Grannymar: Openings ~ 15
Designer stripes or peeling paint? Doorway to a store house on West Pier in Howth, Dublin.
Toyboys playing on the pier.
Having a chat.
Howth Lighthouse
Any Food for me?
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Grannymar: Ireland as I could never paint it
Eolai ag obair
Ireland as I could never paint it - 350 images from Eolai’s Painting Tour collection.
3000+ kms around Ireland, while painting, taking photos, blogging, twittering and updating his Facebook account, was no mean feat. There were many pockets around the country that suffered from a major lack of internet signals. This meant that uploading photos was sometimes random, therefore the photos are not in any particular order.
I suggest you do as Eolai/Liam does - boil the kettle and make a large pot of tea; then sit back and enjoy Ireland from your armchair. The larger the screen the better. You won’t be disappointed.
The hard work of cycling may be over and the body recovered, but some paintings need finishing and some are yet to be started. Several paintings for hosts will not be completed – by agreement – until after Christmas. I have told @eolai not to worry about my painting until I am sixty five. The subject of the painting…. I left it up to him, to pick his favourite from the places we saw over the days we spent together.
I look forward to the surprise.
Did you see the legs? In the bath. Yes in the bath! That is not my bath, sure you know the colour of mine and have seen it before.
Grannymar: Openings ~ 14
Somewhere in Carrickfergus.
Since this is not a treasure hunt, there are no prizes for finding it! 
Grannymar: In Dublin’s Fair City
Molly Malone ~ Bronze *
Sculptor ~ Jeanne Rynhart
Jeanne Rynhart was born in Dublin and having spent five years studying painting and sculpture with George Collie, RHA and at the National College of Art in Dublin, Jeanne and husband Derek, settled in England. After further study at Coventry College of Art, she exhibited her work at various galleries throughout the UK. Her paintings and pastels were popular, however, she decided to concentrate on sculpture. Each piece is well researched to ensure the authenticity of features such as clothing, detail, pose, location and this attention to detail is evident in each and every piece.
This sculpture of Molly Malone in seventeenth-century dress, is a familiar landmark at the corner of Grafton and Suffolk Street, Dublin. As well as being known and sung internationally, the popular song ‘Cockles and Mussels‘ has become a sort of unofficial anthem of Dublin city.
In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she steered her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
chorus
Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O! Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
She was a fish-monger, but sure ’twas no wonder, For so were her father and mother before,
And they each wheeled their barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O! Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
She died of a fever, and no one could save her, And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone,
But her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
Alive, alive-O! alive, alive-O! Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!
Until now I did not know there was such a thing as Molly Malone day!
The Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street was commissioned by Dublin City Council and unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, declaring 13 June as Molly Malone Day. The sculptor sang the song Molly Malone with The Dubliners during the celebrations.
In true Dublin fashion we have a day dedicated to a fictitious fishmonger! Through the monument we see her with ample cleavage, wheeling a cart, she is loving known in Dublin as “The Tart with the Cart”, “The Dolly with the Trolley”, “The Trollop with the Scallop”, “The Dish with the Fish” or “The Flirt in the Skirt”.
An article in the Irish Times on June 20, 2011, told of the “spare head” for the Molly Malone statue going under the hammer at a value of up to €30,000?
Why?
It has emerged that two identical heads were prepared from the original mould for the bronze sculpture on Grafton Street 23 years ago in order to hedge against problems during casting. In the event both were cast successfully.The “spare head” has been kept ever since in the Bantry, Co Cork, studio of the sculptress Jeanne Rynhart and she had decided to sell it “to free up space in her studio”, and it would go under the hammer with an estimate of €20,000 to €30,000.
The sculpture was controversial and it had attracted some criticism. One group of artists, declared it to be “entirely deficient in artistic point and merit”. There was criticism of the low-cut dress worn by the well-endowed Molly and the sculpture was nicknamed “The Tart With The Cart”.
Rynhart defended her design and said:
“The image was based on the figure and dress of a 17th century woman who was both a fishmonger and part-time prostitute who plied her trade “from the Liberties, along Dame Street, Trinity College, up residential Grafton Street, and on to the newly fashionable houses off St Stephen’s Green”.
