Mothers Day

The day always starts and ends with a nice cup of tea.

A truly lovely day.

Blogger now gives you profile images for embedded posts

Today I realised for the first time that images are now available for embedded posts on slugger.  I tried it out and this is what I have found,

If your blog does not automatically have this feature simply go to settings then comments and enable profile images.  That is how easy it is!

Divis mountain on fire.

Strictly come dancing in Glasgow’s SECC.

Last month my family and I went to Glasgow to see the popular BBC show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.  After trying to get cheap flights and not being able to we went by boat and road into Glasgow and stayed at one of the hotels there for two nights.  I’d booked the tickets for the show on line before we went, and it was just as well as there was no seats available for that particular performance.  It was an afternoon show, totally packed out and some of the audience must have thought they were actually dancing for the BBC so poshly dressed were they.  Although not allowed to take pictures during the performance,
we did manage to take some photographs,   before the show as the usual announcement was made that no photos or recording could be done during the performance. 
As the show was on a Saturday we didn’t get into town until the Sunday to do a little shopping, but even on a Sunday the centre of Glasgow was buzzing, I haven’t seen Belfast that busy even on a Saturday afternoon.
Of course there was the customary Bagpipe player,
blasting out his melodious tunes, Scotland the Brave being the one we heard there.  This is a vibrant city, friendly inhabitants and well worth a visit.

St Patricks day

Karen over at the Graphics Fairy has been giving away some fine St Patricks' day clip art.

Since I haven’t blogged in a while..

Since I haven’t blogged in a while I thought I’d write something on this blog now that I’ve updated the style of it to something I like, and to something that resembles an actual diary.

I really tried hard to get the word press theme but couldn’t so this one will have to do instead.  I need to start writing again, I’ve lots of notes from the world literature class that I go to each Wednesday, and from the Revolution in the 1960’s Ireland – which have been hugely interesting and have taken up a lot of my time.  I’ll be posting them soon, once I find the time.

Coffee desk wordpress theme.

I tried really hard to redesign the outlay of my blog, I really wanted the coffee desk wordpress theme that has been converted for blogger.  It's a nice diary style but comes in a zipped file which was relatively easy to open but extremely difficult to design as a blog format.   I struggled and struggled with it, but eventually it beat me, and then I realised well it didn't really matter because according to most forums that talk about it there is a lot of difficulty with it even after upload in relation to posting.  In particular there is a 'undefined' message that can be almost impossible to get rid of that sits on top of the posts, the date is also hard to work with, but the most irritating thing is the design of it in the first place.  Why some hacker cannot re do the zipped xml file to a more realistic and easier format for uploading like html is something I pondered over.  Anyhow, I like things as they are now, so its time to move on.....

I do hate it when something beats me though...!!

Playing with photos via live writer.

 Here is a picture taken in Belfast of C.S. Lewis who wrote the Lion the witch and the wardrobe.
Due to the functions on live writer it is possible to make a photo look old, or a newspaper cutting and indeed as done here have a reflection underneath it which is marvellous for scenic shots.  There is no need for any kind of photoshopping – its simply a click and its done.  Marvellous for making your blog pictures look nice.

Starting the new year .

I’ve not posted since  before the new year, I’ve had these photos sent to me from my son in Dubai, where the worlds tallest building opened recently.
According to one article I read over Christmas Dubai is the Las Vegas of the middle East.  It’s definitely a place that buzzes with life but in my honest opinion the recession has had a powerful impact there like everywhere else.  I’m told the number of tourists has dropped and many ex pats are returning home due to the recession.