Speckled Town Days

Dublin, 19th December 2009

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Dun Laoghaire Sunset, 3rd January 2009

2009-01-03T16:56:00.002Z

Dun Laoghaire Skyline, 3rd January 2009

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Harbour water, 3rd January 2009

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Brittas Bay Beach, New Year's Day 2009

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Glendalough, 29th December 2008

2008-12-29T16:44:00.000Z

Dun Laoghaire Fishing Boats, 22nd November 2008

2008-11-22T16:39:00.000Z

Percy Horner, 1896-1916

2008-11-11T11:00:00.000Z

Percy was from The Cottage, Shanganagh Terrace, Ballybrack, the son of William and Josephine Horner.

His name is carved into the back pew of the gallery. His name is the first recorded on the church war memorial. He died at the Somme on 1st July 1916. He has no known grave. His name is among the seventy thousand with no known grave on the arch at Thiepval.

Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire

2008-11-01T12:42:00.000Z

It's hard now to imagine the busyness of this place in former times.

October Bank Holiday in Enniscorthy

2008-10-27T18:05:00.000Z

October Bank Holiday in Wexford

2008-10-27T13:37:00.002Z

Dun Laoghaire Sunset, 20th September 2008

2008-09-20T16:36:00.000+01:00

Moon over Sandycove

2008-08-14T22:22:00.000+01:00

What it could be like . . .

2008-08-06T21:31:00.002+01:00

This morning's weather was the worst Irish summer day I can remember, even the DART line was flooded. Last January, in the depths of winter, we had blue sky and sunshine, and Killiney Bay looked Mediterranean.

Pearse Conjunction

2008-05-11T12:46:00.003+01:00

Sequential billboards at Pearse Station

Greystones on a May Bank Holiday

2008-05-06T13:33:00.000+01:00

Kilcoole

2008-01-04T17:15:00.000Z

New Year's Day meant walking somewhere - Kilcoole seemed nice.

Seen on the DART

2007-10-01T13:29:00.001+01:00

Suppose we should be grateful that it's by artists and not the local literary society

The Bandstand

2007-07-12T22:39:00.000+01:00

The East Pier, Dun Laoghaire, on a late summer's evening

Installation art in Ballybrack

2007-06-01T13:41:00.000+01:00

For a limited period there is an installation at the Church Road-Killiney Avenue junction.

The rusting road roller, symbol of a modern Ireland obsessed with roads and cars, is slowly being absorbed by the natural untamed growth of weeds signifying the ancient Irish elements of fertility and death.

Limited edition prints signed by the artist are available on request.

Evening sun in Dun Laoghaire

2007-04-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

High Ham Days

2007-04-01T14:26:00.000+01:00

Back in Somerset from 19th to 23rd March, I took pictures one evening to refresh my memory.

The hydrants were painted every year on our road.

The Victorian school was demolished in the '80s to make way for an excellent new place

The 'phone box still remains from the days when I used it

The village church is originally Norman.

The soft stone doesn't weather well.

On the few occasions I was at church, I used to sit and stare at this sculpture - I think it's Jesus!

Looking eastwards - the rood screen is 500 years old

The east window

Looking westwards

The roll of those who fell 1914-1918

I used to think this was an old master!

Ballybrack twilight, 3rd March 2007

2007-03-04T17:25:00.000Z

Mobile interruptions

2007-03-04T17:15:00.000Z

There seems nowhere that one can go without the mobile phone cutting on, causing complete obliviousness to even having a camera a short distance away.

Irish Lights Boat

2007-03-04T16:58:00.000Z

I loved seeing Granuaile when we lived in the North; her Tricolour flying at the stern being a reminder of a community and a country beyond ours, and her presence a reminder that our island was surrounded by seaways that went far beyond our horizons.

In fading memory

2007-02-26T12:14:00.000Z

The Wilde family memorial at Mount Jerome is close to the entrance to the crematorium chapel. The front panel commemorates Sir William Wilde, the side panel his wife Jane.

The second child is "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Poet, Wit and Dramatist." The lettering is fading.

