she went to Queen’s University and explored the botanic garden, right alongside:

One Word Sunday: High

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Posting for Travel with Intent’s One Word Sunday challenge

The Titanic Museum in Belfast is a must-see. It was built to the exact height of the ship itself. Self visited in April.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 215: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

• For the challenge this week, I am asking you to share images that focus on your journeys. Consider examples of historical modes of transportation if you happen to have some in your gallery, a horse-drawn wagon in Pennsylvania, or maybe an abandoned boat along the seashore.

— Journeys with Johnbo, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 215

Below: the bus self took from Belfast to Downpatrick, Northern Ireland

In April, self visited NI for the first time. She did a residency at River Mill, near Downpatrick. Crushed the writing: finished her horror story/alien invasion story, The Rorqual, and completely re-wrote a few others. Placed a story while she was still there: “Residents of the Deep,” coming soon in J Journal.

The Weekend Roundup Challenge, 3rd Weekend of July 2022

The Weekend Roundup Challenge is hosted by Tom, The Backroads Traveler.

There are three parts to this challenge:

• Something that starts with the letter B
• A favorite that starts with the letter B
• Tom’s choice: (B)erry

Without further ado:

• Something that starts with the letter B: BANKSY

• A favorite that starts with the letter B: Bookshop

Tom’s Choice: Berry

• Marianne’s Choice: Belfast, which she visited for the first time in April

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: An Act of Kindness

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week:

• This week our topic is celebrating things that Symbolizes an act of kindness. Any act of kindness, and don’t forget our first responders. There are endless possibilities for this week. Have fun and don’t forget to smile along the way.

Belfast Marathon, 1 May 2022

Redwood City Annual Fourth of July Parade, 2022

Still Photographing Public Art Challenge # 54: PUBLIC SQUARES

Thank you to Cee Neuner and Marsha Ingrao, co-hosts of the PPAC Challenge!

I had a little free time today, so I went browsing through her archives for more public squares.

Here’s Arthur Square in Belfast, which I visited for the first time in April. Thank you to Marsha Ingrao, whose comment led me to do some googling. I found the name of the artist: Dan George. The piece is called “Spirit of Belfast” and was installed in 2009.

I went exploring down a side street (look at those curving, banner-like things, so futuristic) and found myself in the most fabulous indoor shopping center I had ever seen: very modern, gleaming with high-end shops, and not at all crowded! The curving structures are actually an art installation called “The Masts.” They are on Donegall Place. There is a better picture of them here. They were installed in 2011.

From the Wikipedia page List of Public Art in Belfast:

• The eight copper-clad lighting masts reflect Belfast’s maritime heritage and are named after White Star Line ships built in Harland and Wolff. They are: Titanic, Oceanic, Olympic, Brittanic, Laurentic, Celtic, Nomadic, and Traffic.

One-Word Sunday: WALL

The theme this week of Travel with Intent’s One-Word Sunday is WALL.

Here’s the wall of self’s room at River Mill, Northern Ireland, where she spent April writing.

Ragtag Daily Prompt Monday: LILAC

Self has the perfect picture for today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt — LILAC — evening sky over Belfast, late April.

Self was on her first-ever visit to Belfast. She’d originally planned to go in 2017, but ended up going to the Philippines instead. Then, the pandemic intervened. So it wasn’t until April 2022 that she finally boarded a flight from San Francisco to this (to her) almost-mythic city (She was a big, big Game of Thrones fan!)

A friend advised her to stay at the Europa. She took this picture from her hotel room. It was about 9 p.m.

Wordless Wednesday — GRIEF

Rossglass Beach, Co. Down, Northern Ireland

For Uvalde, Texas.