Man struck down in crosswalk

I saw him for the first time this summer, in a crosswalk in Chicago. I wasn't sure if he was friendly, so I walked by without speaking to him.

But when I saw him after they repaved the streets, he just wasn't the same man.

It's a tough life on the streets. (I think this is some sort of meme.)

Free Irish Calendar / Féilire Lán-Ghaeilge saor in aisce

Sin é! There it is!


I finally finished the project I've been hatching for the last seven weeks: an Irish calendar featuring photos from our most recent trip to Ireland. When I say Irish, I mean tá an féilire seo lán-Ghaeilge; it's completely in Irish, right down to the little letters denoting the days of the week on the small inset calendars each month.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. (I owe a big debt of thanks to Juliana Halvorson, who created the Adobe InDesign template I used.) I took the photos in Cork and Connemara.

I took the file to Kinko's today, and for just under $20 I was able to get the calendar printed on 60 lb. paper and comb-bound. (I had hoped it would be far less, but there you are.)

2009 Irish Calendar - Íomhá na Míosa : Féilire Gaeilge 2009 ón mblag Íomhá an Lae (PDF) (27MB, 28pp) Yes, it's big, but it prints beautifully. Here's a smaller version if you just want to see what it looks like: lower-resolution version (PDF, 28pp, 3.7MB)

And if you have little or no Irish, well, I think you should take a look anyway, because a calendar is a calendar; it's laid out just the same as the ones you're used to, ah, go on, it's not hard at all... :^) Please let me know what you think.

Ireland trip - 1 - County Cork

I don't always keep the first photo from a batch, but here, overlooking the River Lee west of Blarney, was a surprisingly photogenic roadside stop. The look of the fields on the hillside epitomizes Ireland to me (as do many other things!). (I think we were near Inis Loinge (Inishleena).

We passed through Macroom (Maigh Cromtha) on market day. This meant traffic and not much parking, but a good opportunity to crawl through the town and take it in. Saw more Irish on the signs than I expected.

I love the juxtaposition of the wind farm and the classic farm houses.

A house in Coolea, where Seán Ó Riada lived.

Taken October 28-29, 2008.

Peeps on the brain

This morning I found out that there was a 24-hour contest over at DP Challenge for photos involving Peeps marshmallow candy (you may wish to turn sound down before following this link). Soon I had a couple ideas, and we stopped at Walgreen's on our way back from brunch. We were too late; there wasn't a fluorescent marshmallow left in the store. A quick trip to the next Walgreen's brought success (and a half-price discount). Then unreasonable amounts of time spent on staging and lighting. Peeps seem to bring out the sadist in many people, but I was resolved to play nicely with my mute marshmallow models.

So I posed them for a swimsuit shot:


I swear it was an accident.

Irish Blog Awards

Well, I didn't win at the Irish Blog Awards on Saturday, but I was pleased as could be to have been nominated. I made the short list for Best Use of Irish Language in a Blog. That honor went to Blag Ghael gan Náire; I intend to start reading. I was also nominated for Best Photo Blog-- see the third photo? That's one of mine.


Conn of An tImeall live streamed the awards show online. I had to reload a number of times, but I was able to follow along and heard my blog's name read aloud, which was satisfying.

This was the 4th year for the Irish Blog Awards. It seems to be well run, and proceeds from the awards ceremony go to charity. And by all accounts, the people attending feel the same kind of delight at finally getting to meet the people behind the words that I've found when I attend conferences for our web community at work.