Discovering Ireland Etc.

[O'Sullivan Bere]

Castletown House, Co. Kildare

Castletown House, designed by Italian architect Alessandro Galilei and built in 1722, is one of Ireland's finest examples of Palladian architecture. It would be one of the main influences for Irish architect James Hoban when designing the White House in Washington, D.C.

Same genre influences others of that genre, but White House historians state that Hoban based the White House on Leinster House (then Kildare House) and Castle Coole in Fermanagh. The influence is evident and especially from the original White House draft and Hoban's construction of the Charleston County Court House in South Carolina.

 

[valamhic]

It was the movie, "Ryan's Daughter" filmed on the Dingle peninsula, and starring Robert Mitchum that brought us from Manchester UK., to the glorious scenery of county Kerry way back in circa 1968. That movie put Dingle on the map not Fungie. The Dolphin came later. Yes we saw it swim under our tourist trip boat with a large fish in it's mouth.

Much later I made it to the top of Skellig Michael seen here. It had been on the bucket list for decades.
Ireland is a very beautiful country and my wife Maureen and I along with our children toured it extensively on our annual summer holidays from Malin head in Donegal to Mizen head in the south and of course from Dublin to Galway and most roads in between. south.
recently I contacted the county Kerry officials about my idea for a statue of Robert Mitchum to be erected in Dingle. Spoke about it on Kerry radio and in the Kerryman newspaper. Initially the idea got a warm reception from politicians in Kerry but all is quiet now. I'm a Dubliner after all!
Nevertheless I got a statue of "Elvis at 13" erected in Tupelo Mississippi, his birthplace, so after that success, why should I stop?
Photo of scenic Ireland are always appreciated.

It was a very tough climb for this pensioner but well worth the effort. The views were fantastic!

How do you rate the United States. Western South Dakota and the Black Hills are very beautiful in my opinion

 

[Mowl]

How do you rate the United States.

Same as we rate your online output: grimly.

Western South Dakota and the Black Hills are very beautiful in my opinion

Shove your opinion up your illiterate hole, you dumb bastard.

 

[DS86DS]

Doonagore Castle, Doolin

 

[Captain Con]

Shove your opinion up your illiterate hole, you dumb bastard.

Good morning Your Grace

 

[Captain Con]

Of all the country houses, palladian n' all it is Luggala, Garech Browne's place that I like the look of most. There is something almost moorish about it... https://www.galeriemagazine.com/tour-the-guinness-familys-5000-acre-estate-in-ireland/

 

[Mowl]

It's already afternoon up these parts, Cap'n. Light snowfall throughout the night so all's looking fresh and crisp outside with temperatures at an easy minus eleven with no breeze and zero chill factors. Tonight I face a conundrum: my Shortie called early last night and needs to see me about something or other. Being asthmatic, she can't use public transport, so her Mom's going to whizz by at some point.

Then the ex-wife texted later in the evening and she too needs to see me about who knows what.

Unwittingly, I agreed to both: only I don't know what times either of them have in mind and the two of them meeting here in my place has its dangers and thrills.

I might just have to call this one in sick; I'm in no mood for melodrama.

But I am in the mood for other things - so who knows?

If they meet and start acting like two wildcats, then I'm caught in the middle of a serious cat-fight.

They'll be discovering Ireland's patience wears fairly thin fairly fast and find themselves booted off the balcony.

Of all the country houses, palladian n' all it is Luggala, Garech Browne's place that I like the look of most. There is something almost moorish about it... https://www.galeriemagazine.com/tour-the-guinness-familys-5000-acre-estate-in-ireland/

That really is some opulent spread. Nice to see how the other half lives. Do they still own the property in Leixlip? I went to the Police concert which was staged on their land; with U2, Paul Young, Skafish, Wild Willy Barrett and John Otway. Got to meet my then hero, Stewart Copeland, who bedded down that night with one of the Guinness heirs only to father a kid with her. Stewie's a gas man, as effervescent as a shaken bottle of champagne with the cork desperately trying to leap free of the top.

He had a bad cut on his leg and was limping at bit: some arse in the crowd threw a glass bottle onto the stage which came down on Stew's drums and splintered into a million tiny shards - they had to stop the gig and let Stew get his N.aked leg bandaged up (he's almost always worn football gear with a t-shirt when performing). He's as long, thin, and gangly as I am. Sting spend the time he was off-stage pointing out the cunt in the crowd to security by asking all of the people around her to stand offside and circle her. Security moved in and she was taken away for processing. I told Stew I did first aid and that I'd fix him up but he laughed it off.

Sometimes getting to meet your heroes is the complete opposite of disappointment: if anything, he impressed me all the more for his levity.

