Farewell Ireland

Geokaun Dawn

Valencia Island Light

A Lonely House

St. Finian's Church

Gougane Barra Sunrise

It has been an amazing ten day journey through the southwest corner of Ireland. 3238 photographs later (and the majority of those fair to middlin' and not worth printing), I have come away with a much different take on this country than I had previously. For all its economic woes, Ireland is vibrant, upbeat, and full of genuinely friendly people.

It is also confusing for non-Irish speaking visitors. To promote the language, all signs (with the exception of STOP signs) are in Irish, a form of gaelic, with english subtitles below. Thankfully, Peter Cox, our tour leader, is fluent and was able to navigate quite easily through this word maze.

The weather has been far wetter than normal for this time of year, but as there was not much we could do about it, we forged ahead. Only three out of ten days were sunny, whereas it should have been the reverse. At least everything was green as expected.

It was an interesting group, quite amiable and amicable, with two glaring exceptions, a couple from Los Angeles (actually the wife really wasn't too bad) who, as Peter so politely put it "some people are simply self-absorbed." Demanding, oblivious to all needs but their own, and indeed blind to much of the scenery passing by the bus as we traveled from one beautiful destination to another, they were highly unpleasant. Oh well, the rest of us got on famously!

So back to my wonderful wife and the comforts of home. I'm sorry to not have posted more images, however high speed internet has been quite rare and getting a slew of photos out was more than the system usually could bear.

Cheers,

Steve

Greetings from Portmagee

Portmagee

The Skelligs (Michael is the one on the right)

Torc Falls, Killarney

Lough Leane Twilight

View from the Lake Hotel

Hi Everyone!

I'm in Portmagee, down on the southwest coast and it is 4:12 am. I woke up a bit early for a dawn shoot and decided to use the time efficiently instead of trying to get back to sleep only to be woken in a few minutes by the alarm.

We haven't had much in the way of blue skies, perhaps 6 hours total, in the last week, but there IS a reason Ireland is so green and there has been plenty of that. We were scheduled to take the ferry out to Skellig Michael, this massive rock with an 8th century monastery ruin on top 9 miles out to sea, but the swells are too big so we are going to see other wild and wooly bits of Ireland.

Here's a few images to date. Enjoy!

More from Ireland

Great Blasket Island Vista

View towards Dun Quinn

Blasket Island Ruin (for sale!)

Dingle Fishing Boat Abstract

Hi folks!

The weather has been a bit hard for photography but that doesn't stop us, so here's some more for you to enjoy. We are in Killarney for a couple of days and today it is very low overcast with rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be more advantageous for seeing this countryside.

Cheers,

Steve

Greetings from Ireland

Minard Castle

Blasket Island Trio

Hi everyone!

I am here in Dingle, Ireland (down in the southwest corner of the country) enjoying a bit of photography in this wild country. Yes, Ireland is far wilder than most folks realize, seeing as how most of them stay close to meticulously groomed golf courses or Dublin.

Allie is tending the farm and dealing with all the critters, along with her gardening clients, who sometimes are more challenging than the animals.

So without further ado, here are some photos for you. Sorry they are small but the availability of internet is a bit limited so I had to keep the file size down.

Bonnie off for greener Pastures

Bonnie

Shelburne Window scene

Adirondacks from Lake Champlain

Shelburne Barn

Summer is here full tilt and we have been flat out in the gardens harvesting beans, cucumbers, beans and yet more beans. The raspberries have finished up and the currants are also done. Phew. Now I can concentrate a little bit more on putting up the vegetables, at least until the peaches and apples start up.

Yesterday we drove to Shelburne VT to go to the Shelburne Museum. It was a beautiful clear day and Lake Champlain was just beautiful and the Adirondack Mountains in NY were clear in the distance. If nothing else, it was a beautiful day for a drive across the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Champlain Valley. The Shelburne Museum has 37 historic structures that all house Electra Webb's eclectic collection, and lets just say that it was one very fascinating eclectic collection.

It was a sad night last night when our old faithful pygmy goat passed away. Bonnie was at least 13 years old and the leader of the herd dispite her size. Nothing phased 'ole Bonnie, no matter how much snow was on the ground, she was always the first goat out into the paddock, she had an infallible internal clock that would go off at 6:30 each night telling us that it was time to go in for the evening. She will be sorely missed. Truffle will have very big shoes to fill.