Back in the Future and a lot of photos

Hi everyone and sorry for the bloggy absence. You might be happy to hear that I haven't had to be put on strong medication to get over the anti climax that was this years world cup but that does lead to the question of why this page has been bare.

To be honest I just haven't got around to it but after two summers of possible mutterings it does seem the summer months of are a bit of a blogging desert for me and July just fell off the calendar completely this time around. Maybe its because I'm a night owl and my brain doesn't wake up until its been dark outside for a few hours on an evening? I dunno, nor does it much matter... but I do know that there is no point dwelling on the past for too long... so I'll keep this a snappy before (all being well) normal ramblings will resume.

So here is quick summary of the last 2 months where every day (except one) was a work day. Because of that, we have been making the most of the weekends:

Once weekend we went on a trip to the Ulster folk and transport museums and very good they were too:

Above is a train in the Transport Museum

And here is the one of the 3 churches in the Folk Museum which is a village where you can walk around almost every building - including playing the piano in the silent movie theatre!

Another weekend we ambled our way with friends and family across the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

The Rope Bridge and the views from the walk to the bridge and the island were quite a sight as always.

On the same day this was closely followed by a visit to the Giants Causeway

More recently, Crusaders pre season friendlies kept us busy, followed by the Irish Premier League restarting with the Crues back in action:

Other weeks saw plenty of housework done which included the weather finally sparing two dry days which allowed us to cut the lawn prior to the landlords house inspection. Normally cutting the grass has no rewards but on this occasion I got to see a young beetle that had some great colour:

And as well as other events such as Birthdays, the odd trip to the cinema and sticking up mirrors with command strips and various other random events of note, we have started to go on some weekend walks.

These have been quite random walks so far. One up the toe path from Giants park up to Hazelbank and back home (6.7 miles), the other from town, up through the harbour, and around the back of the airport to Ikea (5.8 miles). On the latter trip, we found the RSPB Belfast Lough harbour lagoon and the bird hides there which are open to the public:

Our walks have had a purpose too, we had a rude awakening as to how long you might be on your feet when making the most of a city stay with our day and a 1/2 in Paris in March 2009... so this time we're going prepared with our 'endurance practice for couch potatoes'. Our final walk before going on our holiday will involve visiting charity shops around Belfast and buying an item, this item will then be delivered to a special recipient - the aim is to get the most bemused reaction.

That is pretty much the highlights of the past couple of months but the next few months have plenty for me to get back in the blogging spirit with. I'll be sure to share them with you as the nights get shorter :)