Trip Home – Road Runner
Posted on March 20, 2016
MB was on the HX/LG road early morning when he passed former HX soccer player and current An Bru AC member BL who was out for a pre-breakfast run. MB allowed him to pass on, and when the distance was sufficient, MB jumped out of the car (he does that a lot) and caught BL running off into the distance. Just like the Road Runner.
Beep beep!
Road Runner
Trip Home – Cattlescape
Posted on March 19, 2016
On seeing the cattle in front of the cottage, MB stopped his car in the middle of a quiet country road not far from his own house, hit the handbrake and left the engine running as abandoned his vehicle for a few moments – camera in hand. Read More
Weekly Photo Challenge – Dance
Posted on March 18, 2016
One of the great things about Ireland is the cultural and social life that people enjoy. There are so many sports and other community groups with a huge number of volunteer member & participants that there is always something going on, no matter where you happen to be or the time of year.
During MBs trip home last week, he attended a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ fundraising night for the local Ballyneety Golf Club, who are attempting to purchase the club on behalf of the members from the current owners. A number of MBs friends were involved in organising the event. If you don’t know the TV show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ look it up on Youtube.
The night in question did not involve professional dancers, but ordinary members of the local & golf club community, who were willing to practice for some 3 or 4 months before the event with a professional dance choreographer, so they would look half decent on the night. People bought tickets to attend and paid to vote for their favourites, and business groups placed adverts in the Event Programme that was on sale on the night. In all, some 1,000 people attended the event in a Limerick Hotel (the South Court) and the night was a great piece of entertainment and fun. According to MBs sources, some Euro 50,000 was raised.
MB captured ‘loadz’ of pics on the night but he has chosen a sequence of three, to meet Ben’s requirement that the post should “capture the rhythm in the movement”.
Herewith:
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
Trip Home – Lough Gur
Posted on March 18, 2016
Almost all of MB’s ‘Trip Home’ shots of recent posts were taken around the Lough Gur lake area. But what of the lake itself?
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Posted on March 17, 2016
Ok. So MB wished you all a happy St Patrick’s Day in an earlier post of today. So what the hell what?! No harm wishing you all again, on the day the chosen people celebrate their big day. Ok?!
Trip Home – Grange Stone Circle
Posted on March 17, 2016
Happy St Patricks Day!
MB headed out early one morning in the final days of his trip home. He was at the lake not long after sunrise and was at the Grange Stone Circle approx 8am.
The Grange Stone Circle dates from the bronze age, making it approximately some 4,000 to 5,000 years old. Other local monuments date from an earlier age.
Some might consider that it dates from an older age, but exploratory excavations carried out in recent years down to levels below that of the circle, have discovered evidence that would appear to confirm the above approximate age of the structure. There is further exploratory evidence that there has been continuous human habitation in the HX/Grange/Lough Gur area since that time. That’s a lot of time!
The 113 stones were transported, probably on circular shaped logs rolling along the ground, from a nearby rocky hill called Knockderk. In years past, not too many, this hill was used as a quarry to produce stone for civil engineering purposes.
When you point a camera into the sun, the camera will automatically darken the photo. So the below photo seems as if it was shot a little earlier – just for those interested in the mechanics of cameras & photography. One friend commented that he thought the below shot was taken much earlier in the morning.
From the loughgur.com website. For the record – MB does not agree with some of the content:
Composed of 113 standing stones, the Grange Stone Circle is the largest and finest in Ireland. It was built c. 2,200 B.C. after the arrival of the Bronze Age People in Lough Gur. It is a ritual site akin to our churches of the present day and also served as an astronomical calendar. We can only speculate on the rituals which took place here but know that they were of great importance also to people from surrounding settlements. The circle is aligned on the sunrise of the summer solstice. Included in the archaeological finds were thousands of sherds of Beaker pottery. The breaking of Beaker pots against the standing stones seems to have been part of a ceremony. The largest stone is called Rannach Crom Dubh and is over 40 tonnes in weight and was transported over a distance of 3 miles.
Grange Stone Circle, County Limerick, Ireland
Trip Home – Knockadoon
Posted on March 16, 2016
MB has mentioned the hill of Knockadoon in recent posts. In the below photo, the 16th century Bouchiers Castle is visible left of pic. The ruins of a 13th-century castle, called Black Castle, also lie within the treescape of the hill, but it’s not visible on MB’s shot.
Knockadoon contains one of Ireland’s four secret entrances to the land of everlasting youth, or Tír Na Nóg in the Irish Gaelic language (pronounced – teer-na-noog). Each of the four provinces of Ireland contains one entrance, which are known only to a select few Knights of Nóg. HX blog followers can guess whether or not MB is such a Knight, but MB’s not saying. However, MB’s extremely youthful looks for his age may give followers a pointer.
Other than the above, MB is not at liberty to say much more about the sacred historical hill which contains many secrets.
Knockadoon, Lough Gur, County Limerick
Trip Home – The Farm by Lough Gur
Posted on March 15, 2016
If you walk along the Lough Gur lake front, past the visitor centre, you come to a closed metal gate. Scale the gate or the adjacent style, advance straight ahead, rather than left for the hill of Knockfennel, and the Farm by Lough Gur appears on your right as your elevation above the lake level increases. The farm was the home of the Catholic O’Brien family who lived there and farmed the land in the mid 19th century. The story of everyday life of the family was transcribed by Sissy O’Brien (with some assistance from family) who passed her recollections to one Mary Lady Carberry. The book was first published in 1937 in London. It was a best-seller in Dublin and also sold well in England.
