Ireland's Churches - Waterford and Dublin

Waterford

We walked through two churches in Waterford.

St. Savior's Catholic Church was just across the street from our hotel.

St Saviour’s priory, Bridge Street, is home to a small community of Dominicans who are engaged in the liturgical and sacramental life of their priory church. The church and priory are located in Waterford’s city centre, in the heart of a rejuvenated residential area.

It's very plain on the outside. There's no clue to the beauty that lies within these walls.

It appears that these are hand painted frescoes around the altar.

The atmosphere was very serene.

I quietly photographed this nun deeply invovled in prayer.

The altar area is bright and inviting.

Very impressive pulpit.

Click here (http://www.dominicans.ie/friars/communities/waterford/history.html) for a history of St. Savior's, Waterford.

The other church we visited was Christ Church Cathedral. We walked through several blocks, peppered with crumbling, medieval buildings to make our way to this church.

The Cathedral of The Holy Trinity, Christ Church has been a constant presence in Waterford, in one form or another, since the 11th century. Built on a site of Christian worship which dates back to 1050 and probably before, the building is steeped in history. The only neo - classical Georgian Cathedral in Ireland, it is an important part of the Church of Ireland, and is considered to be of enormous architectural importance. The Cathedral, in addition to continuing as a place of Christian worship, is now used as a venue for concerts, recitals and exhibitions adding to the cultural life of Waterford.

Christ Church Cathedral from the street.

All but one of the stained glass windows from the original cathedral were left out of the reconstruction of the present structure.

The Baptists and the Episcopalians are separated by an aisle!

The Apostle Paul would feel right at home in this pulpit.

Leave it to me to find the beautiful wooden choir loft.

Look at the Wedgwood trimmings. Aren't they lovely?

Multi-piped organ - magnificent.

Click here (http://www.christchurchwaterford.com/heritage_history.html) to learn more about this Cathedral.

Dublin

This is the Abbey Presbyterian Church where Bill's granddaughter Kate interned last winter. Abbey, also known as "Findlater's Church," has a rich history dating back to 1864.
Bill has a picture of the outside of the church (I'll post it when he sends it to me.)

These are some that Graham took on Sunday morning.

We received a warm welcome upon arrival. Do we look like tourists?

Waiting in the pew box for church to begin.

The organist was practicing, much to our great pleasure.

Really lovely sounds came from this organ.

Click on this site http://www.abbeychurch.ie/ for more information about Abbey.

Treasure's Latest Appointment

Treasure had her two month checkup today with Dr. Earl. He was all smiles after her ultrasound as he reported only the tiniest, slightest bit of growth of her tumor over the past two months. We are so pleased with her state of health at this point. It has been ten months since we first started on this path and we seem to have found an acceptable and successful treatment for her.

Treasure is pretty nonchalant about the whole thing! I think she has become accustomed to the meds she has to take and the periodic vet appointments. She's much more interested in getting her nap without interruption.

After talking with Dr. Earl about Treasure generally, we are in agreement over several Westie issues. He was particularly interested in how healthy her skin is, since Westies are notorious for skin issues. I told him that I eliminated all corn and wheat from her diet and feed her only Solid Gold dog food or hamburger and rice. He agreed that most Westie skin problems are really food issues and he tries to convince his clients of that fact. Treasure is living proof of it!

He was also impressed with the beneficial results she is having with the drug Previcox. The usual drug of choice for bladder cancer is Piroxicam, but Treasure didn't tolerate that at all. She is paving the way with the Previcox and doing quite well on it. That will help Dr. Earl in his decisions to treat other dogs with this cancer.

We look at Treasure and marvel at God's mercy and His goodness. And we say, without hesitation, "Thank You for instilling that terrier determination in this little Westie!" When she first came into our home, I claimed 2 Corinthians 4:7 for her: "But we have this Treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

How true that verse continues to be!

Flower Fun

With all the rain, and the temperate climate, you know that Ireland is going to have an abundance of flowers to enjoy. Armed with our fancy-dancy Canon DSLR cameras, Bill and I jumped at every opportunity to get up close and personal with the flora. He is still a class or two ahead of me in the technical aspect of photographing flowers, but these, I think, are pretty good.

