Haunted?

Remember the pictures of the Bumble Bees on the clover?  I just wanted to share a bit of video of that.  They were so out of their minds with the nectar they were collecting that it was really comical

.  Not all of our walks were quite like this however.  Fact is there are many ruins and abandoned structures that really fascinated us.  Lovely and I love to take pictures of such things so we found ourselves on an abandoned farm that had some interesting buildings.  I’ve always loved textures as you all know by now so this seemed a little paradise for me.  The wind had been howling like a living thing and had not much abated during our little adventure.  This little cottage was very overgrown.  Several sheds were on the property with rusted roofs.  At first I didn’t start to feel strange but admittedly this place was kind of creepy even during the day.  I had to laugh at myself as I thought of the original “Living Dead” movie.  I could easily imagine a zombie ambling down those stairs!  I had no idea how long it had been since someone lived here but I’d say it had been a very long time.  The surrounding walls seemed to be kept up but I imagine that was because they neighbors were still there.  One abandoned room had an old stove in it that also was showing its age.  Some of the gates seemed to be about ready to fall.  Old metal and pealing paint really catch my attention.  I was soon too distracted to think about the creepy feeling of the place.  They say that if walls could speak they would have a story to tell…the same can’t be said for the roof here!  It was really beyond me why someone would bother to pad lock anything.  The blank stare of broken windows began to remind me of the strange feeling that was making my skin crawl.  Soon our attention was drawn to a door in a second story of a shed.  It was creaking and opening and closing on it's own accord.  We didn’t think much of it until later.  I continued to photograph things that grabbed my attention.  This particular shot I really happen to like.  Old dead bolts with lots of rust and a cobweb or two..ah yeah!  We finally moved on leaving the dead windows staring at our backs.  It was not until we were down the road some that my daughter began to review some of the video they were taking while we explored the abandoned farm house that some made my hair stand straight up on end.  There was some talking between us then a very eerie voice spoke that I knew wasn’t any of us.  It said simply:  “Welcome…”.  Have you ever had one of those moments that feels like you just got an electric shock though you know it’s nothing to do with electricity?  That’s exactly what I felt.  We did not hear the voice until we reviewed the video…I knew where each person was and what they were saying…this was not any of us.  The voice can be heard at 15 seconds into the video

…can you hear it?  Those that I’ve shown this video to all get the same feeling I did.  Some think it sounds like a woman, some an old man while others..myself included think it’s a small boy.  What do you think?

