Turning a Corner...

We have turned a major corner here in Ireland... to some people it may not mean a thing... but to me it is a major marker of every year. The first day of Spring. February first is the first day of spring in Ireland. Believe me when I say that you instantly notice the change. The weather is a bit better (although today is kinda gray and cold), animals are giving birth, and most importantly - the days are getting longer faster! Now... to all of you back in the states that are saying "how is that possible?"... It is because the Irish calendar centers the seasons around the solstices and equinoxes (so that, for instance, midsummer falls on the summer solstice), beginning the seasons at roughly the halfway points between solstice and equinox. This is a continuation of the Celtic and Gaelic system, which is pagan in origin, but feels a bit more accurate (in my opinion).


Dee and I celebrated the day in our own way...... we went for a drive. Thankfully the weather was spectacular!



I couldn't decide between these two photos... they both had elements that I liked... which one do you prefer? Leave me a comment and let me know!












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Behind the camera...

As you know... a photo is worth 1,000 words.... unfortunately, it rarely tells the whole story. From time to time I like pull the veil back and reveal what is really going on around me while I take a photo...



What you see: lobster pots and brightly colored buildings through the fog....






What you don't see: The ruckus of feeding seagulls and swans as they fly around me!







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Life in the fog....

Things are slowly warming up here... but the frost and snow has been replaced by a thick fog. All weekend long we lived and walked in this eerie gray soup. We normally would just hunker down and wait for it to lift, but I ended up in the city with the camera for a few hours over the weekend. I'm so glad that I took the time to explore and see the city in a new way. The streets and spots that I have photographed a thousand times had magically transformed into a new and sadder place.

This photo was taken in one of my favorite spots. During the long warm days of summer it is a popluar picnic and hangout spot for college students.... but in the fog it just felt abandoned and lonely.








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The Darkest Day...

Monday was a day that I have been looking forward to for some time now... the darkest day of the year.

December 21st is the Winter Solstice. It marks the moment when the Northern Hemisphere is furthest from the Sun. This mid-winter point has been celebrated as long as mankind has been on this earth. I can understand why...... Don't get me wrong - I'm not out dancing around a stone circle on the Solstice, but just knowing that every day is getting longer... and that we are moving back towards spring is reason enough to smile. Ireland is really far north, and wintertime darkness here can often be depressing. Knowing that we have beaten the worst of it is always reason to celebrate.

I got out the other day to watch the sunrise... here are a few of the pics from that cold and crisp morning.
















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Goodbye flowers...

It is late on Sunday night... and I am home and sitting next to the fire...

The last two days have been unusually sunny and beautiful, but it is wild and wet outside tonight. The weather is promised to be especially harsh the next couple of days. Winter time is always wet and cold, but it is the wind that keeps us housebound and inside. Wind blowing up to 60mph isn't unusual... and it turns the rain and hail into missiles.

Our poor little fuchsia bush in the front garden is holding on to a few last blooms, but I fear that they will be gone after this windy week. I took a few moments this morning to enjoy the last of the blooms... hope that you enjoy them too!







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Winter

November 1st is the first day of Winter in Ireland. Let me just say.... winter has truly come and it has come with a vengeance!! We have (over the past week) had a few moments of sunshine... but only for a moment or two at a time... most of the weather has been extremely wet and gray. The change in weather has really played games with my sinuses. I never had these problems in the states, but here I seem to get these sinus headaches that can last all day. So.... needless to say the last week has not been full of a lot of photo opportunities. I took the following photo a while back on a very wet and gray day (just like today). I love the trees here. I love how their shape paints a picture of the strength and shape of the wind.








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Irish Rain

The weather here is (at best) unpredictable. The weather forecasters try (bless their hearts)... but the forecast rarely seems to be right. Don't get me wrong... they can usually see what is coming a day in advance, but rarely can they say for certainty what is coming the rest of the week. No matter the forecast, you still have to look on the horizon to see what is headed your way and plan for all seasons in one day. Take this weeks (for example).... the forecast has been for rain all week and no chance of sunshine. Yesterday, however, turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and evening. Today also has been a beautiful and sunny day. Who knows if it will last.... but we have learned to get out and enjoy the day whenever we can....


I took these pictures the other day right after a rainstorm...

















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Views from the kiln...

You might have read on here before that I do a bit of pottery (for fun) during the winter months... well, last night was probably one of the most memorable firings I have ever been to. Let me explain... Once a year a local potter has a special firing in an outdoor kiln (pronounced "kill-in" here). We wait and wait for a nice night to drag the big metal kiln outside to bake our pots and sculptures that we have been working on for a couple of weeks. The evening is usually a lot of fun as we all stand around the kiln talking and warming ourselves as it heats up to 1000C.

