Musings

This morning, fog shrouded the horse farm where we stayed last night. Love the dog on patrol.

As we rolled out, we came across another mechanized peat harvest area. I think the depth of the drainage ditch indicates how deep the harvest of peat will extend. Across the road, it looked like at least six feet (vertically) had been removed. Now there’s a national movement to clean up the air by limiting coal and peat burning in residential and noncommercial buildings.

We made our first stop at St Brigid’s Cathedral in Kildare. Brigid lived from ~453 to 523. She founded a monastery here in ~480. This building dates to 1223, and has substantial 19th-C reconstruction. There’s an odd rectangular area outlined by a low wall in the churchyard that is called the Fire Temple (rebuilt last in 1988, I read), marking where it’s believed that nuns kept an eternal flame going to honor St Brigid. It’s somewhat like Rome’s Vestal Virgins, no?

Loved this sign on a strange nubbin of architecture—Remains of Vault…History Unknown.

I could not figure out this grotesque downpipe detail on the church. Aviator goggles? Bull or cow around the neck?

Next stop: Tesco for “triangle” sandwiches and snacks. I was astounded that patrons must “stay right” on the travelator. This is a drive-left country…although pedestrians may pass right or left…adding to my confusion.

Just south of Kildare is a pilgrimage destination, St. Brigid’s well. It’s relatively elaborate. We had to wait on a busload of pilgrims (from Texas, from what they said) to walk past our parking space before we could exit along the narrow lane.

These sheep are browsing on The Curragh. Curragh means race-course. In ancient times it was a common. Much of the time it was used as sheep pasture, but also as a general rendezvous for mustering military forces. The earliest reference dates to the
10th C, and old documents indicate an óenaig (periodic fairs, wake games) was held here. So, it was a multipurpose space not owned by a particular person. What’s left of The Curragh has a formal racecourse where the Irish national races are held, a military base, and still has grazing sheep. The Luftwaffe bombed it on 2 Jan 1941.

Part of The Curragh also has stables, etc., of the Irish National Stud, where Thoroughbreds are bred; the facility includes several gardens (why?).

Next, we headed into the Wicklow Mountains! We went through Wicklow gap (near here), 478 meters. This looks very like moorland in Scotland and England.

The east side of the pass descends to Glendalough, or Gleann Dá Loch meaning valley of two lakes. This is the larger, upper lake. I’m facing the main drainage into the lake. Note Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard is busy feeding in the reeds and not showing herself.

There’s a huge monastic complex here, well known and heavily visited—an easy day-trip from Dublin. We saw many school-kids, high-school age, and heard them speaking Irish Gaelic. This was the 11th-C Reefert Church, way off to the west from the core of the monastic complex. I quite enjoyed this ruin as we visited it alone, no hubbub of visitors in this area of old trees and bird-calls.

I found many of these wildflowers with trifoliate compound leaves. I know it’s the common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), but for today it’s the shamrock (generally accepted to be a clover).

We also made a loop up to Sally Gap, the next pass north of Wicklow. We found these half-grown lambs and their momma enjoying the heights and dining on the roadside grass. Most of the “wild” vegetation is gorse and heather, so this is the best grazing. The heights also have many peat-harvest scars.

This is the view back toward Glendalough. We found the haze denser with the elevation and think the late afternoon hour also contributed to it. Stunning.

Posted at 2:42 PM | 2 Comments »

I took my shower today with three ladybugs. [Get yer thoughts outta the gutter.]

The early bulbs are…flowering? fluorescing?

Why is it never Woodchuck Day?*

This has been on my mind for…12 days….

Posted at 11:44 PM | Comments Off on Report (catching up)

My, what’s that there in the back yard? I see toes…claws! And a nekkid tail.

Ah, there’s a pointy nose and beady eyes, too.

Posted at 11:58 PM | 1 Comment »

Hey, we’re on the Gulf Coast, so of course we saw…a lighthouse!

And wading birds! Is this a limpkin? I think so…. Watched her/him for some time….

We also saw birds of several colors and configurations (including Snow Birds), two gators, one armadillo (wait, that was yesterday), shrimp and oysters (on our plates)….

