Beauty and the Beach

I went to an event in Dublin called Bloom. A bunch of foodies, and gardeners take over a corner of Phoenix Park, for a food and flower fest. I went on Friday and sat in on a couple of talks by the local know-it-alls in the area. It was very informative. The focus was on organic, non-toxic, ways to garden. Good information, for sure! There are also garden installations by local landscapers, and such. I got some really great ideas for my future gardens. 

 lovely wall, and mono-scape 

i really liked this veggie garden design. 

There were tons of vendors hocking their wares, and of course loads of plants for sale. There wasn't anything that I haven't seen in Portland before, but it was a really great day of looking at wonderful displays of plants and vegetables. 

yum! all organic!

It really made me miss the little plot of land I had on 63rd and Fremont. I will have another garden someday, though, and I hope to incorporate some of the stuff I learned at Bloom.

Katrina has played volleyball since I've known her. She is my super sporty friend, and I got a chance to tag along with her to a beach just outside of Dublin to watch her do what she does in the sand with a volleyball. It was a really hot day, so the beach was the perfect place to be. 

kat serving it up on a beautiful sunny day in ireland

Todays tournament included coed teams of two on two. The team members switched with each game. For every game you won, you received points. The best woman, and best man would be crowned King and Queen of the beach by the end of the day. One of the coolest things about the day was all the folks that turned up to play. The world was well represented by men and women from Poland, Italy, India, America, Ireland, and Sweden. All of these folks live in the Dublin area, now, and share a love of volleyball. Some had played together before in different leagues, but it was clear that others had not met before todays games. 

"you got that one, right!?!"

who do you think hit the sand first? the ball or the player?

kat and peter were the best pairing of the day. 

nice jump, kat!

Fun times were had by all. Ok, there was this one guy that argued with the refs about every call. He was a bit of a downer. But, otherwise, there were lots of laughs and some great playing out there. By the end of the day Katrina and Peter were the winners. 

king and queen of the beach!

Kat came home with a new volleyball as a prize, I came home with a sun burn. It was really nice to be able to wade in the ocean, and hang out in the sand and sun for a day, plenty of vitamin D to go around. Thank you sun!