As I walked down to the pottery studio last night I noticed that there was a very faint rainbow out over the sea. I stopped along the way and took a couple of pictures, but they really didn't look all that spectacular. As the night progressed, however, the rainbow kept growing brighter and brighter... and longer and longer... until it was the brightest rainbow I had ever seen and it reached completely across the sky. I stood out there with my pottery friends in amazement at the beauty of this somewhat common occurrence in Ireland.... One of my friends in the class made the statement that she never gets tired of watching the sea and the weather, that they are always so amazing and magical.... I had to agree... In the end, the rainbow must have lasted an hour and half before it faded away into nothing, and we all had a fun and memorable time around the old kiln...


















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More from our outing...

I have to say that the end of the day was my favorite part. We ended up finding a quiet little beach that was tucked away in the shadow of the cliffs. The waves were gigantic, but the wind was still, and there was hardly a whisper of sound. We climbed along the rocky shore and sat and watched the waves crash for a long time.







B watching the waves...




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Today's Random Pic...

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More pics from the Friary

Who needs stained glass?












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A day out....

I got to do something that I love yesterday.... take some friends on a day trip to see some ancient ruins... it turned out to be a great day to take some pictures (anyone surprised?). We went to see several things (a castle... stone circles... and a quaint village...) but the real treat was a ruined old friary. The Friary was founded in 1351 by the Norman nobleman Sir Raymond de Burgo and is "the most extensive and best preserved of all the Franciscan friaries in Ireland". The maze of rooms, corridors, and stairs is a perfect playground for kids of all age. We have in the past played 'sardines' and 'hide and go seek' here... but this was the first time that we have taken kids. They loved to run the ancient halls and play here!

As I stood there looking at the massive structure I couldn't help but wonder what it looked like in its' hay day. The last two hundred years have taken their toll on the great building (loosing the roof… 2nd and 3rd floors… windows… and inner decorations), but thankfully it is now a protected structure and is being well taken care of... and thankfully it is still open to the public free of charge!








The Friary's seventy-foot tower





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Evolution of a sunset 4...

Eventually the sun turned the sky a deep red before it moved behind another cloud...






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Evolution of a sunset 3...

Slowly the sun began to show itself and the sky turned an amazing orange color...






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Evolution of a sunset 2...

The clouds slowly broke up and showed us a bit of sunlight and warmth...






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Evolution of a sunset...

This week is looking like it is going to be a bit on the hectic side... so... I thought that I would do a short series of photos that I took from the same location within just a couple of hours of each other. I have often said that I never really noticed the sky until I moved to Ireland... now I can't help but watch it all day. I am constantly in awe at just how dramatic it is... and how quickly it changes. This was never truer than yesterday evening. Dee and I went down to the beach and watched the sunset. Amazing! Here is the first of the series:







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Another Random Pic...

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Today's Random Pic...

More from the sunset (We have barely seen the sun since!)







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A followup pic

Here is another pic from the other night. I can't tell you how I enjoyed standing out there slowly watching the rain move over the ocean and the sun slowly sink into the west. To be honest - I was a bit overwhelmed by the amazing power of the moment... and I didn't want it to end. I probably was out there about two hours... walking the beach and boardwalk... meeting old friends along the way... praying... and standing in awe at the awesome display taking place in front of me.

As I stood there - I couldn't help but be grateful to see such an amazing sight in the middle of Winter... these type of days are rare during the heart of winter... and I couldn't help but be thankful for one during this time of transition back to Ireland...

So... here are another two pics from the night... I will probably post a few more over the next couple of days (i.e. I took a ton that turned out really well!).











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Today's Random Pic...

a rainstorm off the coast of Ireland last night...







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Before (a beach in Ireland)

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One of the things I miss about America...

It is a funny little thing... but I really miss thunderstorms. There is something awe inspiring about them... and such a familiar part of my childhood. It is a rare thing to get them in Ireland... and when we do they usually don't last very long. It has rained everyday that we have been in the states... and usually the rain has been in the midst of a thunderstorm. I stood out in the front yard of Dee's parents' house last night taking pictures of heat lightning.

Here are a few pictures that I took of the clouds:

Today's Random Pic...

Dee and I are in full panic mode now. We leave our house in about 24hours and we still have a TON of things to do before we can roll. Here is a picture that I took a couple of days ago.





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Yesterday's Rainbow...

We took some students out on a quick tour to our favorite castle yesterday afternoon. The day was beautiful and a real welcomed break to all of the rain we have been having. It only rained for about five minutes... long enough for a beautiful double rainbow to appear over part of the castle.






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Today's Random Pic...

Sunset over the islands...
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Only during the summer in Ireland... (pt. 2)

are temperatures in the 60's (F) called 'Caribbean type weather'.


