Gunternation

It’s been a while since I posted a rainbow pic.

I snapped this photo from the bus last Saturday morning. Bill and I were on our way into city centre for a choir workshop with the New Irish Choir and Orchestra, hosted by our church. The Belfast-based choir bravely invited interested parties to attend a day of rehearsal and then participate in the concert that evening.

This second soprano could have used a bit more rehearsal, but we had a blast.

Here is a travelogue by Mom about their trip to Sligo.

November 3 – November 5, 2009

Charles and I traveled by train again. This time we went to Sligo. Actually we had to get off the train after a couple of hours and get on a bus for the rest of the way into Sligo. That gave us a view of the area we couldn’t have seen from the train. The countryside is beautiful with rolling hills and lakes. Sligo is a small, old city in the northwest part of Ireland. It was raining there also. But rain doesn’t stop us. We checked into Pearse B&B about noon and walked into the city center. We found a nice shop called The Cat and the Moon which sells Irish made goods.

That night we went to Hargadons Pub and enjoyed live music. Hargadons interior is unchanged since 1864. Since Sligo is known as W. B. Yeats country, we were interested in the Sligo city library exhibit on Yeats. His Nobel Prize for literature is housed there. Later we found the Yeats Memorial Building which is the headquarters of the Yeats Society and has a permanent exhibition of pictures from his life. We watched several videos explaining his politics, writings and personal life. We were there a couple of hours. It was a great place to get in out of the rain. The Garavogue River runs through Sligo. It is turbulent and beautiful. The swans which live on the river were not in sight while we were there. The train agent told us that they were hiding in the reeds while it was so rainy. We enjoyed our three days in Sligo and would love to go back in summer when there are coach tours of the surrounding area.

A recent tweet response to our 116 things from a British friend: “Quite a few resonated with me. #74 stood out. I say that a lot. Different to England despite being next door.” #74 is Rainbows! To that point, some rainbows.

Taken from the car driving up the M1 in June.

We frequently see rainbows toward the East behind our apartment. This one was on July 17.

And this double rainbow from August 23.

Waiting for the bus on September 1.

Waiting for the bus last week.

We were greeted by this one last Saturday in Freshford, Country Kilkenny.

And I spotted this excellent example recently on Twitter (click for the full pic):

We were thrilled to have visitors over the Easter weekend. Rebecca and Scot arrived on Thurs, April 9. We had dinner Thursday night at The Winding Stair, and Friday we set out for a quick trip to Donegal, the Northernmost county in Ireland. Even farther North than Northern Ireland. We heard varying accounts of how long it would take to get there, but found consensus that it’s a long drive for a one night’s stay. But, we are Americans and are not afraid of a little road trip.

We enjoyed our stay in the lovely Frewin house in Ramelton. We had arranged to have dinner there, and that turned out to be a great idea as many restaurants are closed on Good Friday, one of two days in the year that alcohol cannot be sold. On Saturday we set out for some scenery, and County Donegal delivered generously. We drove around the Fanad Peninsula to the Fanad Head Lighthouse and back through Doon. We stopped for lunch at a pub in Kerrykeel. And we saw a lot of lambs.

In case you were wondering. It took 5 hours to get there with a stop for lunch and a bit of traffic, and only 3 to return.

We’re experiencing the coldest winter in Dublin in 18 years, which compared to Minnesota is still not very cold. But for Dubliners and Austinites, it’s very wintry. [Some perspective: I grew up in Houston and thought water frozen in a ditch was amazing.] We’ve had a couple hard freezes reaching 27°F, and several days of wintry precip. Unfortunately, the periods of lovely snow have been followed by ugly sleet/hail/rain. My commute home Tuesday night was particularly unpleasant in cold slush. Bill had left work early in heavy snowfall, but it turned to rain by the time he reached Raheny. He did see a rainbow though.

Thursday saw some accumulation in Raheny, which has been sticking around in the shady spots. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny Saturday, and we took a walk in St. Anne’s.

Today we woke up to another pretty snowfall. We snapped some photos off the balcony and on the way to church. Of course, it had turned to rain by the time we left church.

19th Century St. Assam’s church in Raheny centre. The church has been used only sporadically in the last decade. Plans were announced last year for credit union offices to occupy the building.

No more snow is forecast.

I’ve endeavored keep a photographic record of every rainbow I see while in Ireland. Here are two excellent examples from Connemara.

At Brona’s house on Sunday

From Errislannan Hill on Monday

Bill and I both got shots of this rainbow that appeared as I was walking home tonight.

I walked to the coast road where I could see the other end of rainbow.

From his perch on the balcony, Bill captured a double rainbow.

The entire bow was visible.

Saw this rainbow on the way to the DART coming home from work last night.

Ireland really is a land of rainbows. A benefit of a rainy climate. This is the view from our balcony this afternoon.

The brighter bow was a full arc, but I couldn’t capture it in one picture.

Here’s another rainbow pic taken when we were in Freshford for the Conker festival back in October.

One of the many purveyors of fine goods in Kilkenny.

These guys should know how to crack a conker.

Bill vs. Sharon. Sharon’s conker was crushed by Bill’s ruthless offensive.

A strong rain blew through right as the festivities were to begin. We kept dry in the Saint Lachtain church, pictured here with an amazing rainbow after the downpour. The conker championships quickly resumed.

A leaf in Butler Gardens, Kilkenny