How do you like your Duck?

My youngest daughter is a duck lover. She has asked me on several occasions if we can get a duck as a pet. I already have a psychotic parrot, 2 goldfish (1 is a visiting fish from the creche my daughter  works in, he came to visit at Christmas and hasn't returned to the creche yet) and my Collie dog, Bonnie. The parrot and the dog have constant running battles. The parrot starts flapping her wings and Bonnie gets annoyed, starts barking and jumping up at the cage. The parrot seeing the dogs reaction, jumps down from her perch onto the floor of the cage and eggs the dog on. Now Bonnie has started to jump up at the cage in annoyance and I'm afraid that someday I'm going to come home to a scene where the dog has succeeded in knocking the cage and releasing the parrot. If that happens I would be more afraid for the dog than i would for Chicco, the parrot. But that's beside the point.

I could never have duck for dinner because of my daughter's love of ducks. I literally got away with murder when my children were younger. A friend of ours was into hunting, and on several occasions he gave us venison steaks and joints to roast. We could never tell the children that they were eating Deer so we told them that it was lamb they were eating.

Years later, (they are all adults now), we were all chatting around the table after Christmas dinner and they were discussing meat that they had never eaten. One of them said that they had never eaten venison and we said, well actually you did, only you thought that it was lamb! Well there was uproar. You'd swear that i had force fed them Bambi himself.

All these duck photos were taken in Cuskinny Nature Reserve, Cobh Co. Cork

At rest

Making a stand

Hangover Sunday

Bridge over troubled water

Special branch

First date

Popular girl

A little hideaway

The election trail

Missed me!

A watchful eye

All these images were taken with  a Canon 500D and   a Canon 70D. Lenses used were Canon

 EFS 55-250 and Canon EF 70-300

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

Lismore, a day in the life of the travelling Kidneys

Myself and himself don't often do touristy trips. We have a holiday home in Ring Co. Waterford and we are lucky to be living in Cobh, one of the most beautiful scenic towns in Ireland so where would you be going?

With a hobby like photography one needs fresh material so one got himself to accompany her to Lismore,  Co. Waterford for a trip this summer. Off we went in the truck with Bonnie, our Collie. She comes everywhere with us. We're like a pair of Eco-Warriors with our hound. All we are short is a bit of rope around her neck instead of a lead. If you want to meet Bonnie here's the link to my blog post about her  http://mfkidneyphotography.blogspot.ie/2014/09/bonnie-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html

We viewed the magnificent Castle and visited the graveyard (as you do) and wandered the streets looking for a book shop(for himself). It is a beautiful historic town to be fair. We were looking for a suitable spot to have lunch,  a place where we could park our dog and sit outside but there was no such place.
We stood outside The Rustic Cafe looking in the window and I thought I'd be cheeky and go in and ask if they had seating  out the back where I could take my dog.
There were 2 ladies working away behind the counter and one of them  turned to me mischievously and said, "that's an awful thing to call your husband".

They were a lovely pair, a right double act. They were delighted with Bonnie. We sat outside in the yard with our dog and had a lovely feed of homemade soup and brown bread. There was eating and drinking in it. Bonnie got a dish of water and a few scraps from the kitchen.
It's very important to make sure himself isn't hungry when i'm in photographer mode. He needs all his strength for carrying my camera gear.

 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, Exp 1/1250sec, f3.5, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/125 sec, f4.5, ISO100

 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/100sec, f4, ISO100

Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/250sec, f22, ISO100

 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@12mm, exp 1/400sec, f4, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Canon 70D, Lens 18-135mm@38mm, exp 1/125sec, f13, ISO100

Cobh, The Holy Ground

                                                                The Holy Ground

Fare thee well, my lovely Dinah, a thousand times adieu. We’re goin’ away from the Holy Ground and the girls we all love true. We will sail the salt seas over and we'll return for shore, To see again the girls we love and the Holy Ground once more. Fine girl you are! You're the girl I do adore, And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more. Fine girl you are! And now the storm is raging and we are far from shore; And the good old ship is tossin’ about and the rigging is all tore. And the secrets of my mind, my love, you're the girl I do adore, And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more. Fine girl you are! You're the girl I do adore, And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more. Fine girl you are! And now the storm is over and we are safe and well We will go into a public house and we’ll sit and drink like hell! We will drink strong ale and porter and we'll make the rafters roar, And when our money is all spent, we'll go to sea once more. Fine girl you are! You're the girl I do adore, And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more. Fine girl you are!  The Holy Ground is a part of Cobh traditionally inhabited by fishermen. This song was a sea shanty sung by the sailors while performing various tasks onboard. I decided to do this blog on Cobh, especially for all of our friends, family and children who have emigrated and eagerly search Google for photographs and news of the town.  I married a Cobh man and came to live in Cobh 33 years ago. We are lucky enough to have a view of the harbour from our house and I never get sick of looking out the window. It's the first thing i see when i open the curtains in the morning and the lights of the ships at rest and the oil refinery are the last things I see before i close the curtains at night. How lucky am I?  It's a far cry from the North side of Cork city where I was reared. I remember as a child looking out my bedroom window with my brother and sister and taking turns with my father's ancient telescope. At the very end of the terrace, across all the back gardens there was a triangle of a gap between 2 roofs. If you held the telescope very steady you could see the distant fields and the cattle grazing there. I bet you thought we were spying on the neighbours!, Never.                                                                    The Camber Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp 1/320sec, f9, ISO 100 Sea Princess visiting Cobh Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp 1/250sec, f11, ISO 100 The Granuaile Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@14mm, exp 1sec, f10, ISO 100 The Camber Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 18-55mm@18mm, exp, 1/250sec, f10, ISO 100 Independence of the Sea Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 18-55mm@41mm, exp 1/125sec, f8, ISO 200 Glenmore, Cobh Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 50mm, exp, 1/1600sec, f6.3, ISO 400  The Promenade Camera Settings, Camera, Canon 500D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@13mm, exp 1/250sec, f11, ISO 100 Tall Ships Camera Settings, Camera Canon 500D, lens Canon 55-250mm@55mm, exp, 1/1328sec, f5.6, ISO 100 The Holy Ground Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@16mm, Exp, 1/500sec, f11, ISO 200

