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?

Camellias

The camellia in a friend's porch was looking lovely the other week- these photos were taken with my phone as I hadn't the camera on me at the time. Point being that if they look this good on a phone camera, you can x2 the beauty in real life!

Old Franciscan Friary, Ennis, Co. Clare

The Friary is thought to have been built in the late 1470s but documentary evidence is a bit scarce. It was financially supported by the local McMahon family until the early 20th Century although the last monks died out in the 1600s. In Victorian times the Nave was reused as a parish Church for the Church of Ireland congregation whilst they were building their own place of worship.

It seems a bit of a mishmash for such a place, so I'm not sure I have all that correct!!

Harebells

The harebells this year are prolofic, giving a blue sheen to the laneways. They prefer light sandy or poor soil so tend to grow on banks and amongst the moss and daisies on stone walls.

I clearly recall the firset time I noticed them; it was as a child, struggling crossly up the lane from the beach with arms full of beach gear and sisters! We never wanted to go home at the end of the day and our poor mother had to almost horse-whip us from strand to car! Along the sandy banks of the lane, in amongst the marram grass and smelling of hot salty greenery were these small papery blue flowers swinging on the most delicate stems.

To this day the first sight of harebells takes me back to childhood.

Harebells are difficult to photograph as they seem to prefer hiding behind grasses and stones, but the warm green summery scent of them is still lovely. I had a grand time climbing around the laneway trying to get some good photos!

Long time no...

...camera...

It gave up the ghost, probably overworked and underpaid, y'all know how THAT is!

I'm using the camera phone on the day to day blog but there's not much point pretending its up to scenery shots- mean to say, I don't want to put yez all OFF visiting due to blah photos?

So, when I have a REAL camera again (nudge nudge??) I'll post decent photies!

Until then- abysinnia!