Our Last Day

"Nil aon tintean do thintean fein."
There is no fireside like your own fireside.
Irish Proverb

Well here I sit with a glass of Jameson and water by my side, no ice, in a hotel lobby near the Shannon airport. I am going to find it hard to write this. Today we basically retraced our steps back from the west coast through Limerick. We did cross to the North of the Dingle Peninsula to find a hidden gem, too well hidden, and got caught in a major traffic jam in Tralee (40th annual Rose of Tralee festival), and Sue almost went through the windshield when I stopped to get another Irish Horse picture. Horses are plentiful in the fields; places to pull over are VERY rare. But, ach, a fine horse it was.

Well goodbye Ireland, I will cherish for the rest of my life the memories of your Heather covered mountains, your bountiful flowers, your timescapes and landscapes, and yes your forty shades of green. But most of all I will miss your warm, warm hearts, your way of ending a meeting with "god bless" or similar phrase, your trustfulness, and the beautiful melody of your voices. The beauty and history of your land may make you who you are, but it is you who make Ireland a place where all feel so welcome. So to paraphrase a song written by Ian Byrne and sung by one of my favorite Irish / American groups The Elders:

Fare thee well men and women of Erin

I will dance your memories with joy in my heart

I will go now and pray that as I traveled your land

I learned by the lessons you gave

Crioch

August 23, Sunday

"Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a nineteenth century society up to about 1970 and then it almost bypassed the twentieth century."
- Author John McGahern

We are now in Dingle, co. Kerry, probably the most interesting areas that we will explore on our own. When we get up the weather is not soft, it’s a pouring, windy rain. So we retreat to the B&B common room to key word photos and practice new water color techniques. Lo and behold, around noon the weather turned beautiful, so we began our tour of ferry forts, magnificent cliffs, picturesque, abandon stone buildings (famine cottages), old churches, plus wonderful scenes overlooking water, mountains, and fields. We visited sites that were inhabited 6000 years ago. While we have a few sites close to that age in the USA (mound builders), they are frequent up and down the coast – timescapes of Irish history. The tip of the Dingle is where St. Brendan sailed from and the first land seen by Charles Lindberg after crossing the Atlantic. Off the mainland is the Blasket Islands. They are now abandon (by government order),, but have an interesting history of people on a remote island, population never rising above 200 people, Irish speaking, and produced 3 famous writers. Sue never has got the taste for Guiness, but loves a half pint of Smithwicks every night.

Saturday

Today I will be downloading lots of photos, we are at a B & B in Dingle that has internet access. Last night they were closing the internet café before I could download. In the rush I mixed the order of days, but for the few people that are following this I am sure you figured it out. Today we drove the Ring of Kerry. Following the directions in Rick Steves’ book we only saw two buses before Waterville (the tip of the peninsula), and none after. The scenery was nice but not different than we have seen in co. Mayo earlier. We then continued to Dingle, this 200 mile trip took about 8 hours, with no lost hubcaps, Olcan would be proud. Correction; the Beara ring I believe was misspelled. Probably not the first one on my blog, but one I met to look up before posting and did not. More differences in culture:

Cheese is served with most Irish breakfasts, especially when not eating the fried \irish breakfast, but fruit the and oatmeal one, but most places you get it all!

No forests, paper is at a premium. Napkins are small, in a class hotel TP was small sheets dispensed like Kleenex. Napkins are never served with ice cream, so you eat it fast.

Ireland is way ahead of us in green technology, you would be proud of them Maddy. There are recycling bins (usually in sets of 5), even in remote sections. They are starting to practice “farm to fork” (supermarkets buying as much as possible locally, saving on transportation waste), which is only being talked about in USA.

No washcloths anywhere.

Their Prime Minister makes more than President Obama. This really irks many Irish people.

Well today was; everybody together now - S O F T! Actually there was a spot were we wanted it to be soft and that was the Burren (Gaelic for barren). These are limestone rock formations, caused by the ice age, where you have many square miles of flat rocks with occasional stands of grass. It begins on the south side of Galway Bay and continues south and east. When the rocks are wet they are more photogenic. Before entering the area we didn’t do much except stop for breaks and photo ops, but nothing special. I did find the changes between Counties interesting. Gone are the sheep for the most part, there are mostly cattle farms. There are more trees. (Ireland has no forests; the Oak was used by the British to make their ships. There are occasional stands of fir trees that have been planted.) And stone walls have changed from tightly fitted flat stones, to round boulders with lime spots that give the fence a lacey appearance from a distance.

