Daily Blog

Happy Christmas !


detail from window Church of the holy family Kiltimagh co mayo

Had a busy day today with the final preperations for Christmas, seemed to spend most of the day driving. There seemed to be a bit of a thaw during the day but by evening it was freezing again.

I took this picture of Westport Quay yesterday after sunset.

Today was lovely and sunny but freezing cold.
This tree is located just outside Balla on the Kiltimagh road. I have not travelled this road since the snow started but this morning I thought to go this way to see this tree.I love the shape of the tree and have attempted to photograph it on a number of occasions but its closeness to the road has made the pictures disapointing. But the snow changes everything !

More snow in Mayo today, but it seems to be worse in Dublin, Airports are shut and thousands of people are stranded trying to get home for Christmas. The car was towed away last night and would appear to be terminally ill! There was no sign of the sun early this morning so my hopes of a winter solstice picture were dashed. still theres always next year and the days start getting longer and warmer from tomorrow!!

So I got no photography done today so I am posting a picture of the sunrise in Knock taken yesterday morning.

I was out early this morning and took a few pictures around Knock, but my favourite picture of the day was taken near Ballyvary and shows a whitethorn tree in the snow , with a standing stone on top of the hill. I often pass this scene and admire the tree and resolve to visit the standing stone. But the two looked great together in the snow !.

The weather is continuing to cause problems, my daughter Aisling lives in Dundee and was due to fly home today for a few days before Christmas, its her Birthday on Wednesday and we were really looking forward to her visit. this morning we decided that it was better if she did not come because of the road conditions. As it happens the flight was cancelled anyway.

Earlier today Patricia commented about how well my car was handling the snow, its a 1999 Citroen Berlingo , this evening having visited knock Airport to collect our Son Barry I was heading back to Westport to collect Patricia when while stopped in traffic on a very icy Dublin Road suddenly the clutch packed in and I had to push the car into the ditch. As I stood in the freezing cold trying to figure out my next move a good Samaritan came to my aid. Ray Ford and his two nephews Padraig and Arron were Christmas Shopping and stopped to help, they gave me a lift back to kiltimagh and I arranged for a garage to rescue the car. It never snows but it pours!!

I ventured out this morning hoping for a sunrise but despite the cold there was a lot of low cloud that looked like it might deposit a load of snow, and no sunrise. It did not snow and as I drove to Westport there was just a small area of sky with some very subtle colours in it.
I took this picture just outside Ballyvary.

More snow overnight. Kilrtimagh was badly affected. We decided to try and get to Westport to open the Gallery. before going I went down the Park road beside were I live ., The snow was very bad and I was sure I could get stuck, so I turned back and visited the sculpture park instead. We got to Westport, the main roads were not to bad, glad we did because somebody travelled from Tuam just to get one of our pictures!



This picture was taken on Park Road Kiltimagh, just beside the GAA Park.

The winter weather has really taken a grip,The roads in Kiltimagh this morning were just terrible and so we decided not to travel to Westport and not open the Gallery, one week before Christmas we really should be open , but cars were sliding all around Kiltimagh and so we decided it was just not worth the risk, and it was better to be safe. The side roads remain untreated, it seems the country is running out of salt, and on the news this evening we were told that the two ships bringing salt from Egypt were being held up by a storm in the eastern med and would not arrive for another week!!
So back to the archives for todays picture, which shows the sheebeen pub with Croagh Patrick as a backdrop.

Well the snow is back, it arrived in Mayo again this afternoon, and is forecast to last several days, after a couple of warm days the snow had completely disapeared but Croagh Patrick got covered again and the roads this evening are again very dangerous.

Once again I did not get out with the camera today, as it happens the day started very badly with misty rain for most of the morning.

I am posting a picture of Nephin taken from Westport. At the time I was photgraphing the sunset behind Croagh Patrick while behind me there was this lovely pink sky over Nephin. At the bottum of the picture you can see Fahy parish church

I had a busy morning finally mastering the new mountcutter, and then cutting mounts for a number of people whose work I am printing and mounting for them . It was a lovely day but I did not get out so I am posting a picture from the lough Fach are taken last week.