 

[Mike Murphy]

I have always wanted to take the most scenic drive up the North Antrim coast road I have many relatives who have enjoyed that beautiful area, so someday, when this lockdown is a thing of the past, I will take the ferry across and see the sights.

 

[Jennyanydots]

I was surprised to hear that Tori Amos had sold her home, Ballywilliam House, in Kinsale a year or so ago. I had only seen images of it on her fan site (massive fan, me). The images were breathtaking, and not just the house, but the surrounding countryside. That view..!! To die for.

I love the idea of underground firepits. is that common in irish rural architecture..?

Magnificent. Who couldn't love this...?

For a girl who was expelled from school at the age of 11 and started out playing the piano for tips in a Washington DC gay bar at 15, she's done pretty well for herself.

I have never visited Ireland......... I've spent most of my holidays on the continent and loved every minute of it. But reading through this thread and seeing some of the images on here has shot it right up our list of places to visit.

My poor words can't do it justice so I'll let Tori speak for me:

I like Ireland.
We were gathering there for a few weeks in the summer. Strange occurrences happen there. Maybe because the veils are thin. I look up on the hills that surround me and I am mesmerized. All the hassles of daily life freeze their chattering head (aches) as I sit. Drawn into a different kind of drumming that I, strangely enough, can hear. It is faint. But it is hypnotising. I look up and You could say someone has taken a paint brush so that I can barely make out the contour of bodies, the etching of a hero's physique. A hero from Munster being welcomed back in this tribal ceremony---- where beauties of all shapes and sizes sway to the drumming that has now joined with a haunting sound. Distant chanting that is warming the fires. I am not warm or cold. A bard by the fire regales the feats of the last many, many days. He is there. I breathe him in. The festivities of the Tuatha De Danann go into the night. Through the open windows of my room, I can look out on these hills. Sometimes they are quiet and simply act as a blanket for the house and for anyone who comes here to rest, or to write. Ellie smiles as Dunc puts the kettle on. Fresh herbs from the garden mingle, making conversation in porcelain. I leave Ellie and Dunc and a Pomerol Chateau Moulinet in the Kitchen. The stairs carry me back to my open window. I curl up in my duvet and am rocked to the place where our senses are awake. I dream myself awake. The bard reaches for the elements. From ether, From fire. He seduces me with his story. The Tuatha De Danann break camp at dawn. I write this as another promo day begins in the land of Runes and of longboats - longboats that long ago made the Emerald Isle their destination. I don't have a longboat but I do have a Saab.
-
-Diary entry, Tori Amos

(The Saab reference is a nod towards the first line of her song "Ireland" from the 2005 album "The Beekeeper".

 

[Jennyanydots]

I'm a massive fan of Tori Amos and it wasn't until I read on a fan site that she was selling her home in Ireland, Ballywilliam House in Kinsale that I saw images of the place. Wow.... that view..... To die for...!!


When I saw the internal images of the property I loved the idea of the underground firepit. Is that a common feature of houses in rural Ireland..?

Our travels have mostly been to the continent. it never really occurred to us to spend a holiday in Ireland. We have tinkered with the idea that we may perhaps pop across to Dublin for a six N.ations rugby weekend sometime in the future, but having read the posts on this thread and seen some of the images, I have to say a tour of the country would be well worth spending a fortnight in a camper van for.

My poor words can't do it justice.... so I'll let Tori speak for me....

I like Ireland.
We were gathering there for a few weeks in the summer. Strange occurrences happen there. Maybe because the veils are thin. I look up on the hills that surround me and I am mesmerized. All the hassles of daily life freeze their chattering head (aches) as I sit. Drawn into a different kind of drumming that I, strangely enough, can hear. It is faint. But it is hypnotising. I look up and You could say someone has taken a paint brush so that I can barely make out the contour of bodies, the etching of a hero's physique. A hero from Munster being welcomed back in this tribal ceremony---- where beauties of all shapes and sizes sway to the drumming that has now joined with a haunting sound. Distant chanting that is warming the fires. I am not warm or cold. A bard by the fire regales the feats of the last many, many days. He is there. I breathe him in. The festivities of the Tuatha De Danann go into the night. Through the open windows of my room, I can look out on these hills. Sometimes they are quiet and simply act as a blanket for the house and for anyone who comes here to rest, or to write. Ellie smiles as Dunc puts the kettle on. Fresh herbs from the garden mingle, making conversation in porcelain. I leave Ellie and Dunc and a Pomerol Chateau Moulinet in the Kitchen. The stairs carry me back to my open window. I curl up in my duvet and am rocked to the place where our senses are awake. I dream myself awake. The bard reaches for the elements. From ether, From fire. He seduces me with his story. The Tuatha De Danann break camp at dawn. I write this as another promo day begins in the land of Runes and of longboats - longboats that long ago made the Emerald Isle their destination. I don't have a longboat but I do have a Saab.
-
-Diary entry, Tori Amos 2005

