HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
Weekly Photo Challenge – Fun
Posted on August 12, 2016
Fun.
The local drama society back in HX puts on 3 or 4 plays per year which are always well attended. The comedies are particularly popular and one normally needs to book tickets in advance to see them.
Can’t remember the name of this one, but like many others in the past, it was great fun!
At the Honey Fitz Theater, Lough Gur, Limerick, Ireland
Weekly Photo Challenge – Opposites
Posted on July 1, 2016
Solstice morning. 21 June 2014. The calmest morning MB ever witnessed at Lough Gur lake. The water surface was like a mirror. Every reflection was a perfect opposite. MB took many shots. This is one of his favourites:
John Carew – HX Poet & Storyteller
Posted on June 27, 2016
MB has oft mentioned Lough Gur lake in posts of his HX homeland. He has told you a little of the mystique of the lake, and the fact that one of the adjoining hills (called Knockadoon) is home to one of the four Irish entrances to the Land of Everlasting Youth, called ‘Tír Na Nóg’ in the Irish Gaelic. The entrance, as MB has also previously informed you, is secret and is known only to certain ‘Guardians’ (such as MB). It is also heavily guarded by the fairies, and it is no easy task to get past them. Beware of HX fairies dear followers. Read More
Ireland Trip Photos
Posted on June 10, 2016
MB was back amongst his own two weeks back and was shooting anything that moved. He gives you some random shots from his HX locality:
Weekly Photo Challenge – Spare
Posted on May 28, 2016
Lots of HX locals are heading to the Lough Gur lakefront at present trying to capture photos of the (allegedly) 5 new cygnets born to the pair of resident swans last week. MB was in the locality yesterday with canon-in-hand, not exactly at the lakefront area – but nearby, when he spotted a swan swimming slowly by with – not 5 – but 8 cygnets in tow. MB is not sure if this swan is a totally different one from those at the lakefront area (swans are territorial and tend to stay in their own locality), or it is one of the lakefront swans who has managed to pick up a few spares in recent days!
Swan & Cygnets @ Lough Gur. 27 May 2016
The strange tale of the Irish Cherokee Indian & the lady with rebel blood
Posted on May 12, 2016
Strange incidents and coincidences ofttimes happen to MB. There he was doing almost nothing some few months back, eating organic chocolate or some such, when he received an interesting message on one of his blog posts. Read More
Weekly Photo Challenge – Admiration
Posted on April 29, 2016
MB admires very much the unpaid volunteers from his home community who man the Lough Gur lake Heritage Centre. As well as giving of their daily time to look after the shop and interactive displays for visiting tourists, they also act as guides for those who wish to gain some knowledge of local monuments. Some of those same monuments date back over 6,000 years.
Check out www.loughgur.com for further info on MB’s home locality.
The Lough Gur Heritage Centre
A local Guide with a group of visiting tourists at the Grange Stone Circle
Weekend Trip Home
Posted on April 29, 2016
MB took a flying visit home last weekend. Lots of local events were taking place, particularly relating to the centenary celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule.
Some pics from the trip:
The Emerald Isle
Posted on April 19, 2016
MB travels home tomorrow for a mini-break. Maybe he will see some sights similar to those below, captured on previous trips. Read More
Weekly Photo Challenge – Landscape
Posted on April 1, 2016
This weeks photo challenge from Cheri is Landscape.
As part of the Summer Solstice Festival back home in HX every June, the festival organisers host a ‘Long walk for the Long Day’ on 21 June, the solstice day. It’s generally around the lake area, with the permission of local farmers. The scenery is stunning; although ten-a-penny in Ireland. When you live in the Middle East desert for a number of years, you more fully appreciate just how stunning it actually is.
MB took this shot on a rainy 21 June evening last year, 2015. Awesome shot MB. Thanks lads.
Trip Home – The End!
Posted on March 21, 2016
MB is well & truly done with the trip home photos after this one. Read More
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?
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 – 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
Christmas Trip Home – 20 Random Shots
Posted on January 22, 2016
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