Texture and Location

There are a couple of things that are important to me when taking pictures:  Texture and Location.  I have been some places where you just can’t take a bad picture if you’ve got a reasonable camera and a little creativity.  Other times it’s not a particularly exciting place so I find a way to take a picture that still may interest others.  I am by no means a photographer in the sense that I know lots about the settings on my camera.  I do love to take pictures and find ones that either speak to me at the moment or might later.  Ireland is a place that I seldom find myself at a loss of things to take pictures of.  Even tree bark can grab my attention at timesother times it can be things like this stone wall alone a road we walked many times.  I found that almost every structure along this road had a personality that caught my attention.  This was an abandoned building that has quite a storythat I will relate later.  I’m not a real believer in ghosts but I captured something here that was very strange.  I will post it later.  I like the little things often enough and so this sign seemed to call out to be photographed…signs like this were all along the Tain Way showing where to walk.  I usually don’t believe in posing for shots but on occasion I do just that when it seems fitting…after all what would a trip to Ireland be without at least one clover shot?  There are times when a shot presents itself that is humorous and I love that.  There were some large clovers that the Irish bumblebees were visiting.  They were getting completely wasted at the clover lounge…just look at this and tell me you don’t think it looks like this is one drunk bee!  I love to take pictures of Gabby because she’s not old enough to get too annoyed with me if I only take one or two pictures.  She was gathering flowers for a bouquet for my mom here and I just couldn’t resist asking her to show me her treasury and click a quick shot before she got annoyed.  My camera has a feature that I’ve grown to really like lately.  It’s a panorama setting that doesn’t force me to go back and stitch shots together…it allows me to slowly pan from left to right and then makes the picture right then and there…I really like that!   I love green as a color and Ireland never has a shortage of that color !  Fact is I think it might have made my eyes just a little more green too!  Pictures of some of the roads really attracted me too.  I felt like it spoke also of the path God has us walking on.  Actually some of the countryside here reminded me of what there is on the Bear Tooth Pass here in montanaor maybe something you’d see in Glacier National Parkthough admittedly there was no snow and always there are old structures around that you don’t usually find in our national parks.  Let’s walk on and see what we can see.  I only wish I could have seen this place with my grandparents on my Mom’s side.  They knew and loved so many wild flowers…they always knew the names of them all…something which escapes me.  I relished the solitude on our walks…it was just us and the flowers and some sheep on occasion.  There weren’t all that many trees on this walk so this patch of forest stuck out to me.  It’s funny how you can take things for granted from your own neck of the woods until you leave it…where’s the pine?  Looking down on the valley gave a wonderful view…though I’m not sure the sheep here would have said the same thing.  This ram had seen better days.  Oh how I miss this view!  I come from a state that’s got lots of cows and sheep but these, these were Irish sheep!  It’s not easy to get the whole picture but take a slice of what I offer here and know that Ireland is beautiful indeed!  My next blog I’ll show the abandoned farm we explored and post the strange phenomenon we recorded…we weren’t looking for it but it found us!  Tune in next week!

Dublin Dabblin’

This week has seen the end of our trip to another cabin so now the summer is looking more and more like it’s about done.  I guess on the bright side we’ll end it with Lovely and my daughter going to a Three Days Grace concert at our local fair which should be a fun time.  I had to miss Alice Cooper which still grates on me some but enjoy what you can you know?  I have so many pictures from the last couple trips that I think I won’t be lacking for some time to come.  I will finish the Ireland series and then move on to that.  I don’t know if I’ll finish what I’ve got before heading to the Philippines in October (by God’s grace). 

 

We didn’t venture into Dublin on this last trip as much as before however I still find that I like it.  This time it was cold much of the trip but this day it was relatively nice which made the sights all the more enjoyable to take in.  There were plenty of garda…the local police around because of two events:  The Queen of England was visiting and Obama was on his way to visit.  Fortunately all was calm.  I love the old European look of the buildings.  My eyes are always drawn to the buildings here.  This spire celebrates southern Ireland’s entry into the EU.  I love drinking in the sights and sounds when I visit other countries.  Even the shops have names that seem exotic…if not a bit humorous.  Some things strike me as rather prophetic and this was one of those things.  I believe these are actually garbage cans…if so I have a theory:  they are made to be not only attractive but to prevent bombs from being placed in them.  All is not as it appears and the IRA do still do things that make it dangerous to be in the wrong place at the wrong time…thus the security.  Stately buildings sometimes still have the mark of violence in the pastin fact some facades on the buildings still had bullet holes…sobering.  We visited this church on our last trip…had meetings across the street from it in fact…it’s still beautiful in its own way.  Guinness is known throughout the world..there was plenty on this truckload.  Returning home from the city was pleasant too…always good to return to the cottage we were staying in after the visit to the city.  There’s a beauty there that is unlike the city but a beauty none the less.  The Irish never seem rushed and here that is even more obvious.  Ireland is a place where things seem to move at their own pacebut I get the impression that underneath it allit is not as peaceful as it appears.  The whole world seems obsessed with peacebut I think that we are heading for very troubled waters.  We must walk the path God puts before usand not stray in spite of the troubled times we live in.  Christ is called the way the truth and the life in the Bible…not a religion but the way, the truth and the life.   This I believe with all of my heart.  This road lies within every person but it cannot be walked upon unless we accept what Christ says of Himself and we walk with Him.  This world may be on the decline but God’s plan will come to pass.  He always leads to still pastures.