Sunday, August 9, 2015

The Wonderland Link-Up #5 ♥

It's The Wonderland Link-Up time once again, Sunday's always seem to roll by so quickly these days don't they? I hope that lots of you will link up your beautiful, awe-inspiring pictures and remember, these can be of anything - your children, nature, a beautiful spot in your home, animals, etc... the possibilities for beauty are endless.

The idea of The Wonderland Link-Up came from comments I received from people on some of my photography posts saying that my captures looked like they were from another world, a fairyland of sorts. So, as a huge Alice in Wonderland fan I thought - "why can't there be wonderlands here on Earth?" The point of The Wonderland Link-Up is to share any pictures you took during the week which made you stop and think "wow!". They could be photos of places and moments that were super magical to you and which seemed like they could be from another, perfect or weird and wonderful world. So please do share the magic in your photography or the world around you with us all.

The Wonderland Link-Up will take place every Sunday and shall run until Wednesday for entries. I shall be commenting on the entries myself over the coming days and look forward to seeing some beautiful images that inspired you and made you feel a bit awe-struck for awhile after you captured them. Thank you so much to Channon from Sunshine By Channon and Merlinda from Glimmer of Hope for linking up in the last link-up.

My picture was week five was taken yesterday when my boys and I visited the beautiful town of Ardmore, Co. Waterford. Our first stop was to look at this round tower, thought to have been founded by St. Declan in the first century, but it's most likely from the 12th century. It was amazing to look at, towering high up into the bright blue sky and overlooking the beautiful bay. As you can see the door is four metres up, I have no idea how monks got into it but it was used to protect valuables and the monks from enemy attack. I love how this picture turned out and as it was such a bright, clear day you can even spot the moon in the picture if you look very closely.

I am also linking this photo up to OneDad3Girls #MySundayPhoto

Thank you for taking part and have a lovely week, hopefully full of magic, joy and wonder...



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Monday, August 3, 2015

Yellow Waves & A Curly Haired Babe ♥

Driving back from afternoon tea along the small, winding roads of Jersey, I spotted a familiar sight in the fields, a beautiful sea of yellow which I had captured lots of pictures of back home in Ireland in May. I couldn't believe that the rape seed fields were still in bloom in July, they had all been harvested long ago back home and I just had to go back and capture my son amongst the yellow waves once again.

Sadly the sky was gloomy, but that didn't stop my curly haired babe having a giggle amongst the sea of yellow flowers, even if he did find it all a bit daunting at first. The fields actually gave a view down to the sea, it was a beautiful sight. I'm so glad I was able to capture more of these beautiful fields, they really are stunning in person and go on as far as the eye can see - a sea of golden flowers, the perfect photo opportunity once again.

I put the close up shots of my sun in black and white as I love how his curls look in the black and white filter, I also think the lack of colour suits his thoughtful little expressions, they're a far contrast to giggling smiles when he was standing amongst the flowers.

You can see more pictures from when we walked in fields of gold before and the sky was a lot brighter. The grey skies and clouds didn't dampen the vibrant beauty of the yellow loveliness for us though...

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Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Wonderland Link-Up #4 ♥

I apologise for the lack of The Wonderland Link-Up post last Sunday, my boys and I were away on holiday and I had no access to a laptop so I couldn't set up the post. Thankfully, my holiday gave me lots of beautiful images to choose from this week and I definitely had a lot of 'wow' moments from my time in Jersey and Sark.

The idea of The Wonderland Link-Up came from comments I received from people on some of my photography posts saying that my captures looked like they were from another world, a fairyland of sorts. So, as a huge Alice in Wonderland fan I thought - "why can't there be wonderlands here on Earth?" The point of The Wonderland Link-Up is to share any pictures you took during the week which made you stop and think "wow!". They could be photos of places and moments that were super magical to you and which seemed like they could be from another, perfect or weird and wonderful world. So please do share the magic in your photography or the world around you with us all.

The Wonderland Link-Up will take place every Sunday and shall run until Wednesday for entries. I shall be commenting on the entries myself over the coming days and look forward to seeing some beautiful images that inspired you and made you feel a bit awe-struck for awhile after you captured them. Thank you so much to Nicola from The Simply Homemade Mum, Jo from Given To Distracting Others, Channon from Sunshine By Channon and Merlinda from Glimmer of Hope for linking up in the last link-up.

