Category: Books

  • Equine Delights

    Equine Delights

    ‘Twilight and a pair of curious horses on Croaghaun Hill are silhouetted against the misty blue Comeraghs’ an extract from Waterford, A County Revealed

  • Ripples

    Ripples

    The wind that ever is with mystic mightA spirit ripple of the Infinite.…Victor Hugo

  • Atlantic Evening

    Atlantic Evening

    The wind has swept from the wide atmosphereEach vapour that obscured the sunset’s ray;And pallid Evening twines its beaming hairIn duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men,Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen.…by Percy Bysshe Shelley

  • “The Sampson”

    “The Sampson”

    Four kayakers en route for a sea view of “The Sampson”, a crane ship washed onto Ardmore Head on the County Waterford coast. Samson had left Liverpool in 1987, bound for Malta under tow from a tug boat. The towline parted in a gale off the Welsh coast early on 11 December. The two men aboard…

  • Sculptural Landscape

    Sculptural Landscape
  • One Midsummer Morning

    One Midsummer Morning

    A simple still-life with hints of Spain, a straw hat, glass of red wine and an opened illustrated copy of “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning“, by Laurie Lee, English poet and novelist, and a descriptive, richly lyrical memoir. The book is a sequel to “Cider with Rosie” which detailed life in Gloucestershire after…

  • Old Environmental Thoughts

    Many years ago, aged about 12, I became interested in bird watching. Browsing through nature books in my local library I came across a book published the previous year. Called “Happy Countryman”, I took it home. The first few words of Roberts’ lyrical and atmospheric writing forever hooked me into natural history. The wonderful descriptions…

  • Growling Sea

    Growling Sea

    Down on the shore, on the stormy shore!Beset by a growling sea,Whose mad waves leap on the rocky steepLike wolves up a traveller’s tree;Where the foam flies wide, and an angry blastBlows the curlew off, with a screech;Where the brown sea-wrack, torn up by the roots,Is flung out of fishes’ reach…By William Allingham… Image from…

  • Coumshingaun Lough

    Coumshingaun Lough

    A beautiful, quintessential glacial lake in County Waterford’s Comeragh Mountains, Coumshingaun Lough is a habitat of peregrine falcons, ravens and the elusive nightjar. A delightful peaceful place it wasn’t always so tranquil, especially during the life of William Crotty. The leader of an 18th century gang of highwaymen who like Robin Hood, stole from the…

  • Beached

    Beached

    The shadowy splendour of an autumn skyWas radiant with the hues of parting day;The glorious sun seemed loth to leave the west,That glowed like molten gold–a saffron seaFretted with crimson billows, whose rich tintsGave to the rugged cliff and barren heath…By Walter De La Mare

  • Wild Beauty

    Wild Beauty

    Evening on the lagoon at Gruissan, in Languedoc-Roussillon, France.

  • Winding Stair

    Winding Stair

    My Soul.I summon to the winding ancient stair;Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,Upon the breathless starlit air … WB Yeats Named after the Yeats poem and staircase, the Winding Stair Bookshop and Café overlooking the River Liffey and Ha’penny bridge became a famous Dublin landmark in the 1970s and…

  • Old Friends

    Old Friends

    To reminisce with old friends, a chance to make some memories…

  • Beckett’s Reprise

    Beckett’s Reprise

    “Moonlight is sculpture: seen and easily discerned in good composition like a suspension bridge, where each line adds strength and takes none away.” The exquisite lines of the Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by the architect Santiago Calatrava, crossing the River Liffey in Dublin under a cloud moonlit sky.

  • Here Today – Gone Tomorrow

    Here Today – Gone Tomorrow

    The derelict San Joaquin Sugar Mill, located between Nerja and Maro on the old coast road, is a fascinating sight, silhouetted against a Mediterranean sunset.

  • The Samuel Beckett Bridge

    The Samuel Beckett Bridge

    Under a rare cloudless blue sky, the exquisite lines of the Samuel Beckett Bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin. Designed by the architect Santiago Calatrava, it’s his second bridge over the Liffey, the first being the James Joyce Bridge that shares a literary connection in more ways than one…

  • Nocturnal Balcón de Europa

    Nocturnal Balcón de Europa

    On a deserted Balcon illuminated by moonlight there are just four people visible. Three are unknown, the one on the extreme left is a sculpture of the late king Alfonso XII who actually named the balcony during a visit after the big earthquake that hit Nerja in 1884, observing that “this is the Balcón de…

  • Megalithic Dolmen

    Megalithic Dolmen

    The sun sets eerily behind the Knockeen Portal Tomb, a megalith near Tramore in County Waterford, Ireland. Over 3.5 metres high, it’s the largest dolmen in County Waterford and one of the finest examples in Ireland, albeit unclear exactly what it was used for…

  • Quintessential Spanish Country Life

    Quintessential Spanish Country Life

    The wind has swept from the wide atmosphereEach vapour that obscured the sunset’s ray;And pallid evening twines its beaming hairIn duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:…Percy Bysshe Shelley

  • One Man and a Boat

    One Man and a Boat

    A solitary stroller inspects the “Harvest Seeker” during its temporary beaching at Arthurstown on the Hook Peninsula in County Wexford. High and dry, I guess it’s one way to remove the barnacles and sea weed. The boat is a regular sight on south east Ireland’s Waterford Harbour as it drifts through the quiet waters collecting mussels…