More pix from N' Ireland, Heres the Giants Causeway from cliffs above, or in fact from a giants view, the tiny weensy white speckles below are tourists screaming & running to take cover under ..erm... rocks when rain showers passed over.


looking east from causway, very similiar scenes to north east Skye, same volcanic stuff going on.

view from the other side of the rope bridge, and suddenly i find out everyone on the planet watches CBBC, which is possibly why they all seem to think a bridge is a scary thing, it was great i could see guillimot swimming underwater way beneath me n everything.

Dun Luce Castle, which was very cool indeed and we plan buying when our lottery numbers come up.

Had a fantastic weekend last weekend in Northern Ireland. took a billion pictures of the giants causeway. wobbled across the famous rope bridge, was driven up the scenic Antrim coast. The differences & similarities with Scotland where fascinating, its great to go to a another country that still has a distinct culture of its own rather than some tesco led tele-glued hedgeomony.
All of which is secondary of course to the wonderful company i was in, but i'll stop before i make the casual blog reader feel ill. Next weekend i get my own back & drag my Irish companion around the north coast of scottieland, in the slightly less luxurious mode of camping & the miniscule mouse infested bou-mobile.

meanwhile, full time work continues a pace. I had to get our old cat put down as she was dying in a slow unpleasant manner. No art is getting done whatsoever...eeek.

Working flat out this week & a couple of late night shifts & a call out in the small hours too. Busiest week of the year summer visitor wise as its been the weekend of the Lochcarron Highland Games. ( photos of tossing the caber & pipers not included ). The games themselves are of course secondary to the beer tent & the friday night dance, both of which i avoid like the plague.
The Boys raised a lotta money with the Engine & a raffle, of course all basking in the attention of tourist ladys, everyone loves a fireman.

Tho on call, i was in civvies selling crafty arty stuff to the apathetic masses, which bored me greatly. i think i managed to offend a couple of people with the Wild West Wendy comic, but was pleased to sell most of the ones i had. I think i'll have to find another way of flogging the tat i'm compulsed to make as direct selling frys my brain. why do i live here again ?

meanwhile, lots of art to get on with but very little time...

The Kyle Fire brigade Annual Charity raft race, its murder ! We're the wee dark blob directly below the gap between the two islands & next to the long blue raft.
We came in forth overall but were the first all firefighter crew so got the fire brigade trophy, hurrah !
Thats the crew, me, dave, Ollie, Sandy.

And heres some of our trusty cheering on-shore support team;
cameron; hayley; Ishie; natasha; Claire; Flora; Anna. Alex; daves mum & shona.
All good fun, and hopefully some funds for local charitys. Thanks to Applecross for the borrow of their raft.

( This all means i Missed DR WHO final episode with is worth triple the sponsor money ! )

Heres us doing sea-trials on a new raft for the annual fire brigade charity raft race tomorrow. As per usual muggings is one of the crew on the raft, its bloody murder ! anyone laughing at my pink wellies is in big trouble.

and heres a lovely dragonfly that Ollie ( above ) ' s son found injured, sadly it didnt survive. sniff.

heres a text story that we all provided illustrations for;
http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/fiction/2006/roguetrooper/nuearthtearjerker.shtml

i hope its anonymous Author produces some more soon.