This is my picture for week four and I am so in love with it, in fact, I'm so in love with all the pictures I took of my son at Jersey Lavender Farm, you can see more here. I captured this shot on a 200m zoom and used sports mode for continuous shooting to capturing my son running amongst the lavender. I love how the lavender looks so life-like in the shot, I love his little expression, half smiling, half frowning - I can never tell, he's like the Mona Lisa, I love the contrast of his outfit again the vibrant purple flowers, it really was a wow picture for me.

I am also linking this photo up to OneDad3Girls #MySundayPhoto

Thank you for taking part and have a lovely week, hopefully full of magic, joy and wonder...



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Saturday, August 1, 2015

A Day Trip To Sark, Channel Islands | Adventure & Travel ♥

A week ago today Jacek and I went island hopping from our holiday on the island of Jersey, Channel Islands and went on a daytrip to the beautiful little island of Sark, which is also part of the Channel Islands. This was my fourth visit to the charming little island and I was so happy to be able to show Jacek around it and experience it's beauty all over again. Sark is a very small island with no cars, just bicycles, tractors and horse and carts are permitted there, it really is so charming and it's the perfect place to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The boat to Sark was the worst part of our day, everything after that was perfect. The sea was so choppy on the crossing over and I felt totally and utterly seasick, it was horrific. Thankfully I didn't get sick but I felt awful for the rest of the day, had constant butterflies in my stomach and was so anxious about the crossing back - I needed have worried because it was smooth sailing later that evening. We caught the tractor and trailer up Harbour Hill - you can walk up the hill but it's quite steep, plus I think it's nice to support the men who drive these tractors as this may be their only livelihood for the summer months - and at the top we discovered some beautiful meadows full of dandelions and I had to sit there on the grass for awhile in the sun to try and feel a bit better, it was perfect.

After we got our bikes to explore the island on I decided to take Jacek to my favourite part of the island, the bridge to Little Sark. On the way there we spotted some amazing looking fields of barley, it really was a site. I had to stand amongst it and let Jacek get some shots - I can never resist a photo opportunity. I loved the view of the sea and the island just on the horizon of the barley fields.

 We only had a short distance to cycle after the barley fields before we reached the beautiful bridge to Little Sark. We didn't actually go to Little Sark, we decided to stay and explore the bigger island. I took some pictures of Jacek on the bridge and of the two beautiful bays on either side. He decided to take the steps down the bigger bay for a look and to take some more pictures, I decided not to as there were a lot of steep steps and I was still feeling quite sick from the boat. He took some beautiful pictures down there, I love the last one with the sea spray, such a great capture.

 This was my view as I waited for Jacek, I lay in the grass by the cliff side in the sunshine, listening to the crickets and trying to feel a bit better for myself. It was so lovely to take a breather is such a beautiful place.

We cycled back to village in search of some food. We stopped off at Fleur de Jardin, a cafe and tearoom which is set in someones garden. I was so sunny sitting outside there by the hydrangea bushes and Jacek and I decided to have a Sark cream tea - look at that cream and jam, doesn't it look delicious?!

As I mentioned above Sark doesn't have any cars and the doctor drives a tractor with a 'doctor' license plate, so funny. Sark also has two ambulances which are caravans, imagine getting a ride in one of them!

We then cycled to the other side of the island and went down the headland as I'd call it where there are lots of fields covered in flowers. There used to be lots of purple flowers on the cliff side but they seem to be burnt and gone from the sun, such a shame as I wanted to photography them.

These are the pictures Jacek captured down the cliff side. I think Sark has a beautiful coastline with all the secluded bays.

 These were the views from the fields on our way back to the village. You can see the neighbouring islands of Herm, with it's beautiful golden sandy beach and Guernsey. I was glad to see the purple flowers growing in the fields, it was beautiful.

 Before our day on the island ended we stopped by a beautiful looking place called Clos de Vaul Creux for another Sark cream tea and a glass of mango smoothie. Once again it was so delicious. The garden we ate in was absolutely beautiful, with a swing hanging from a tree and lots of swing seats dotted around, there were even foot rests outside, it was the perfect place to relax.

 We spent our last hour on the island strolling through the village and looking in the shops for some souvenirs to take home. I was sad to see that a lot of the shops were either closed or had closed down for good, it was sad to see as it was a Saturday during the high season and the village just looked so empty with all these disused buildings.

 We finished our day on Sark by catching the tractor and trailer back down to the harbour. We had such a lovely day on this small, charming island. It was so lovely to visit it once more and I'm sure we'll visit again one day. It's amazing how much an island of this size has to offer and it really is the best place to visit if you want to escape from your busy, everyday life.

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