There is a small nation that stood alone, not for year or two, but several hundred years; ….that could never be got to accept defeat, and has never surrendered her sole.
Eamonn DeValera


This is a sad day since the group will all go our separate ways Thursday. I think we are all worn out from spending so much time in the van. Normally we would stay in one area for around two hours before moving on, but with the rain and mist, our plans changed.

After leaving the Burren we stopped in, Eugene’s, a pub with the most unusual décor, in a way it reminded me of a small Harrigan’s.

We have now returned to Ennis, where the Workshop part of our tour began. Tomorrow Sue and I begin our tour of southwest Ireland, a new adventure of sights, sounds, and learning to drive on the right, er left. Sue is still drinking Smithwicks, but may be on Jameson after of watching me drive.

Please remember the photos you see are untouched, I will develop them when I return

Thursday and Friday

Well its Friday and shortly I will go to an internet café and post Wednesday’s blog along with today’s which covers the last two days. I am now driving. The road from Ennis to Limerick was an “M” road like our “I” roads limited access two and four lanes with a divider, but will with an occasional “roundabouts” (where all traffic goes in a clockwise circle, leaving in one of four directions). The speed limit is 100 kmh equivalent to 60 mph. We then went to Adar by an “N” road. They are two lanes, occasionally three, generally wide aprons to pull off and let someone pass. The speed limit on these is 100 kmh. We have used extensively in the area where we are now (Kenmare, just outside the Ring of Kerry) “R” roads, wide enough for two bicycles to pass, and the speed limit on these is - - - 100 kmh. When you come around a bend and see a large truck coming your way, it takes awhile to reopen your sphincter muscle.
Adare is a beautiful village with thatched roof cottages, little shops, and lots of pubs. We then moved on to Killarney. However, being the jumping off point for so many tourist spots Killarney National Park, Dingle, and Kerry it was very crowded with people and buses (reminded me of the towns on the edge of the Smokey’s) we moved on to Kenmare. And are spending two nights in a very nice Bread in Breakfast (as Syd would say). Today we toured a small part of the Bera Penninsula, tomorrow it’s the Ring of Kerry. I am looking forward to seeing it with trepidation. The sites to see are many, but the roads are narrow and the tour buses have the right of way. Depending on which way you go you’re either sucking the fumes behind one, or backing up to let one pass. The time of year to visit is May and September when Europe and America are not on holiday. Today was NOT a soft day, and the clouds helped make great pictures. Some more differences.
Tomatoes are served, cut in half, at almost all Irish breakfasts.
Houses are paved all around the foundation, due to the soft soil.
The Irish are very trusting. When you eat in a group (or just Sue and I), you go to the register tell them what you ate and drank and pay.
When driving on the left, Americans tend to hug the left side, therefore you can tell rental cars, they have no hubcaps on the left side.
A long time ago I used to drink Scotch; I didn’t think I would like Irish whiskey, which is similarly made. Olcan introduced me to Jameson, which is quite good. Then he told me the secret, the Irish only gave the Scotch people half of the recipe.

