The Cruel Sea

I was telling you in a previous post, 'A Cross to Bear' about my mother who suffered a brain haemorrage when we were children. This left her with serious brain damage and a loss of her short term memory function.
She camouflaged  this fact very well and managed to live a very ordinary if sometimes contrary life. She told stories about her childhood and her nursing days, which she remembered very well and invented stories and told white lies at a great rate. In fact she talked constantly, one of the reasons that I am so quite by nature I suspect. I couldn't get a word in edge ways.
We treasure any stories we hear about our mother as a young woman before the brain haemorrage changed her life. You can imagine my joy at finding a website containing stories written by the children of Laghey School, Co Donegal. Some of them written by my mother when she was 14 years old.
All the stories were gathered by the pupils of Laghey school from older family members and neighbours. One of my mother's stories was collected from a 70yr old lady called Ellen Likely.
It tells of a huge Tide that came into the estuary of Mullinasole where they lived in 1882. it happened one August day very unexpectedly. The tide kept rising and people fled their homes. It stayed high for 3 days and when the people returned only 6 of the 36 homes were still standing.
20 herd of cattle were killed, the bodies of hens, dogs and cats were strewn everywhere.
This sounds for all the world like a tsunami and it was written long before my mother's brain issues so I'm pretty sure it isn't made up. Here is a link to the website if you would like to read the full story. http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428271/4390351/4435982
These are some photographs I took in Mullinasole recently. The sea was beautifully calm that weekend. So beautiful and yet so cruel.

 View of the estuary where this catastrophe took place. Mullinasole Co. Donegal
Camera settings, Camera used-Canon 70D, lens used Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp-1/200sec, f11, ISO200

A ruin on my great-grandfather's land, Rosilly, Co Donegal

Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used Tamron 10-24@14mm, exp-1/125sec, f8, ISO100

View from the pier head onfront of my mother's family home, Mullinasole, Co. Donegal

Camera settings,  Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used Canon 18-135mm@50mm, exp-1/100sec, f22, ISO 100

 Tallyown, where we played as children on our summer holidays, Mullinasole
Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, lens used Canon 18-135mm@39mm, exp-1/100sec, f22, ISO 100

View of the pier and incoming tide, taken from my mother's family home, Mullinasole, 

Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used Tamron 10-24mm@17mm, exp-1/250sec, f14, ISO 100

 Another view from the garden taken at sunset,Mullinasole, Co Donegal
Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used Canon 18-135mm@39mm, exp-1/250sec, f14, ISO100

 The hills of Donegal in the distance, view from the garden, Mullinasole.
Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used Canon 18-135mm@50mm, exp 1/250sec, f14, ISO 100

Sunset and boats at rest on the beautiful still waters of the estuary at Mullinasole, Co. Donegal
Camera settings, Camera used Canon 70D, Lens used canon 18-135mm@ 18mm, exp-1/100sec, f18, ISO 100