(the Saab is mentioned in the first line of her song "Ireland" from the Beekeeper album, 2005)

 

[Mowl]

Lovely! Elsewhere on the site there's the tale of me meeting Tori one evening back in Dublin in the early/mid nineties when she performed solo at the Olympia Theatre on Dame Street. I was requested to accompany the opening artist, a chap who went by the N.ame 'Saint Mark', whom I'd worked with on his first recordings and continued to shadow him as he broke his teeth in the music business. We did a short set of maybe thirty-five or forty minutes, his songs were both sweet and bittersweet and I learned later that Tori had left her dressing room to come to the wings to listen in.

When we finished our set, I had to run back to QVII restaurant where I'd just taken a break from in the middle of another gig I was booked for the same night. We had a quartet playing jazz in the restaurant salon in the basement. We'd start at ten and do four sets of forty five minutes at a time. Then we'd open the stage to any guests who dropped to jam with us. Having met and spoken to Tori (she said she loved my voice, but I had to tell her I only did the backing vocals) at the Olympia, I excused myself and ran back to the jazz club to continue the show there.

Later that night, who comes in for supper?

Yes, and with her small but bubbly entourage she arrived in to a booked table and ordered her food and wine. Then she spotted me on the stage (again) this time playing drum-set and greeted me with a big grin. She got up later to do some of her own songs but also joined in for some standards and is a very competent jazz pianist too. She lead us through a few ideas of her own and eventually we wound things down somewhere late into the wee hours and congregated around her table for wine, cognac, and cigars.

She was such an affable and down to earth lady, very delicate in her ways and watching her eat was kind of curious. She hid her mouth when eating, a trait I've seen some others with that always struck me as unusual. But aside for that, she commanded the salon: when she spoke, everyone shut up and listened. When she played her own songs, the very same. It was a lovely experience and she was kind and generous with her time and her words. I was hugely impressed with her.

Here she is doing a live thing on Graham Norton's television show a few years back, and man can she handle two pianos. I'll post this one to you, Jennyanydots as it typifies for me the contrast between the delicate little lady and the fearsome performer. It's time stamped for the song, but there's an interview before it if you're interested. This is some banging little tune:

 

[MauriceColgan]

Thank everyone for keeping this thread moving I have been exceedingly busy.

 

[MauriceColgan]

Was busy bidding for Priscilla Presley's "Elvis At 13" statuette auctioned in Beverly Hills during a four day event 18 19 20 and 21st of February 2021.
My bid was accepted.
Priscilla has been to Ireland and thinks we are fun guys .. after she downed a few Guinness.
She MAY want the statuette back? But can she afford it! LOL. The story is in the current Dublin Gazette and online.

My photos will not load?

 

[DS86DS]

Hi Maurice, are you adding them from Add.pics via Upload images? The Attach files button should be avoided as the images don't upload properly- even causing posts to disappear. Alternatively images can be added by URL with the

tags, or by clicking on the image button in the message box and clicking on the link option.

Alternatively, you could send the images to me by PM and I'll be able to add them from there.

 

[Mowl]

My photos will not load?

Hot tip: reduce them in size in your Paint application: usually around 888 pixels (either horizontal or vertical) is accepted and will upload quickly and easily, any larger and you'll have to try multiple times to get it uploaded. Size is your solution here, M MauriceColgan!

 

[MauriceColgan]

Will try again.

 

[Mowl]

Will try again.

Hmmmm, and they say size doesn't matter?

They're right - it doesn't matter, so long as it's too big.

 

[MauriceColgan]

Thanks Mowl I am'nt tech savvy.

 

[Mowl]

Any image you have in your collection? Simply right click on it, then you're given options: choose to open with Paint and on the top left of the Paint application palette you'll see sizing options as well as other basic and simple functions. You can employ the sizing as part of your posting - right-click, Paint, size, save as a new file N.ame if you also want to keep the original on file in the original size.

EG: if the file is called Maurice In Philadelphia, then N.ame the reduced sized image Maurice In Philadelphia1 and now you have the original PLUS a smaller version for uploading on boards like this one. The 'upload images' function of your reply box is a better option that the one on the bottom left called 'Attach Images'.

I always use the one on the right - it's faster and less problematic.

 

[MauriceColgan]

Thanks Mowl, Nice and helpful I will try Paint when I get a chance.
This is Maureen my wife and Priscilla Presley by the original "Elvis at 13" some years ago. The Idea for the statue was born in my head here in Ireland.