Ireland 2012

We'll start with my birthday and the Blazen Head and a personal, guided tour of Tara (which included a hail storm as we huddled at the Tara Well).

During this week, if you blinked, you missed the sun. It was nice that it decided to shine on my session of didly-eye...




Many people came out to celebrate my birthday with songs and celebration.

Here are my Tour Guides at Tara... this is the entrance through the walls of the Anglican Church. The ancient entrance to the city is rather covered by the years, grass, and some purposeful redecorating...

This graveyard rather covers the ancient entrance to the settlement of Tara.

There are two main hills on Tara: one representing the masculine spirit and one, the feminine. You might guess which one this is...

The Tower at Skyrne from a distance. On the Solstice, the sun will shine right through the eye of the tower and hit the stone I've pictured above.


Tara was the royal seat for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and the upsurge of Christianity. The Anglican Church and a Christian stone monument (on the right) atop the hill of Tara are tribute to the many attempts to usurp the Druidic influence in this region at that time. During my visit, there were many shamanic groups stopping at Tara to draw from the powers meant to dwell there. At least the Anglicans didn't knock down the original monument.











Here is the Tara Well, which is alleged to have healing powers. Many come to fill water bottles here... and I was one of them enjoying its great-tasting water.

This peaceful place sheltered us during the Hail Storm...

Is that an Irish Terrorist? No, it's one of my tour guides!

Wishing Tree at Tara, County Meath

Wishing...

This evening, we fancied a good pint of Guinness, and my tour guide wanted me to see Skyrne close up (though I had no idea that's where we were going). Imagine my surprise!










The rock walls here often come with masoned steps, so that humans might cross over, while livestock could not.









I just can't get enough of the steps and the lichen. You could feel the centuries as you stood on this steep ascent...



The Tower of Skyrne...and an homage to Monty Python, before a couple Guinness at O'Connell's. (it's featured in this Christmas ad for Guinness).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPT1eBSApvU&feature=related


"We'll have us another one there, Christy!"



Stairs in the Rock Wall at Glendalough.
A bit of detail...




It amazes me to think that when this tower was built, they had no ladders and along with that, what do you suppose they used to make this tower so very round?














Japanese Gardens, County Kildare

This is Spiral Lodge, where I was fortunate enough to stay, thanks to the hospitality of my friends.


Lovely, isn't it?

In 1984, I was offered four jobs after only arriving three days earlier. This was one of my first jobs - the Blooms Hotel - and ended up being a turnstyle for many lives over the years...it's in Templebar, which is a thriving entertainment district in Dublin.

I took this photo for my niece, who wanted a feel of the place...the hotspot on the corner is the Temple Bar.

Turf and coal for sale at the petrol station. Because there's nothing like a turf fire!