Jun 17 2012

Long Day

It’s been a long day at our club exhibition. Met some great people, caught up with some old friends and spent time with a great bunch of chaps, even those who give me abuse about blogging! 🙂

It was a wet day but by mid afternoon we had a pretty good crowd moving through the marquee. Some other other interesting events taking place too. This was my first time watching a Pig Race!

Some great looking Beagles

The pig race, Makin Bacon won!

The gardens

The gold star of the day goes to John who stood out in the rain under a tree passing out cards and getting folk to venture into the marquee to see the trees. A bit of a grim reaper 🙂

Brendan posing

and I have absolutely no idea what these two plonkers are doing!!

Jun 15 2012

Tight Squeeze!

Managed to transport a few trees to the Club exhibition tonight.

All ready for tomorrow.

Hoping to post live from the show tomorrow via mobile, I can only hope that the rain has run out by then!!

Jun 11 2012

Sunday Walk

Yesterday’s walk in the sunshine was along the coast at Belfast Lough. The dogs were bouncing around in the water which was about the only thing to make ripples on a day were it resembled a Mill Pond.

Loved this little sail boat that kept pace with us for a few miles.

Smudge cooling down.

A strange shark with a fin shaped like an elbow!

Walking buddies.

Herron on the rocks.

Pretty in yellow.

Jun 9 2012

Did Anyone Even Notice?

Yesterday was the first day since November that I haven’t posted on my blog. I was starting to feel like I was being controlled by OCD [Osessive Compulsive Disorder] I must admit that last night, when I returned from our Club meeting, I felt drawn to the computer to add a post 🙂

Blogging really is an addiction albeit a positive one. I was surprised at just how many hits I still got on the blog without even posting. I have learned that tagging is a massive part of blogging, getting all those bonsai related words out there for the search engines to find.

You may have to put up with a few more quiet days from me on here. It’s looking like shoulder surgery for me within the next few weeks. This will put a major cramp on my keyboard work for a while and even my photography. I feel it’s going to be a long Summer. At least I can still water trees one handed!

PS: Never find your planned surgery on Youtube, BIG MISTAKE!!

Jun 6 2012

Dangerous Tree Stump!

Spotted this path closed off on a walk at the weekend!

All sorts of images jumped to mind 🙂

However I’m not sure this was the right stump being referred too.

Jun 5 2012

Portaferry in the Sun

Needless to say, these photos were taken a few weeks back during our heat wave 🙂

A day out with some family saw us visit Portaferry on the Ards Peninsula.

Daisy Lane

Water evaporating off the beach, a rare site in Northern Ireland 🙂

Not for me!

The Narrows

Blackthorn

Old World War 2 Observation post at the tip of the Peninsula, built to watch out for German Bombers on their way to bomb Belfast Docks.

Family enjoying the sunshine

Not the only ones enjoying the sun.

Audley’s castle on the other side of the Lough. One of the sites used in Northern Ireland to film the series, Game of Thrones.

Jun 3 2012

Tokyo Sakura

Came across Takahiro Yamamoto’s FlickR photos and thought I would share a link with you. Well worth a few minutes to browse though some stunning images from Japan. My favourites are these from Tokyo showing the cherry blossom. Click on the link below to view.

Tokyo Sakura

And these Leaves are rather nice too.

Leaves

Jun 2 2012

Happy Snapping

We had a bit of a photo session the other week. Hugh can down to my garage with a better camera and some lighting. The plan was to photograph some trees with a view to submitting them for selection in the Best of British Exhibition next year. You never know a few might be selected but we had good fun anyway taking the shots.

These are some of the trees we shot. Some mine, some Josh’s, some Phil’s and some Stephen’s. Bar the shohin, all show front and back.

May 25 2012

Korean Hornbeam

My Korean Hornbeam this week.

May 20 2012

Pioneer Tree

I spotted a photo on a Bonsai bark post the other day and it reminded me of a similar one I took back 2002 in Beleek, County Fermanagh [home of Beleek Pottery] It took a day or two to find it but I found it buried in a folder. It’s a little Birch taking root on an old jetty stump out on the Lough.