The Beautiful Untrue- music review

I first saw this cd in Tesco of all places when I was visiting my mother-in-law in Ireland last month. I recognized the artwork of Amanda Atkins who is an Etsy artist that I really like a lot. I had never heard of Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club so I didn't buy it, but when I got home I followed Amanda's site to Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club's myspace page and listened to the sample clips of the Beautiful Untrue.

The artwork is very appropriate because the music does have a carnivalesque feel to it. The music and vocals remind me of a lot of different artists from Tom Waits to the soundtrack of Twin Peaks with Julie Cruise to the Wolfgang Press to even Frank Black. Does this show my age? The myspace page likened the music to something that might be on the Amelie or City of Lost Children soundtracks which I do agree with.

Needless to say I bought the album- my first digital download of an entire cd (it does show my age!). Although I was tempted to buy an actual disc so I could have a tangible print of Amanda's artwork, but the immediacy of the download won me over. Check out both Amanda Atkins great art and the music of Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club!

The one that got away

More photos from the Union Bay Natural Area taken almost 2 weeks ago. The trails were quite overgrown with tall grass and we wish we would've brought our machetes. However, I did get to see a female American Goldfinch gathering fluff for its nest and a gorgeous osprey.

Last week I went on the Twin Falls hike near North Bend. We hiked up to the suspension bridge that overlooked the 2nd waterfall and I saw my first male Western Tanager! What a beauty- it had a bright yellow body and black wings with a fiery orange/red head. It flew down in to the clearing and landed on contrasting dark green boughs of douglas fir- which would've made a great photo with the waterfall behind it, but it flew away just after I got a close look at it through my binoculars.

Jewelry for your farmer's tan

pink agate, rose quartz, aquamarine, cherry quartz

No birds today but I do have some good bird photos for my next post- I promise! In the meantime, here are some of my latest jewelry designs which were inspired during the "heatwave" (hence the farmer's tan) where most of the stones I used remind me of "crushed ice". Necklaces available here.

aquamarine, iolite, peridot, honey calcite

rose quartz, pearl, honey calcite, garnet (near clasp)

Phoenix Park

Cormorant Fishing, Furry Glen, Phoenix Park

The Furry Glen was my favorite place to visit in Phoenix Park- small wonder the park was named after it according to one of my travel books. The name comes from the Gaelic fionne usice or "clear water" referring to the spring in the Furry Glen.

Local fisherman said there was a contract on the cormorant for a tenner

Jackdaw

I was fascinated by the Jackdaw and the Hooded Crow and kept getting the Raven and the Rook mixed up without referring to my book.

Fallow deer in Phoenix Park

Dublin holiday

Rooftops, Dublin 10

Just returned from visiting family in Ireland. Since it was mostly a family visit we didn't get to leave Dublin much, but still was able to see over 35 different bird species (at least that I could positively identify).

Stonechat

We took a day trip to Bray and followed the cliff walk to Greystones. As we came upon Greystones we were greeted by a stonechat that flew from post to post- leading us away from its nest.

5 hour old, fancy canary
We also visited an old work mate of my husband who is now retired and spends part of his time breeding fancy canaries and native Irish birds such as red poll, bullfinch & siskin. We were lucky enough to visit during the nesting season.