Book review...

If your'e up for a good travel read, I have the book for you.

Will Ferguson takes us on a walking tour of Northern Ireland for 560 miles.

This is no ordinary Rick Steves ramble through the countryside. It is a story about the search for a little boy in a very old photograph, his great grandfather, a Belfast orphan.

It's also the story of a troubled people and the struggles of sectarian life.

It is laugh outloud as well with characters and circumstances beyond his control.

The Ulster footpath which disappears without warning.

His love affair with 'Tayto' chips.

The ever changing weather....one of my favorite lines in the book is someone telling Will :"There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing".

Will's descriptive writing took me back to some of the places I travelled through as well.

So prepare to slog through the bogs, meet some unforgettable people, be haunted by ghosts in the forest, learn some history and have a great laugh along the way.

Song for Friday...the wish.

 In my fantasy world, someone grants me the wish of being able to see a concert of someone who is no longer with us...

Without a doubt...

Bob Marley. 

I've heard that during his shows, his energy would spread throughout the crowd and come down on you like warm water.

Years ago I used to toss the frisbee around a lot and I remember one perfect summer day at a friends house in the country, there we were...

Sun kissed, feeling fine and Bob Marley streaming from the speakers on the porch...

His message is timeless...his music is pure soul through and through.

One concert I did get to see was the 'Playing for Change' group who do a fantastic tribute to Bob's anthem.

By design...

If I were a clothing designer or a textile artist, I would simply walk out into my garden....

and be inspired!

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The spring collection...

Pure whites and lemon yellows for the June bride...

Rosy pinks and soft greys for summer picnics...

Shades of stripey purple, mauve and cream for evenings on the terrace...

Parasols of soft pastels, perfect for the beach..

 Flared skirts with plum accents are all the rage...

And red....Just because!

My idea of fun...

While the kids were pulling me deeper into the midway and drooling over corn dogs, I was longingly looking towards the field with all the pioneer gear and rusty bits.

 So after appeasing them with a few games and rides, I dragged them off to look at these relics of  farming past.

Big steam powered tractors...

Curiously named tractors...

I love old seats like this...

I get the kids to try and guess what these implements were for...

Beautiful bits of body crippling metal...

Some being reclaimed by the plants in the field...

Others turning back to the colour of the soil...

Did I mention I like old tractor seats?

Who wouldn't love a robins-egg-blue tractor in their field?

Then it was off to watch the smithies...

Imagine, just from pounding hot metal....this!

That's MY idea of fun at the fair...

(that and the kids giggles!)

A day at the fair...

Yesterday was a civic holiday Monday, so I took the kids to the Luxton Fair...

For them it was all about the midway.

The cotton candy, bells and whistles, rides flying overhead, barkers calling out to us...

"c'mon in...try yer luck."

Hmm...more like "cmon in and get ripped off!"

So we played a few games...

Won a few small stuffies...

Slid down some slides...

I always love the ferris wheel ...

So we all went for a ride...

The little ones were scared...

It's pretty high up and even if the seat rocks a little it can make you nervous.

But after getting over their fears and finding out what it's like to get a birdseye veiw of the world...

It was all smiles!!

Knowing that your big brother and sister are up there too helps keep the courage up...

 Near the end of the day, we walked over towards the fun house only to discover we didn't have enough tickets for all to go in.

Then I noticed this guy working the funhouse...

After a long weekend...

long days...

loads of screaming kids...

He just didn't give a hoot anymore and was letting anyone and everyone in for free..

Not only were we going in for free, he was letting everyone go in and out as much as they wanted...

"Ah, let them blow off some steam" he said  to one mom...

Now this is what it's all about...

I think the kids must have went in and out of there about 10 times and it was the most fun they had all day..

Oh yeah! The best things in life are free!

It's the way things should bee...heh heh...

Tis the season...

When I first started using a digital camera, I was still very computer illiterate and didn't quite know how to keep folders and at one point I deleted a bunch of photos and never found them again...

In this group of photos were some of a progression of a clutch of Robins eggs that was in one of our apple trees.

When mama bird was out gathering worms and such, I would sneak down and take a picture once a week.

I remembered the other day that I had made prints of these pictures to sell as cards and as luck would have it I had one group of them left.

So excuse the quality since I had to take photos of the photos but it really is amazing how fast they grow!

In the begining...

...balls of fuzz and flesh...

...thinking the camera is mama coming home with snacks...

...about a week before they flew away...