B o r d e r l i n e

A couple of days ago I finally got a day to go out and explore with my new camera! It's a Canon 1000D and it's beautiful, haha. It was a gorgeous day, just one of those times where the weather is cool enough to wear layers but warm enough to spend a good amount of time outdoors. I think our autumn weather only lasted for a few weeks, because it's most certainly winter now! *shivers*

Probably for the first time, the seasonal change was completely obvious - everything was golden brown outside and the trees were clacking their bear branches together in the wind. Autumn is definitely my favourite season!

Ren and I headed to The Botanic Gardens here in Belfast wrapped up in cardigans and scarves and had a really awesome little day just wandering around the greenhouses and grounds, snapping photos every now and then ^_^ Here are a few I took on our autumn adventure!

 

The Botanic Gardens are a large area owned by the Ulster Museum here in Belfast, and mainly the grounds are park-land with huge gnarled trees, squirrells and grassy fields. The Museum itself is tucked in a back corner with the grounds sprawled out around it - there are two greenhouses [one for tropical flowers, the other for large tropical trees], a large rose garden and little hidden walkways all around it. Since the grounds are usually bare this season, we headed into the flower greenhouse. It's so beautiful and there are so many colours - a strange contrast to outside!

When it got a little too stuffy in the greenhouse we headed out into the crisp air and spent some time just watching people go by with their cute dogs :) I was too shy to ask for a photo of them though...maybe next time! We decided to head into the museum and wander around - it's a place I visit more often than is probably normal xD It's an amazing place to spend some time wandering around. I've been going to our museum dozens of times every year since my early teens and I still find things to learn about or admire!

This beautiful stained glass window runs along an entire wall near the precious gems and rocks section - it's actually hidden behind a display of the rocks of our earth and I can't count how many times I've admired it and walked on without snapping a photo. No more! ;)

The image beside it is of a tiny, unassuming little powder compact. But I think its one of the most beautiful things in the collection! The image of a river winding through a forest landscape is handpainted on crushed butterfly wings! That slight blueish purple iridescance comes from the reflex pigments in the powdery wings of the butterfly. A little sad, I suppose, but I'm kind of amazed at how someone thought of doing this!

The powder compact was in a little display cabinet beside other handmade things, like this cute little carved Japanese man. He's carved from oxbone. I thought it was a little funny how he's holding his sword - surely that's not comfortable!

Rens little doll, Sophie, came along for the day too, but I only managed to get this small photo of her cute little face before we headed off home! Along the way we stopped in at a charity shop which usually has great stuff, but we were disappointed...until...

We spotted this amazing old Singer sewing machine amongst the furniture at the back!! I've never seen one, so I was kind of obcessed with how detailed and pretty it was. All the bobbins and accessories were still in the drawers underneath!

It was such a good day ^_^ Spent with my best friend just wandering around one of my favourite places in the city! I think I'll make an effort to photograph more of my favourite places...it's on my checklist to get some photos of the snowy landscape here...fingers crossed for a white Christmas!

How is everyone? ^____^ Thanks so much for stopping by!