August 18

I am writing this on the way to County Donegal, the city of Donegal. It’s a two hour drive and I tried to listen to my IPod, but was missing too much of Olcan’s dialogue when he saw something of interest. So I switched to the computer. I have been able to keep up with writing the blog, but way behind on publishing. We have one Apple Computer at the house, and it is the only way to connect to the internet.
Most have their own computers, but to send or check email it’s the Apple, and we have only one person proficient in Apple usage to teach the rest. I can check and send emails without help, but to get on my blog page and transfer the stuff I have photographed and written is a problem. We are riding North and Olcan has just tuned in a Gaelic radio station. There is also a Gaelic TV station. All public signs and many private (menus etc) are written in both Gaelic and English. There is only a small part of the population that speaks the language, but it is taught in schools. I am glad they do; language is a heritage to preserve just as much as the abbey towers. Wow, looking out the window, and are the fields green here! We are stopping at the burial place of Yeats, more later. Back in the van, today you are traveling with me as long as my battery holds out. We are in County Sligo and stopped in Drumcliff where we observed an original Celtic cross. Most originals are gone from their sites, stolen or in museums.
The group is fun and interesting, all helping each other with equipment or other things not brought along. We have female Episcopal Priest, 2 college professors, a small business woman whose husband was recently laid off, plus Becky and Mary who do make money with their painting. We have two Northeasterners, with very southern names, Billie Mae, and Buba, and in addition to Sue, another Linda who goes by her middle name. We enjoy a lot of laughter. Later I will give you a summary of our day.
Unfortunately, the battery went out on the computer and I left my electrical converter back at our house. The Hotel internet charges are very expensive so it is Tuesday and I am just catching up. Besides stops on the way up (including “tacky town”, Olcan’s name for Irelands version of Virginia Beach), the last three days we visited, small villages, large seaside cliffs next to beautiful fields of Heather, mountain waterfalls, sea caves, and numerous other picturesque scenes. Unfortunately, we saw everything but the sun. However, Monday was PERFECT, beautiful blue sky and clouds that provided enough cover that we did not get harsh shadows.
Today, August 18, it again was soft, very soft. All day we had an Irish mist, sometimes thick, coming at us. It also was the most fantastic day of picture taking yet. I have yet to see any pictures that Sue or I have taken, but I took over 300 myself. As I have said before, it is holiday time, but we seldom see tourist buses or vans. Olcan is showing us his Ireland. The places are so off the common tourist map, I am glad I bought a camera GPS system, so I can trace our travels. For cars they do not sell Garamond or Tom-Tom here but they do have Pat-Pats. The instructions are in a beautiful Irish voice that tells you to “turn right past the next sheep pasture,” or “go left at the second pub.”

Monday

"It only rains twice a week in Ireland, the first time for three days, the second time for four days." Olcan

I now am more convinced than ever of my Irish heritage, they love to tease with a twinkle in their eye, and they cannot spell worth a damn. Clew Bay is spelled as Clewbay on some directional signs, and the town of Mulranny can be found spelled 5 different ways on road signs. Of course if I had to spell in Irish (Gaelic) I would be really confused. That may be the reason I believe “spell checker” is man’s greatest invention.
Today we go to the Island of Achill, Ireland’s largest island. There we find graveyards, castles, flowers, cliffs beaches, villages, sheep, boats and landscapes to paint or photograph. We start a little slow since we spent the evening before listening to Olcan in a “session” at a local pub. There were 6 musicians altogether, including a famous harpist who was on holiday from Dublin to visit her parents. A wonderful evening.
Our typical day is to find on interesting spot, spend an 1 ½ to 2 hours sketching and shooting and then move to another. Frequent stops to potty or grab a snack to eat. Yesterday, our last stop was at a Pub in a village on Achill. Conversation: Me to Olcan, “What were you drinking last night?” Olcan, “Ginger Ale, I had to get up early for the group.” Man listening, “Were you in a Public House?” Olcan, “Yes.” Man, “Then you drink.” Unfortunately, I can only record my visual experiences; I really wish I could record my audio too. The wonderful lyric voices of the Irish and their simplistic way of putting things cannot be replicated in the written word nor in movies or on TV.
There are a lot of abandon homes and buildings here. Property is very expensive; my home would be worth at least three as much in Ireland. So why so many abandon homes? They were left, and still owned, by families who emigrated during the famine. Olcan is teaching us to read the landscape. He calls this Timescapes. They are the Celtic mounds, famine ridges, standing stones, along with the obvious abandon abbeys and ancient cemeteries and castle ruins. No wonder the Irish enjoy life so much, they are constantly reminded of how brief life can be.
It was a wonderful day, very overcast, perfect for photographers, and if the painters want clouds and blue, they can add it later. The day ended with the three photographers projecting their images on a screen for Becky to critique, all eight attended. The critique was good but the craic was better, the next day Billie told me her stomach ached from laughing so hard.

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love to fiddle,
And the merry love to dance.

W. B. Yeats


It is “soft” again this morning, but we are going through with our plans anyhow which is to visit Clough Patrick, Irelands Holy Mountain where St. Patrick spoke to the people. It had two other names but was recently changed to its present name in about 1200 ad. Across the street at the foot of Clough Patrick is another abandon abbey with its graves marked with Celtic crosses and other varieties of stone. The idea is to take pictures and the watercolorists can paint from them later, back at the house if the weather doesn’t change. We did have to abandon walking up a small part of the Mountain, to look out on Clew Bay with its hundred Islands. Even in this rain, there are numerous pilgrims, who climb the mountain barefoot. It is very rocky and steep in parts. After lunch we went to a beach area on Clew Bay. On the lane leading to the beach was an abandon stone house and out buildings plus livestock and horses, all for our photographic pleasure. Tonight after dinner we are going to a Pub in Westport where Olcan is playing the flute with a local group.

