NOCTURNAL ADVENTURES

I am not in my studio today. Waiting for the paint to dry is an excuse for feeling lazy, due perhaps to my nocturnal travels.

There is a portal in the bedroom that I enter that allows me to visit other realms of life. Last night's journey was to faery and I had some wonderful adventures with those special folk. We went to a hurling match which was quite violent at times, almost like a faery war but not. Did you know that outside of the arena they play their fiddles for the sole purpose of encouraging and enlivening the hurlers ? That was news to me.

After the match I made my way home via a coastal route that took me close to the sea where I saw an old chap fishing with his pole, dressed in colourful clothes and wearing a wooly cap. I think he felt a bit shy because as I watched the colours of his clothing started to fade until all that was left of him was a black outline that pulsated once or twice and then was gone for good.

The fisherman did appear again later and this time he was just an outline of himself sitting precariously (I thought) on a very thin, twiggy branch of a blackthorn tree. This time I avoided staring at him for any length of time in case he took fright again. 

My journey ceased near a mound not too far from where I live and very soon I was back in bed and sound asleep.

So What did you do before sleep

last night ?

The Faerie Tailor of Co. Clare

If I have a fad for a particular piece of clothing it has to be that of a waistcoat. 

This all started at the age of fourteen when I became the owner of an ex-army sleeveless, leather drivers' jacket with a khaki lining; it became my pride and joy when going on long hikes across Dartmoor as it kept me warm and left my arms unrestricted to do those things that are necessary when camping alone.

Over the years I have had several waistcoats and still have quite a few in my possession.

As a consequence of this fad my eyes are always on the lookout for a new one.

We recently visited a treasure trove of books, cards, clothes and jewellery in Kinvara Co. Galway.

Ostensibly we dropped in to get Mrs H a copy of Jack Roberts' new book 'Island of the Sheela-Na-Gigs' (ISBN 978-908378-40-8) but you can imagine how delighted I was when my eyes fell on a rail of waistcoats! One in particular caught my eye and to be honest I did not know why at the time.

In our wild garden

The wonderfully comfortable waistcoat

The rear view showing its sensible length

The embroidered emblem.

After a day of wearing the waistcoat I suddenly recalled that the design

on the back reminded me of my first mantra when I first started in the practice

of transcendental meditation of over forty-five years ago!

Detail of buttons

Regina Tierney  the Faerie Tailor of County Clare who is the designer of my waistcoat.

She also creates clothes and beautiful jewellery. 

Please visit her website here - http://celticfusiondesign.com/

Just Swanning Around

A short drive from home across a neighbouring county fetched us up into Co. Westmeath

and in particular to Lough Ennell

Where we were greeted by a whiteness of swans who were busily preening themselves.

The way in which this pair were acting towards each other strongly suggested that 

there would be some hanky-panky between them later !

Much the same with this pair too !

Later that night I just happened to be outside when I saw a red moon rising.

In the short time it took to reach my camera the redness had faded to a rich gold.

Then became banana coloured

and just before it disappeared behind some cloud the red began to return,

by which time I had become quite chilled so I returned to the fire that blazed in the stove.

Church of the Sloes

We took a train to Killarney a few days ago. It was a most enjoyable journey that passed through delightful scenery, lush green fields, distant mountains and of course the Paps of Anu which always catch our attention. 

The Paps held a significance.

Part of the reason for our journey was to visit an historian who has kept these mountains in his focus and in the public eye for over seventy years. Being an author of dozens of articles that have been read in almost every Irish publication, he is a well known figure in Kerry. 

Today Dan Cronin, a native of Rathmore, near Killarney, who, at the age of ninety-seven has not yet retired his pen, told us that there are still a couple more articles that he intends to write.

https://aheronsview.blogspot.ie/search?q=dan+cronin

Do you know this elegant person ?

KILLARNEY RAIL STATION

Two Stags Rutting

This particular pair have a stainless steel skeleton 

with bronze sheathing and cost €70,000.

The Gaelic Muse

New use for a phone box stood next

too a representation of a White Tailed Eagle

The Eagle who resides in Killarney Town Centre was commissioned by a sub group of Killarney Town Council, the Killarney Arts Committee, in 2008/2009. The sculpture, a local artist Joe Neeson, initiated the concept from design to creation which represents the Killarney connection with the White Tailed Eagle. During that time the White Tailed Eagle project was well underway which saw the Eagle reintroduced to Killarney National Park.

Murphy's Ice Cream Parlour http://murphysicecream.ie/about-us.html

The second reason for the visit was to ramble around the town with our cameras and to enjoy ourselves by window shopping. That was the plan until we saw that there was a large branch of TK MAXX in the High Street and our resolve not to shop crumbled in milli-seconds !

We finally treated ourselves to one garment each and departed with a spring in our step to a small cafe for lunch. 

This was followed by a delicious ice-cream from Murphy’s of Dingle whose slogan is “ice cream that know’s where it’s coming from”

A lovely mural in one of the dining rooms of a unknown café where we had a wonderful lunch of a large toasted flatbread with a Cheese, Tuna and Sweetcornfilling and because of our hunger we failed to note the name of the café!

The Paps of Anu

There was a lot more to see and explore in Killarney whose name translates as Cill Áirne, meaning Church of the Sloes. 

We shall return again later in the year, when hopefully the streets will be less busy, for we country mice are not comfortable in crowds. 

I am making promise to myself to treat Mrs H to a ride in one of those famous jaunting cars on our next visit and perhaps another ice-cream will be in order.

http://killarneyjauntingcars.ie

Where shall we visit next do you have any suggestions ?

Seen Within 200 yards

I walked no more than two hundred yards to take these photos of our locality and as you can see the greening of spring has yet to arrive. For it is only in the among garden plants: daffodils,croci and buds on the roses bushes where spring has pushed through.

A Lone Tree around which the faeries dance ?

Acres upon acres of grassland where winters bleached stalks stand pale.  

Faintly on the horizon a transmitter known locally as the Iron Man stands as a sentinel of modern communication. On the left in mid picture smoke pours  from the chimney of an isolated cabin, I was tempted to drop in for tea.

Beyond the electrified wire young Friesians graze and hopefully grow fat.

A patchwork of fields on a distant hill in another county.

Housing density is not a problem in this area. I looked up just after taking this photo to see a Crow flying overhead with a twig in its beak,to make a nest to home this years clutch of eggs; so yes spring has arrived!