A haunting we will go.....

I loved this poem as a child, I could visualise the scene  and every time I photograph a ruin it comes to mind. I find old houses and ruins enchanting.

The Listeners

BY WALTER DE LA MARE

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,   

   Knocking on the moonlit door;

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses   

   Of the forest’s ferny floor:

And a bird flew up out of the turret,   

   Above the Traveller’s head:

And he smote upon the door again a second time;   

   ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.

But no one descended to the Traveller;   

   No head from the leaf-fringed sill

Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,   

   Where he stood perplexed and still.

But only a host of phantom listeners   

   That dwelt in the lone house then

Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight   

   To that voice from the world of men:..................

    When my parents married in the mid 1950's they moved in with my Grandmother, my father's widowed mother. She lived in a rambling old house on Wises Hill in Sunday's Well in Cork City.

    There had been a tragic death in the house some years before my grandparents bought the place. A young RIC man(Royal Irish Constabulary, who policed Ireland 1814-1922 before An Garda Síochána took over the Irish Free State)was found hanging under the stairwell. My mother said he was the son of a Butcher.

    Mam told us about several occasions when she was alone in the house and she 'd hear footsteps coming to the closed sitting room door. She would be expecting my father to walk in but nobody would be there. Or she would hear footsteps coming down the stairs and the door of the room would open but again nobody would enter the room.

    I was a home birth which wasn't unusual in Ireland then.  Women didn't give the graphic accounts of their childbirths in those days. My mother said the doctor brought me in his bag. Apparently I destroyed his notes. Serves him right for carrying a bloodied baby in his bag. It could have been worse, my brother was found under a head of cabbage, but I digress.

    Mam told us she never felt alone in the house. She said she was never afraid when she was on her own but always sensed a presence. 

    Older family members  had similar experiences and also remember lights switching on by themselves.

   Any member of our family old enough to remember is convinced that the house was haunted. 

   As I was born in the house I feel a bit of a connection with him. I feel that we must have met somewhere in the in-between before i entered the Real World. Who knows!

   My photographs on this theme were taken in 3 locations, some in Cobh, Co. Cork and some in Galway and 1 in Ring Co Waterford. 

Glenmore Cobh

 Camera Settings, Camera-Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300mm@80mm, exp 1/80sec, f11, ISO 160

Renville, Galway

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@67mm, exp 1/200sec, f10, ISO100 

 Belgrove House, Walterstown, Cobh

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, exp 1/400, f22, ISO 100

 Mageen's House, Ring Co. Waterford

Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@16mm, exp 0.8sec, f16, ISO 100, tripod

 Mageen's House, Ring, Co. Waterford

Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/100sec, f7.1, ISO 160

Valley Road, Cobh

Camera Settings, Camera-Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/60sec, f11, ISO 100

 Fota Cottages, workers houses, Fota Road, Cobh, Co. Cork

Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/50sec, f20, ISO200

 Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/80sec, f11, ISO 200

I'll always be an Over the Bridger

The Island of Cobh,  Co. Cork Ireland where I live is joined to the main land by a bridge known as Belvelly bridge. If you weren't fortunate enough to have been born on the island and moved in from the other side you will always be known as an Over the Bridger.
I came from the Northside of Cork City over 30 years ago to marry a Cobh man so I am a Norrie and an Over the Bridger.
My mother in law Peg Kidney, from the Gaeltacht in Ring Co Waterford married a Cobh man and lived all her married life on the island and died in her 70's, an over the bridger.
These island folk should be counting their lucky stars that we ventured over the bridge to marry them.     They would be very strange folk only for us.

The ruin of Belvelly Castle stands  at the entrance to Cobh. This historic 15th Century Castle, once inhabited by Sir Walter Raleigh is on the market for €275,000.

This series of photographs are of Belvelly Castle and  Bridge.

Camera Settings, Camera - Olympus, Exp 1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 80

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@17mm, exp 1/125sec, f7.1, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon  70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@14mm, exp 1/60sec, f7.1, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, LensTamron 10-24mm@14mm, exp 1/80sec, f9, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Camera- Camera 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@13mm, exp 1/800sec, f11, ISO 100

 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/25sec, f14, ISO 100

Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/25sec, f14, ISO 100