+10…

So, a month now since my official request for retirement and until the moment of typing these words, things aren't over yet. On a positive note, I don't have to go to work daily right now as I'm officially off, but I'm still not completely detached from work because I didn't finish the paperwork related to my "leaving certificate". Thus, the month of November just passed me by without a salary in bank account. To add pepper and salt to the wounds, everyone is just working slowly, barely answering phone calls, and what would take a day to be done or even less, takes up to 2+ days to do, if not a week or weeks.

Anyway, away from my ranting, I've decided for this week's post to talk about 10 of my images that had been marked as "Inspirational" by YouPic. This comes after finally having my 20th image marked as inspirational. I've made a post long time ago about my first 10 images, and so this post will be about my second 10 inspirational image, as noted by YouPic. 

+10

So, here is the list and in the order of picking them up as "inspirational". I'll try to be brief as much as possible in describing each image.

1.

_MG_7671

 The first image in the list as you can see bears no title, because, well, I didn't really care much about it and I didn't think of it as something special. It is one shot from a series, when I shot the fireworks during the "Constitution Day" celebrations back in 2012. I was on the roof of Soug Sharg Mall and the location was not special or anything; It didn't provide any good perspective or foreground. Yet, I kept shooting that night and got an arsenal of fireworks shots.

2.

_MG_7773

 As you can see, #2 is like its predecessor and from the same location but with a different focal length, thus more buildings and lights are included. Again, I didn't think of a title for this shot because, come to think of it, it's a series with loads and loads of firework images! I can barely remember my own passwords at this age now (yes, 41 is old). Just to add some "dynamism" to the image, I've decided to crop it at 16:9 as if it was some wide-screen movie scene. Unlike its predecessor, I didn't work quite much on the blacks here to make it lighter. I think the tones weren't helping anyway.

3.

_MG_7751

Another one (and a favorite) from the series of the fireworks which was also marked as "inspirational" by YouPic. I like this one in particular because of the 3D-ish look that happens to be here. I was able to lighten the pitch black sky a bit and like its predecessor, it was cropped to 16:9. At that time I was experimenting with the cinematic looks, so I used this ratio quite often to mimic a movie scene or something. Well, I still do sometimes. One weird thing about this image is that the recorded f-number is f/36, while I'm sure that the max f-number for all of my lenses is f/32!

4.

Peekaboo Building

Peekaboo Building was just a random shot that I've taken in Dubai in 2013, when I was there for some ceremony I was invited to. I've stayed for 3 days but, literally, didn't find much to shoot there during my stay. This place is just not my thing really. Anyway, this is one of the random shots that I've taken as I was walking aimlessly on the roads not from my hotel. Of course, this shot was cropped and adjusted (specially to make the vertical and horizontal lines as straight and divergent as possible). It was uploaded in the abstract section on YouPic even and not in the architecture section. To me, it looks quite random!

5.

Herr Fengus

Then, we have here my little friend which showed up one morning during COVID-19 lock up in 2020, and then disappeared the next day. Well, in our garden some fungi like this show and disappear regularly (I guess they don't stay because of the water force over them). Anyway, shooting Herr Fengus was quite a challenge, because it was taken handheld and getting low. Even the focus here is not quite pinned correctly and I had to do some compromise with the f-number to let in more light. Originally, it was white-yellowish in color, but with post-processing, things flourished!

6.

Abhainn na gCuimhní Binne
(river of the sweet memories)

The next one came to me as a complete surprise. An old shot from Oughterard, Co. Galway, Ireland, which was shot with my old Canon 350D (my first Canon camera ever), back in 2009, during my first visit to Ireland ever. The scene here is quite random but I tried to make something out of it by color grading and dodging and burning here and there. Seems all that work (which I wasn't quite satisfied with) did pay off with being picked for the "Inspirational" section by YouPic. I remember some of these white spaces (the sky) needed some fixes and I'm guessing I've sorted this out by some patching work.

7.

In The Grace of The Cormac

In The Grace of The Cormac is an old panorama shot in my second visit to Ireland, in 2010, and this panorama was the beginning of a series of re-stitched panoramas done from RAW files without resorting to HDR techniques. Also, in this re-stitch of this panorama, I've included a human factor in the middle which I used to remove in the original (and I was lucky to have this lady photographer at the center). Using only RAW in stitching is not quite easy as I thought! The panorama is shot inside McCormac cathedral which forms a compound with Cashel Rock castle.
[Worth noting that this panorama particularly is available in large size for download and printing as a fine art piece from my MostPhotos profile].

8.

