16 Oct08--Remembering Ireland

Dear readers, Hope these pictures do make it to my site. It looks like they have. Hurrah!
This first shows a water cover in Sligo. I love its Celtic design and its Gaelic--Sligeac
uisce (water), cognate to the Scots Gaelic version from which we get whiskey.
Sligo is a smallish town, about 30,000, proud of its Yeats heritage, and drizzly nearly every day, at least is was in late July, early August when I was there.









Thi
This next photo is Knocknarea, one of the odd whale-hump mountains around Sligo. Knocknarea is associated with Queen Maeve, a supposedly historical queen in the 14 or 1500s. However, Maeve was also one of the Irish goddesses, so how much is history, how much old mythology is debatable. Every year, people of County Sligo have a procession around the base of the mountain to honor Queen Maeve. It has the feeling of a place with ancient vibes, even now that there is a large subdivision around the base of at least one side of it.







I took this picture out of my window in Galway. It depicts what I call a "moody Irish sky." They happened nearly every day I was in Ireland, especially on the west coast, which may be a bit wetter than the east coast.
As in the UK, the clouds may last only part of the day, then it gets sunny, then it clouds up and drizzles, then it clears up again. The cycle can repeat several times during the day. I found it odd in Galway that it would be warmest late morning and around seven PM but be cooler in the middle of the afternoon.