Hillcrest House day 1

This morning Olcan, our host, driver, tour guide, and international musician gathered Becky, our teacher, an award winning photographer and watercolorist, plus six other students at Shannon airport plus us at the hotel. Our group headed north to Westport. First on the M16, made famous in song, and then through county roads, getting narrower as we got closer to Westport. We again passed fields of livestock and harvested barley separated by stone fences. We passed through peat areas where the Heather was just starting to bloom. Olcan would point out long abandon abbeys and castle towers. Occasionally we would see mass graves of famine victims. Relatives were too weak to dig down six feet. The Countries population was over 8 million before the famine, and 4 million after, due to immigration and death. Occasionally we would see a Standing Stone, graves of Celtic Chieftains. Its interesting seeing the many pieces of the puzzle that makes the Irish the wonderful people they are. We arrived in Westport in time for lunch, afterword Sue and I got lost. Now were talking about a town the size of the Belmont area of Dayton. We enjoyed looking in shop windows and taking pictures and ended up beside a river with beautiful stone bridges, but no where near our van. Sue and goofus did make it back in time allotted with out delaying the group. The house we are staying in is about 10 minutes outside of Westport. Normally, after dinner we would walk about a mile to Clew Bay, but tonight the weather is “soft” as they say. That means the misty rain that makes the grass so green and the flowers so large. Instead we visited another old abbey near the town of Newport and witnessed grave of a priest, hung by priest hunters during the Reformation. Across the river from the abbey, there is a hump in the earth, a home of Celts long ago. One of Olcan’s favorite saying is “you can tell time by reading the landscape.” Our group, 5 from the Boston area, 2 from Manhattan and us Buckeyes mix together well. It’s going to be a great time.

Day 5

When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night-
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
Flann O’Brien

Well the tightly pulled drapes, useless for keeping out sound and light, but perfect for making the room stuffy, along with the heavy coverlet, has taken its toll on me also. The sleepless night keeps us from taking our Tram trip up the coast, so we settle for a long walk first to a museum recommended by Rick Steves, closed Mondays, and then through a shopping district. The streets are closed for traffic and filled with people, flower vendors, and street entertainers. This and Starbucks keeps us amused and awake until its time to catch our train west. It’s been years since we have ridden a train, Ireland’s are new and modern; however they are geared for day travelers. There are no accommodations for two old farts struggling with 6 pieces of heavy awkward baggage, but we get aboard and find places for all 6 pieces, nothing left behind, were quick learners. The really fun part is in Limerick, where we must gather up the baggage, go the length of one platform and back down another, get aboard a second train and again find places to put everything, all in eight minutes. Between Dublin and Ennis (our final destination) we enjoyed a leisurely ride through the middle of Ireland filled with horse, cattle and sheep farms. The plots of land divided by stone fences containing all the forty shades of green never got boring. We are entering another dimension of Ireland, leaving a city where you are controlled by time and entering an area where the people control the time. A Taxi took us to Temple Gate Hotel, through streets lined with houses and modern shops to the Hotel parking lot where we entered the main entrance. It would be like coming into Brookville or Tipp City. Since it was after 7 we quickly refreshed ourselves and left to go to a pub the taxi driver recommended. We exited the Hotel through another door into a courtyard and out into a time warp. Narrow streets lined with pubs and small business, I couldn’t take enough pictures. As always in Ireland, the pub food was terrific and OMG (G = goodness) Sue wants to learn to drink Guinness. She started her venture, trying first a half pint of Smithwicks, which she enjoyed.

Pictures from Yesterday

The camera, you know, will never capture you. Photography, in my experience, has the miraculous power of transferring wine into water. - Oscar Wilde - in "Lillie"