In a letter to ‘The Irish Times’ at the time, she explained that “Molly’s healthy diet of fish and strenuous daily exercise routine pushing approximately 3 cwt around would have assisted her development into a fine strong girl”. Rynhart further asserted that “breasts would not have shocked 17th century Dubliners – powdered milk was not in use and women’s appendages were the only means of ensuring the survival of the species past infancy”.
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* I have Alice from My Wintersong to thank for the photo, she took it on the day we met in Dublin’s fair city! Thank you Alice.
Grannymar: Openings ~ 12
The Old Priory at the Bangor end of High Street is part of Holywood’s rich ecclesiastical heritage, today it is surrounded by modern developments. This is Holywood, County Down. Northern Ireland and not Hollywood across the pond, otherwise known as Tinseltown.
The site began as a monastery founded by St. Laiseran in the early 7th Century. The present ruins are 12th century Anglo-Norman, built by Thomas Whyte for the Augustinian Order and much of these ruins remain. After the Black death (1348-1350) Niall O’Neill refurbished the church for the Franciscan Order.
The Priory was dissolved on New Years Day, 1541, by Henry VIII with its lands passing into the hands of the O’Neill family and then to Sir James Hamilton, First Viscount Clandeboye.
The tower dates from the 1800’s when this was the site of the town’s Parish Church. The Church of Ireland maintained the building until the congregation moved to Church Road in 1844.
The graveyard has some interesting “residents” including members of the Praeger family, the Dunvilles of whiskey fame and Sir Joseph Larmor the world famous mathematician.
Grannymar: Shooting & Clicking
Yesterday, my post Sky writing was about my attempt to capture fireworks in the night sky. The display was very small town, and certainly no match for many an International event that we see these days via TV or internet.
Baino commented about speed, settings and a tripod to help produce better results.
My camera is not much bigger than my mobile phone, it fits neatly in the palm of my hand or in my pocket. If I had to worry about settings, tripods or a heavy weight, I would never take it out of the box.
The pictures I enjoy most in any photo album are usually family members or friends caught “unaware”. While attending weddings in recent years, I would move about the space capturing groups of family and guests as they chatted informally. I would try to capture everyone present. Once the photos were sorted and tidied up, I would burn them to a DVD and send to the Bride and Groom. These spontaneous shots are a great lasting memory and living history of a family’s growth and a great reminder of events and time spent together.
My camera is for fun and good for my heart.
I am still laughing at my siblings looking for babies under a gooseberry bush!
I don’t have a pram to push or dog to walk, so I take my camera with me for company. I do not need an exercise machine, so many times my camera has encouraged me on round a corner or the next bend in the road to find my ‘special’ capture of the day.
Peace and quiet
People stop to see (perhaps for the first time) what I am clicking away at, we chat and I learn about the object or sometimes they learn about it from me. The chat might lead to a back story of the person I am chatting to. Sometimes they will direct me to something else of interest that I was unaware of. So I will keep plodding along as I am. If I see someone with a fancy big camera I watch, learn and then chat to them.
Some are really nice.
I just realised that Toyboy camera has no name. 
How about Carlo Camera? I think it has a ring to it!
Grannymar: Sky writing
I have never managed to capture fireworks before
I am not a fan of standing around in the cold night air, so these were captured from my back doorstep.
Five minutes was about my limit
About twenty of my shots went to the bin
The last is my favourite.
Grannymar: Openings ~ 11
The name above the door says Ewert PLC.
It is more a closing than an opening. I took the photo back in March 2009. It was in the vicinity of the Ulster Hall, Belfast. Perhaps the building has had a new lease of life by now at the hands of the developers.
I do hope they kept that gate!
Grannymar: Openings ~ 10
At the mouth of the Six Mile water opening into Lough Neagh at Antrim.
The photo was taken on a dull and wet September morning. The day improved as it grew older and at times we saw a bright object in the sky! The link above is well worth checking out, it is a new one to me!
