Perfect End to the Day

Sometimes it's easy to forget the beauty which surrounds us, to be too busy to take time to stop and look.

It's been particularly difficult to savour it this summer when we will remember the monsoon like rain and days without sunshine.

Now, at summer's end, there are golden hours from which we will form our memories of this special season.

Gyles Quay is my 'go to' spot if I want to capture the tranquility of the sun reflected in the waves before it slips below the horizon.

This evening, however, crab fishing was on the menu.  Our ten year old niece from England's industrial and landlocked north west is obsessed with fishing. A homemade fishing line and a bucket provided the best fun of the holiday.

While her Dad kept a careful watch, I  drank in the peace and beauty of a perfect end to the day.

Heritage Week

This is Heritage Week in Ireland and events are being  held up and down the country to encourage people to have a better appreciation of our heritage.

It's easy to take our heritage for granted when, it seems, that every parish has a  national monument of some sort, from neolithic graves to fine Georgian houses.

I can, within a twenty minute drive, find dolmen and passage graves, medieval churches, old abbeys and castles, sweat houses and mass rocks. 

It was  only when I began posting images of these on the photo sharing website Pbase.com that the comments of users from America and Australia made me think: 'Hey, it  really IS cool to drive past a 13th century tower on my way to work every day.'

Our  heritage is a huge asset and one which attracts many visitors to Ireland - no one is going to come here for the weather.  Unfortunately, some of it has been lost by farmers clearing fields  and developers anxious to make a quick buck.

We also need better signs and information for many of our national monuments so that locals and visitors alike can enjoy them.

King John's Castle Carlingford

Cuchulainn's Mount, Dundalk

Celtic Cross, Dromiskin

Old Graveyard, Faughart

What's Rare Is Wonderful

A warm sunny evening after another summer day punctuated by heavy showers.
I treasure my after work walks, Labrador by my side, knowing that 'summer's lease hath all too short a date' and that soon darkness will keep me inside.

The hedgerows are full of the ripeness of late summer as nature prepares for autumn.

Failte

A Summer Evening

Jumping in or dipping my toe into the vast ocean of blogging? I'm not sure which but I've thought about this for some time.  In fact, I started a blog as a new year resolution but kept it a secret as I wasn't sure if blogging is for me. I've tried to kill it but don't think I succeeded and it now floats around cyberspace with deleted posts.  I love photography, I write for a living, but I don't want to live my life in public. 
 A lot of blogs seem to have just one theme - there are food blogs, political blogs, interior design blogs, fashion blogs. None seemed right for me. 
I'm an ok cook but the food is devoured before I can photograph it. I live in a lovely old farmhouse but a lot of times it's a mess.  I have a weakness for clothes but I'm not going to model them. And politics is just too depressing. 
Then I discovered the journal type blogs where people simply post photographs of what they see in their daily life, write about what's happening in their lives and invite us into their community.  That's what I want to do. I want to share my photos, develop my creative writing, and, with any luck, let people know about the beautiful part of Ireland I am fortunate enough to live in. So here it is, my wee blog from Ireland's wee county - Louth. This is a new journey for me and one which I'd like to you to join as I share my snapshots and stories about the small things which make life beautiful.