A disused chain lies forgotten on the ground near the lighthouse on Mizen Head, County Cork.

Look up and see naked branches cover the sky with their evil and treacherous appendages, and then walk straight into some dog sh*t that an uncaring owner neglected to clean up.

Strong shadows in exceptionally bright sunlight in May 2008 in Blarney.

Flash back to 2005 if you will. Ireland is in the grip of the Celtic Tiger boom. Cork is undergoing a transformation. The city’s streets were dug up and remolded with apparently improved drainage (didn’t help recently unfortunately) and the revamping of the city centre was in full swing. Here’s the construction on Daunt Square,…

Heineken. ’nuff said!

The side gate to SS Peter and Paul’s Church in Cork City remains open during the day.

St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney in the background. We walked around the town a few weeks back but I didn’t have time to get down to the Cathedral this time. Still impressive, even from this distance. I wonder if “Tim O’Brien & Sons Furniture Carpets” is online anywhere?

The bike park on Patrick’s Street, Cork.

The Woodford on Patrick’s Street Cork closed some time ago. Shame really as it was a nice pub.

The Historic C.O.D Ranch outside Oracle in Arizona where Automattic held a meetup in January 2008. Winter in the desert is mostly pleasant, during the day. At night it was freezing!

Irish countryside through the clouds.

I always the this bridge as “The Viaduct”, but it’s actually named the Chetwynd Viaduct. Here’s the view from a my flight home a few weeks as it came in to land at Cork Airport.