Category: travel

Kinsale Walking Tour 9

Protected Storage

MichaelStephenWills

The ninth of a series of idiosyncratic posts from a walking tour of Kinsale by Dermot Ryan. My Sony Alpha 700 captured the events back in May 2014.

Look closely to see this quote “The Onion is the truffle of the poor.” –Robert J. Courtine. Crackpots was decorated with unusual pottery, a casualty of Covid-19.

“The Onion is the truffle of the poor.” –Robert J. Courtine Crackpots is closed post Covid-19, Kinsale, County Cork, ireland

From a placard inside the stone walled “Town Pound.” “The Town Pound was an essential part of the administration of the old town, located near the Market House, the Potato Market and the Broadstone. It had replaced the Old Pound at the top of Barrack Street and was for the care of stray livestock, especially pigs and horses, with a scale of penalties for offenders. The Pounds were always kept as secure places, as shown in the records of the Kinsale Corporation, with an entry of 1673 itemizing a sum of sixteen shillings for the repair of the pound!” By Local Historian, Dermot Ryan.

Outer wall of “the Town Pound” historical site. Corner of Marketplace and Guardwell, Kinsale, County Cork Ireland

The Tan Tavern is on the other side of Guardwell street, seen here over the stone wall of “The Old Town Pound” historical site.

The Tan Tavern is on the other side of Guardwell street, seen here over the stone wall of “The Old Town Pound” historical site. Corner of Market Place and Guardwell. Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland.

“Kinsale Town Crest

Within walls of the historical site, “The Town Pound.”. Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

I don’t recall where exactly this quote was placed. It is associated in time with the Town Pound (photo time stamps). Morgan Spurlock of the documentary “Supersize Me” is an American of Irish descent.

Morgan Spurlock of “Supersize Me”, an American of Irish descent.

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Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Flip Flop Seahorses

Evolutionary Success Story

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Up to 150 recycled flip flops were used by Ocean Sole Africa Project artists to create these seahorse sculptures from a 2020 exhibit hosted by McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida.

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Seahorses are tiny fish with heads that look like…horses! Their curved flexible tail is used to grasp objects, mostly anchoring the seahorse to plants.

Their genus, Hippocampus, includes 46 species indicating evolutionary success for their body shape and adaptations. Just hatched seahorses cling together in groups, hook by their tails. Excellent at camouflage, a seahorse hides from predators while waiting to ambush dinner.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Road Transformation

sunlight, dappled shade

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South/Southwest view from the long hill into Harford, stopping to admire the effect of sunlight, dappled shade and bright yellow, orange, red against the distant ridge sheltering Robinson Hollow. Near Harford, Cortland County, New York.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Kinsale Walking Tour 8

An ivy clad nook

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The eighth of a series of idiosyncratic posts from a walking tour of Kinsale by Dermot Ryan. My Sony Alpha 700 captured the events back in May 2014.

Ducking into an alleyway with the haughty name, “Chairmans’ Way,” we stepped into a different world.

An allyway of Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

Promising a castle, it delivered these charming offerings.

“Desmond’s Castle” is a tourist attraction, a historic “castle” and wine museum at the corner of Chairman’s Lane and Cork Street, Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

This doorway, yellow roses (Pam’s favorite) and Calla Lilies.

Around Chairman’s Lane and Cork Street, Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

An ivy clad nook / cottage.

Around Chairman’s Lane and Cork Street, Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

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Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Flip Flop Manatee

Happy “Profitable Friday” 2022

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Up to 400 recycled flip flops were used by Ocean Sole Africa Project artists to create this Manatee sculpture from a 2020 exhibit hosted by McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida.

Manatee with fans

Manatees are protected under the Endangered Species Act and under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Today, the range-wide population is estimated to be at least 13,000 manatees, with more than 6,500 in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.

Florida has cherished the Sea Cow with the population increasing 25% from 1991, going from 1,267 to more than 6,300.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Diorama Country

Happy Thanksgiving (USA) 2022

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A diorama of the Museum of Natural History, New York City, features this north view, first viewed as a young teen on a school field trip — the duplicated sight was imprinted on my memory. Over the years I passed this spot repeatedly for trips to Long Island for family Thanksgiving celebrations. October 22nd, 2022, the field was planted with soybeans ready to harvest. The rounded hill, a drumlin, finishing the left side of the ridge, is the “star” of this photograph and the diorama.

A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín (“littlest ridge”), first recorded in 1833, is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine.

Same exposure cropped to remove road and poles to perfect the image.

I am not sure the north/northwest view is an improvement, as seen in the following photograph.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Kinsale Walking Tour 7

Literary Encouragement

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The seventh of a series of idiosyncratic posts from a walking tour of Kinsale by Dermot Ryan. My Sony Alpha 700 captured the events back in May 2014.

