Beyond Gallows Green in Cork city is a great lough, where people once skated in winter-time. At the bottom are buildings and gardens, more beautiful than anything seen today. The tops and towers are visible to those who look into the lough with perfect eyesight. These buildings come from the time of King Core, whose
I would walk along the Barrow and let all my grief go with the river. You see the river flowed right behind my shared apartment and in that complicated first year away from home I would walk with it. Walk with it when angry, when lonely, when worried, or sometimes when just bored. The Barrow
They sat two metres apart. I could just barely fit them into my screen view. Like pillars at the edge, only seated and relaxed. It was Brendan and Pat. Brendan, in his 70s cocooning for the pandemic. Pat, a regular caller, checking in to see if everything was okay with him. And it was, for
I listen to the stove, rumble, growl A black bear caged in the chimney breast. My mind steps back I see Grandmother boiling water for the morning tea, The black kettle over the fire. I hear her imperious voice. ” Marty, we need water from the Well”. We walk down the fields to the bottom
Sunday morning I went to deliver a magazine to my friend who wanted it. Eight am and the sun was already three fingers above the trees. Quiet…well, quiet from human noise. The birds were fully awake. After slipping it through her mail-slot I turned towards the river and enjoyed the crunch of gravel under my
The coming of a new year brings such a strong longing inside; I can hardly breathe. Year after year, I return to a place. It was only a few years ago that I had my first visit here, which I still remember as if it were yesterday; there really is no place like it! The
Fráoch Mac Idath, of the Connachta was the handsomest warrior in Ériu 1 (Ireland) and Albu (Scotland), ach níba shuthain – but he did not live long. The whole land was full of his story and renown, so much so that Findabair, the daughter of Queen Medb (Maeve) fell in love with him simply from
I remember my first holiday in Castlebar. I was accompanied by my great grandmother who was visiting our dear friend Cynthia. As soon as I got over the five- hour journey, the excitement of her estate and ponies, she came up with the first of many ‘Waterbody’ adventures around County Mayo. We went to Lough
The former Mission Hall is located on York Road, Ringsend, facing the river Liffey. Its beauitful facade has been kept as it was over 100 years ago, when two sisters of the famous Bewley cafe family decided to build it as a YMCA. The sisters were both very interested in helping people get a foot
From my mountain, I can see the world below – but I can’t stay here – I’ve things to be… …I am a droplet of dew on the springtime grass, a crystal in the sun-warmth, next a tear joining the gambolling stream, bouncing leaping off the stones like a child at playtime, sometimes trickling, sometimes
Sitting here in a shady spot, the sun is sparkling over the water. The Cathedral is in full view as is the weir with that wonderful curving sweep. The Salmon Weir bridge downstream has locals and tourists hanging over it, looking for elusive salmon on their way upstream. To my right, the water is quiet
Water is a liquid formed when two gases come together to form H O. The whole world would starve as nothing would grow without it. Everything would be barren like the Sahara Desert. Let us think of where water has done a lot of good and made the world a very beauitful place. My mind
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