Il-Pixxina
(The Swimming Pool)

The next one in the series of re-stitched panoramas (from RAW) comes from the swimming pool of the place where I stayed in Qala, Malta. This panorama was shot twice back in 2015. My first trial wasn't successful and problematic because the light was changing quickly, so I tried to fix that the next day with another shoot with somewhat proper timing. This re-stitch, however, which is made from RAWs, was made from RAW files of the first trial (which I didn't delete). One element is missing from the original (2nd trial stitch done first) and that is the cat which posed for me in the scene!

9.

بَـهْـجَـةُ الـعـاصـِيْ
(Sinner's Delight)

As for #9, we have another re-stitched panorama from the old days when I was "able" somehow to go out on those cold winter nights to the seaside and do stuff with my camera. Like its original predecessor, the RAW-only re-stitched panorama was a challenge in terms of noise and details, as well as exposure. The title of this panorama can be understood in two ways depending on the perspective of the viewer; Looking at the city, this place can be the delight that the sinner is looking for, or considering the isolation from the city, this place can be the delight of repentance that the sinner is looking for.
[Worth noting that this panorama particularly is available in large size for download and printing as a fine art piece from my MostPhotos profile].

10.

يَـحْـمـورْ
(Redness)

The last one, came about as a surprise to me for various reasons. First, it had been a really long time since any of my images was marked as "inspirational" on YouPic. Secondly, the image is actually some neglected test shot done in the summer of 2012. I don't find anything special in this image, and here was the challenge in fact (for me) to create some interest by color-grading and other editing techniques. I'm still thinking, how come I didn't point my camera to the city on the left and take a shot there showing the reflection on water? To add more "strength" to the image (so to say) I've cropped it into a square and made sure that the horizon line is around the center of the image. 

Finale

Now, this is the post for this week. I'm not sure if I will post in 2 weeks time, but I do have some ideas cooking in my head which I hope that they would produce something to post about then.

One of the ideas that cook in my head is to pay tribute to the great Arab tenor whose songs I'm in love with: Sabah Fakhri صباح فخري. This great iconic marvel passed away from our mundane world on November 2nd; An event that poured melancholy into my life further, but c'est la vie. I've did few images back in 2016 probably trying to get some inspiration from the classical he sang on various occasions, but I think those weren't enough. More work need to be done in this aspect and I hope that my willpower is up to it.

By the time this is posted, I'm praying that my status with my workplace is finalized. I've spent the whole month of November without a salary because of that and I'm praying that it won't be another month without it. A question keeps popping up in my head now and then: What now after retirement, TJ? However, I'm trying to suppress my thoughts for the time being and just focus on the rubbish on my full plate with all these stuff related to the workplace and the papers here and there. But if I'm to be honest with myself, I really don't know what is my next step after retirement, except that I need to enjoy my life just a bit. Just a bit…
 

 

Achadh na nIúr...

Well, I didn't post anything yesterday mainly because of the "surprising" weather that struck me on my head yesterday. My plan in the beginning was to head to the downtown and buy some stuff, but then seeing how the weather was nice in the morning I thought maybe I should stretch some muscles and head to the castle. However, half way to there, the rain started to hammer. I continued to walk as I was hoping the shower would stop, but it increased further and it came to me that I won't be able to change lenses that way! Thus, I had to head back home with a shower look! Once I reached home, the shower stopped - talk about Irish sense of humor; weather-wise.
Anyway, after coming back home I did order a cab and headed to downtown to get some food. However, I came back and noticing how the day was beautiful AFTER the rain, I decided to head out near the lake and do some shots and wait there till it's dark and do some long exposures. Before the darkness I did a little macro shots with my 50mm and 30mm tube.

I will try to work with those long exposures later when I get back home. Unfortunately, the long exposures done yesterday were not much dynamic because of the slow wind; but the weather has surely gotten colder than before!

Now, as for today, I headed as planned to the Aughnanure castle and not much has changed since then, but this time I'm in with a proper gear for panoramas. Because of the technical issues I'm having here, I won't be able to work on these panoramas of course. In total, there were 3 panoramas done: 2 interior and one exterior. Among those, a panorama was taken from the topmost floor in the tower of Aughnanure castle which, in fact, is the most interesting one for me because of the wooden roof structure. Back in 2009 I did take an awkward partial panorama for this "room" but of course without the tools I do have right now - which made it kind of useless and I don't remember stitching this panorama at all back then. Now, the chance is better. I did even take a shot for the roof (and the small balcony) with my Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens, but unfortunately I couldn't center it exactly - specially with this showcase in the middle of the room (which is sad really because it corrupts the view completely!).