The local community reprinted the book in recent times with the passing of the copyright time limit.
From the loughgur.com website:
The book ‘The Farm by Lough Gur’ written by Mary Carberry has been re-launched following much local interest. This true story is based on the life of Sissy O’Brien who lived on the farm at Lough Gur in the mid 19th century, as told to Mary Carberry. A fascinating account of ordinary domestic life in Ireland. Available at Ryans and Reardons at Holy Cross, Nagles Spar shop in Bruff and also available at the Honeyfitz theatre 087 285 2022. Price €15 per copy. Limited edition.
The Farm By Lough Gur
Trip Home – New Church
Posted on March 14, 2016
New Church (Teampall Nua – in the Irish Gaelic language).
New Church lies on the HX to Lough Gur road and sits on the edge of the lake shore. There is a great view across the lake to Grange House from the church grounds which MB has featured in some photos included in recent posts.
From the loughgur.com website:
“New Church replaced an older chapel which was used by the Earls of Desmond. The present structure dates from 1679 – a simple rectangular building. It was endowed with a chalice and patten which bear the inscription:
“The guift of the Right Honourable Rachel Countess Dowager of Bath to her chapel-of-ease Logh Guir, Ireland 1679”
The famed poet harper Thomas O’Connellan who died in 1698 in Bourchiers Castle is buried here in an unmarked grave as is Owen Bresnan (1847-1912) local poet and historian who composed Teampall Nua and Sweet Lough Gur side.”
Teampall Nua, Lough Gur, County Limerick
Trip Home – Conway’s House
Posted on March 13, 2016
My favourite house in the HX locality is Conway’s house. So called on account of the family who lives there. Really MB?! Ya. Really.
MB has no idea of the history of the house but it must be some 100 to 150 years old. Maybe if one of the Conway connections reads this post they might be so good as to enlighten us in that regard.
Anyway, regards to the Conways!
Conway’s House – in early morning sunshine
Trip Home – Bouchiers Castle
Posted on March 12, 2016
MB returned to his Middle East abode last night after a week long trip back home. Many snaps were snapped in the HX locality and MB has decided to share some of the best with followers over the coming days.
Bouchiers Castle
The castle sits on privately owned land next to the lake entrance, beside the farmhouse of the land owners. Given the amount of trees surrounding the structure, it is actually quite difficult to get a decent shot of it. But in the winter and spring seasons, when the trees are naked & bare, such an opportunity is granted by the Gods.
From the loughgur.com website:
The present structure is thought to date from the early 1600s during the reign of James I, but it replaced an earlier castle on the same site and some of the earlier features are incorporated into it. It is a typical tower house and there were defensive outworks and a causeway on its approach. After the plantation of Munster and the fall of the Earls of Desmond, the lands at Lough Gur were granted to Sir George Bouchier, son of the second Earl of Bath.
Bouchiers Castle, Lough Gur, County Limerick, Ireland
Weekly Photo Challenge – One Love
Posted on March 12, 2016
This week’s WordPress challenge got MB thinking of the two swans that frequent the Lough Gur lake-front back home. During MB’s Christmas break, they seemed to be inseparable.
MB saw them again during his trip home of recent days when they seemed to be having some ‘alone time’. Maybe she just had a headache. But at the end of the day, who the hell knows what goes on with swans.
From Wikipedia:
Swans usually mate for life, though “divorce” does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another.
Swan having some ‘alone time’
Weekly Photo Challenge – Harmony
Posted on March 6, 2016
Definitions (non-musical)
Another deadly MB shot
Weekly Photo Challenge – State of Mind
Posted on February 26, 2016
A photo that reflects your own state of mind at the moment you took it.
No. MB was not placed on top of a funeral pyre and just about to be set alight!
The first part of the actual burning of a dead body on a Hindu ‘funeral pyre’ is to set alight some straw that is stuffed into the mouth of the dead person, after placement on a bed of timber logs. This is considered to release the soul to be reborn again through reincarnation, on its journey through multiple reincarnations to eventual Nirvana. Later the body is covered with timber and straw, the entire pyre set alight and the body is reduced to ashes, which are washed with a few buckets of river water, into the holy Bagmati River, in the case of the below photo which MB took in Kathmandu, Nepal, approx three years back.
There is a state of wonderment and awe at the whole funeral ceremony and burning of the body amongst all the relatives and onlookers. The funeral ceremonies are considered happy occasions because of the whole reincarnation idea, unlike the West where much sadness and shedding of tears will be part of the service. And wonderment and awe was equally on the mind of MB as he had the privilege to witness the whole event from start to finish.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Seasons
Posted on February 19, 2016
For approximately 9 months of every year in the Middle East, it’s only necessary to wear a light shirt when going out during day or night. But we are presently in those 3 months when you might need a jacket when venturing outdoors.
These two ladies were dining with their husbands last night at an outdoor table at Souq Waqif. In a few weeks from now, those jackets will not be required.
The photo is a little grainy or blurry. The ladies were sitting in a dark location about 20m from where MB was sitting, so MB was not able to get a really sharp shot, a lá MB’s normal standard. The trials & tribulations of life!
Ladies with jackets in Qatar, on a cool February evening
HX Report 