BLOURNAL
A day out in the Mournes
Yesterday, I went for a wee trip out with my dad. We made a few stops along our travels — Dundrum, Murlough Beach, Tollymore Forest Park and a few pit stops in the Mournes — but most of the day was spent driving around and taking in the scenery before the sun goes down.
A whodunnit-themed blournal post…
Ahoy, ahoy.
I’ve mostly been trying to distract myself from all the chaos unfolding right now. Not gonna lie, it hasn’t exactly been fun, but I did finally get around to watching Wake Up Dead Man, the new Benoit Blanc mystery.
Practice photography
Ugh… it’s not been a fun weekend for me, especially with the current state of the world and Trump’s gruelling recklessness, but I’m trying my best to find solace wherever I can. Getting out to the Ballyronan Marina for a breath of fresh air certainly helps, as does trying to take photos of the birds chilling out by the lough.
Getting back into proper photography
I might have alluded to this in a previous blournal entry, but I’ve become far too reliant on using my mobile phone to taking photos, which is a handy tool to have when you’re on the go, but I also recently discovered that my phone's camera has built-in “intelligent optimisation” that automatically enhances my photos. Not gonna lie, I felt like I had a slight crisis of confidence when I found that out, but you know what… it’s as good an incentive as any to pick up the DSLR, which I’ve neglected for well over a year-and-a-half now.
Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas but the winter weather is still a ways off
So, I was gonna do a sort-of update entry last week, but once I started writing about the tragic deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, I thought it would be more than a little tone-deaf of me to be whining about my own personal grievances in the same post, so paying my respects to the Reiners obviously took priority.
TLC Overload
The anxiety still lingers about ever so slightly, so to make up for that, I’m trying to give myself a little bit of extra TLC… although don’t worry, I’m still working out at the local hub.
OK, so the weekend’s over… time to come back down to Earth
Took this photo of a noctilucent cloud last night while I was coming out of the local pub… I’m not entirely sure if it’s indicative of my skill as a photographer, or if I’m just incredibly lucky it came out right, but I’m happy with it either way.
Odds and ends
Yesterday was another beautiful day, so naturally, I’m still taking some sunset photos. I’m usually quite self-critical of my photography skills, but in this case, I’m actually pretty happy with how these turned out. Now, I just need to make sure to add these to my sunsets gallery whenever I get the opportunity.
Revenge of the Sixth
For the last couple of days, I’ve been trying my luck to capture a good binary sunset like the ones they have on Tattooine.
A sort of update
Today is one of those days where the weather can’t seem to make up its mind. The sun is shining but it’s also deceptively nippy and there’s the occasional black clouds looming in the sky. Not exactly ideal cycling weather, but I managed to rack up some good mileage so either way, I’m happy.
Remembering November
Well, November’s over and today is the first day on the advent calendar, so I might as well ruminate on the month that's been.