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Category: Family
A Visit to Proleek Dolmen
Romance of Stones
I have an update to my post “Proleek, Grandfather McCardle’s home” where we explored the site of the boyhood home of my grandfather, Peter McCardle, on great grandfather James McCardle’s Proleek farm. April 2018 an email arrived from the brother of the owner of the house across the road. He recognized the property from the blog photography and reached out to introduce himself and share information. His own genealogical research suggested we shared a great aunt. We now work together to define this connection.
Our tour of Ireland was bookended by a visit to the farm site and, located little more than a kilometer away, a 5,000+ year old portal tomb, the last site Pam and I visited. We parked at the hotel / golf course built around the monuments. There is no fee to visit the site, number 476 on the list of Republic of Ireland National Monuments (Irish: Séadchomhartha Náisiúnta), protected at the level of guardianship by the National Monuments Act of 1930. The townland is named after the dolmen. The anglicized “Proleek” is derived from the Irish for “bruising rock”, as in a millstone. The grave is attributed in folklore to the resting place of the Scotch Giant, Para Buidhe More Mahac Seoidin, who came to challenge Fin Mac Coole.
Click photograph to view my Ireland gallery
Ballymascanlon House Hotel is on the R173, on the left heading from the M1 towards Jenkinstown. Path to the monument is marked here and there and requires attention. It helps to understand the general location of the monument on the property. The parking lot and hotel are on the southern end, the monument is on the north end.
The path leads through the hotel grounds….
….and golf course…
…and you first encounter the megalithic Gallery Grave of a type named “wedge shaped.”
Click any of the following photographs to view my Ireland gallery
The 22 foot long tomb gallery supported stories of a giant burial. Pam poses for a sense of scale.
These are the only ancient monuments in Ireland were a stray golf ball may be encountered.
A short way ahead is the dolmen, or portal tomb. The informational placard is in English and Gaelic. There is an illustration of the stones covered with earth with a stone façade.
Some describe the formation as a giant mushroom with warts. The posting feature image is of the same aspect as the next photograph, with me for scale.
Click any of the following photographs to view my Ireland gallery
We are surrounded on three sides by the golf course. The “entrance” to the tomb, through the two upright portal stones, faces northwest toward Slieve Gullion, a mountain with its own Neolithic burial site next to a lake on the summit. The mountain and the flat land, such as Proleek township, feature in the story of how the Irish hero Cú Chulainn came by his name. To learn more, click this link for “On the Tain Way” the first of my posting that includes some stories of the hero.
The fifth hole.
We had a beautiful day, so I took time to capture all aspects. The hedge is the northern property border.
The “warts” are stones. There is a local saying that success in placing three stones on top will give a wish or lead to marriage within the year.
Click for more Ireland stories.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Los Mariachis” and two metal owls
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
My final Seward Johnson sculpture posting opens with a piece of uncertain authorship, I just know it was not installed for our second 2020 visit just before COVID-19 hit.
Here we have a dynamic group, I can almost hear the music.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, Amargasaurus, a “small” sauropod.,
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Nice to See You”, “Stormy Weather” and “Cat Nap”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
This set starts off with a nice guy at work. He was positioned on the large cafe windows. We met the grandchildren around lunch time, so we caught up around the food.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Herrerosaurus, one of the first“
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Group Participation
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
The visual narrative and accessibility draw the viewer in…..the exhibit included prop to be used for posing with the art work.
Request to readers: how will you participate? Include responses in the comments. Thank You
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Neovenator, teeth like steak knives“
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“A Memorable Date” and “Coming Home”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
Snooty art critics look down their noses at Johnson’s work, calling it “kitsch,” sentimental and not worthy of display in art museums. It say, “this will be cherished when you are dust.”
A tug at the heart strings.
It’s all in the details.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Mimi, only one found.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Holding Out,” “A Day Off” and “Nice to See You”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
These three are story telling at it best a la Norman Rockwell.
Request to readers: make up your own stories and post as comments.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Baellynasaura, Big Eyes (?)”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Inner World, Outer World” and “Wine, Food and Thou”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
Life scale Seward Johnson sculpture invites viewers to step into the moment.
Here, sunlight through trees adds to the effect.
The effect here is to grab the other side of the picnic basket…..
….as Taj did here.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Oviraptor, an egg protector.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Far Out” and “Unconditional Surrender”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
When grandson Taj first encountered a life scale Seward Johnson sculpture, he wondered out loud how, “They kept the cloths clean?” That is the effect trompe-l’œil technique strives for.
In the next sculpture, the response might be, “Ewhew, what dirty sneakers.”
There was one larger than life work on display, set most appropriately among the Royal Palms.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Iquanodon, hooves like a horse.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
“Grabbing Some Peace” and “Gotcha”
A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida
Sunday, January 13th, 2019 Pam and I met grandchildren Soraya and Taj at McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach for the day. Pam had found the gardens as a suitable “half-way point” meeting place between Cocoa Beach, our winter haven, and Jupiter were the grandchildren lived. The meeting turned out as an inflection point in for us and the featured Artist.
As you can infer from his “dates”, John Seward Johnson II (April 16, 1930 – March 10, 2020) passed away the next year. Best known as “Seward Johnson”, he was a grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson, and of Colonel Thomas Melville Dill of Bermuda, Mr Johnson was an American artist who created trompe-l’œil painted bronze statues. He designed life-size bronze statues that were castings of living people, depicting them engaged in day-to-day activities.
A large staff of technicians did the fabrication of the works he designed. Computers and digital technology often were used in the manufacturing process.
Sometimes the manufacture was contracted in China. He was the founder of “Grounds For Sculpture”, a 42-acre sculpture park and museum located in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.
After this both Soraya and Taj’s moved on in their lives, branching out from their Jupiter, Florida roots. Both stay in touch.
Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, Protoceratops, a caring parent (?)
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 