Daily Blog

A lovely day in Mayo today but I did not get out with my camera. Here is a picture of Cong Abbey , it was taken five years ago and was on a hard drive that I thought was broken. More in hope then expectation I gave it to my neighbour John, to have a "look at" He returned it this evening with a new power adapter.....sorted!!

This ruin is situated on the roadside between Westport and Leenane at Errif. I always thought it was a lovely location for a cottage, I have since been told it is actually an ex RIC Station ( Royal Irish Constabulary) I wonder what stories could those stones tell.

Here is a picture from Co Galway, as we travelled back to Mayo on Friday evening from Co Clare we stopped for something to eat and then waited for the sunset at Kinvara. The sunset itself was a little disappointing having looked so promising, but as often happens these days the sun sank behind the low cloud you can see in the distance and the colours I was hoping for did not materialize . This is Dunguire Castle, Kinvara, Co Galway.

You know you are getting old when.........

A few days ago I stopped to admire this plant outside a cafe. Of course the plant pot it is contained in is an old milk churn. It occurred to me that we no longer see milk churns accept to hold plants! But I remember as a child in West Cork. and also in Co offaly the milk churn was a daily site. i remember the farmers taking the milk to the creamery in one two or maybe three milk churns, on a trailer being pulled by a donkey.! it was only as I recounted my memories to Patricia that I realized just how old I must sound, and I was glad there were no young people around to hear me!!! ( Patricia remembers the milk churns but not the donkeys and cart, but sure she was a city girl!!)

Here is another image from yesterdays trip to the Burren. This is Corcomroe Abbey near Bell Harbour . The Abbey was built in the twelve century for the Cistercian Order. It became known as 'Sancta Maria de Petra Fertili'- 'St. Mary of the Fertile Rock' The Cistercians remained in the Abbey until well into the 17th Century.

I was in galway today for an appointment in the morning, so decided to travel on to the Burren in Co Clare for the afternoon. The Burren is famous for its flora. This year things are all running a little late due to the cold weather. I was surprised to find that the cowslips were so plentiful! Cowslips are not a rare plant but they do not like fertilized ground. As a child I remember they were very common, but now they are not seen as often but are still abundant in the Burren.

Have you ever heard the Irish expression " Soft day thank God" Well this is what it looks like! This picture was taken a week ago on the road between Leenane and Westport.

I spent the morning printing and preparing prints for sale at " The Lady's Buttery" in Cong. This evening I delivered them to Cong. It was a really lovely evening. So I took a walk around the Abbey. I have photographed here many times it is always difficult when photographing places that are familiar as it is hard to find a new angle. I was lucky this evening to notice that the arches of the cloister were in complete shade while the abbey was lit, I thought it made a good angle!

The weather forecast for today was very good, and sure enough the day started bright. I resisted the urge to go out in the morning because I had processing and printing work to do and deadlines to meet. I consoled myself with the thought that I had to go to Mulranny in the evening and would get some pictures then. The day was so good that we all thought it was summer, the sounds of summer were all around as it seemed all the neibhours were giving their lawnmowers their first run out . By 2pm though it seemed we were a little hasty and the clouds returned there was even a spot or two of rain. By the time I had to make my trip to Mulranny there was no sign of the sun and the sky was completely grey. I nearly did not bother to bring the camera! however as we drove through Newport I could see a breack in the clouds over Lough Feeagh so I made a detour and arrived at Lough Feeagh about 40 minutes before sunset and watched the colours develop for about ten minutes, before the clouds again closed the gap and the sunset was invisible.

As a photographer i can think of nowhere better then then Mayo as a place to live.There are pictures everywhere! Now I would not want to give the wrong impression, it is three and a half years since I started to post a daily picture, firstly on my own website and then on both the website and facebook. Thats a lot of pictures and its not always easy! Today I had to travel to Mulranny so I did not worry too much about getting a new picture, and as we got towards Mulranny the light was great but instead of stopping for some photographs I decided to get my business done and THEN get the pictures. In the half hour that took, the light completely changed and the sky just turned grey, there was no light what so ever. And sights that would normally make good pictures looked completely unattractive. Patricia and I decided to travel to Achill where we would have tea and then get some pictures, but as we travelled towards Achill the weather became worse, it became much darker and started to rain. It was clear that we would not get any pictures , so we decided to turn for home. "But I have no picture for the blog tonight" was screaming in my head, when I spotted this stream a little distance from the road. I have passed here thousands of times and had never seen it before, perhaps I did not need to. So finding a place to park I walked back to where I thought I had seen a potential picture, I was not disappointed. the light was not great but the composition was good and I can return again when the light is better.

I took this picture a week ago in the Doolough Valley, during a very wet weekend we had a couple of hours of good weather which just happened to coincide with my time in Doolough.

I took this picture of sea cliffs at Downpatrick Head Ballycastle Co Mayo about two weeks ago. I never tire of going there as it is always different , depending on the wind direction etc. On this occasion it was a beautiful day but the wind blowing from the North East created really rough conditions.

With the rain comes the water ! In Mayo we are blessed with plenty of water!!! Errif Valley, Co Mayo.

With the rain comes the water ! In Mayo we are blessed with plenty of water!!! Errif Valley, Co Mayo

The sun was shining on Croagh Patrick, but as you can see the sky was dark, within about three minutes everything went dark and it LASHED rain mixed with hailstones!

Have you ever wondered how much an inch of rain really is? Last Saturday evening on the way to Leenane I passed over this bridge, as always I stopped to have a look at the river in the hopes of a photograph. Despite the fact that it was a lovely bright evening I did not bother to make a photograph because the water levels were so low that the river was very unimpressive. Less then 24 hours later I passed over the same bridge, it had been raining all night, and of course was still raining, but the volume of water was now a torrent and despite the rain I thought it worth a photograph!

On Saturday evening I was photographing a small stream off the Errif River. The stream has over many years cut a small gorge out of the soft boggy land. Standing on the stream bed the overhanging ground was about four or five feet over my head, when I looked up I thought it gave an unusual view of the trees above.

On Saturday evening I was photographing a small stream off the Errif River. The stream has over many years cut a small gorge out of the soft boggy land. Standing on the stream bed the overhanging ground was about four or five feet over my head, when I looked up I thought it gave an unusual view of the trees above.

Back in Kiltimagh after the weekend in Leenane with the Mayo Photographic Club, the weather was poor again today so most people headed home early, the more dedicated disappeared into the mist looking for more photos, I hope they are rewarded! Yesterday I came back home to photograph some communion children but got back to Leenane at about 5 in the evening, this coincided with the best weather of the weekend and I was delighted to get this image of the Bundorragha river in the Delphi Valley.

Late posting this. I travelled to Leenane in Connemara for a weekend with the Mayo Photographic Club. there was no internet connection in Leenane. I had to come away for a few hours this morning to photograph some communion children but will head back down in the afternoon. Hard to know what the weather will be like in Leenane, I stuck my head out at 5.30 this morning as I considered a sunrise but it was lashing rain, so back to bed. As I left Leenane at 8am the sun did show briefly but then there was a shower of hailstone - in May!

I took this picture of a boat in clewbay on my way down to Leenane yesterday

evening