This Irish Photograph

Skywatch Friday on Sliabh an Iarainn

2009-10-15T18:04:00.000+01:00

On Monday we went on a fund-raising walk up Sliabh an Iarainn, the Iron Mountain in Leitrim, and of course I took the camera. The skies went from blue to grey and back again, but the rain stayed away for most of the day.

More photos from this walk are posted here, at a post about it on my Stony River blog.

And you can see more skies around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Baa Baa

2009-09-14T18:51:00.000+01:00

Thank you for your visit!

I now add a daily photograph to the bottom of my regular blog, Stony River, and hope to see you there.

Skywatch Friday in Air and Space

2009-08-27T18:09:00.004+01:00

The sky was blue behind the clouds as we drove through Cumberland Maryland, and the sunset was pretty in Hagerstown.

But the next morning in Washington DC was grey and drizzly, and the day stayed that way, hour after hour. Of course, that didn't stop us (or other family and friends who were visiting) from taking photos all over the place.

When the museums opened at 10am we took our skywatching inside, to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

WOW!

There were airplanes and rockets, fascinating displays and moon rocks, warplanes and spy drones and stories, everywhere. The kids loved it.

We even visited the Wright Brothers and they agreed to join us in a family photograph on their front porch, wasn't that nice of them? Now if only I'd remembered to readjust my camera settings after coming in from the brightly lit atrium... oh well.

Tomorrow night our journey back to Ireland begins; the weather reports say it's raining there too. Quel surprise! But at least our plane ride will be slightly more comfortable than Charles Lindbergh's must have been. We could almost reach out to touch his airplane, and seeing it hanging there hardly larger than our family car made his amazing journey more real---and astounding.

You can visit the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum on their website, and you can visit skies around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday in Washington DC

2009-08-26T00:23:00.004+01:00

Click here to join in at Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday: spending the weekend in Washington DC

2009-08-24T17:59:00.005+01:00

After a whole summer in West Virginia, oh look! I finally remembered to post some My World Tuesday photos. Sorry about such a long absence, but well... vacation!

We've had a wonderful time in America this summer. This weekend we indulged our youngest (autistic) kids in their favourite pasttime: TRAINS!

These layouts and display rooms are at the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum in western Maryland. Admission was a bargain at $3.50 for adults, and the kids wanted to stay all day.

The staff are wonderful there, very helpful and enthusiastic about their collection, and let us wander and entertain ourselves as much as we liked. We liked... and enjoyed everything from the baby Brio set to the extensive model railroads upstairs and the giftshop downstairs, to the real-world rolling stock outside in the yard.

After the Roundhouse, we headed south for a day in the nation's capital. We wandered and took photos until the rain set in, when we retreated into the Smithsonian's many museums.

We saw lots, walked lots, enjoyed lots, learned lots. We've got to go back on our next trip over, for much longer than a single day.

And that's nearly the end of our American holiday! We're already making plans to come back again.

To visit other places around the world, or to show off your own, visit My World Tuesday.

Skywatch Friday on the road

2009-08-06T22:40:00.003+01:00

We're still on holiday in West Virginia...if I had my way, we'd never leave.

Here are photos of the skies we saw over Clarksburg (birthplace of Stonewall Jackson), Philippi (home of yesterday's mummies and much much more), and the battlefield at Gettysburg PA, just a few hours drive east from our house.

You can see more skies around the world at Skywatch Friday: Join in!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: The Philippi Mummies of West Virginia

2009-08-05T22:26:00.002+01:00

Words tomorrow, with more photos of Philippi.

More 'wordless' images are at Wordless Wednesday.

More photos of my little friend

2009-08-01T23:42:00.005+01:00

If you read about him on my regular blog, you know I have a lot of photos of this little guy. We don't have raccoons in Ireland so have no experience of them as trash-tippers or picnic thieves or rabies-givers.

They're just cuuuuute.

At every cage in the zoo in Kingwood West Virginia, a plastic pipe is set up leading from the visitor trail to the cages, so that we could send 'zoobiscuits' down and feed the animals. When the raccoons saw us coming, they all raced for the pipe and pressed their faces up against it.

My little sweetie--the baby in the top photo--soon abandoned his efforts to squeeze in and get a zoobiscuit, and climbed up instead to look me in the eye, in the photograph I posted of him on Wednesday.

When my kids and I started fussing and waving and as I snapped photos, all the other raccoons began climbing too, until we had a mob clinging to the cage wall, ten or twelve raccoons at once, pushing each other and reaching through the bars.

My kids made sure that everybody got a zoobiscuit.

Camera Critters will show you more animals around the world.

Wordless Wednesday at the Zoo

2009-07-29T15:17:00.002+01:00

See more photos at Wordless Wednesday. See the words at Stony River.

My World Tuesday: Irish Abroad

2009-07-27T16:51:00.008+01:00

Everywhere we go this summer while visiting West Virginia, we're reminded of home.

For one thing, the landscape of West Virginia is much what we're used to: rolling fields and green mountains, cows and rivers. People here tell us that the region was settled by mainly Irish and German settlers, and we imagine that they might have felt right at home here.

