Not all of the books in the Long Hall of Trinity College’s Old Library have yet been removed for conservation. This gives an idea of how the stacks looked when the place was in operation. I look at those ladders and, as an American lawyer, I think about liability insurance coverage.
Many people who go to Dublin visit Trinity College. (My favorite alumnus is Oscar Wilde.) The chief attractions are the 7th Century Book of Kells, a magnificent illustrated Bible produced by the monks of the Dark Ages, and the Long Hall of the Old Library, seen here. Most of the books have been removed for conservation. The six meter globe in the center is called Gaia.
Seen yesterday in Grafton Street, the busy pedestrianized shopping thoroughfare in the heart of Dublin. The artist had stretched some kind of plastic sheeting between two posts and was painting a portrait of Pope Francis, who died on Monday. It would leave no permanent record and the authorities didn’t object. Imagine that in the U.S.
Home late tonight but there are lots of Irish images still to edit on the plane.
In Dublin's fair city,
Where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
The song is the unofficial anthem of Dublin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone . Molly was, by legend, a 17th Century fishmonger, the daughter of fishmonger parents. The statue was installed in 1988 and has become one of the most Instagram-able places in the city.
The statue has obviously been burnished by tourists. Comically, after a recent public poll, the city decided to place monitors (without authority) at the statue asking visitors to respect her patina. They will only be there from 9 to 5, so after the pubs get busy Molly will be defenseless.
However, if your monitor allows it, look closely at her face. The weariness and sadness are powerful.
Clonmancoise is the site of a monastery founded in the 6th Century, containing the ruins of the church and an ancient graveyard with several high crosses. It sits in a beautiful location on a gentle hill overlooking the River Shannon. We stopped there on our way back to Dublin from Galway.
Connemara is a wild and desolate region in the west of Ireland, covering parts of County Galway and spilling into County Mayo. It is filled with mountains, lakes, peat bogs and more sheep than people. Wild beauty.
Arrived in Dublin yesterday morning and got a rental car. I was a bit worried since it has been years since I drove on the left and, well, jet lag. Made it across the island in 2.5 hours and arrived safely in Galway. Even though it’s the beginning of Easter weekend the town is full of visitors. Obviously, this is the tourist trap street.
The flag of the City of St. Louis on the patio behind The Royale. It references the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, with a symbol and colors based on our French and Spanish heritage. Pretty good design.
It’s a travel day. 🇺🇸 → 🇮🇪
Artican is the demonym that people call themselves who are fans of and participants of the Artica scene. The logo is a stylized version of the burning wooden effigy of Our Lady of Artica that ends the festival. The community was hanging out at Saturday night’s event.
Robots of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your oil cans!
My favorite local off-the-wall arts festival is Artica, featured here many times over the years. The main event is in October but last night there was a kick-off party for the year’s activities at a bar and restaurant called The Royale. It was a mild night and the crowd was out on the patio, which was full of quirky art. This metallic, hostile-looking fellow wielded a hammer and sickle. Interpret as you will.
Oh, and Mrs. C and I are so old that today is our 51st anniversary. We get along pretty well.
Plum trees in springtime bloom mark a pathway in the botanical garden. Now I have to hunt for a few more days of images. Wednesday is a travel day. When we arrive on Thursday I’ll have to drive all the way across a country in 2.5 hours.
A last picture from The Observatory in the Missouri Botanical Garden. Off to one side is a traditional hedgerow maze. I am frightened by these things. It’s a dim memory, but it seems that once I felt hopelessly lost in one and had to call out for help to a monitor on a tower overlooking the puzzle. (Edinburgh?) I’d rather photograph this one from above.
Another direction from the parapet of the Observatory at the botanical garden. I should go back and see what’s now in bloom.
Anti-imperialism lives on in Webster Groves. This is the same house in my neighborhood seen here about a week ago flying the Ukraine and Canadian flags. There was a change yesterday. Now the nearer one is the flag of Greenland. Recognize it? I wonder where the homeowner found one.
From the walkway on the second level of the Observatory. The white building is the home of Henry Shaw, mentioned yesterday, who founded the Missouri Botanical Garden. The wedges of green on the right will be full of flowers in a few days.
The land that became the Missouri Botanical Garden was originally the estate of Henry Shaw. He was the son of a steel manufacturer in the British Midlands and was sent here in the 19th Century as an agent. He settled in St. Louis and made a fortune, using some of his money on his hobby as a keen amateur botanist. He built an octagonal tower, an observatory, to view his domain. This building is a reproduction but faithful to the original design.
A Japanese garden would not be complete without a koi pond. Siewa-en has a pretty good size artificial lake but the koi population stays in one corner. That’s probably because there is a bridge where visitors throw them something to eat. (Given local business connections, maybe it’s Purina koi chow.)
The Japanese garden has a small island containing a tea house. You may notice that the bridge is barred. The tea house is open only for special occasions and can hold a small number of people. Makes me think of the time we were at a tourist tea ceremony in Tokyo and stiff-jointed Western me couldn’t come close to sitting in an appropriate position. They didn’t kick me out.
Back to the wonderful Missouri Botanical Garden. This is part of the Japanese Garden, called Siewa-en, garden of pure, clear harmony and peace. I wish the theme was more accurate.
A house in my neighborhood. Perhaps a sign of the resistance. I hope so. After yesterday, our retirement investments have lost 10% since Trump’s inauguration, and they are cautiously managed.
Springtime has come to the Midwest (as opposed to Costa Rica, where there are two seasons, hot and dry and hot and wet). Tuesday was mild and mostly sunny, a perfect day for a walk in the sprawling Missouri Botanical Garden. The cherry trees were still in bloom in the Japanese garden area.
