Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A tranquil place to visit.

Over on my other blog..which now has all the Kool Tatting stuff...I told you about Grandbaby's first birthday and his Birthday outing.

Lots of you wanted to know more about the garden.
While you can read all about the garden here I decided to share with you some more pictures of my visits there....last year in September for my 65th Birthday and this October for Grandbaby's first birthday.

The garden is a not-for-profit organisation and is a registered charity. Entry fees go purely to maintain the garden.

This is what the garden's founder says...
'Developing Brigit's Garden has been a wonderful process of seeing a dream come into reality. I hope many people will come here and enjoy the beauty of the place and the sense of closeness to nature. I feel that if we are going to sort out our relationship with the planet then we have to engage our hearts and spirits as well as our minds, and I hope Brigit's Garden will play its own small part in this process. We look forward to welcoming you to the garden.'
Jenny Beale


This is a map of the garden....



....let's take a closer look at the area at the bottom of the map...



These four gardens represent the Celtic festivals.
This is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en)The Winter Garden, probably my favourite.



If you click on the picture you should be able to read the sign.



The bronze figure is so tranquil.



Next comes Imbolc Spring Garden (pronounced Im-ulk).



The carved spiral represents the 3 faces of Brigit.



This leads on to a glade with basketwork swings.



Bealtaine Summer Garden (pronounced Belt-an-a) must look stunning inn the summer. The theme is of the mythical lovers Diarmuid and Grainne. We see their grassy bed surrounded by wildflowers in the summer.



A processional way leads between tall stones to a fire circle and a throne of bog oak and yew. It is a must to sit on the throne and claim your personal power and sit as King or Queen.




and the Bealtaine garden features Diarmuid and Grainne's bed, a grassy hollow facing the sun and surrounded by simple wildflowers. The lovers theme is carried through to the Flame Figures sculpture. A processional way between tall stones has copper flames set into the path and leads to a fire circle, backed by a throne in bog oak and yew. Here, the young adult can claim their personal power and sit as King or Queen in their own life.



Of course our little Prince was crowned King..



Finally there is Lughnasa Autumn Garden (pronounced Loo-na-sa).



This is laid out as a place for feasting and dancing.



That's just one area of the garden, the rest is very extensive with woodland walks etc.
The roundhouse in the center of the celtic gardens is where the Halloween storytelling will take place. It has windows looking out to each of the 4 gardens. It is used for art and music, meditation, meetings or just relaxing, and often for most interesting classes.



Here is the Crannog that you asked about...





No garden visit would be complete with out some plants!!









One little boy thought these were the best treat ever..



Lots more to see but you will have to go there yourself!!!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Another year another Queen!

I can't believe that it has been over a year since the old Queen left us to go to another life...and now a new Queen came to town today.

You can't believe my excitement at waiting to see this new boat...I think I must be addicted to liners!

I wanted to see how much she would differ from the previous flagship. She is described as being a liner rather than a cruise ship! She was to be an Ocean Liner for the 21st century, and she went into service on Oct 20th 2004.

Yesterday was her fifth birthday. You can read more about her here.

This time we went to see if we could spot her before she entered the harbour.



Finally she emerged from the mist. It is a wild and windy day.



Then we had to race round to our favourite vantage point to see her enter the harbour. I wanted to take the same views as last time to compare her.

Here she comes, no blue sky today!



Look at last years picture of the old Queen.



The new one was built to have speed and stabilty..a difficult thing to achieve in modern Cruise liners with so much super structure. She certainly has more of the look of a modern cruise liner with large cabin windows.



compare... she is bigger and broader and was the largest ocean going passenger liner in the world at the time of her launch.
The original two Queens were 65,000tons, the retiring Queen was 80,000tons and this current one is 148,000tons.



Does she still have the old fashioned elegance tho'!

She looks so small again within the large harbour.



We were back down in the village with the oldest yacht club in the world in time to see her sail deeper into the harbour.



We didn't go to see her in dock this time, believe that she is going to get a great Irish birthday party send off with band and all when she leaves at 6pm this evening.

The sun has finally come out and the sky is blue, I hope that the passengers have wonderful afternoon.

Hope that she comes again.