The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

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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…

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Magnifico Montagna

The scale and magnificent grandeur of the Gran Sasso d’Italia mountains is emphasised by the seven distant motorcyclists (in the foreground), dwarfed against one of the peaks. Known as “Little Tibet”, the mountains are located in Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, near L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy.

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Quintessential Spanish Country Life

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

A Winter’s Day

In a deep and dark December” … Especially then.

The Balcon de Europa in Nerja, where the light is often sublime, is a great place to wait and hope someone will do ‘stuff’. Cycling, walking, sitting, winter calisthenics, or watch the setting sun.

All you need is a camera and patience….

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 grown in baskets on the sea bed. And BTW, there’s a ethereal shot of the “Harvest Seeker” in action on an earlier post: clicking on “Ard Eireann” below, lying in Arthurstown harbour (below) will take you right there.

The Albert Dock

A Day in the Life…

“….on Sunday mornings we’d make our way to the Pier Head and following a brief chat with the dock-gate policeman he’d let us in to wander through, and wonder at, the innovative Albert Dock...

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The Wild Beasts

Fishing Boats in the harbour at Collioure. The little French fishing village became a centre of artistic activity when a penniless Henri Matisse arrived after deciding to give his artistic career a push. He arrived in Collioure in 1905 and was immediately transfixed by the astonishing character and charm of the historic village, with the sea on one side and hillsides of terraced vineyards on the other.

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Waterford Revealed

The county is colloquially known as “The Déise” and pronounced “day-shih” after an Irish Tribe called the  Déisi, who were driven from counties Meath and Kildare area some time between the 4th and 8th centuries. They moved into the Waterford region, conquering and settling there – just like me some nine centuries later.

Following a lifetime in County Meath bringing up kids, and co-directing the Slidefile stock agency, the move to a house just metres from a clifftop overlooking the Celtic Sea was inspiring. Friendly and welcoming neighbours and an incredibly photogenic beach nearby, it was a completely accidental, but wonderful discovery.

It may be compact county, but it boasts two mountain ranges; the oldest city in Ireland; pretty fishing ports; a 19th Century mining legacy; prehistoric artifacts; ancient castles and charming villages. All in all, a wonderful heritage just waiting to be explored – and that’s what I did, revealing it a wider audience in my self published book.

And today’s image of the view from the Mahon Falls to the Celtic Sea, became the book cover…

You can read more about it if desired by clicking here, along with details of the redoubtable Dervla Murphy, and if the book takes your fancy, where to get a copy.

And to finish, the film-noir version of the county’s hinterland…

The Tour Barberousse

Or Redbeard’s Tower in English, stands above the coastal village of Gruissan in the Aude départment of France.

The tower is all that remains of a castle built at the end of the 10th century to observe the approaches to the harbour at Narbonne and to guard against seaborne invasions of the city by the Saracens. Built on a steep, rocky hill, the castle was enlarged in the 12th century by the Archbishops of Narbonne, Guillaume de Broa.

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Fleur-de-lis

The Fleur-de-lis or Iris is considered a representation of wisdom, elegance and faith in life.

During the middle ages, the Iris became the emblem of the French monarchy when Louis VII adopted it as a symbol in the 12th century and the Fleur-de-lis became the accepted national symbol of the empire. As they also represent courage, victory and power the flower became the national flower of France.

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The Sea…

Waves and shafting sunbeams over the Celtic Sea as it fringes County Waterford.

It was while searching through some infrequently visited files, for today’s image, that I found two forgotten videos. Compiled some six years ago as creative exercises to learn the art of videos, the black and white images lend themselves to a film noir approach, nicely enhanced by an atmospheric soundtrack called “Ocean Tapping” by PC III.

So, a resurrected video on my resurrected blog ! It was fun to make and hopefully, still fun for others to watch…

The remaining video will be added soon and if you’ll excuse the blatant marketeering, there’s more full colour imagery in my book, “Waterford A County Revealed”, details via the tab.