On Sunday in Killarney we decided to opt out of the excursion planned and relax, go to church, and explore the town. Church service didn't start until 11:00 so to kill some time, Bill and I, clutching our cameras, set out on foot to photograph Killarney. Before we knew it we had ventured away from "Main street" into some of the residential areas and this is some of what we found there.

Luscious purple wisteria.

Spikes of pink something or other... I bought a book and will look for names!

This one has to be named "snow" something!
Tordylium pestalozzae / Zirmet

One of the more interesting sights was our discovery of the "Burren" in County Clare. I'm quoting now, "The Burren lies south of Galway in County Clare, Ireland. The name Burren is from the Irish - bhoireann meaning a stony place. Its formation has lain unspoiled since the ice-age and is composed of karstic limestone, the largest area of such in western Europe. It is a place of surprise and delight to botanists, archaeologists and ecologists alike and occupies an area of approximately 300 sq. kilometres. The area itself is very bleak in appearance with glacial soil loss at a maximum. However is does have sufficient soil to grow a wide variety of the most unusual and rarest of plants, many of them strange bedfellows. "

Another one to look for in the book!
Geranium sanguineum, commonly called Bloody Cranesbill

This one too!
Stone Bramble

Same here. I have some homework to do!

And I'll get to it real soon. I promise.
Helianthemum canum, commonly called Hoary rockrose

These are taken in the lovely garden of the Butler House in Kilkenny. Bill and I happened upon it while exploring an area behind the grand Kilkenny Castle. It was an "Alice in Wonderland" moment, coming upon an opening in a wall and finding this amazing garden.

Pink blossoms and Japanese maple

Here, kitty, kitty!

Bright orange poppy

Pure loveliness.

If you want to look at all 85 pictures, here is a link to them on Shutterfly:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EcNmzhmxbMYU&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar

Summer's Here!

Summer has definitely settled in to South Texas. Our temps have ranged from 96 to 101 degrees the last week, and promise more of the same for the week to come. What's a little guy to do? Adrian and his Mommy have one recourse available - Ludee's pool!

I snapped this picture between sneezes! It seems every time he gets water on his face it causes him to sneeze! Fortunately that doesn't prevent his having a good time in the water, playing with his Mommy and some really neat water toys. Bring on the heat!

Finally! Some Pictures from Dublin

The end of our tour came so quickly. The first week we were in only two hotels. Then our pace picked up and before we knew it we were preparing to say "goodbye" to many new-found friends. Most of them would be leaving the next morning and we would be suddenly torn from our comfortable community of travelers. As our friends were leaving for the airport, we would be transferring to lodging quite different from what we had become accustomed to. Now, on our own and on foot, we would set out to discover Dublin. Here is what we found...

Saying "Goodbye" to the sheep. We're leaving this lush and wonderful countryside for the bustling activities and noise of the city! Dublin, here we come!

Ireland's most famous export!

The famed Ha'Penny Bridge, spanning the River Liffey.

The lovely Molly Malone.

A fine example of the numerous Georgian doors in one section of the city.

This arch marks the entrance into St. Stephen's Green Park. Bill and I stepped into it and discovered an oasis of serentiy in the middle of a noisy, trafficky city. It is so large, with two lakes and acres of parkland, one could spend an hour just walking through it.

Christ Church Cathedral.

We were amazed (and appalled) that there was an admission charge for this church and for St. Patrick's Cathedral. What a disappointment.

Among other events happening in the city, there was a "tall ship festival" going on at the river near the docklands. We had stayed at a hotel on Custom House Quay during our previous trip and walked through this area in an attempt to find the hotel (without success - it has either been torn down or has changed hands and appearance.)

Because several streets have been made "pedestrian only", we often came across various kinds of street artists. Some were quite bizarre. This one was the most talented!

Prominent statue of Daniel O'Connell, after whom this bustling boulevard was named.

Our guesthouse was just two streets over and the hop-on, hop-off bus stops were on both sides of the street.

On the very last day I finally had my walking-Westie sighting! The throng of people didn't bother him at all. See the walkers in red shirts and pink shirts? There were about 10,000 women walking throughout Dublin all day for a cancer cure.

We talked with a couple of them later that evening.