I was out this morning but the roads were very bad, despite leaving myself loads of time I was late for the sunrise at Mulranny as traffic was so slow. having got there 1.5 houirs after leaving home I thought I should take a picture anyway even though the scene was not what I wanted, I took out the camera only to realize I had left the memory card in the computor after last nights blogg!!!

Got out for just a few minutes this evening just after the sun had set behind croagh patrick.

Another day on the stall at the market, it was really cold today, i am full of admiration for the people who do this kind of street trading all the time because i am an old softy and the cold really got to me. Patricia relieved me at about 3.30 so i could go and take a photograph in Mulranney . This was my second visit to this location to get a picture of the islands of clew bay. As you can see I will have to make another visit because the low cloud and haze has hidden Croagh Patrick. This is one of the frustrating things about being a landscape photographer, I had researched following my last visit and figured a low sun and tide out would be the ideal, so I timed my visit for half hour before sunset and the low tide. However the sun set early behind the cloud and the low cloud spoilt the view. So I will make at least one more visit. I did think tonight however that it might also be a good spot for a sunrise. Now I won’t get a view of the islands that I need if I do a sunrise, so I will have to make at least two more visits!

No new pictures today I’m afraid, instead I had a busy day at the Westport Christmas market, met lots of people and there was a lot of interest in the evening classes planned for January.
So I am posting a picture from my trip to Keem Strand last month, it was a great trip as I think I have posted six or seven pictures from the one trip. Anyway I was there to photograph the sun rise, which I did ,( see blog on Nov 26th) But of course as the sun rose in front of me the moon set behind me !

A busy day today getting ready and setting up our stall for the Westport Christmas market,. The market will last the weekend , there is a lovely atmosphere children singing christmas carols, and the mulled wine is flowing! lets hope the weather stays dry.




The Images of Mayo " Gallery on the Mall"

I took delivery of a new mount (matt) cutter yesterday and spent most of today trying to cut mounts!! I think I have finally cracked it but at times today I was tempted to through it out the window!! I did not get out with the camera so am posting a picture taken last week. I was in the Darradda area just outside Newport and close to Lough Fiach. I just loved the sky in this picture, it looks like Croagh Patrick is smoking!

This afternoon I went to Mulranny to get a picture of Clew bay but on the way I just could not resist a quick detour to Lough Fiach .When I arrived I had to wait about five minutes or so for the light to improve, I then had maybe four minutes before the light disappeared again and the scene became very dull. I waited another while but there was no sign of it clearing. Still I was glad I made the detour

It remains very cold in Mayo, though its amazing what a difference a few miles can make, Kiltimagh is still covered in snow and the side roads are covered in compacted ice. In Westport there was a lot of rain yesterday and much of the snow has disappeared.

This picture of Croagh Patrick was taken just a short walk from the Gallery.

Well this weather really is beginning to mess us about ! This morning started with freezing fog, so I gingerly took the car down to Treannagleragh Bog to photograph these birch trees in the fog. Soon the fog turned to rain but now the rain has frozen on the roads and footpaths making us all prisoners !

The craft fair continued in Foxford today, but we awoke to road conditions the worse we have had, we now had sheet ice almost everywhere and conditions were really really dangerous. I seemed to spend the day driving ! firstly my daughter Grainne agreed to "man" the craft fair so we drove at 10 - 20 miles an hour to Foxford avoiding the ditches. I then had to drive to Knock airport. Our son Barry was 21 today and had travelled home for the weekend from Bangor University in Wales to celebrate. He had to travel back today and I left him at the airport at 2.30 for his flight at 3.30, he was still at the airport at 10pm and was eventually flown to Manchester, he was meant to be flying to Liverpool, what a way to spend your 21st!! While he waited he discovered he was going to miss the surprise party his girlfriend Georgia had arranged for him back in Bangor !! So it was then back to Foxford to pack up the Craftfair which finished early as nobody was visiting due to the road conditions. I took todays picture at the airport, not a bad view from an airport is it ! You are looking at the plains {no pun intended) of Mayo with Nephin mountain in the background.