I've been participating in an A to Z Challenge for the month of April - check out some of the other participants from all over the world.
The West of Ireland is littered with stones - left over from the Ice Age. It's part of what forms the remarkable landscape of the Burren, Connemara, Donegal and Kerry.
In the old days when someone needed to farm the land or graze cattle or sheep on it, they put a lot of muscle into clearing the field in question… and the results are beautiful walls all over the countryside.. I love these walls - makes me think of lace.
In Jim Sheridan's film of John B. Keane's play 'The Field', the main character , the Bull McCabe, pays dearly for his obsession with one field.
Walls make good neighbours; they're there to keep us in and keep trouble out. They divide nations and we build them around our hearts. But sometimes they're nothing more than a wall!
Here are some Connemara walls from my recent visit over to the West ...
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| There's dozens of lanes and no traffic - I went up this one to get a picture, and naturally the only tractor on the road also had to come up it …. and I ended up in a shuck! - that's a boggy ditch by the way! |
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| And some inhabitants behind the walls |
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| This wee chap looked like he was only a couple of days old. |
Ireland must be such a special place full of song, stories, and beautiful landscapes. On a visit to Sweden, I found my great-grandfather's farm in the rough country of SE Sweden. I have a stone from the stonewall he built there and I treasure it.
ReplyDeleteThere's something so special about stones ... that's a lovely memory to have.
DeleteWalls are always fascinating, particularly the old stone walls built by our ancestors.
ReplyDeleteI agree Jo - if walls could tell stories ....
DeleteLovely post and pictures. There's so much to love about the Irish landscape, but those stone walls will remain imprinted on my heart forever. Every time I saw one I was humbled by the thought of what went into its construction.
ReplyDeleteThank you Deborah - the ancientness of them and how they change after rain ....
DeleteVery cool pictures! New follower here. I'm stopping by from the "A to Z" challenge, and I look forward to visiting again.
ReplyDeleteSylvia
http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/
Lovely to meet you Sylvia ... thanks for dropping by :)
DeleteLovely post and photographs. I'm sorry I didn't discover your blog earlier, but I've found it now, thanks to your reflections post, and hope to visit again. I too chose Walls for W, and my son commented on it with a link to a song of the same name by Beck: http://josna.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/269-walls/#comments
ReplyDeleteCongrats on completing the Challenge!
Oh, and I'm based in the United States, though I was in Germany and England during the month of April, and the settings and subject matter of my blog range widely, Best wishes, J
Lovely to meet a kindred spirit Josna :)
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