Sunday, May 31, 2015

My Sunday Photo | Sunshine Selfie ♥

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are grey, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away..."

No one else makes me smile as much as this boy. He is my bestest bud, ever and the perfect selfie sidekick.



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Sunday, May 24, 2015

Angels With Golden Halos... ♥

People say that daisies are sunshine to the ground and I truly believe that, I also think that they're like little angels with golden halos, so pure and dainty, too pretty to pick but you just can't resist to. I think they're the most cheerful flowers you could ever set your eyes upon and they really help to brighten my mood when I'm out and about, there isn't a more delightful sight for me to witness than a patch of lush green grass crowned with a host of daisies.

I took some time this weekend to just reflect upon things and sit amongst the daisies in the patch of grass in my stepfather's yard. The sun was shining warmly on my skin and apart from the odd nettle sting, it was just perfection sitting there making daisy chains and photographing the dainty daisies surrounding me.

I took this post as any opportunity to play with filters and I think daisies make a really great subject for doing this, it must be the white petals that make them the perfect canvas to play with. I've also given you a glimpse of the face behind my camera - I just couldn't resist a daisy selfie (or two!) to begin my summer days.

During my time of self-reflection amongst the daisies I collected some valuable thoughts, but as I couldn't put it any better myself I thought I'd share a quote by Nadine Stair instead, because I feel exactly the same -

"If i had my life to live over, 

I would start bare foot earlier in the spring

and stay that way later in the fall.

I would go to more dances.

I would ride more merry-go-rounds.

I would pick more daises".


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My Sunday Photo | A Boy, A Horse & A View ♥

My boy seems to be making friends with the animals around his grandads yard the more he grows. He used to be so afraid of them all before but yesterday he actually wanted to go to the horse in the field... by himself. I don't know where he suddenly got his bravery from but I love the fact that he's turning into an animal lover, just like myself. I love this shot I captured, the view of East Cork, the horse looking straight at the camera lens and the way my boy has his hands behind his back and his little face, it's just perfect to me and I get an immense sense of Irishness from it, no idea why... it must be all the green!


OneDad3Girls

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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Cobh | The Rainbow Town ♥

Since I began this blog I've been wanting to capture some snaps of my hometown of Cobh and try to see for myself just what draws thousands of tourists here every year. It's true that when you live in a place for so long it's charm no longer jumps out to you and instead you may see yourself focusing on the negative aspects of a place rather than all the beauty and little quirks it has to offer. Viewing Cobh through my camera lens yesterday really helped me appreciate the place all the more and seeing just how much fun my boys had in the promenade as I went trekking up hills to get some photos, made me think that perhaps we should spend more time in our hometown and not try to get out of it as much as we currently do.

The Lusitania memorial in the centre of one of the squares, note more coloured buildings, the town is full of them. People on my Instagram have likened it to Balamory!

 View of St. Colman's Cathedral from outside the promenade.

West Beach, the main street in the town.

Rainbow houses up one of the steepest hills in the world (I'm exaggerating slightly here).

The bandstand in the promenade. I was wondering why there were lots of people sitting and watching the harbour, this was the reason...

The huge Queen Mary 2 was sailing out from Ringaskiddy and sailed right past the town. It's so strange to hear a very loud horn going off and then seeing a massive ship looming from behind the buildings.

The old pier. This was the pier used by those to get the boats to board the Titanic.

Tyler Lee waiting for the ship to pass, doing his Mr. Tumble impression... 'take your finger and touch your nose...'

I have to share more pictures of these houses because I've literally just been informed that this is the steepest street in Ireland, no wonder I almost had a heart attack walking up it!

View of Cobh from the Titanic Memorial Garden.

I love this shot of my boy looking back on his hometown.

I also love this view of the harbour from the trees.

Resting on the wall to look at the boats below.

Another view of the harbour, isn't it beautiful?

I think he looks so different here, it's amazing how children can change in each frame.

And just because I almost died getting these shots, and got rained upon, one more shot of the rainbow town to finish.



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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Cobh Heritage Centre, Co. Cork, Ireland | Travel ♥

View of Cobh Heritage Centre, from the front entrance. 

Display detailing events of the Titanic and of the various people who left Queenstown (Cobh) on ships to America. 

Luggage and cart, used to transport luggage to ships from the port. 

Vintage poster looking for Irish men to work on the railroad in Oregon. Just £10 to get to America - wish it was the same case today!

Statues of people waiting to emigrate to America. 

A boat covered in vintage, embroidered bonnets for the blessing of the bonnets ceremony for Australia Day.
 
The entrance to the main exhibition, how amazing to think that 3 million people walked through this place to emigrate to the land of opportunity and to begin their new lives. Sadly, a lot of these journeys ended in tragedy, notably the Titanic, Queenstown (Cobh) being its last port of call before it sunk. I did take more pictures of the exhibition but it was far too dark in there for good picture quality. I will say that the exhibition hasn't changed a bit since I visited last way back when I was in primary school - I guess there really is no need to change something when it's so popular and has to do with history.

Vintage shipping posters. I actually have some of these as postcards and have sent a lot of these via Postcrossing.

Some of the Titanic memorabilia that the Heritage Centre houses. The Titanic is probably the biggest attraction for people who visit Cobh. Liners dock at Cobh throughout the summer months and the Heritage Centre is always thronged with tourists wanting to see the Titanic exhibitions and see where their ancestors departed from Ireland from many decades ago.

More from the Titanic exhibition. This was actually pretty cool as it looked like entering the Titanic, my son had great fun going over those ramps!

More from the Titanic exhibition, a view of the Titanic being built in Belfast.

The cafe area in the Heritage Centre. This is one of my favourite places to meet friends for lunch in the town. I actually think it'd be a great place to do some blogging work -  I need to try that someday. This place has visitors from all around the world and as you can see the biggest visitors are celebrated with flags - Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. There are other countries flags at the end of the building too, Argentina being one that really stood out to me. Funny to think that people from the other end of the world have visited this little attraction in my hometown, amazing really.

I really do love the look of the Heritage Centre, it just transports you back to the old days with it's charming red brick walls, vintage style lighting, glass roof and old-fashioned signage. The clock before the entrance is one of best features of the whole building for me.

I'm pretty sure that the Heritage Centre acts as a place of nostalgia for a lot of visitors year in, year out. People specifically go on cruises that dock in Cobh just to visit this place, learn about the history and see where so many people emigrated from Ireland.

Cobh Heritage Centre is open all year round, only closing for two weeks at Christmas. Prices to view the attractions are €9.50 for adults, €7.50 for students/OAPs and €5.00 for children (which I think should probably be free to be honest).

Hopefully my pictures have given you a sense of history and culture within the building. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone if you ever happen to find yourself within the Cobh area. The atmosphere of the Heritage Centre is just the best.
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