Merry Christmas

I have SO neglected my poor blog this year , but life has been good for me in 2011 & my photographic endeavours have done resonably well
Just dropping in to wish one & all a Peaceful Christmas & a Prosperous New Year , leave me a comment with your New Year resolutions ??
One wintery shot of a local lake , catch you in 2012!!!!

At Long Last!!

Well , I have benn MIA for some time , but all in a good cause!!
Three weeks ago (, I am delighted to say)I opened a wee card shop!!
Well more of a work studio for my photographic endeavours , with hand made photo cards & prints for sale , called Just Jules
I have literally outgrown the spare room at home,so when the chance of a small retail space came up , I jumped right on in
 Its been tough , as making all your own stock is time consuming , but Ive finally got a resonable selection of work on offer & can spend more time on the fun stuff now , such as taking piccies & writing my blog here
For anyone interested in my cards  , who cant pop into the shop , here is a link for online sales
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/justjules
Or you could have  holiday at my house & buy that way LOL

Little photo of shop front,sorry about the reflections !!!

Okay , just short & sweet for now , but Im back on track Catch you soon :-)

The Ploughing Championship

Our annual event & Hurrah the sun shone down on us all day long
Just a small selection of the events & traditional crafts taking place

Two of my favourite shots of the day:

Finally one edited with textures , gives the old horses a bit of a boost

County Clare

Just back from a few days in the lovely county Clare
The Burren is one of the most wild & wonderful places in Ireland
Im so behind with this blog , but i just wanted to share this picture of Lough Bunny
we were lucky that day, not a breath of wind , perfect!

Spotlight on Carigallen

An exhibition of local views , on display at our library
Shots include
The old Schoolhouse & a part of a door & an old fireplace on the first floor The other old building is the wood factory , now closed
Of course a shot  the Carrigallen water mill which is such a well known feature in the town
A few scenes of the Long Cold Winter & the town lake
 Some views at the Ploughing Championship, tractor,dogs,horses & gentleman ploughing
The 2 black & white hands images are from the book, Hands & Faces , all taken at the local daycare centre
Ive included some of my favourite nature shots too , as beauty is all around us
Two of the three local churches are represented , the full shot is the Church of Ireland & the close ups of the celtic cross & bell are from St Mary's If you show them full screen the quality is not great , sorry but i dont know how to fix that
Hope you enjoy my selection

Holiday

Well , we are just back from two glorious weeks on the fabulous isle of Anglesey
The weather was kind to us & the second week , beautiful sunshine was the order of the day
Its great place to visit if you like history,photography or both ! Ancient sites,old churches,windmills & glorious beaches Its all there
I will refrain from posting too many snaps Ha Ha , but here is the place we stayed Llyn Y Gors fishery just outside Llangdefan

Urban Exploration

For many years I have been fascinated by old, run down buildings , not just the quaint rural cottage that tumbles down with elegance , more the grungy , rough & down right ugly stuff
Seemingly Im not alone ! Other people have the same ideas & the name for this is Urban Exploration or Urbex as its more commonly known
In the UK there are a larger variety of desolate hospitals , asylums & disused factories , filled with history , falling apart & so very attractive to us Urbex photographers!
Here in Ireland , mostly its on a smaller scale , unless you can travel a good few miles to the bigger cities
I have only ever taken photographs from outside before today as I seem to get a little spooked about going inside Also for safety reasons , as i mostly take photographs on my own , its not a clever idea to wander onto rotten floorboards!
My reason today for entering this totally safe wreck , is to acclimatise myself to the indoor urban landscape , as I have a large building to explore shortly with a friend who is going to use video , while I take shots
Here are a few shots from today's outing Not every one's cup of tea , but they excite me!!

Next Weeks Adventure!

Self Portrait

Having Fun

I have just discovered how to make a triptych so i thought i would share my first attempt on here

Earth Day 22nd April 2011

Keep it safe Keep it clean Keep it green

Killegar Cemetary

Killegar cemetary is so small & contains the family plot of the Godley family , who have played a large part in local history

The Godleys originally hailed from Yorkshire, but had moved to Ireland in the 18th century after inheriting an estate in Co Leitrim, where they built Killegar, a fine Georgian house in the classical tradition.It still stands today but is sadly in need of repair
There are quite a few of these unusual double ended graves for the family & I have been able to decipher the names on some of them Its an on going project that i will add to  as I find out more


john godley
17/10/1920 - 14/08/2006
aged 85

 John Raymond Godley was born in 1920.He is the Lord Killbracken that most people today can remember meeting On the death of his Father he returned to the family estate in Ireland & tried many varied methods & schemes to make the estate profitable
His father had not lived at Killegar for many years, and at the time of his death it was under offer to a man who intended to demolish the house and exploit the land for forestry.

 Kilbracken could not bear to sell, and withdrew it from the market in the hope that he could somehow keep it in the family.

His life was colourful & very interesting , to read the full story of this man , try the Carrigallen website , there is a good portrait of him too Many thanks to that site for the extracts I have used here.

http://www.carrigallen.com/johngodley.htm

Lord Kilbracken’s first marriage, to Penelope Anne Reyne in 1943, was dissolved in 1949. In 1981 he married Susan Lee Heazlewood. That marriage, however, ended in divorce in 1989. One son predeceased him. He is survived by a son from each of his marriages and a daughter whom he always acknowledged. The Hon Christopher John Godley succeeds to the title

Lord Kilbracken, DSC, journalist, author and farmer



 On the left ,  Archibold Godley , no dates so far

One of the unusual footstones

  John Godley 03/10/1775-31/12/1863

Margaret Godley died 1869 aged 95

Catherine Godley , no dates

 Anna Charlotte Adelaide Godley died 1955 aged 99

I have much more work to do here , such a beautiful locaton & Im hoping to get some shots of the house & estate grounds too

 



 



A little Spring Colour

So many beautiful Spring flowers around

this year that I held back

on the new blogs to show off this selection!

Spring !!

Just a quick post , Im getting some background stuff together to explain the story behind a couple of recent days out But for now a little sunshine colour Have a great week!

Kellys Heroes

Way back in the 70's when I was a teenage girl , my Dad used to visit a pub called The Noels Arms
Here they has music sessions & this is how he met Nancey Whiskey & her husband Bob Kelly
I have a reel to reel recording of my Dad playing but getting it transfered to digital is a project for another day

A couple of shots of the Noels Arms:

From this beginning my Dad & Bob went on to start a folk club in the loft of another local pub , this time they used the Wheatsheaf Inn , which sadly no longer exixts

Nancy Whiskey is widely known for her track Freight Train

but little is known publicly about her husband Bob , this is a rare recording with him playing piano on House Rent Stomp

For further reading on Bob & Nancy try this link

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-bob-kelly-1076162.html

A rare & badly grained shot of Bob,Nancey & Yancey, Ive done my best with it !

I have the tape of my Dad playing , a copy of Freight Train & of course my memories of hanging out with Bob & Nancey's daughter Yancey

Bob gave my Dad a guitar on which he painted their group's name " Kellys Heroes"

I still have that guitar , battered & broken , but a treasured keepsake

A Little Bit of Spring

Went for a spin out with Hubby last week to nearby county
 Cavan & found a few hopeful signs of Spring on the way

The snowdrops sparkled in the sun

 Catkins were swaying in the breeze

Even the fungi growing out of the trees looked good!