Monday, June 30, 2008

Striking out with Irish canines, too

After the beach cows, we got back on the road and soon found yet another beach! It looked nice, so we stopped briefly.


The bistro looked interesting, but we weren't hungry at this point.


I was on a walkway above the beach, taking a few photos, when I saw someone walking on the beach.


See her there? In the bottom right?



Here's a better look.



She came up the stairs to the walkway, so I thought I'd get to say hello.



I said hello, but she went right past me.


I usually get along very well with animals, but I was striking out on this day! Neither bovine nor canine felt like chatting.


Hey, what's over there across the road? Across from this beach, can it be more... ?



Yes, it's a field in Ireland, so there are cows!



On the road again!



Fields seen from the car



More from the car



The car in this photo gives you an idea of the size of the road. Click on the photo (or any of the photos) for a better look.


That road isn't even that bad. We dealt with smaller ones, and at least that one didn't have stone walls on both sides like so many of them!

Next up: Aughnanure Castle, a friendlier dog and a territorial horse.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Irish Beach Cows

What? You've never heard of beach cows? Here's the thing: everywhere you turn in Ireland, there are cows. Other farm animals, as well, like sheep and horses, but nothing in the abundance of those cows! In addition to beach cows, we saw mountain cows in Ireland (like mountain goats, but cows... cows on the side of steep hills). :)

During our travels, we found our way to a few different beaches. Going along skinny, little roads, we found the narrow beach you'll see below. When we got there, as you will see, we found a beach to our right, a narrow parking lot and a field to the left. There being a green field, and this being Ireland, cows had been placed on it. As I told Marc, I wonder if there may be more cows than people in Ireland. Seriously! I may have to poke around online and look for an answer.

So here are some photos of the beach and cows...


The parking lot, with beach to the right and field past the wall to the left.



And here we first spy the beach cows.



I seem to have captured the interest of this cow.



We say hello.



A profile shot; and notice the fancy earring!


And then I apparently said something wrong. Let the stampede begin! (Okay, a small stampede.)


Run away! Run away!



My new friend ran, and so the others followed. I guess they were worried they might miss something!



And now, a beach shot.



And one more.


Okay, that's it for today's post!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

About those flowers...

When we left off last time, we were at Powerscourt Gardens. Let's continue there with some flower (and grounds) photos...






A nice little garden for a stroll




















As always, you can click on these for a larger version. The full-res versions aren't linked in this post, but you'll still get a pretty good size view.

Okay, that does it for Powerscourt, but there's plenty more of Ireland to come. Stay tuned! :)