Strandhill

I did not realise I had spray on the camera lens but hardly surprising as the surf was pretty high. The tide was just on the turn, the waves were coming in fast but not as driven as they can be. It was windy and cold and just beautiful!

Rhododendrons

The rhododendrons are just coming in to flower now, in a few weeks the hills will be brilliant purple with them. They are an escaped cultivated plant and in places are a fierce nuisance and very difficult to control, let alone eradicate. However when in flower they are just lovely, a poor price to pay for the rest of the year but I guess you win some, you lose some!

Sea and Sand

Streedagh

I know we all moan about the weather, heck! its a National Pastime here, but occasionally, just occasionally, the sun shines and the view is beautiful.

Boyle Abbey

In 1161 the Cistercians founded this Abbey at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, taking about sixty years to complete the church building. The carving and ornamentation which has survived is quite beautiful, mostly foliage inspired.

Even in its ruinous state it is a vastly impressive structure so in its heyday it must have been truly awe-inspiring.

Evening Light

 Benbulben in the evening light, quite the county bastion, yes?

Further inland along the same line of hills. There's something so beautiful about the golden evening light, I never get tired of admiring the scenery then.

Trawler

I love trawlers: the grimy working no-frills appearance, the chuggy way they bustle about while entering and leaving a harbour, the smell of oil and fish and salt, the way they rock when tied up. I daresay if I had to work one for a living I would see them differently but I don't, so I can just enjoy them.

Spring Sprang...or Sprung

Spring is finally springing and the buds on the trees are hatching. It was lovely this morning, but very cold; if I was a leaf I think I'd stay furled a little longer. The mountain in the background is Benbulben, a local, very distinctive landmark not normally viewed through a haze of trees!

Looking Down

You can see just as many interesting things looking at the ground...

The Back Strand

The Back Strand, Lower Rosses: sometimes it pays to get up before the sun rises above the mountains and the light isn't really awake.

We walked and played here as children, whole gangs of us left to our own devices for long afternoons and if it rained we walked home or if we fell in the sea we were pure kilt for tracking wet sand into the hall and not using the kitchen door! I was reminded of this when at the funeral of a friend recently because his sister was telling stories of their childhood spent on the Back Strand. Continuity.

Lough Melvin

Lough Melvin, Co. Fermanagh during Easter week. The weather was lovely, pity the horizon was tipsy, I guess many lakes would be having a drink problem though?