Dun Laoghaire, 3rd February

2007-02-04T20:30:00.000Z

Saint Brigid's Day on 1st February marked the beginning of spring. Dun Laoghaire East Pier yesterday felt like summer.

Alpbach

2007-01-16T18:42:00.000Z

We left Ireland for sunny Austria last week.

We thought the friend who told us that the plane flew down a valley to land at Innsbruck airport was joking

The valley was occupied not only by the airport, but also by a lot of buildings

The view from our balcony offered the prospect of a week of good skiiing

When I was a kid a view like this was only available on a muesli box

The Celtic monks revangelized this area of Europe in the Dark ages - the church is dedicated to St Oswald, a Northumbrian saint.

The heavy grey clouds promised snow that never came

Christmas decorations remain in place until Candlemas - Saint Oswald's crib had some unlikely inclusions.

The ornateness of the early-18th Century church was enough to give a low church Protestant like myself palpitations!

Saint Oswald's shone out on the skyline at night

Spring was in the air by the time we were leaving - unfortunately for the resort, winter had hardly arrived

Joyce Centenary Memorial at Sandycove

2006-12-31T09:49:00.000Z

The fascinating thing about the memorial stone is that the inscription underneath the quotation from Ulysses, giving details of the stone's unfurling, is in upper case letters and takes more space than the words from Joyce.

Santa train

2006-12-16T11:09:00.000Z

On the DART from Pearse, we passed a steam locomotive pulling a train for a Christmas special.

I read recently of the state of Irish railways in the last days of steam - even Lansdowne Road station was down to two two trains stopping there each day. Places that are busy now, like Sydney Parade, were closed completely in 1960.

Nostalgia is a great thing - as long as it remains in the past.

Tom Kettle

2006-12-12T10:12:00.000Z

I paid my respects to Tom Kettle as I passed him in Saint Stephen's Green yesterday.

The poppy wreath laid on 30th September is still there.

Perhaps at some date in the future there will be a fuller acknowledgement on the memorial of the complexity of Tom Kettle and his times.

2006-11-22T12:25:00.000Z

If you live on a very expensive middle class road and drink fruit juice in preference to fizzy stuff, why would you stuff your litter into a niche in a wall?

2006-11-14T20:14:00.000Z

Is 'SOS' a necessary consequence of trying get public transport information?

Head of the Sea instead of Speckled Town

2006-11-04T20:34:00.000Z

Kerry, 30th October 2006

Phone box at Sneem

Kerry, 30th October 2006

Derrynane Strand

(It's raining and there's a wind in our faces, but it's Bank Holiday Monday and we must enjoy it)

Kerry, 30th October 2006

Charlie Chaplin at Waterville

Kerry, 30th October 2006

Looking east from Waterville

Kerry, 30th October 2006

Guinness sign at Waterville

Kerry, 31st October 2006

Weighbridge at Knightstown, Valentia

Kerry, 31st October 2006

Clock at Knightstown, Valentia

Kerry, 31st October 2006

Railway sign at Knightstown, Valentia.

(I know - the railway never got to Valentia, but the sign is good)

Kerry, 31st October 2006

Mainland from Valentia

Kerry, 31st October 2006

Grotto at Valentia Slate Quarry

Kerry, 1st November 2006

Looking south from Ladies View

Kerry, 1st November 2006

Looking north from Ladies View.

Kerry, 1st November 2006

Hills at Ladies View

Kerry, 1st November 2006

View from the house across the Kenmare River towards the mountains on the way to Killarney.

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

If you don't do one, can you do the other?

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

Looking seawards from Kenmare Pier

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

Bridge over the Kenmare River

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

On Kenmare Pier

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

Kenmare blue lamp

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

Kenmare Post Office

Kerry, 2nd November 2006

Fish crates on a jetty on the Beara peninsula - they come in patriotic colour combinations!

2006-10-24T22:43:00.000+01:00

The laughter was so loud, I stopped and looked over the wall. Four white haired men were wedged into a bench telling stories. Maybe they did this every day.

They would pause occasionally and watch the sea.

Retirement seemed to be an anticipation of heaven.

