I’m a Laird

Wednesday May 22 – Very excited about today’s trip out. We headed west along the Ring of Kerry road and the Wild Atlantic Way. We stopped at the Kerry Bog Village Museum which was very interesting. The smell of peat fires in the buildings brought lots of memories of our visits North in Orkney from years go by. We loved the thatched roofs on the houses. We then drove a little further to the town of Rossbeigh. There was a fantastic beach there that was being used by people, dog walkers and horseback riders. We enjoyed the beach a while and then head further west to the village of Cahersiveen. I had found that some family members had stayed her in the early 1800’s but we didnt find any of them in the graveyards we could find. We had nice lunch here and then we continued on our way to Portmagee. We had booked a boat tour out to the Skellig Islands. They filmed Star Wars: the Force Awakens here. The scenes were of them finding Luke. It was a very interesting tour. The views were spectacular. We were 3 days to early to actually land on the island and walk up. After the boat ride we returned to our cottage and walked up to Kate Kearney’s Cottage for a wonderful meal and live music and Irish Dancing.

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Tuesday May 21 – The weather today was spectacular. Truly our very first spring like weather we have had anywhere. In Canada we had a very long cold winter and a really wet and cool spring. We had breakfast outside and then we traveled to just the other side of Killarney to the Muckross House Estate. This beautiful house was built in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the watercolourist Mary Balfour Herbert. After preparing for 5 years for a 2 night visit of Queen Victoria, the family found themselves in financial difficulty. It was sold to Arthur Guinness (Guinness Beer fame) who rented out the house and grounds as a hunting lodge. He eventually sold the house to William Bowers Bourn. He and his wife lived in the house until her death in 1929. In 1932 the children presented Muckross House and its 11,000 acre estate to the Irish nation, creating Ireland’s first national park. After a great tour of the house we traveled by a jaunty carriage ride to Torc Falls. We had nice lunch back at Muckross House. After lunch we traveled a little further around the lake to Ross Castle. We had a nice walk around the castle and then a walk through the grounds.

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Monday, May 20 – Today we had breakfast at our diggs and then we headed down to Burgh Quay to catch our bus to Killarney. Our eldest daughter walked down with us and then we said good bye to her. We likely wont see her until next May when she comes home for a wedding. She headed off to the airport to return to Orkney. It was a 5 hour drive to Killarney on the bus. We went via Limerick and of course I had to post a limerick on Facebook while I was in Limerick. We arrived in Killarney about 3:30pm where we were met by my Internet Pen-pal, who is also a fellow photographer (see http://www.davethom.net) and his wife. We did a little bit of shopping and then we headed out to our cottage in the Gap of Dunloe. We had a great evening catching up on all our news and then we had a lovely walk up the Gap of Dunloe.

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Sunday, May 19 – We had a slower start today. We headed back down to O’Connell Street and found Murray’s Pub and Grill. We had a wonderful breakfast and our server mentioned that they had live music and dancing in the evening. She promised to book us a great table and so we went a head with the reservation. We then joined the Dublin Hop On and Off Bus tour. We did one complete circuit and then it was time to say good bye to our youngest daughter as she had to return to London for work on Monday. The three of us then walked through the iconic Temple Bar district of Dublin and we ended up at Christ Church Cathedral and had a great tour. We rejoined the Hop on Hop off bus tour and took the other route they offer and saw the rest the tour including the Teeling Distillery and the Guinness Brewery. We then did a bit of shopping along Henry Street. After our shopping we ended back up at Murray’s Bar and we had a wonderful dinner. We were basically on Stage with the Band and the Dancers. What a great evening we had, the music and dancing was awesome.

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Saturday, May 18 – No time to waste sleeping in on our first full day in Ireland with our kids. We were up at the crack of dawn. We took a taxi down to the meeting point for our tour of Northern Ireland with Wild Rover Tours. Starting out at 7am on the bus, we headed north from Dublin on our way to Belfast. Two hours later we arrived and got off the bus for our Black Taxi Tour. Our driver was an actual ex-IRA member who had been involved in the “Troubles”. The 2 hours we spent with him were very emotional and moving as we heard from his perspective the conflict between the two groups. We then re-boarded the bus and head further north to Dunluce Castle..unfortunately the fog and rain prevented a photo stop. Dunluce Castle was used in the HBO Series Game of Thrones. We continued down the coast a little bit and we arrived at the Giants Causeway. The rain and fog lifted just in time for us to explore the World UNESCO Heritage site. We then re-boarded the bus and again drove down the coast a bit to the Carrick-a-Rede Cliff and Rope Bridge walk. We then re-boarded the bus and drove along the coast line to the village of Ballintoy. Ballintoy harbour was also used in the Game of Thrones, but unfortunately our tour did not stop here, instead we turned south and headed back to Dublin. We were serenaded by our tour guide with live Irish music on the way back. We arrived back in Dublin about 8:30pm…a great day all around.

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As mentioned before, we had planned a Family and Photographic adventure to Ireland.

We left on Thursday, May 16th and arrived in Dublin mid day on the 17th. My wife and I booked a tour for the Book of Kells at Trinity College and then we had a nice dinner out at Flanagan’s on O’Connell Street. We stayed at the Harvey’s Guest House in the Drumcondra section of Dublin. It was only a short walk down to the center of Dublin and the room was great. We actually were able to stay up till our daughters arrived late in the evening (one of their flights was delayed.) Here are a few shots from our flight over and our afternoon and evening in Dublin.

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I had a couple of hours this weekend to my self. I went and checked out an Astronomy gathering at our local Chapters Book store. After that I headed back to Petrie Island to check out how the flooding here in Orleans is doing. I actually spent more time looking in the field beside the flooding. Snakes, Birds and Turtles galore. Tonight I did a couple of macro shots in front of the house.

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A very good friend of mine has created a signature file for my photos and the website.

I ordered a new lens for my camera. It’s a 50mm F1.8N Standard Prime Lens. The lens is made by YONGNUO. While looking for a prime lens, I did a lot of viewing of videos and reading of articles. So many opinions! While the 35mm offers a wider field of view, most people recommended the 50mm. So I went a head and ordered it.

After waiting a couple of weeks, it has finally arrived.

I have only played around with it a little bit, but so far I really like the results. It’s not as smooth to put on the camera, nor as quiet as a genuine Nikon lens, but for the money, I think it is just great. Here are a few pictures of the lens and some test shots I took with it.

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Exciting news – We are in the early stages of planning a new family adventure to Ireland! The plans are coming along to spend a few days with our daughters in Dublin and as an added bonus we are meeting my Pen-Pal and his wife for a few days in Killarney.

If you remember, I was taking a camera course called A Year With My Camera. I have finished the 52 week course and I am really please with the results from the course. Am I a better photographer? I think I am much better than when I started the course and that was the goal. I learned how to get off Automatic mode. Are all my photos perfect? Not even close. I do however take more of the better ones than I used to. So mission accomplished.

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