Just past sunset on Tamarindo beach. There was a group of young women in fancy tropical dresses waiting at water’s edge. Perhaps there was a seaborne soiree. It may be time to go back to The Lou but more Costa Rica at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcrowe/albums/72177720324696670/ and more to add in the next few days.
In Tower Grove Park, my favorite in St. Louis. It is laid out like an old-fashioned English walking park. There are many old, fancy pavilions available to rent. This one, called the Turkish Pavilion, is the largest.
Tamarindo beach, where the day trip boats anchor. Dinghies shuttle the passengers to and from the beach. This one has seen better days. No way to tell whether it broke up here or out at sea and then washed in. It’s a bit of an exaggeration to call it a shipwreck but it still looks a bit scary.
Home yesterday. I’ll stick with these for a bit until I find some local stuff.
Seen on the lawn of our condo development between the pool and the beach. As Mrs. C and I get older we wonder what there is to do here if our granddaughter isn’t with us. We don’t sit on the beach. I’m as pale as they come and I’ve already had melanoma once. The pool is okay (Ellie loves it) but it doesn’t do much for us. People used to bring books and read on the lawn. Now they have tablets. Will there be a next time?
Somehow I think this supposed to be a joke. Seen at a little taco restaurant in Tamarindo which is, in fact, cash only. By the way, the ahi tuna tacos were smashing.
Another must-do when we come here is a boat ride on the Tamarindo Estuary, a body of salty to brackish water separating the town from sweeping and little-developed Playa Grande. Thar be crocodiles. The guides are sharp-eyed and experienced, picking out wildlife in the surrounding mangroves that I would never see. We were told this is a blackhawk. I’ll take the guides word.
It’s on the to-do list for every trip to Tamarindo. After dark, groups of dancers who play with fire go from one beachfront restaurant to another, performing to pounding music. The shows are spectacular. They do it for tips, and we tip generously.
Have to do this one every time we come here. Taken from poolside at the condo development, Playa Langosta, near Tamarindo.
Happy to be at the end of the road. Dinner at Ellie’s favorite local restaurant, El Sapo (the toad), where they serve the kitty pizza. The kid is in heaven. She has her two lambies and a pair of plush sloths (there’s a concept) she talked me into buying her at the supermarket. One is tan, one is brown, and they are held together by velcro. She named them Costa and Rica.
OH, AND I FORGOT - Saturday was this project’s 18th anniversary. 6,749 posts to date.
Greetings from beautiful Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which is bloody enormous. On time flight from St. Louis yesterday afternoon and spending the night at a hotel in the middle of the airport complex. Morning flight today on to Costa Rica. I was reminded of a time a few years back when we were here for a wedding. The Texas State Fair was going on, which was a candy store for photographers. This is one of my favorite images.
The kid’s spring school break comes up next week. We are taking Ellie back to our favorite place in Costa Rica. She’s been there a couple of times and just loves it. The scene here is sunset at Tamarindo beach. Flying to Dallas-Fort Worth this afternoon, overnight there, and then onward Sunday morning. It might be good to get out of the U.S. for a while.
I’m pretty sure that Darth Vader never visited Ireland and that Princess Leia never had a sip of Guinness. So what’s this doing in the St. Patrick’s Day parade? Enquiring minds want to know but there was no explanation.
Traveling this weekend, taking our granddaughter for some tropical spring break fun. Even she thinks it’s a good time to be out of the U.S.
One of the balloons in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. This one puzzled me. There was no sign or banner identifying it, and nothing about the sponsor. The figure looks like it is wearing a hard hat and safety harness.
As I’ve noted here in the past, St. Louis likes a chance to drink in public. Budweiser, the local famous brew, markets heavily on St. Patrick’s Day. The can labeled High Noon in this person’s right hand, is nominally vodka and fruit juice. The chap in the Scots tartan has a fat cigar in his left hand. (Calling Dr. Freud!)
Most of us have seen the big helium-filled balloons at parades or other events but I’ve never seen how they get their lift. I came up from the train station downtown and found this. Those cylinders must be three by three or maybe four. I could not see an outlet and, try as I might. I could not see a connection point to the balloons themselves. Then there is the question of how the helium is produced and compressed into the tanks.
There is a delicious silliness about someone riding a Harley tricycle with a Santa hat and beard in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It’s all about gesture, the show, the image and a laugh. I like it.
Far be it from me to pass judgment on floral arrangements. This one was awarded first prize at Art In Bloom. I like the fact that its gallery has windows overlooking the museum’s central great hall. The painting the arrangement refers to is on the opposite wall, https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/1449/ .
Max Beckmann was an important German artist of the first half of the 20th Century. Like so many others, he fled the Nazis and eventually ended up here. He worked and taught for the last three years of his life at Washington University in St. Louis. Our art museum has a major collection of his work, including a large room exclusively devoted to him. I think the floral arrangement refers to this picture, https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/13448/, not the one shown here.
Not the flowers, actually. I mean, I like flowers as well as the next person but it’s not really my department. The painting on the wall, though, is one of my favorites in the St. Louis Art Museum, a 1908 work by the American Paul Cornoyer, The Plaza After Rain. The place is at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York, looking south along Fifth Avenue. It brings up sentimental feelings for my home town.
It’s become a local tradition. In late winter, our art museum puts on an event called Art In Bloom. Expert floral arrangers are invited to create a design inspired by one of the pieces from the collection. This year there were thirty-some entries. It can be horrifically crowded, but the museum opens to members two hours early on the first morning. It’s the only time worth going.