Then we drove down Route 19 and found ourselves driving through a town called Ireland. The kids loved it; there was a gazebo decorated with shamrocks, a wooden train to climb on, and a slide. The town hosts an annual 'Irish Spring Festival' too.

On every drive it seems we find another road or street or other landmark that is Irish-something, like Irish Corner Road.

In Elkins, we discovered a lawyer who celebrated his heritage with a "Failte" sign, which means "Welcome". We were there on Sunday however, so no chance to say hello, though we enjoyed seeing the sign and the kids were delighted to read it. It sounds like "fall-cha".

We went on a daytrip to Gettysburg to teach the kids some American history last week, and it turned out we could teach them some Irish history too, as many Irish fought in America's Civil War--enough to warrant at least two gift shops in the town, it seemed, one general and one for the Irish Brigade.

Gettysburg was a treat, filled with antique shops with names like Abe's Antiques (featuring Abraham Lincoln's portrait) and the Spirited Lady shop that I loved. I loved the town and want to go back; we didn't get enough time to really explore. Antietam is another place I'd like to stop, and the Irish Brigade has a memorial there too, I'm told.

The best "Irish" surprise for us by far was in Cumberland Maryland, where we visited the canal museum, strolled along the shops by the waterfront, then decided to walk a ways along the canal trail to enjoy the summer day.

There we discovered an Irish cross with an inscription that dedicated it to the memory of the Irish canal workers who had died while working on the railroads and canals in America. We stopped a moment in their memory.

It seems if we want to truly get away from home for our summer holidays, we'll need to go much farther than this! But I guess it all keeps us from getting too homesick while we visit, and counting our blessings that we can go home again, while that just wasn't possible for immigrants two hundred years ago.

That's My World this tuesday. To visit other places and experiences around the world, visit , and join in if you like at My World Tuesday.

Our neighbour Millie

2009-07-25T20:43:00.003+01:00

Millie is the cat next door.

Usually I don't get along too well with cats, but Millie's pretty special. She's amazingly old (for a cat) and is quiet, gentle, and wonderfully soft.

But she's special for another reason, especially to people like me who get a real thrill from perfect grammar and punctuation and who actually enjoy proofreading...

See? Millie's back end is an exclamation mark. I think that's the cutest thing.

Thanks for posing, Millie!

There are more 'critters' to see around the world, at Camera Critters. Join in and share your photos if you like.

Skywatch Friday from Ireland, West Virginia

2009-07-23T19:17:00.004+01:00

We took a drive last week when the weather was beautiful, and wandered through a town in West Virginia called 'Ireland'. Obviously we couldn't help taking lots of photos. Here are a few of the skies there; I'll show you more over the weekend.

For more skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Mules on the C&O Canal, Cumberland Maryland

2009-07-18T20:19:00.004+01:00

We took a drive to Cumberland in Maryland, and discovered this fellow (sculpted by Antonio Mendez) standing outside a tall brick building.

Inside the Visitor Centre, displays and information celebrated the men and boats and mules that kept the Chesapeak & Ohio canal working in years past. Many of the exhibits are geared toward to kids, and our kids had a wonderful time here.

We left the Visitor Centre to walk along the canal, and there, to our surprise, we found a memorial to the Irish workers who died working on the C&O Canal. Many of them would have immigrated at the time of the Great Hunger.

You can read more about the C&O Visitor Centre here.

For more 'critters' from all over the world, visit Camera Critters.

Blue Skies at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

2009-07-16T15:58:00.004+01:00

Our family is on holiday in West Virginia for the summer, enjoying the sunshine and fantastic mountain scenery and some amazing sights, including the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. When I took this photo I thought I'd save it for Skywatch Friday.

The interior is grimmer than grim, as you'd expect from a nineteenth-century asylum. Wall shackles and chairs with restraints and ancient medical implements gave the hot sunny day a chill... as did the price quite frankly. It costs $30 per person to take the whole tour, but you can opt for an abbreviated $10 version, which might leave you enough to spend on souvenirs, including a 'Lunatic' t-shirt.

You can click any of these photos for a larger version. If you can't see the sign on the door clearly, it says "Please Do Not Prop Door Open" which considering the rope I thought very funny. Also it gives you a glimpse to the inside... imagine being dragged in through these doors a hundred years ago?

Wordless Wednesday in West Virginia

2009-07-15T04:59:00.001+01:00

Wordless Wednesday

Gray Day Today (Skywatch Friday)

2009-07-02T16:28:00.006+01:00

Today was a grey cloudy sort of day, with the sky hanging low over the lake.

My last surviving rosebush seemed to like it; it chose today to open its first blossom.

But I did not like it, especially when it began to rain, as soon as we drove into town...

...but fortunately, there are never grey skies inside a pub.

You can visit skies around the world with Skywatch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday: Gone Shopping

2009-07-01T00:57:00.002+01:00

Wordless Wednesday

The Dublin Zoo Slide (My World Tuesday)

2009-06-29T17:29:00.005+01:00

We've never taken our youngest child to the Zoo yet, and when we realised that a few weeks ago, we decided we had to get there this summer, one way or the other. These photos are from our last visit, a few years ago now. Hard to believe it's been that long.

