Most days we visit a church or two and often light a candle and pray for friends of ours in Canberra who were bereaved recently. Yesterday beside the candle holder at St Marys Cathedral in Killarney was this piece written by Bo Setterlind of Reykjavik:
Light the light of frankness
In the darkness of fear.
Light the light of justice
In the darkness of corruption.
Light the light of faith
In the darkness of denial.
Light the light of life
In the darkness of despair.
Light the light of love
In the darkness of hatred and death.
Light the light.
A interesting feature of St Marys is that it shares its architect, Augustus Pugin, with several churches in Australia including one at Berrima just 150kms from Canberra and Oatlands in Tasmania. Pugin is probably best known for designing the interiors of the Houses of Parliament in London. He was a devout Catholic and when a close friend of his was appointed the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Tasmania in the mid C19, he loaded a boat with architectural drawings, models, clerical robes, church furniture and communion silverware, all of which he had designed himself ( there was an exhibition of some of it in Canberra about 5 years ago) – his churches for the colonies were simple but with elegant gothic styling. So it was fascinating yesterday to see his work on a grand scale in Killarney..
Friday, June 17, 2005
Ireland - the south west
Picked up a brand new Citroen last Friday for 10 days of exploring the south and west. Nice little car – good size for the VERY narrow country lanes. Spent a few hours at Glendaloch ( thank you David O’Sullivan for the suggestion) – combines a beautiful valley with two lakes and the remains of a monastery which goes back to St Kevin, a 5th century hermit and priest who sought solitude in the area. Interestingly the local St Kevin’s Catholic Church has built 6 small hermitages for people who want to spend time in quietness and reflection. It is certainly a very tranquil place, between the coach loads of tourists.
We stayed overnight at Dungarvan which is a very attractive waterfront and market town. Our B&B was a 200 year old house built by the Duke of Devonshire asa holiday home, with great water views and an excellent breakfast mostly of food produced in its garden.
A couple of outstanding seaside towns on the Saturday – Kinsale and Glendore. Beautiful locations. Glendore is tiny but with a delightful location looking down across a bay. Then late afternoon we arrived at Kenmare where we have a cottage for the week – locating it was quite a challenge – just as well is stays light till well after 10pm – we would never have found it in the dark!! It is delightful – about 10 kms out of town, overlooking the sea and with everything we need for a comfortable stay – actually, with 3 bedrooms, it has much more than we need.
Over the past few days we’ve driven around the Ring of Kerry – a magnificent 180 km road around the perimeter of the Kerry peninsular, taken a boat to Ilnacullin Island ( a remarkable gardening feat dating back almost 100 years which turned a rocky barren island into a lush temperate garden thanks to the warm Gulf stream and huge amounts of money and effort – unfortunately we visited Sissinghurst just a week before – Sissinghurst is lovingly tendered by a few paid staff and a massive army of volunteers who keep it in tip top condition – Ilnalcullin by contrast could have done with a bit of TLC but is still an amazing achievement – Sorry, Malcolm Skilbeck, that we weren’t as enamoured as you). We have also completed a 5 hour walk along a section of the Kerry Way – an excellent walk – a bit steep in places but we took our time. Heaps of wild rhododendrons, fuschias and foxgloves looking just fabulous at the moment. The one negative about the walk was that we didn’t do the one we intended – the plus was that it was very good none the less – the map states “the waymarking is intentionally discreet” – invisible more like!!!!! Who cares if we did section 8 when we planned to do section 1?
More cloud about and the forecast looks a bit dodgy – max today a brisk 14 deg and its midsummer next week.
We stayed overnight at Dungarvan which is a very attractive waterfront and market town. Our B&B was a 200 year old house built by the Duke of Devonshire asa holiday home, with great water views and an excellent breakfast mostly of food produced in its garden.
A couple of outstanding seaside towns on the Saturday – Kinsale and Glendore. Beautiful locations. Glendore is tiny but with a delightful location looking down across a bay. Then late afternoon we arrived at Kenmare where we have a cottage for the week – locating it was quite a challenge – just as well is stays light till well after 10pm – we would never have found it in the dark!! It is delightful – about 10 kms out of town, overlooking the sea and with everything we need for a comfortable stay – actually, with 3 bedrooms, it has much more than we need.