No joke - They said this on the news last night! I have to admit that the weather is really nice this week.... but I'm not going to go jump in the freezing North Atlantic!

The craic was mighty down on the ol' diving pier the other day. I stood and watched these guys (some with less grace than others) fling themselves off the top floor and into the crisp water below. As I stood their watching these guys jump I was taken back to my own childhood. To those countless summers spent in the local swimming pool where we would make up our own dives off of the diving board. These guys showed me that there are some dives that are just universally known.

For example - "The Walking Man":




Or the old classic "Belly Flop":

Summer!

May first was the first day of summer in Ireland... and it was glorious! The sun has burned bright and there has virtually been no rain for the past week! Needless to say - this is a strange event in Ireland! I even went as far as to break out the shorts today! I can usually plan on a dozen days each summer where I can wear shorts - if I'm lucky... so it is really a treat to have a shorts day so early in the summer!

I had a meeting in the city today and I decided to take my camera along just in case I saw something interesting. After the meeting I spent about half and hour out walking along the promenade overlooking some beaches. I was not the only one to have had this great idea. The prom was packed with several hundred people out enjoying the sun and freezing North Atlantic!

Today's Random Pic...

I took this picture a few weeks ago on a great day out. The rain swept in with a bit a sleet so I sheltered in the car for a while... Eventually the dark clouds broke and I saw this in front of me. I jumped from the car and ran up a very slippery hill to get this shot and about a dozen others. Oh... my donkey friend (see April 8th post) was right with me the whole time.

Spring pt.1

I grabbed my camera and ran out the door on a race. The clouds had cleared and the sun was setting quickly. I drove for about five min and then turned up a small little road that I have always wondered about but never ventured up. The road took me down in to a little valley where I saw a young colt running and jumping in a small rocky field. I jumped out of the car and took this shot right as the sun was going down behind the hill.

There is something so kind about a horse with its colt. There is a tenderness there that you don't really see in the other animals here. The mother is always watching as the colt dances around her... and always quick to nuzzel with her nose...

Winter pt.3

Dee and I took this pic while we were out on a walk yesterday... it almost looks like it should have been taken on Halloween... in reality it was a very sunny point in the day!

Winter - pt.2

Winter - pt.1

Summer is almost here... you can feel it in the sunshine and in the lengthening of the days... Winter, however, does not want to give up its grip on this green island. It continues to hold on and remind you of its presence with the occasional cutting wind and snow on the mountains. You have to remember that this wild place was never conquered by the Romans... and they named it Hibernia - or land of eternal winter.


In honor of winter's last stand - I am going to post some winterish pics this week.

Fun with the camera...

I resisted going completely digital for a long time. We made the plunge last summer... and I am so glad that we did. When we used the regular 33mm camera I was always guarded while taking pictures. It was hard to experiment because I knew that every picture was going to cost me.... and it is REALLY expensive to develop pictures in Ireland! Now that we are digital I am really learning how to change the setting on the camera and to take some very different pictures.

On a clear night not long ago I went into the front garden and experimented with some night photography. To my surprise I came away with a ton of cool pictures of the stars! Who would have thought that they would turned out so well.

Be sure to click on them to see a larger version:

Strangeness...

A strange thing has happened.... Summer has come to Ireland!!! I know that it won't last... but for the last three days we have had some summerish weather! As I sit here, there is not a cloud in the sky... no rain... no wind... and Dee isn't wearing a coat! Miracles do happen!

I have to say that yesterday evening turned out to be one of the most beautiful nights we have had in months. Dee and I had a very busy (and good) day yesterday and decided to get out for a bit of a drive and walk before the sun disappeared for another month. Along the way we met a farmer named Pat (which I'm sure is short for Paddy or Patrick). He and his sheep dog came riding up the road while I was taking some photos. He jumped right off the bike and greeted me with a very firm handshake. We stood and talked about the weather - a conversation I have had a million times here. He asked where I was from. He wasn't familiar with where the state is located so I tried to act out it's location with my hands. In the end he was convinced that I was from Florida. I couldn't correct him. We stood and talked about the differences in our two homelands, and he shared with me how he has seen Ireland change over the past few years. With a twist of the head, a wink, and a smile he told me that he has been speaking Irish ever since he was "a bab in the cradle". He had come out that night to do some work. He had cows in the field that needed to be taken in before the temperatures dropped. He laughed and agreed when I asked if I could take some pictures. Now that I think about it, it must have seemed absurd. Here is this lad from Florida wanting to take pictures of something that is so normal and routine.... I'm sure he didn't know that I love this part of life in Ireland - a part that has not changed for generations. The last thing he told me as he walked away with his cows was that I needed to take the pictures home and show my friends and family in Florida.