Eyes Open Ireland

Hi everyone. I'm rather excited to tell you this week I'm posting from Abu Dhabi. I'm staying with a friend. It's very hot outside with tall buildings and expensive big cars with tinted windows!

In contrast, this weeks photos are from Brigitte from Purls Of Colour in Belfast. She says...

"I'm lucky to live only ten minutes away from a beautiful hideaway in the middle of 'the big smoke' (Belfast) - the Lagan Towpath. Nestled behind South Belfast's Stranmillis and Malone Roads and streching out far beyond, this is the place exhausted BT9ers (our postcode) go when they want to get away from it all, or just walk their pooches."

"After the big floods of a few weeks ago I jumped on my bike and decided to show the Etsy Ireland Team where stressed city folk go. I haven't been on the Towpath for months (or as I call it 'toepath' due to a misunderstanding when I heard the name for the first time) and as soon as I was encountering the beautiful colours of fresh green and yellow gorse I realised how much I had missed it."

"On the towpath you get a strong sense of being away from it all and I felt like I was on a mini holiday after a crazy and stressful week. So I cycled rather dreamlike along the Lagan, listening to the tweets of the birds rather than looking at the tweets on the computer, avoiding joggers and walkers and dogs as I rode along, looking at the water, the clouds and interestingly shaped trees. Total bliss."

"I had never seen the water so high as that day, but then we had had exstream weather (rain , snow, flash flooding, hail, sleet) no wonder the swans which are usually gliding maestically on the water were absent. However the ducks were out and had fun in the water as usual."

" I took plenty of pictures, but as you will see, the light was constantly changing from sunny to cloudy and back to sunny. I kept thinking there would be another downpour, but for once, I was lucky.."

"When it is warmer I'm taking my knitting to the Towpath! Having a rather nice garden I got a bit lazy and just sit on our verandah to knit. But since I found plenty of 'knitting spots' to sit, knit and let the world go by I shall venture out again! And I felt inspired by the gorse - thre is a green and yellow 'gorse coloured and patterned' scarf in the making!"

Purls of Colour

Experimental Knitwear
www.purlsofcolour.etsy.com

www.en.dawanda.com/shop/purlsofcolour