I'm not a great artist, but I was compelled to create this gift for my husband, which I called "Our Connemara World". I made this for him, just before we left Connemara for the furthest north-western county in Ireland, Donegal, where we live now. We didn't want to leave, and so hope to return some day. Connemara was Home.
Each image in the circle records something we cherish about Connemara. I wanted to capture the magic of the place as a whole because, to us, it was a completely different world - very distant and somehow unconnected to the chaos of the city life we left behind in England (if you're interested in the story of our life-changing move to Ireland, you can read my early post here).
So, to give you a taste of our magical Connemara World, I'll tell you a bit about each image. All photos are my own originals taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S2800 camera, with a few exceptions which I'll cite the sources of.
The view from our house on the famous Sky Road, presumably called so due to the breathtaking skies you see from it (for more photos see my previous post All The Skies)
Each Spring, over the course of several weeks, fires are visible all over Connemara as they burn the gorse (and they often get out-of-hand, much to the annoyance of the fire service)
From our house we could see Slyne Head lighthouse. The locals can tell you many interesting stories about Slyne Head... drunken keepers, fighting, suicide, an alleged poisoning of a keeper in the 1850s...
From our house we could also see a small, redundant lighthouse on the end of Errislannan peninsula, known as the White Lady. She stands there day after day gazing across to her lover, the White Man, on the other side of the bay. Our neighbour and good friend, who was local fisherman with a lovely little boat, took us out one day right up close to the White Lady. As we approached her in the boat we saw a seal pop his head out of the water to check us out, before disappearing again.
More frequently than seal sightings are sightings of bottlenose dolphins. During the summer months they would enter the bay, passing the White Lady, and head for the salmon farm that we could (unfortunately) see from our house. There would often be 10 or more at a time, gliding gracefully through the water or leaping about playfully. I had my first glimpse, and many subsequent sightings, of them when working at a B&B at the edge of the sea, which you can see is the terracotta-coloured building in the background. These photos were taken by the son of the owners, from his kayak. They used to come in so close I could actually hear the noise of the water as they blew from their blow-holes! Very exciting!
Of course, as well as fishing boats, there were many sailing boats coming in and out of the bay. We were tempted one day by the captain of a large sailing boat, who pulled in looking for a crew for a voyage to Greenland. We couldn't go, but we loved to live in a place where such possibilities were for the taking if one was free enough!
One of the many megaliths or 'standing stones' in the area. Just as I was taking the photo, a magpie landed on the top of it. There were so many magpies around, and we took such sightings as good omens.
From our house it was a 10 minute walk down a stony winding track, past Clifden Castle, to some lovely little solitary beaches. We'd hardly ever meet anyone on these walks, and so would have the beaches to ourselves. It was absolutely wonderful to live so close to them.
Clifden Castle overlooking the bay - not actually a real castle but the ruined manor house of the town's founder, John D'Arcy. He lived there with his family whilst he constructed the town. Now it is home to the local crows and ravens. We became very fond of the castle, and would often use it for shelter when the sea storms hit!
As we walked down the Sky Road into town, we would round a corner and suddenly - here was this incredible view. The mountain range called the Twelve Bens gave the town a dramatic look, and a feeling that we were somehow protected or watched over. They were particularly impressive in the Winter, as you can see.
In the middle of a small loch just outside of Clifden was this peculiar little building on a tiny island. We wondered about it for months before a local satisfied our curiosity with the story behind it:- in days long passed, this was where they would imprison locals who mistreated animals. Strange, but very cool! Perhaps they were onto something...
Each year at the end of September there would be a week-long arts festival marking the end of the tourist season (only in Ireland do they call a 10-day festival a 'week'!). On the final night there is a Grand Parade. Pretty much anyone and everyone in the town is there, and it's spectacular. There are parades through the streets in which the school children display their costumes and various lantern-lights, play instruments, walk on stilts... There are fireworks and live Irish music in pubs and on the streets... Performance artists swinging from a a crane right above your head... Much drinking, much merriment. The best night out ever.
(Source: http://www.giaf.ie/blog/10-reasons-to-visit-the-clifden-arts-festival)
Walk for 5 minutes in any direction in Connemara and you'll see one of these white ponies - Connemara ponies. I remember one day not long after we moved to the Sky Road I was walking along and looking across to the peninsula on the other side of the bay. At first I thought I was looking at sheep, all these white blobs on the hillside. Then as I watched I suddenly realised they weren't sheep - they were ponies! Lots and lots of white ponies! The most wonderful things about ponies in Connemara is usually they're not penned up in yards or stables like you see elsewhere, but able to roam vast areas of wild land, as if they were wild ponies without owners.
One of my favourite photos - this rainbow. I've never lived in a place that has more rainbows, it felt very Irish! Still hunting for those pots of gold though...
Robins robins everywhere. They would come so close and sing to you. Like magpies, we see robins as good omens.
This morning stag is not my photo, but was taken not far from where we lived in Clifden Glen. We did see deer whilst walking in the woodland, including a fawn hiding in the long grass. That was a great day.
(Source: http://connemarajournal.ie/red-deer-at-dawn/)
Yes, I'm aware the mushrooms I've drawn are fly algaric and not magic mushrooms, but that was only so the drawing looked clearly like mushrooms! But they represent my first experience gathering and taking magic mushrooms. Boy oh boy. I dried them out and made a tea with them, no joke I used 120 large ones at once, and had one of the scariest nights of my life! Serves me right for not looking up properly how to use them, and not respecting their power. The first 5 minutes was pretty cool though, like being in Alice's Wonderland, but it was ruined by what came after! Ach, we live and learn.
(Source: http://news.health.com/2016/05/18/scientists-test-magic-mushroom-chemical-for-tough-to-treat-depression/)
The famous Irish Claddagh ring, representing friendship, love and loyalty... Traditionally given as a token of love, either romantically or to a friend. I gave this little plaque to my husband for his birthday.
And finally, the gaelic in the centre of my Connemara World - "anam cara", meaning soul-friend, because that's exactly what my husband is...
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Many thanks.
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