Cuskinny Swan Song

Silent O Moyle

Thomas Moore (1779-1852) 

Silent, Oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water,

Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose;

While murmuring mournfully, Lir's lonely daughter

Tells to the night-star her tale of woes.

When shall the swan, her death-note singing,

Sleep with wings in darkness furl'd?

When shall heav'n its sweet bell ringing,

Call my spirit from this stormy world?

Sadly, Oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping,

Fate bids me languish long ages away;

Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping,

Still doth the pure light its dawning delay!

When will that day-star, mildly springing,

Warm our Isle with peace and love?

When shall heav'n, its sweet bell ringing,

Call my spirit to the fields above?

One of Moore's Irish melodies. I remember my mother singing this when we were children. She didn't know all the words but that never got in the way of her singing anything. Mam had a very deep singing voice, and a very strong Donegal accent even after more than half a century living in Cork. 

She blamed the cigarettes for deepening her voice. Apparently she sang in the church choir in Donegal as a child and was a beautiful soprano. 

I used to think she had a lovely singing voice when she sang at home. She used to sing at mass on a Sunday too, not as part of the choir but as part of the congregation. Her voice was so deep that when she started singing it was like Bagpipes warming up. All the children in the seats in front used to turn around and stare at her. Sometimes they would look at us and snigger. I was mortified, I know i stuck my tongue out at several of them along the way. 

I'd give anything to hear her singing now, she died 10 years ago RIP mam x

Silent O Moyle is the song of Fionnuala, a young girl who along with her brothers was turned into a swan by her evil step mother and banished to the lakes of Ireland for 900 years. You can read the story of the Children of Lir at this link if you haven't read it before. 

  http://irelandofthewelcomes.com/the-children-of-lir/

All the images below were taken at Cuskinny Nature Reserve in Cobh, Co. Cork. Ireland

I took them recently during a break in the rain, we haven't had many of those this winter. 

All these images were taken with a Canon 70D using either a Canon EF70-300mm lens or Canon 17-55mm lens

Down on the farm.

I haven't had a blog post in a while, mostly due to the fact that the weather hasn't been conducive here to getting out and about with a camera. We've been plagued with grey skies and floods of rain. The other reason i have been neglecting my blog is the fact that i like to crawl back into my shell from time to time, i get the hump with social media and the way it sucks you in. Time is precious but i have crawled out of my shell to give you this, I hope you like it.

Something happened a few years ago and if i had a shell at the time i would definitely have crawled into it. I needed to go to the A.I.B bank in Cobh to lodge money for a member of my family. It was  before lodgement machines became part of the furniture in the banks and the queue was nearly out to the door.

I was checking out who was in the queue, as you do, and my eyes were drawn to the woman in front of me. She had long black curly hair and she was wearing a long black coat, nearly down to her ankles. I recognised her immediately as the White Witch of Cobh. Absentmindedly i was looking her up and down and when i looked down I noticed that the end of her coat and her shoes were covered in mud. I was thinking to myself Jaysus 'you'd think she would make an effort' when I suddenly checked myself. Crikey I thought, 'this is the White Witch, she's going to know what I am thinking". Frantically i started looking around for distractions, anything to take my mind off the woman in front of me.

Too late. She turned around slowly to face me, a big smile on her face. I smiled nervously back. " I was on a farm yesterday" she said. She pointed down at her shoes and her coat and said "As you can see, I got destroyed". I was trying to pretend that i hadn't noticed but i was only blabbering like a fool. She kept chatting to me telling me about some of her predictions but i was in a strange place because of my stupidity and her voice was was like an echo in another room.

I'm very careful now when i see her, i have nothing but nice thoughts about her. My photos for this blog are all farm related. They are taken in Donegal, Galway, Ring Co. Waterford and Gougane Barra, West Cork. Ireland.

Little Bullock, taken on The Connigear, Ring, Co. Waterford

 A Farmer with a sense of humour, Oranmore, Co. Galway

'Show me the way to go home', The Connigear, Ring, Co. Waterford

 'In a leafy Glade', Gouganne Barra, West Cork

 'Three little maids', the Connigear, Ring, Co. Waterford

 ' A cow with a sense of humour', Mullinasole, Co. Donegal

 'Old Homestead', Mullinasole, Co. Donegal

 'A load of Bull', Mullinasole, Co. Donegal

'Discussing the meaning of life', Ring, Co. Watrford

'Stranded', The Connigear, Ring, Co. Waterford

'Itchy back', Ring, Co. Waterford

'A knowing look', Collie, sheepdog, Ring, Co. Waterford

 'Farming in Heaven', Ring, Co. Waterford

All these images were taken with a Canon, 70 D.