We had a day off from our labours of love on the cottage,
to drive in a northeasterly direction for one and half hours.
To the ancient Hill of Tara in County Meath & recharge our
batteries. So while Mrs H sat in the cafe drinking coffee
I took myselfout with the camera to look for something
different.
I could not resist sneeking into Michael Slevin's bookstore
and taking a quick photo, while the dear man sat outside
in the sunshine with a straw hat on reading a newspaper.
It is worth a visit if only to soak up it's atmosphere. Mrs H
and I, she more so than me, are book fanatics. We spend our
winter nights with our heads stuck in books. More
entertaining you see to let the imagination create pictures
than watching TV.
This is the inside of the Mound of the Hostages and Tara's oldest
manmade structure. It is into here that the Samhain sun shines
illuminating the back wall. If you look at the stone on the left there
are some carvings to be studied.
To find this pair of newly decorated trees, dressed in finery
as a pair of Faery Trees. I suspect that there is more to it than that
and my senses are telling me that this probably where a recent
handfasting took place, for it has the feel of a wedding celebration.
On walking down from the Hill I could not help noticing
these poor visitors having lunch, alongside their expensive tour bus.
I was aghast at their audacity of parking virtually next door
to the Tara Cafe & Bookshop , which serves delicious meals at a
very reasonable price. Is it old fashioned of me to believe that part
of the experience of visiting another country is to partake of it's foods
and meet the people?
Ooh I want to sit outside that bookshop too, and then when the sun goes in, I'll go and browse! It looks quite wonderful! I've wanted to have a bookshop all my life! I get such a sense of peace from being among and surrounded by them.
ReplyDeletewhat a shame they didn't partake in the cafe's food, surely that is all part of also supporting the countrys economy you are visiting & drinking in the atmosphere of a lovely little cafe!! And if my memory serves me well they missed out on some fantastic cake!!!!! xx
ReplyDeleteSome people need a swift bonk on the noggin'. How stupid and cheap to sit next to a bus in a parking lot to do something as sacred as eat!
ReplyDeleteWell, Mel, if you are old fashioned I am exactly the same. I love the pictures as always that you post and I always study them. I totally agree that it is better to let the imagination run in your mind~and what better place for it to run from the impetus of a book than in your cozy little cottage with Mrs. H and Toby!
ReplyDeleteI am certain you have the handfasting correct. The trees exude togetherness!
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of the Samhain cleft very interesting. Instead of Midsummer, the Eqinoxes or Midwinter sun, they have chosen harvest's end - a good observation, I must say, as the harvest is a very important time of year.
As for the poor tourists, it sounds like they missed out on a lot of things by staying by their bus.
As a further note, I can get lost in a book store. Or rather, time loses itself to me!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is where Margaret Mitchell who wrote Gone With The Wind got the name for the plantation that Scarlet O'Hara's father named Tara? He supposedly came over from Ireland.
ReplyDelete