So much to see around Newman’s Mall, coming upon “Stone Mad.” Possibly a reference to The Maiden Stone of Scotland. Maiden Stone and Persephone, 8th century AD, and 1961, Shaun Crampton. The salmon-pink granite monolith known as the Maiden Stone was erected by the Picts in the eighth century AD at the time when Christianity was filtering into the north-east. It bears, Janus-like, a series of vivid symbols, carved in relief, and, on the other face, a round-headed cross, set between a possible cavalry scene and a great roundel filled with interlace. The symbols, which are vigorously carved in relief and include a beast or dolphin, mirror and comb, look back to the powerful range of animal and object symbols used as a kind of heraldry on memorial stones in the two previous centuries. The cross side indicates its use as a preaching site during the conversion of the Picts. The notch out of the northern edge of the stone has fed a legend concerning the daughter of the laird of Balquhain who was baking bannocks on her wedding day and bet a stranger that she could finish her task before he had built a road to the top of Bennachie, ‘ere she would become his own’. Being the Devil, he won: she took to her heels and, in answer to her prayers, was turned to stone as he caught her, the notch being the spot where he grasped her

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Looking outside through window bars, viewing a quote written carefully in white paint on slate, written of the Misses Morkan’s of “The Dead”, in James Joyce’s 1914 short story collection, “Dubliners.”

Written of the Misses Morkan’s of “The Dead”, in James Joyce’s Dubliners. Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

What is behind a fascinating red door in the yellow wall that held the above quote.

Red door in yellow wall. Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

A cosy nook….

Off Market Square, Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

References
“Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie – An Illustrated Architectural Guide”, by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

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Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Flip Flop Crab

Eyes on stalks and an exoskeleton composed of chitin

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Up to 400 recycled flip flops were used by Ocean Sole Africa Project artists to create each sea turtle sculpture from a 2019 exhibit hosted by McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida.

Blue land crabs inhabit McKee Gardens, only resembling these specimens, made from as many as 400 discarded flip flops, in having ten legs for which the Order Decapoda is named. The front two legs are specialized chelae (claws) for grabbing and eating whatever is in front of them (omnivorous). Two other characteristics are eyes on stalks and an exoskeleton composed of chitin. From an exhibit of creations by the Ocean Sole Africa project, McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida.

Blue land crabs inhabit McKee Gardens, only resembling these specimens, made from as many as 400 discarded flip flops, in having ten legs for which the Order Decapoda is named.

The front two legs are specialized chelae (claws) for grabbing and eating whatever is in front of them (omnivorous). Two other characteristics are eyes on stalks and an exoskeleton composed of chitin.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Three Autumn Views

Driven Wells in Cortland County

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For this series I travelled a short distance south from where Palmer Road intersects with Virgil Road, crossing the border from Tompkins to Cortland County, closer to Carpenter Hill.

In the 19th Century driven wells (also called tube wells) were an innovation developed in Cortland County under the command of a Civil War era Colonel Nelson W. Green who sought for twenty-two years to impose royalties on use of driven wells. I.H. Palmer assisted John W. Sugget, both of Cortland County, in a seminal patent law case they won in U.S. Supreme Court seeking the release from royalty payments from thousands of driven well installations throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Their successful argument was for two years before any patent application, in Cortland County, driven wells were in use. I cannot say Palmer Road has a connection to I.H. Palmer, though it is an interesting historical aside.

View east from Palmer Road across corn stubble. A feeder stream to Virgil Creek is marked by the nearest line of trees, beyond the land rises over the shoulder of Owego Hill.

View east/southeast from Palmer Road across corn stubble. A feeder stream to Virgil Creek flows through the first tree line on left with the creek itself in the far trees, center at the foot of Carpenter Hill. The green field at edge of corn stubble is the fallow field of the next photograph.

View east/southeast from the east edge of a fallow field along Palmer Road. Looking across Virgil Creek to the slope of Carpenter Hill. Cortland County, New York.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Kinsale Walking Tour 6

Since 1690

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The sixth of a series of idiosyncratic posts from a walking tour of Kinsale by Dermot Ryan. My Sony Alpha 700 captured the events back in May 2014.

Walk across the square from the Museum to Newman’s Mall, the ancient heart of Kinsale.

Newman’s Mall, the ancient heart of Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

Within Market Place is this bust and memorial to Peter Memorial. the plaque text reads: “Peter Barry arrived in Kinsale in 1963 and settled in Scilly where he made his home. In those early years he operated and developed Scilly’s unique Spaniard Pub and the Man Friday restaurant, and later the Grey Hound Bar in Market Place. Peter Barry’s vision and selfless commitment to making Kinsale the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Irish tourism inspired others to join with him to work on a voluntary basis for the common good of the town. This led to the formation of organizations such as the Good Food Circle of Restaurants, and the Kinsale Chamber of Tourism. Many events followed such as the Wild Geese Weekends of the 70’s, the annual Gourmet Festival, International Food Forums, the Wine Museum at Desmond Castle and others which extended Kinsale’s tourism season to being an all year round affair. Kinsale and its community owes a great debt of gratitude to Peter Barry -Truly a Man for all Seasons.”

There is the Greyhound Pub, among the rest, at one time run by Mr. Peter Barry.

Off Market Square, Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

And again…..”Established 1690″ indeed.

Off Market Square, Kinsale, County Cork, Republic of Ireland

The oldest pub in Kinsale, or anywhere.

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Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills