Old Cork...

We took a trip to Cork yesterday: I spent the afternoon with my sister and C visited a friend. I was partly going to visit an art exhibition. As we were walking over, I asked my sister about the Elizabeth Fort, since I'd spotted it the night before on Google Maps when doing some planning. She and her husband said that they'd looked at it once but it wasn't really worth visiting - however, as we were passing the bottom of the street it was at the top of (literally, Cork is full of hills), we swung by - and it definitely was worth a visit. It was a very grey overcast day just turning to drizzle and not very suitable for photography but we enjoyed a walk around the walls and they enjoyed picking out all the landmark buildings.

Right beside it is St. Fin Barre's cathedral - and the golden angel and just-turning beech foliage were a great match.

It was also interesting to see all the different rods used for cleaning and loading the cannon.

The top one with the hook was for cleaning out debris left from the previous firing. The next one down with the sponge was used for cleaning the barrel prior to re-loading again. The scoop was for putting in an accurate measure of gunpowder, and finally the ramrod was for tamping it in. 

Someone appears to think that good knots won't hold in the current windy season! This was the base of the flagstaff. 

I have often seen this vintage store as it's just across the road from where I used to get the coach when I was visiting my dad. I've even been into it more than once for a browse around, and I knew it included a coffee shop - but for some reason I never noticed the Italian coffee pot on the shop front before. With major roadworks on the quays it wasn't even possible to get a good photograph of it. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And a couple of rural snaps from last weekend, when we attended a funeral in a town along the Shannon.

Our snow days meant that this year instead of my usual one or two cards, I actually made and mailed four, all variation on this theme. This is one of the ones done with watercolour pencils.

I had a few more pictures of a painted hoarding in town, but they'll have to wait till I have time to edit them.

Country harvest

Last weekend we went on a local blackberry-picking outing and came back with a small amount of sloes - but enough for C to decide that he'd take his last day of annual leave (which had to be taken by the end of the month) and take a day trip to the Burren yesterday and see if we could get more sloes in either of the places we've had good pickings before.

It wasn't the sunniest of days, so not good for photos but we had a lovely day out and did get a good harvest of sloes, and enough blackberries for one more batch of jam. As an extra bonus, it felt like Saturday so we have the Saturday feeling all over again today.

Waterford again...

Just to explain - the sudden irruption of photos taken around the Waterford area are because my dad is in hospital there and will be for some time. Currently I am getting either a train or bus down and bus back, and walking out to the hospital from town. At some stage I may switch to driving, but for the time being I'll enjoy the chance to nap on the journey, enjoy some beautiful scenery and take a few photos...

Clock Tower

Reginald's Tower

Thomastown train station

These last two aren't great photos, taken through the bus window. It's what used to be Keneally's Arts and Crafts in Kilkenny. I'm not sure how long it's been out of business, but I remember the beautiful windows from going there on a business trip with C. He was setting up new merchandising displays and had sprained his ankle playing football, so very reluctantly had to ask for ,me to chauffeur him there and back.

Sunny Southeast

I was down in Waterford on Tuesday - a few quick snaps. There is a strong Viking heritage, hence the boat sculpture which was in the centre of a small roundabout.

Wicklow in the sun...

Yesterday was a beautiful morning, and a warm but not so sunny afternoon. We made the effort to get out of the house quite early, and went for a drive round the Blessington Lakes and then down Wicklow Gap to Laragh. When we stopped at one of the little car parks just before Laragh, the smell from the gorse was just heavenly! The sunshine really brings it out.

Sheep Country...

Did I say it had been thirty years since I was last in Connemara? I'd forgotten how many sheep there were - everywhere. (And lakes...) Next time I make a card with a sheep on it, I'll have a better memory of how to colour it. Most of the ones we saw had black faces.
The rope sheep were in the grounds of Kylemore Abbey, near the walled garden.

Coole - the lake

Some photos of the turlough and lake at Coole.

As far as I can recall there's always been a reasonable amount of water in the actual lake at the end of the property any time we've been there. But the bottom  pictures show the difference between the turlough part now, and in March 2010. It appears that most of my other photos are pre-digital, but I'm glad I found some that weren't. Quite apart from the difference in how green it was, the variation in the water levels is quite something. There's a moss on some rocks that marks the maximum water level.

October 2012

March 2010

March 2010