There was also some work on single shots here and there, exterior and interior, and even some infrared shots. On the way back home there were some extra infrared shots (during which the rain hammered heavy for a while!). But I will keep all that for later. Now, going down from the tower was such a big deal and an exhausting "workout" - and I do think I do have claustrophobia now! Well, if I don't have it already.

The plan now, as it seems, is left for activities out of Oughterard, which means as well lot of money for the cab drivers (not good with buses). Beside that, I might get the chance to visit the Kylemore Abbey (which seems it is even further away from Cong town to the north of Oughterard, in Co. Mayo). Also, I wanna check with my host for a chance to visit Inchagoil island again - and by the way, the rooms in the Waterfront B&B are named after islands, and my room right now is the IInchagoil room!

Panoday...

It is a rainy day, and what you do in a rainy day? Of course! You go out and do a panorama! Not only that, but doing an infrared panorama too! Anyway before I move to the panorama part, let's see what I did last night.

It was slippery and apparently my brother's "non-sensical" advice to travel with boots suddenly sounded very, very, very reasonable. My shoes keep leaking water so, you can imagine the rest! I had to spend the rest of the night with cold and dump feet. The result were "kind of" promising though.

Oíche sa Uachtar Ard

The thing is, I've been doing long exposure at ISO 800. Yes, ISO 800, and done in bracketing form, like taking several shots ranging from around 20 minutes and down to 8 seconds. The shots were mainly taken with 8mm fisheye but then I changed to my 15mm fisheye lens just to test things. The shot above, Oíche sa Uachtar Ard, was taken with highest ISO available (12800), which was kind of a trial to measure the exposure needed at low ISO, but I've found it quite interesting! The only problem here is, it is at high ISO. It is good as long as you keep it small to avoid making the noise pop out in your eyes! Now as I'm typing this, I'm waiting for the darkness to settle in and maybe go out again and try tonight for some exposures from some different location if possible. It is windy today and rainy, so let's hope no bad surprises pop out!

As for the panoramas done today, well, my PTGUI is not working properly on this laptop thus I don't have the proper tool to sketch even for a test to see how it is going. Photoshop is not a proper tool for panoramas for its lack of options (the process is completely automated), and also, this laptop is not good enough for the memory it is using to stitch. I was hoping to post a test of the infrared panorama done today but seems it's not possible for now. It all has to wait till I get back to Kuwait.
Locations included in the "roll" today were: the front, the parking lot, the lounge, the corridor and the dining (breakfast) room. Probably tomorrow, if I have enough power to carry those stuff, the Aughnanure castle would be my next target.

To Keogh's We Go!

Well, it just happened today and I broke the rule of not having 2 successive days of long walks! Well, I had some long (and kind of painful) sleep last night. I'm not sure why is that, and I'm not sure if hangover feels like that, but I do think this is like it is a hangover. I was so tired yesterday that I couldn't even force myself to do long exposure at night as I was planning. Hopefully I'll be doing this today despite the long walk I had.
My long walk today was somewhat a challenge; Me challenging myself that is. I decided to hang around with only 2 lenses: 50mm and 8mm (fisheye) - no other lenses, no filters and no tripod. This made me a bit light to walk, and seems this active mind pushed me further and decided to visit the gift shop. I really take these things as a burden on my back. I got some gifts and I feel relieved - and it is the same shop I've been to 5 years ago (umm probably the only in Oughterard dedicated to gifts?): John Keogh's shop.

Keogh's gift shop from outside

Of course, there had been some short period of stops of shooting here and there but I won't be posting everything here of course. This walk might be repeated later though for one reason or another - but we'll see about that later!
On my way back and just when I thought there is not much interesting stuff to snap on the way (and it is a dangerous path to walk by the way in some portions at least), I've just realized what my 8mm fisheye lens can do with this tree (pine I think) which I passed often...

Crann Ard

In fact in that specific position and after this specific shot, Crann Ard, my thought has been wandering around the idea of doing a panorama specifically there in that position, specially with a sky like this. It  was cloudy day by the morning by the way but things went better later and it made a strange mix between a cloudy weather and sunny one!

View from my window after getting back home

Well, I have to admit now that my legs truly hurt and I can hardly walk further, but I will try to go out tonight and see if I can do a long exposure further away from that halogen light post. But let's pray the clouds cover is good enough to show something in the sky, and my LED light is powerful enough to walk a little bit far somewhere near the lake - no worries about its depth but I'm worried about its slippery mud. As for tomorrow, I think I will officially be working around the house here as there is no way for me to walk further!
Well, now to post this and enjoy my coffee a bit and stretch my leg. It's a vacation after all!

