Some Images

The weather has been phenomenal the past two days, so I've made a point to get out and enjoy it; well part of that was actually being dragged out of my apartment by D, an ever so entertaining Irish guy, and actually one of the few actual natives we know here. Went over to Fitzgerald park because he hadn't been there in ages since he and J live clear on the other side of Cork. Had to get a picture of this wonderful tree mosaic-ed with mirror pieces just to prove that yes, the sky was CLOUDLESS in Ireland.

Saw the above image today while crossing back across the Lee to our apartment; though I think it makes for an interesting photo, it made me sad to see a balloon floating there... When the tide is low you can see how much litter is in the river (including shopping carts!); I personally have never understood littering and don't think I ever will. I distinctly recall once as a child the baby sitter explaining to me that if everyone dropped a piece of garbage just think how that would look. Simple logic, but it made and continues to make a lot of sense to me.... Any way, D works for a water treatment center and I asked him to explain to me the process and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the company he works for does not use chemical processes to filter and clean the water, but rather sunlight, and manual filtration systems to break down the sewage into more or less two parts, clean water which is put back into the river and fertilizer to be used for agricultural products. Now, I'm sure the process is far more complex that that, but the point is that this company's environmentally conscious methods have lowered the pollution level in the river, such that for the first time in over ten YEARS there are salmon in the river again.... and all from approximately one year of not flooding the river with waste. Now if there was a better way to control litter...
Closing with an image of the blue flowers, for B, which he'll be giving along with some of my pink tulips to his fiance for Valentine's day tmrw. :)