Over the past few days we’ve driven around the Ring of Kerry – a magnificent 180 km road around the perimeter of the Kerry peninsular, taken a boat to Ilnacullin Island ( a remarkable gardening feat dating back almost 100 years which turned a rocky barren island into a lush temperate garden thanks to the warm Gulf stream and huge amounts of money and effort – unfortunately we visited Sissinghurst just a week before – Sissinghurst is lovingly tendered by a few paid staff and a massive army of volunteers who keep it in tip top condition – Ilnalcullin by contrast could have done with a bit of TLC but is still an amazing achievement – Sorry, Malcolm Skilbeck, that we weren’t as enamoured as you). We have also completed a 5 hour walk along a section of the Kerry Way – an excellent walk – a bit steep in places but we took our time. Heaps of wild rhododendrons, fuschias and foxgloves looking just fabulous at the moment. The one negative about the walk was that we didn’t do the one we intended – the plus was that it was very good none the less – the map states “the waymarking is intentionally discreet” – invisible more like!!!!! Who cares if we did section 8 when we planned to do section 1?
More cloud about and the forecast looks a bit dodgy – max today a brisk 14 deg and its midsummer next week.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Dublin
Dublin
Last Tuesday we flew from London to Dublin with Ryan Air, one of the low cost airlines that fly all over Europe these days. We opted for the more expensive fare of 3.99 Euros each ( instead of the .99 cent flight which left at a rather unsociable hour) – plus taxes, of course – who will heed the messages of the environmental damage caused by flying when you can flit across Europe at prices like these?
Our arrival in Ireland coincided with the first real summer weather so far – temps have hovered around 20 deg with enough sunshine for many of the locals to get quite sunburnt. Dublin is a very lively and prosperous city of just over 1 million. The economic prosperity linked to massive amounts of EU money flowing into the country has had a huge impact – I hadn’t been to Dublin for about 10 years and can see the changes – cranes working everywhere putting up new buildings, constructing new roads – locals say that it has come at a cost – it is now the second most expensive place to live in the EU zone after Finland and life has moved up several notches to become more competitive and stressful.
Kimberley and Richie took time off work to show us around and we had a meal with Richie’s parents – a delightful couple whom we will spend more time with next weekend.
Kimberley has settled into Dublin very happily – they have a lovely apartment ( at enormous cost!!) just 15 mins walk from the centre of Dublin. There is a wonderful new light rail system called the LUAS which has a stop 5 mins walk from their home and drops K very near her work. Why can’t Canberra put in something like the LUAS – it is very efficient – runs every 5 to 10 mins for about 18 hrs a day, is quiet, clean and very popular. K is very happy working with Microsoft – she is on a 4 month contract at present and hopes to make that permanent.
Three generations of Richie’s family have worked for the Guinness brewery in Dublin so it was the first stop on our itinerary – they have created a very interesting exhibition centre in their original brewery – the tour ends on the 7th floor with a glass of Guinness in the magnificent circular Gravity Bar – glass walls allow uninterrupted views all over the city – it was wonderful on a clear sunny day – Arthur Guinness started the brewery in the mid 18th century and was a social reformer as well as an enormously successful businessman – her was the first employer in Ireland to give workers paid holidays, sick leave and retirement and widows pensions. He also provided good housing for his workers along with medical and dental services – much like the Rowntrees in the UK. It led to comments from family to their unmarried daughters of “Marry a Guinness worker – he’s worth money dead or alive”. Richie’s great grandfather was a temporary employee there at the start of the first world war. The company encouraged workers to enlist in the British army by promising them a permanent job on their return. Unfortunately Richie’s GG was killed at Flanders but the company still gave his widow a pension for life.
Last Tuesday we flew from London to Dublin with Ryan Air, one of the low cost airlines that fly all over Europe these days. We opted for the more expensive fare of 3.99 Euros each ( instead of the .99 cent flight which left at a rather unsociable hour) – plus taxes, of course – who will heed the messages of the environmental damage caused by flying when you can flit across Europe at prices like these?
Our arrival in Ireland coincided with the first real summer weather so far – temps have hovered around 20 deg with enough sunshine for many of the locals to get quite sunburnt. Dublin is a very lively and prosperous city of just over 1 million. The economic prosperity linked to massive amounts of EU money flowing into the country has had a huge impact – I hadn’t been to Dublin for about 10 years and can see the changes – cranes working everywhere putting up new buildings, constructing new roads – locals say that it has come at a cost – it is now the second most expensive place to live in the EU zone after Finland and life has moved up several notches to become more competitive and stressful.