Well I really wanted to write about the small differences and customs that we have observed, whether they are European, Irish, or Dublin. Such as, in all places we have eaten, they use white pepper. You shake the holder, look at your food, see nothing so you shake some more. This goes on until you realize its white pepper. Once you taste your food, you remember to do that only once. Unlike looking the wrong way before stepping into traffic (of course if your timing is bad you only do that once also.) Or when you cut your food you hold the knife in your writing hand (generally right) and hold the fork in your left hand. Same custom as in America, right? However, in Europe the fork never leaves your left hand. So when in Rome do as the Romans. Except, due to airline restrictions, I only have a small amount of clothes to spill things on. But we are not mixing with the Irish. It is August, which is European holiday (vacation) time, and Ireland seems to be a top choice. While spending most of our time doing the sightseeing we are surrounded by British, Scandinavians, Orientals, and others Countries that I cant detect thru their accents. There are families, but mostly we see young backpackers. We have met some locals, many attending the Dublin Horse Show, sorry Danny girl, our schedule is too tight thru the weekend to attend(it was reported to us the Italians and Americans are doing well, the Irish, not so good.)
While mixing with the international crowd and seeing and learning Irish history (including the history of Arthur G’s best stout, before enjoying a pint) we are enjoying the magnificent flowers. Every few miles we see a building with varieties cascading down from three or floor floors of window boxes, or see six feet tall “trees” of planters along sidewalks and across bridges. They certainly brighten the concrete of a big city, and provide terrific photo ops.

The Irish "Adventure"

The photographer is like the cod, which lays a million eggs in order that one may be hatched. George Bernard Shaw

When I titled our itinerary our “Irish Adventure”, it was not a phrase I gave much thought to. Be careful what ye write! If I had given thought it would be to imply minor culture differences like beds with thick down covers but no top sheet, or trying to remember to look in the opposite direction for traffic before stepping off the curb. It wouldn’t imply goofus putting plane reservations under Jim and then using a passport with James, alerting Homeland Security and causing the Dayton ticket agent a half hour on the phone before being allowed to re-ticket under James. Or the confusion of entering a foreign country, going through customs (there was none) and finding your way into the City and on to your Hotel, while leaving your luggage on the bus (Sue’s fault, oh yes defiantly Sue’s fault!). Or having a wonderful room right across from Christ Church Cathedral who serenades us with there wonderful bells every half hour and for two hours in the evening. Did I mention due to the wonderful climate, Irish Hotels have no a/c, You leave your window open. Shame on me for sounding negative, the people are wonderful, you can’t stop for minute and look around without some one saying, “need a little help there Laddie?”

Today's the Day

"We wish that we could spend an hour at Dublin's churning surf We'd love to watch the farmers drain the bogs and spade the turf To see the thatching of the straw the women glean We will walk from Cork to Larne to see the forty shades of green"
Author - see below

Today is the big day. Like a child before their first day of school, we are looking toward the next three weeks with excitement and trepidation. We have read extensively, watched DVD's and talked to others who have visited the Emerald Isle. Still as widely as we have traveled North America, there is still that which we have never experienced, like the 8+ hour plane ride, ending in a different culture with a 5 hour time difference. Although wherever we have traveled we make a large effort to immerse ourselves in the local culture, no McDonald's or chains (unless it is to try a McLobster Roll)! We have met people who have joined us in our car and to give private tours of their city, their workplace, even their homes. We have found unknown and fantastic eating places not found in tourist books. Our disappointments have been few, our gratifications have been many. And so we are off to the land of friendly people, who have open arms and excel at craic.

Oh, and the author of the above song lyrics - Johnny Cash, yes the man in black loved the green.
Above was written 8/6

Every artist was first an amateur. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

It takes as much brass to use that quote as it did to name a photo I took of a church, also photographed by Ansel Adams, "Homage to Ansel." I had entered it in a contest held by the Town & Country Fine Art Center. It did not get a prize, but another entry of watering cans made the final 10 in judging (Sue was working at the time and watched as they eliminated entries).
I recently went on a Photowalk, climbing the hills of Cincinnati's MT Adams for over two hours. Did all right for a one lung man. I was allowed to enter two pictures from the walk (shown here). The results will not be known for a while, there are 64,000 entries world wide.

Grandkids activities

All photographers have to do, is find and catch the story-telling moment. - Alfred Eisenstaedt

Well I started a blog and then the computer went on the fritz , causing me to do a great deal of catchup when the problem was corrected. so it's been a long time between blogs. During that time I was able to see Elise play in a golf tournament at her father's Country Club, Nate and I followed in a cart and from which he took and an excellent picture of his sister and her caddy.
Maddy and Syd have spent the summer dancing at Feises (Irish dance competition) around the State I was able to watch them compete in Dayton.
I was also able to catch up with Tyler and Christopher and take pictures of there favorite pastime of bike jumping. Hopefully all this is helping me stretch my abilities. Less then two weeks until we leave for Ireland where I promise to regularly blog (Now isn't that special).