RIP Kirstie Alley

Kirstie Alley waiting to sign books at Borders in Chicago, surrounded by staff and security

I saw this morning that Kirstie Alley passed away last night at the age of 71. She was great in Cheers, but I barely remember Veronica’s Closet and I’m not familiar with her roles in other shows.

In 2005, my wife and I were in Chicago, and we happened to go into a Borders bookshop there. Kirstie Alley was signing copies of her book upstairs, and a pretty good crowd had gathered. I declined to buy the book but got a few photos of what happened, even though I think staff were unsure of why I was there.

This was 2005, 2 years before the iPhone, and the only other person recording the event was somebody with a big camcorder. No selfies with the celebrity, either!


Apertureƒ/5.6
CameraCanon EOS 20D
Focal length300mm
ISO1600
Shutter speed1/100s

Ruins of the R&H Hall Office

The shell of the R&H Hall office in Cork Docklands today. It went up in flames on November 23rd, following a fire in the main R&H Hall building on November 10th.

An empty street with the burned out R&H Hall office and other buildings visible

It’s not the first time this block has been damaged by fire. In 2006, grain silos that stood next to this office were damaged by fire and subsequently demolished. Here are a few photos of this office in 2006 and the grain silos behind it.

R&H Hall office in 2006 surrounded by fire brigade staff
A cordoned off street because of a fire in a nearby building.
A sign says "GARDA ROAD CLOSED". The fire brigade are attending and smoke damage is visible in tall silos.

Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO3200
Shutter speed1/125s

Hoppy on Caturday

Hoppy, one of our cats, loves the luxury of having multiple beds she can lie in around the house.

Actually, all our animals can do that. Diego, our chihuahua, certainly takes advantage of that, laying himself down near whomever he wants to be with at any one time.

Animals in this house are spoiled? Whatever made you think that?


Apertureƒ/2.4
CameraSM-G998B
Focal length9mm
ISO640
Shutter speed1/35s

The old Howth Harbour Lighthouse

Following on from yesterday’s photo of the new lighthouse in Howth Harbour is this one of the original lighthouse. It sits at the mouth of the harbour and according to Wikipedia was built in the early 19th century.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length26mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/320s