Kimberley and Richie took time off work to show us around and we had a meal with Richie’s parents – a delightful couple whom we will spend more time with next weekend.
Kimberley has settled into Dublin very happily – they have a lovely apartment ( at enormous cost!!) just 15 mins walk from the centre of Dublin. There is a wonderful new light rail system called the LUAS which has a stop 5 mins walk from their home and drops K very near her work. Why can’t Canberra put in something like the LUAS – it is very efficient – runs every 5 to 10 mins for about 18 hrs a day, is quiet, clean and very popular. K is very happy working with Microsoft – she is on a 4 month contract at present and hopes to make that permanent.
Three generations of Richie’s family have worked for the Guinness brewery in Dublin so it was the first stop on our itinerary – they have created a very interesting exhibition centre in their original brewery – the tour ends on the 7th floor with a glass of Guinness in the magnificent circular Gravity Bar – glass walls allow uninterrupted views all over the city – it was wonderful on a clear sunny day – Arthur Guinness started the brewery in the mid 18th century and was a social reformer as well as an enormously successful businessman – her was the first employer in Ireland to give workers paid holidays, sick leave and retirement and widows pensions. He also provided good housing for his workers along with medical and dental services – much like the Rowntrees in the UK. It led to comments from family to their unmarried daughters of “Marry a Guinness worker – he’s worth money dead or alive”. Richie’s great grandfather was a temporary employee there at the start of the first world war. The company encouraged workers to enlist in the British army by promising them a permanent job on their return. Unfortunately Richie’s GG was killed at Flanders but the company still gave his widow a pension for life.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
UK
Just spent two weeks with Christy and Andy at Seaford – about 10 miles east of Brighton. We have got into the habit of being lulled to sleep to the sound of waves lapping on the shingle. Christy and Andy both had some time off during our stay so we were able to enjoy some good long walks, meals out and generally relaxing together.
During our visit, Twixxy, a 14 foot catamaran was added to their stable of watersports equipment. http://www.hobiecatcentre.co.uk/pooleindex.htm We had several frustrating days of very strong winds but on Monday after work we were able to launch her and sail for about an hour. Very exhilarating. Hopefully we’ll be able to sail some more when we return at the end of July.
Spent a lovely day at Sissinghurst, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/sissinghurst/ , Vita Sackville West’s magnificent garden in Kent – the gardens and fields are unbelievable green and lush – a real treat for the eyes after drought stricken Canberra.
On Monday, we brought our long time friend Ruth Beasley Murray across from Hove for the day. It was great to spend time with her. She is just as bright and lively as ever and it was lovely to see her looking so well.
Weather was fairly patchy – some beautiful sunny days but also some cool showery. We managed to get in several long walks – one of our favourites is along the Vanguard Way http://www.sevensisters.org.uk/ the fantastic cliff walk over the Seven Sisters.
On Tuesday we flew to Dublin to catch up with Kimberley and Richie – they are both doing well and look great - more about Dublin next time.
During our visit, Twixxy, a 14 foot catamaran was added to their stable of watersports equipment. http://www.hobiecatcentre.co.uk/pooleindex.htm We had several frustrating days of very strong winds but on Monday after work we were able to launch her and sail for about an hour. Very exhilarating. Hopefully we’ll be able to sail some more when we return at the end of July.
Spent a lovely day at Sissinghurst, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/sissinghurst/ , Vita Sackville West’s magnificent garden in Kent – the gardens and fields are unbelievable green and lush – a real treat for the eyes after drought stricken Canberra.
On Monday, we brought our long time friend Ruth Beasley Murray across from Hove for the day. It was great to spend time with her. She is just as bright and lively as ever and it was lovely to see her looking so well.
Weather was fairly patchy – some beautiful sunny days but also some cool showery. We managed to get in several long walks – one of our favourites is along the Vanguard Way http://www.sevensisters.org.uk/ the fantastic cliff walk over the Seven Sisters.
On Tuesday we flew to Dublin to catch up with Kimberley and Richie – they are both doing well and look great - more about Dublin next time.
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