We Make Monsters.
I woke up this morning to find my street closed to traffic and overrun with people in leprechaun costumes. Must be St Patrick’s Day, then! My building is actually on the parade route, so the Beasties and I had front-row seats for the whole show. Since Explorer Beastie still isn’t back, I thought I’d let Green Sweetheart Beastie take the lead on this one… Enjoy!
Thanks for dropping by… have a great St Patrick’s Day, wherever you are!
Okay, I don’t want to alarm anybody, but the other day I went into the living room to find a note on the floor…
I’m sure he’s totally fine. He’s big enough to look after himself, and he did set out with a fresh sandwich in his backpack. That said, if anyone sees Explorer Beastie in the next couple of days, could you please ask him to call home?
Meanwhile, a new member of the family has dropped in to say hello. A throwback to the heyday of gentleman explorers, Victorian Explorer Beastie never goes anywhere without his pith helmet and a hipflask of good-quality gin (it’s hidden in his knapsack). Since the sun was out yesterday, I asked him to accompany me on a day trip to Bray – a seaside town just south of Dublin, in Co. Wicklow. It was a popular holiday destination back in the day, and I figured he’d feel right at home there.
The best way to get to Bray is to take the train. The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) gets you out there from the city centre in about 45 minutes, and the journey is an event in itself. Just make sure you’re sitting on the left-hand side of the train, or you’ll miss all the good stuff!
For the first few minutes, the train passes through regular cityscape scenery – office buildings, houses, apartment blocks. Then, suddenly, you break out into this:
Sandymount Strand is a long, flat beach which is featured in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”. My quick snap from the grafitti-scratched train window doesn’t really convey the scale and the peacefulness of this stretch of coastline, but it makes it hard to believe that the city is just a few seconds back up the line! However, the star of the show is the section of the line between Dun Laoghaire and Killiney. Here, the track hugs the cliffs, allowing you to enjoy a head-spinning view of the small, sandy coves below (impossible to photograph, at least for someone with my current level of expertise) or a more tranquil vista of the Irish Sea.
Once we arrived in Bray, we headed for the beach…
…walked along the promenade…
… and then decided it would be a great day to climb Bray Head!
It was a pretty steep climb…
… but the view from the top was totally worth it!
And so was running all the way back down again!
Look out for more adventures with Victorian Explorer Beastie in the next while… at least until Explorer Beastie makes it home!
At last!
I’ve had some new Beasties “in progress” for what feels like forever, and last week I finally got around to putting on the last of their accessories and taking them outside for a photoshoot.
First of the new recruits is Pirate Beastie… I took him down to the Docklands on a sunny weekday afternoon so that I could photograph him alongside the Jeanie Johnston, a replica tall ship which is permanently moored in the River Liffey.
When I was making Pirate Beastie, I really went overboard (ha! Pun totally intended) with the pirate stereotypes. So he has a lot going on – natty matching hat and belt, cutlass, eyepatch, peg leg and, of course, a cheeky knitted parrot to keep him company!
After completing my scurvy sea dog, I moved on to a stealthier project… Ninja Beastie!
Ninja Beastie wears a black jumpsuit to help him melt into the shadows, and is bristling with teeny ninja weapons! They may be made of felt, but that doesn’t make them any less deadly. I gave him a pair of sai, to hang from his belt…
… a sword…
… and a shuriken throwing star.
Then I brought him to the Chester Beatty Library, in the grounds of Dublin Castle, to take his photo. This museum houses a collection of artefacts from the Middle and Far East, so it seemed an appropriate setting!
And finally – only a few days after the closing ceremony at the Sochi Winter Olympics (I have to admit I became kind of addicted to winter sports these last few weeks), a specially-commissioned Skier Beastie (or should that be Beast-Ski? Ski-stie?) met his new owner!
His skis and ski poles are detachable, too… that way he doesn’t have to miss out on the apres-ski!
See you next time!
When you live in a city for a long time, it’s easy to get caught up in your daily routine and forget about all the interesting things you promised yourself you’d do when you first moved there. With this in mind, Boyfriend, Explorer Beastie and I stepped outside and set off for pastures new… a stone’s throw from where we live.
Our main purpose was to check out The Enclave by Richard Mosse, which is on show in the Royal Hibernian Academy gallery. I’d never been here before, and I was amazed to find this beautiful spacious gallery tucked away in a side street, just around a corner from regular tourist magnets like the National Gallery, Grafton Street and St Stephen’s Green park. And the street itself is Dublin in a nutshell. The buildings are Georgian, and these tall, simple but elegant houses are the signature style of old central Dublin. Around half of the houses have been converted to office buildings, while the rest, like the one in the main picture, are being left to quietly crumble away.
I have a real thing for derelict buildings, so I took a few photos…
… And it was only when I went around the corner that I realised that this building had a history of its own.
By this point, though, Boyfriend and Beastie had but one thing on their minds… FOOD. So I put my camera away and we went to try out Alfie Byrne’s, a new craft beer pub which recently opened up on the other side of St Stephen’s Green.
A tasty end to a great day out! See you next week!
Any vegetarians in the audience may want to look away now… yesterday saw Explorer Beastie experiencing his first ever full Irish breakfast.
I think it’s about time Explorer Beastie made a special guest appearance on my BeastieBlog. I actually made him before Christmas – work commenced in quiet moments behind my market stall table in November – and he has been providing me with stuff to talk about on my Beasties Facebook page ever since. I have equipped him for adventure, by filling his backpack with everything he’ll need on his travels…
… So now I have an excuse to photograph him getting up to all sorts of mischief.
(The conveniently Beastie-sized boat is a minature Boyne Curragh – a traditional Irish river boat made from hazel wood and cow hide. You can find out more about them here)
I have also taken him out and about with me on my wanderings around Dublin. Unfortunately, since we are currently in the depths of winter, his expeditions have been mostly limited to cafes…
(Brother Hubbard, Capel Street)
… And bars.
(Against the Grain, Wexford Street)
But I’m optimistic that when spring comes around, he’ll get to go further afield.
I’m also working on some new friends for him, who should be ready soon!
Have a great weekend!