On Tour with the QoE & Marko

Next week, I'll be back to regular posting, but for now, here's a nice picture of my guests. We'll see how many photos they let me post :-) probably better when they get over the jet lag. Yes, a picture at Spanish Arch is required of everyone who sets foot in Galway. Tick that box!

Connemara

Are you ready for Hogmanay? I understand you need a torch, some coal and a bottle of whisky (no 'e'!). I think Miss Wendy and I may just have a nice dinner out. We had a lovely trip through Connemara yesterday. Here are some lovely photos to show it. Cool and misty, but the landscape was so gorgeous.


             

See the whole Ireland album here. Happy New Year! By the by, if you feel so inclined to vote for my story It's a Curse as one of the best horror shorts of 2011, please do! And guess what's on Kindle now (thanks to Brad!)

Snapshots of Galway

As I've been getting nudges to show you a little of my new home city, here are a few snapshots from my new phone. I still don't have internet at home (ayiii!); but I do finally have a mobile! Which means I have a camera now, too. I love living surrounded by rivers and canals as well as the bay. Above is abbot canal on the way to campus near the Salmon Weir Bridge and the cathedral.

This was some interesting ivy on the wall along the canal on Nun's Island.

Folks on Facebook already saw this: a late lunch at the Mill House Restaurant, right over the canal and next to the Corrib.

The local Galway Bay Ale is quite refreshing and I recommend you give it a try, if you don't go for the Galway Hooker Pale Ale (it refers to a kind of ship!).

I live in the bustling centre of the city. Folks prowl up and down Shop Street or down to the Latin Quarter, all a minute's walk from my flat. And yes, the madness goes on late into the night, so I will likely be keeping late hours here, too.

And in Eyre Square Centre, it's all about the wolf! Hee, I love this new window display. It's weird living adjacent to a mall. One exit takes me right into Dunnes (during opening hours) who're kind of like the Irish M&S. And yes, that means there's a Foodhall in the lower level (phew!).


Ooh, that reminds me! I need to get some batteries so I can get the Newgrange video off the camera. Here's one photo from the old camera. More soon.

Xmas Miscellany

Bopping through the Biltmore

Fancy Meeting You

Yesterday on my morning walk I ran into this snapper at the edge of Buckingham Lake. It may be a bit difficult to gauge size, so I should mention her shell was about a foot long. Clearly not in a hurry: on my first lap around the lake, she had just got out of the water. On the second go-round, she was sitting on the path. Maybe she was just posing!

Mildred's Pix

Phone Photos from NC

A GIANT dust mite at the Museum of Life and Science.

A gravestone in the cemetery at Ayr Mount

Flamingos at the NC Zoo

My little pal Chelsea, now 18, waiting for me to go to bed so she can lick my forehead and purr so loudly that I can't get to sleep. She's a little frail these days, but still rules the house.

Giant bee! Giant bee!
Just think of the honey this baby produces..

Hot Times in NC

Genuine astronaut suit at the Museum of Life and Science!

Birdie flees a T-Rex!

In the Butterfly House at the museum, a wild array of pretties.

What happens when African elephants roll in the red NC clay: orange elephants!

Birdie pets miniature zebras at the NC Zoo. All these lovely pictures taken by Mildred AKA the Demon Den Mom, Mater Lachrymarum, usw. With luck she'll get the rest of them up soon! More later -- a deadline looms, I've had three hours of sleep and two flights, but I'm missing my gals! Thanks again to Mater Suspiriorum AKA Susan, as well as The Boy and the cats, especially my little pal Chelsea. Mildred and Birdie, hope you got home safely!

Susan's Pictures from the Zoo

See them all! (if that link doesn't work, try Webshots).

UK Trip Week One

Okay, I'm going to make my usual hash of things by lumping together a bunch of things because 1) I didn't take a lot of pictures the first week (forgetting the camera at important junctures of course) and 2) even with the aid of travel journals, memory fades. Here's lovely Tavistock Square, where the Gandhi statue overlooks Starbucks and the hotel's wireless reaches across the road into the square (very handy).

Those of you who followed my adventures on Twitter know that I had a good deal of anxiety that I would never be leaving Albany, let alone getting to London. When I got to Philadelphia, I had just enough time to check in and see all the very unhappy people who were not getting on the overbooked flight (yeesh). Once on the plane, we were held up on the tarmac while they moved the food from the plane we were supposed to be on to the smaller one we actually were taking -- for about an hour. During that time the woman in front of me proved to be such a chatterbox that several people began to wish a punishing and painful death upon her. I finally got up, exasperated, to get my earplugs. The guy next to me begged for another set, but I had none to share. I've never seen such a fractious flight. The flight attendants just ignored the people who were nigh on coming to blows over nothing (US Airways, if you want to know).

But we got there, got through passport control, got through the first day of jet lag and on the second night headed to Treadwell's for a lecture by Owen Davies, whose new book Grimoires had just come out (and I had a copy for review!). It was a fun talk which gave a nice overview of the book, which tells about the history of magic books in the States as well as in Europe.

The next night I had dinner with my old friend Susan Emfinger, who curse the luck, still looks like Jerry Hall's better looking sister. If she weren't also witty and intelligent, I'd have to hate her, but she's so much fun, I can't. Careful readers will know she was part of the film that gave this blog its name. Yet she still speaks to me. I forgot the camera, of course, which irks me. We went to Istanbul Meze which was fantastic, then dallied at a pub not too far away.

Of course, what many of you are waiting for is the end of the week -- the Angela Carter Conference in Northampton and yes, meeting Alan Moore. But you're going to have to wait until tomorrow for part two!

Cruel, ain't I?

London Photos

For those of you not on Facebook, you can see the first group o' pix from the trip. Tedious process uploading and labeling! I'd rather be having fun -- so, off I go.

I was a bit shocked to hear that underground filmmaker Joe Christ died suddenly this week. I had my disagreements with him, especially after 9/11, but I am very sorry to hear it and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

Kipper and his Monkeh

Gotta get that monkeh!