2006-10-24T22:42:00.000+01:00

Wandering along near dark, I met a strange bloke

2006-10-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

Colours and shades and textures make the mundane special

2006-10-19T16:55:00.000+01:00

I thought Fionn mac Cumhaill might be able to play backgammon with dice the size of those on a railway station poster.

2006-10-13T22:58:00.000+01:00

The bridge at Sydney Parade station always has a vaguely sinister feel!

2006-10-10T17:29:00.000+01:00

Prison courtyard? No, it's the front garden through the laundry window.

The laundry used to be the kitchen - there must have been some valuable stuff in the larder!

2006-10-06T22:43:00.000+01:00

If we're depending on the angels in our struggle against darkness and evil, I kind of hope that they are more robust than the wimpish figures who appear in the stained glass windows!

2006-10-03T16:46:00.000+01:00

It's Monday, 2nd October - this is the last rose of summer.

2006-09-28T20:30:00.000+01:00

In this digital age when even wires are becoming a thing of the past, it is good to find a working example of the art and craft of the electrician of the 1990s- note the wires pushed in at the left, the holes drilled in the wrong place on the right, and the chunk of plaster missing just below the holes. It's hard to find such work now!

2006-09-27T07:40:00.000+01:00

Half a mile to Pearse

2006-09-27T07:37:00.000+01:00

Railway signs and railway architecture have always fascinated me.

2006-09-22T14:20:00.000+01:00

Storm debris.

Winds of 100-120 kph were reported last night

2006-09-20T19:25:00.000+01:00

Woodwork

2006-09-19T18:56:00.000+01:00

Fuchsias.

Irish autumns don't have much to commend them, the prevailing south westerly winds bring band upon band of grey and wet weather. I remember living in the country and realizing why November was regarded as the month of the dead.

The abundance of fuchsias in September is like a keepsake left by the departing summer that it intends to return again after the dark days to come.

2006-09-18T22:21:00.000+01:00

Wicklow Way marker.

The signpost seemed almost to glow in the brilliant sunlight that followed a torrential downpour.

2006-09-18T12:34:00.000+01:00

Kitchen fireplace

It's hard to imagine that anyone now would bother to create something so ornate for somewhere as humble as the kitchen.

2006-09-16T11:21:00.000+01:00

September blue and green

2006-09-15T13:34:00.000+01:00

Victorian skylight

2006-09-14T19:52:00.000+01:00

Evening sun over the Dublin mountains.

The late Dr Brian Mayne used to say that one of the attractions of living in Ballybrack in the early Nineteenth Century was that it faced south and west - getting the best of the sunshine.

Watson's Nurseries, which were on the land now occupied by the Watson Estate, would have benefited from that sunshine.

2006-09-13T19:45:00.000+01:00

On a cold, wet and grey autumn September evening, I found a couple more pictures taken from the east pier in Dun Laoghaire at the end of July

Dalkey Hill stands darkly against the skyline.

The historic Carlisle mailboat pier stands derelict - awaiting some new scheme - while the modern HSS port is to the right.

2006-09-12T08:26:00.000+01:00

Iron gates in Balure Lane

2006-09-11T17:54:00.000+01:00

Out doing parish visiting this afternoon, I walked up Balure Lane. Older locals call it something that sounds like "Chucky Boiler's Lane". I would love to know the Irish spelling and its meaning.

The presence of a corrugated iron barn (not what you would expect in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the country!) reminded me of the barns at home on the farm in my childhood days.

2006-09-11T11:51:00.000+01:00

View from the railway bridge

2006-09-11T08:43:00.000+01:00

Glenageary DART station

2006-09-11T08:41:00.000+01:00

Moorings in Dun Laoghaire

2006-09-11T08:28:00.000+01:00

Dun Laoghaire East Pier

2006-09-10T13:54:00.000+01:00

Saint Matthias' Church

2006-09-10T13:52:00.000+01:00

At work

2006-09-10T13:40:00.000+01:00

On the water

2006-09-10T13:37:00.000+01:00

Greystones Harbour

2006-09-10T13:36:00.000+01:00

The Bay

2006-09-10T13:04:00.000+01:00

From the beach to Sorrento Terrace and Dalkey Island

2006-09-10T12:58:00.000+01:00

Dun Laoghaire harbour on a still summer's evenig