North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

230 years old today

By dawn's early light...a freezing cold dawn on Silver Strand, Galway, taken in January.

A friend of mine was in Italy recently at a bridge tournament . She was playing in a mixed pair competition, where she and her partner played a number of games against other couples - after a number of games , they moved on to the next table and played another couple [at least I think that's what happened - my eyes tend to glaze over at bridge stories]. Anyway, one of the American couples that they played contained a former World Ladies Champion, and unsurprisingly, that couple won [though not by much]. In fact, the aforementioned Lady gave her male partner a right old tongue-lashing for his performance after the game. So much so, that he didn't even respond to my friend's pleasantries after the game. Or maybe he was still trying to figure out how to spend all that money that Warren Buffet is going to give him. Not many amateur bridge players turn up to play with a world champion in a private jet and bodyguard, but Bill Gates is one of them. Good old Bill - it's not enough for his team to win even at bridge - he's got to win big. On this day, Bill, lighten up. For the rest of your countrymen and women, happy Independence Day. And to the handful of you in orbit, Godspeed and safe home.

Camera = Canon 350D , lens = Sigma 10-20mm@10mm, ISO=100, aperture=f11, speed=1/8 sec, tripod.

dawn,sunrise,salthill,silver strand,ireland, galway,irishblogs,photoblogs,photography,galwayblogs,monasette,Canon,350D,January,2006