Well, I am back from my marathon fishing sessions.... 5 days solid, not quite dawn...but into dusk, and I'm shattered. I did manage a few fish though. I am on my way to the studio now though. Time to get back to work.....hopefully it will go well. I have 3 weeks to get 'in the groove' before I head off to Tunisia again.

I have been a bad boy.....no posts for weeks. I have a good excuse, I've been very busy. Between renovating our bathroom and planning a talk. I have a friend coming over tomorrow for a weeks fishing. Noel and I were out last week. We had a good day on lough Owel. 9 fish between us and I lost another six, 3 threw the hook, 3 broke a 6lb leader. The weather is starting to improve at last, we have had a couple of days sunshine but the grey skies are back today. I am hoping the warmth will arrive so the sedges start hatching for the weekend. I am looking forward to the next few days fishing. I have to get stuck in and tile the bathroom walls after that though....no it's not finished yet!

I have been organised to give a talk on local government and the Arts from an Artist's viewpoint, to a group of local Government representitives later in the month. I have my talk outline composed and emailed off. All I need to do now is flesh the main points out, organise my powerpoint presentation and practise my lecture. Sadly it's not a case of turning up and talking, the preparation has to be done first. It is surprising how much preparation a lecture/talk can take....even more than a practicle class. The expected audience will be quite critical of a poor presentation so my homework is important.

I will scribble again next week...I promise, and let you know how the fishing went.

I am back from the wedding, Yorkshire is a lovely area. We toured around north yorkshire (where the wedding was) and up into the lake district in Cumbria. I have a few jobs to catch up on now, including my blog, but I can't spend long on it today. The weather in Yorkshire was just like at home wet&windy.......and it's quite cool. What happened to global warming? we are freezing two weeks past midsummer. I want to be able to go out and paint, but for the last month I can't even get a break in the weather to mow the lawn...never mind work.

Where has time gone?
It is two weeks since I posted....shock! horror!
I have been busy with meetings, work, (and a little fishing too) and trying to organise myself for a trip to a wedding this weekend. There are 3 concerts on in Marlay this week, Aerosmith were on last friday...I didn't get into the studio Friday or saturday though, someone else is on Wednesday....it might be the Kaiser chiefs, and the Who are playing saturday....I would have liked to see the Who, but I'll be at the wedding.

I managed a half days work today. I came home for lunch fully intending to go go back out and finish a plien-air painting I had been working on this afternoon. Alas I ended up shopping and gardening instead. Tomorrow is another day....I did get a fair bit done on my commission piece in the studio earlier though and I did start quite early this morning. I will probably make large inroads into it tomorrow too, it is going well for me and I'm happy with the progress.

Well in the last week I had two trips on Lough Owel, with no decent fish to show for it. Both days were bright sunshine and little wind. In fact on Saturday I nearly had a dose of sunstroke!
I managed 10 fish on saturday but not one measured over the 13 inch limit. I thought that by the laws of average I should have at least had one...but thats the way it goes. Obviously I didn't qualify for the National team... I am not going to be able to in the inter-pro either, it is due to be fished on September 1st. and I'll be on my way to Tunisia for the a.b.a.m. art festival, and I won't be able to fish it. The first reserve for the Leinster team is a friend of mine though, so at least he will benfit from my absence. I am looking forward to doing some painting this coming week after my lay-off due to the 'flu last week. Roll on tomorrow...

Another week gone. I spent most of last week on my sick-bed, dying with the 'flu. I am just about over it, Christine has it now though. We put some fish into the garden pond, a case of needing to, it is full of mosquito larvae.....at least the fish will be well fed. I must get into the studio a couple of days this week, I have to do some work on a commission. I need to get a days practice in on lough Owel too, the Nationals are on Saturday. I haven't been out in ages, and I have only fished Owel once this season so I really could do with some. Conditions on Saturday are not going to be good either, hot, sunny and little or no wind. Whatever else it might prove interesting..

I have to get back to business.... I need to focus on work....and the upcoming national qualifiers on June 9th. I may be lucky enough to qualify, I seem to be reaching top form again in the fishing even though I don't really try that hard. The fact that I don't put myself under so much pressure probably will help too. I will be going out to enjoy myself and qualify if I can, but I will not be working 100% to get the result. I will try to get one days practice, but I am not going to spend days flying around the lake looking for fish....if my boat partner has done that on the day....all well and good...but I'm not going to worry about it. I know the venue, and can usually find fish. If someone else finds more so be it.
I am in the middle of a couple of paintings, I will try to finish them this week.

I didn't quite make the headlines yesterday...but thanks for a great photograph Mick! I'm a handsome devil by times...
I was out on Lough Lene with Noel and Eoin (Long Jnr.) yesterday. We caught plenty of fish but sadly we didn't get any big ones- they were all in the 3/4 to 1- 3/4 mark. I felt sure we would pick up a couple of bigger fish in the conditions, alas we didn't. Ah well back down to earth with a bump...I'm off to create some art now, my studio awaits. My public alas have departed, I'm yesterdays news...lol.

I am just back from two days on lough Corrib. The conditions were hard with a flat calm on Tuesday and blustery wind and rain on Wednesday. The mayfly hatches were poor to non-existent. The poor weather during the hatches previous years seem to have affected the numbers of fly hatching. I did manage a few fish but none of any great size, I am glad I didn't go for the full week in a way, I am tired enough as it is. I'm off to work for a holiday!