The horse patrol in the Temple Bar area. We found a great gourmet burger restaurant for lunch here. A couple at the table next to us were from Victoria, B.C.

By Monday we were so bored and ready to come home,

Bill and I were getting giddy with our cameras!

This is very typical of "window treatment" all over Dublin. You see this mainly at pubs, but also at some hotels. All the rain makes the flowers so happy!

The Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park. Note: Abundant sunshine, Bank Holiday, Dubliners out sunbathing!

We're ready to board our plane to Atlanta. Look at Graham, so innocent, not realizing that he is smuggling an apple in his red carry-on bag! In just eight hours he's going to get busted by an apple-sniffing beagle! We won't let him live that down for a long time!

Pictures from Cork and Cobh

I'm finally getting my photos sorted and uploaded to my computer. These are from Cork City and Cobh (pronounced "cove"), a small town with a big history. These should have been posted before Waterford in the sequence of our trip.

We drove into Cork City on a typical rainy afternoon.

This was taken in the early morning .. the sun is up, the tide is in, the traffic is nil.

Our hotel, the Imperial, is an example of the old, Georgian buildings that we saw in and around Cork.

On our way to Cobh. This is on the other side of the river. Our Program Director lives in this little town.

A good view of Spike Island (it's the middle island in the picture). There are centuries of history on this island. A monastery for several centuries, a debtor's prison, a military base. It is now protected by the government from modernization.

"Quaint" comes to mind.. this street follows the river on the right; the town of Cobh is embedded in the hills on the left.

There are two "industries" that are found in abundance in Ireland - churches and pubs! I'm not sure what that says about the country, but I photographed as many as I could.

Cobh has the largest seaport in Europe (?). This is where the Titanic made its last stop for passengers before its fatal voyage. The Lusitania was sunk in its harbor. And the day before we came the largest cruise ship in the world was docked here!

This is a memorial to the victims of the Lusitania.

Here is the actual building through which passengers passed before embarking on the Titanic. There are many plaques, statues and memorials to this event. In fact, this was on a Friday and on Monday we heard on the news that the last remaining survivor of the Titanic has passed away at the age of 97.

This is the rose window in St. Colman's (Catholic) Cathedral. Most of the churches we visited had beautiful stained glass windows (some centuries old) and gorgeous marble floors. All the marble comes from various regions of Ireland and is used abundantly.

For a while Cobh was called Queensland in honor of one of the queens of England. There is so much history, changing of control by various nations and faiths, it's very hard to remember it all.

This puppy is for sale! We didn't stop to find out what they wanted for it, but it's too much a "fixer-upper" for me!

I'm going to go back and find out the name of this river in Cork, but let me say that because Ireland is an island, all the rivers are tidal. So we might leave on the bus in the morning with the water level nearly to the street and come back at noon and it's six feet lower. It was a phenomenon I had a hard time getting used to. However, it did afford some very interesting photos! Just looked on Wikipedia and this is the River Lee.

One last look at the unique city of Cork as we make our way out and journey up to Cahir, Kilkenny and Waterford. This was a lovely stop.

Interruption...

I have to interrupt posting Ireland pictures to give a Treasure update.

Jo brought her in the car when she picked us up at the airport and I immediately got covered in doggie kisses. She was fairly content to sit close to me on the way home.

But that first night Treasure kept her distance. She slept in the same room, but totally across from my bed. And next morning, when Graham and I went out to breakfast, I told her we'd "be right back" and left her to nap. This is where I found her an hour later:

She's obviously not taking any chances that we might go away again - at least not with luggage!

All day Wednesday she was a little aloof, as if to protect herself from being left again emotionally. Again, she slept across the room from our bed.

And then, on Thursday, knowing full well that we were going to Bible Study together, she snapped out of her mood and gained back her Westie smile and energy! She played with Jefferson, loved on all the ladies, watched Lois's squirrels and napped by our feet.

Life, by Westie standards, is back to normal!

Other than being in dire need of a haircut and bath, she appears to be doing quite well. We have an appointment with Dr. Earl in about three weeks for her "sound check" and I'm hoping that she's maintaining her status quo. I would love to see her stay well all the way to August, which is one year after her diagnosis and 2-month prognosis. We should never underestimate the determination of a Westie!