But the best shots of the day were from Drone-y/Roney…above this white sand beach with the narrow peninsulas extending out from the beach during low tide…

…and this sunset shot. You can see a sliver of the Gulf past the river….

Posted at 8:38 PM | Comments Off on Shoreline fun

When we wore working out the design of the rebuild after Tree#1, I wanted a big window to the south, with a balcony above to shade it during the summer, but not protruding enough to cut the view out the window too much. Is this possible, I asked the architect. Yes.

And, so, this time of the year the sun floods in, and I am cheered.

I guess my eyes were distracted by the sun when I tried to capture the soul of this moth resting on the doorframe. Hah! Maybe I’ll have to get one of those clip-on lens gizmos, again….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Observing nature

The other day I read that narwhals are excellent at finding cracks in the sea ice (breathing holes) and mapping their environment using echolocation. The part that stuck with me is that they use “phonic lips” to make the clicks and buzzes. Not sure if that’s a typo…phonic lips to make phonic blips?

I also read today that in Medieval Europe they seeded fields with both rye and wheat, and both the mixture and the flour/bread made from it were called maslin. Turns out the word is etymologically related to miscellany, and can also be used for a metal blend mimicking brass, so that there could be a maslin kettle. Chaucer spelled it maselyn. Note that I checked, and King Arthur doesn’t sell a maslin flour. You could make your own….

This program accepts phonic lips but wants maslin to be marlin. Not.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Do I read too much?

We couldn’t smell the wildfire smoke, so we went over to the Old Fourth Ward park and walked around the lake, up and down, but took it easy. (Knee MUCH better, but still a tad ailing.)

And, we even spotted a turtle! Minnows (not pictured)! Slightly larger feeeesh (not pictured)! So, despite the horrendous murkiness, this water supports turtle food, and hence, at least one turtle.

Posted at 8:26 PM | 2 Comments »

We ventured over to the wildlife refuge to check on critters and color.

I got distracted by a tree skeleton…

…and a stump skeleton…

…as the bird count was low, and most we saw were far away. We did see a loon (near the loon overlook, of all places), a very few Canada geese and mallards, a wood duck, and this family of swans. The mostly-grown goslings cygnets, to the left, still have slightly brownish-grey feathers; I do not know when they become white.

Posted at 5:41 PM | 1 Comment »

I made a grocery run, very local. Bread and milk. I know that’s a standard joke, but true today. Over off the northeast side of the lake, the leaves are well within the golden orange/brown bronze continuum, with considerable green remaining, and bits of red. This is our road, same latitude, but far more green—and many of these are maples. A Ma-Nachur mystery.

This maple, right next to the cottage, has far more colorful leaves, and many are already falling. This tree runs ahead of its neighbors every autumn, in my observation.

Down at the beach, the water was quiet, revealing a narrow sand strip. I think these are raccoon tracks.

And this rowboat…it showed up early in my childhood, making it about a half-century old. If I remember correctly. The moss and lichen are creatively obscuring the STAGECRAFT logo….

Here’s another “track” (broadly defined)…about a half-mile north of us is a swamp, maybe a quarter-mile along the road. The road bumps along only about a foot above typical water level. Sometimes, there’s a weather change at the swamp; this may sound unlikely, but I’ve noted it over and over. It happened today. As I passed north, headed for my shopping, the asphalt was wet, just damp, in the swamp, and beyond. At our end of the road, nope, dry—the air was humid, but no rain. It is expected broadly across the area before dark, however.

Posted at 5:21 PM | Comments Off on Tracks

We took a wilderness wander today, a long loop on our way to Little A-town. We took Big Creek Road for quite a distance, and at this corner could go either way, and we stayed with BCR (in order to go through Aska, which turned out to be a few remaining buildings and fields, no commercial structures and no town center). Note that Big Creek didn’t really flow through a Big Valley, and that there was indeed a Little Creek near the far end of our route.

We saw lots of outsized caterpillar tents like this in the mountains, and the grass was darned green for this time of year. I don’t know if the two reflect the same summer weather trends. Still—GIANT caterpillar tents.

Posted at 9:47 PM | Comments Off on Corner of BCR and BACR