There are all kinds of animals there of course, though our Zoo is a modest one compared to the likes of San Diego or Central Park in New York. What makes the Dublin one a great day out is how well they planned it from a kid's point of view: there's a Meerkat cafe where you can enjoy lunch while watching meerkats play on the other side of a glass wall, plenty of small playparks around, and a farmyard petting zoo.

I think this fellow thought that "PIGS" might be short for "PIGEONS"?

Of course, after driving three hours to visit this place (and facing a three-hour journey home again) the kids' favourite part was...

THE SLIDE.

Typical.

You can visit other places around the world with My World Tuesday

Dozing Ducks of Sligo

2009-06-27T21:06:00.003+01:00

The Garravogue river was low and grey and quiet, as was the sky, and as we walked along the riverside path the unusually still ducks we saw there gave the whole place an eerie feel... it was too quiet, in a place where the water usually roared and foamed, and the ducks quacked and fought and flew away.

What had happened?

It turns out of course that it was a recent spell of dry weather leaving the water low, and the ducks were only napping, sitting firmly on rock just below the water's surface.

A few minutes later, a few mamas and their ducklings sailed quietly by, which tempted the human kids in the street to start throwing crumbs, crusts and whole sandwiches into the water for the 'babies', and this tranquil river scene quickly disintegrated into chaos.

When I got home, I liked this "before" photo best.

For more creatures around the world, visit Camera Critters.

Friday Fave 5 in Sligo

2009-06-26T16:54:00.003+01:00

Here's my Friday Fave 5 for this week. I love Susanne for hosting this, because it makes me stop and appreciate what's good right here and right now. I need that, most weeks.

If you'd like to play, visit this page on Susanne's blog for details.

So, this week I'm grateful for:

Teachers, especially special-needs teachers, and especially the ones who look beyond worksheets and test scores to inspire kids and make school fun: even if it means bringing their own dog to school!

I'm also happy that my daughter has autism instead of anything else that might have kept her from being alive this Friday and happy to be on a day out with Mum and Dad, or from running to a riverside railing to watch the ducks swim by, and laugh out loud when they quack at her, asking for bread.

I'm grateful for the many famine graveyards in our country, which remind me to be glad I'm hungry just because I'm on a diet, and that I'm not really starving even when I moan to my family that I am.

I'm very glad that our lives are so far away from the modern rat race and cities, and so easy-going that a 15-mile an hour tractor is just an excuse to enjoy the view and take some photos.

Finally, I'm happily surprised to have so much sunshine this week, and real heat in the afternoons; it even went past room temperature a few days ago, we were in t-shirts outside. Wow.

Gate, Famine, Tree and Sky

2009-06-25T15:07:00.003+01:00

The summer sky seen through the gate to yet another famine graveyard; this one was in Ballytivnan, County Sligo.

Here's the gate in its stone wall. Inside, only a few graves are marked. The famine years were so desperate that many dead were simply shrouded and laid into mass graves, with neither coffin nor marker, sometimes whole families buried together.

Inside, a tall sculpted winter tree stands as their memorial. Nearby a plaque quotes the sculptor Fred Conlon: "An Gorta Mór was like a never-ending winter. Its chill of desolation brought hunger, disease and death."

"An Gorta Mór" is the Irish name for the great famine of 1845-51; it means literally "the Great Hunger".

Today was a beautiful summer day, but I couldn't help thinking how such places become somehow more poignant under bright sunshine.

It was almost a relief, when clouds gathered on the way home, and faded to grey.

Those are my skies today. For more around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday: My Doctor's Wall Poster

2009-06-24T15:18:00.005+01:00

Interesting 'result', indeed.

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday: Held up in traffic again

2009-06-22T13:12:00.005+01:00

"Sorry we're late," I was saying on the phone just before this shot. "but we're stuck in traffic on the N16." Which, in the context of rural Ireland, was true. You can click the photo to see it larger.

I don't mind; I just look out the window and enjoy the scenery (I'm not driving btw).

Sorry about the motion blur and the cow who chose this moment to drop a poo, but... watching the passing countryside is always a nice way to spend time on a drive.

That's part of My World; you can visit other places everywhere with My World Tuesday.

Wishes for a Blessed and Peaceful Father's Day

2009-06-21T14:07:00.006+01:00

Several commenters noticed the cross on this week's Skywatch Friday post; it stands outside Saint Clare's in Manorhamilton and is third from the left here; it commemorates the Redemptorist mission (I hope I'm remembering that inscription right...)

Many of the crosses there mark the resting places of the church's priests, however.

Thinking of you this Father's Day, Fathers.
RIP

Two Donkeys, No Cookies

2009-06-20T13:01:00.003+01:00

While taking photos for Skywatch Friday yesterday, I noticed a donkey in a field, and the donkey noticed me.

He came closer and posed rather grumpily for a portrait. I think he may have been waiting for an apple or a cookie, after walking all the way over to the fence.

But I only took his photo instead, and then I felt a nudge at my elbow.

Surprise!

But I still didn't have a cookie.

There are more creatures of all kinds at Camera Critters; visit them or join in and share your own.