The Path…

Well, I had my long walk today, which was about 4 hours. I didn't head downtown though, but I was walking slowly and with my own pace. I was really trying to calm down and push myself to adopt a calmer attitude. Unfortunately, this time I didn't find any snails around like 5 years ago! Maybe later though! However, it was a walk of thoughts - what I really like, what I don't, life, arts, and strangely this question occurred to me back then: what do I love most? straight lines or curvy lines? Strangely as well, I couldn't answer that to myself!

The Path
CanonEF 50mm (infrared filter), f/11,
6min, ISO100.

 

I had the chance to some infrared photography on the way. I think green cover is usually a good target for infrared photography. Of course, because my camera is not converted to do "easy" infrared shots, each exposure of those took minutes. To make matters worse, the sun wasn't shining today, which means less light and even longer exposure. Anyway, it was sort of good to sit down and wait - the bad news here is no chair to sit! Anyway, the difference between the two infrared filters (threaded B+W and Kodak's gel) was apparent in these shots. I can't deny that I do really like the effect of the gel over the B+W disk (or threaded) filter. But oh well, each has its own lens to go with and I can't force my way on that!

Forest on The Side
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/8, 21min, ISO100.

Left to say that The Path had the Red and Blue channels swapped, while Forest on The Side had them not. I can't do much with infrared shots with this laptop so far because the "profile" for adjusting them is stored in my PC back home.
On the way back to The Waterfront, I picked up a spot that I thought it was good for a panorama; but I still have to test this panorama (and the one before) to see how proper my exposure was - specially this one done today (with one line of the battery life left!), because I've been using the Manual mode completely instead of the Av (aperture priority) mode, as I usually do. The sky was indeed white, but with some HDR I'm supposed to get some details out of it.

This was the end of my day here, and thinking of tomorrow - which probably would be spent here around the Waterfront - something I usually do when I travel, day in and day out and so on. This day I might be spending taking or studying panoramas indoors. On the other hand, I might run another trial for some night time photography; those done yesterday weren't good enough. It seems that I "do" have to stay away a bit from the house to avoid the halogen light. I had a really hard time to cover up my shadow, and at the end, the exposure was a bit over without possibility of gaining back details, and the sky was clear without trails (and I had to stand for 20 minutes trying to provide some shadow for the lens to avoid flare). Lot of planning to do ahead but the thing is, I'm not sure I would be able to work on it right...

In The Waterfront...

Well, here I am writing this after 4 days in Ireland. I've spent one day in Dublin and one day in Galway, and now this is my second day in Oughterard, to the north-west of Galway city, in the Waterfront B&B - which happens to be my first destination in Ireland back in 2009.
I'm getting really busy here, with napping. I do wish if I can have a nap between every 2 naps actually! But well, I'm greasing my engine with walks right now AND planning for some night photography when possible; in this part of the countryside, it is really dark and the only light source available around is one or two halogen lights hung up high. So, it might be a bit dangerous to step away further from the house, thus I'm trying to make a mental map for the place just to walk at night. Walking with my gear is a hurdle as usual, specially with no hook in the tripod to hang my stuff when needed, but hopefully won't be a big problem. My biggest problem now is walking with a tripod head and a tripod while wearing a backpack.
Anyway as I did previously in 2012 in NYC, I've started checking some photos with some simple processing and displaying in black and white only and keeping the colors to be processed later back home (specially that I've forgot to calibrate the monitor of my laptop!).

Galway Sky

In Dublin there wasn't much to do actually, specially that I'm not in friendly terms with cities. Galway, on the other hand, is a city (considerably) but, it has its own town-like spirit. Some shots were taken also around The Waterfront B&B, and even a panorama (which I'm going to test to see the amount of exposure and stitching errors). Many other panoramas are waiting for me indoors and outdoors but I'm not going to put all the eggs in one basket of a week!

My first infrared and long exposure shot from the front of The Waterfront B&B

and of course, let's not forget the joys of fisheye lenses (specifically, my Rokinon 8mm lens). The bad part here: I can't use my gel filters with it here because of the wind that is going on almost daily and I do need some space to fit such gel filters on the back - same thing goes with my other Canon 15mm fisheye lens.

Seeking
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/9, 8^-1sec, ISO200

Probably Seeking is one that I do like as it is, in black and white, but I have to wait till I get back home and compare the colored version with it (specially that it's part of a bracketed sequence taken for HDR merging later). I think it is dramatic as it is and good enough.
Beside all these activities, I'm trying to take some short videos because, just because, I have some sensitivity to sounds in here; nature sounds that I usually don't get the chance to enjoy in Kuwait!

Not sure yet what to do tomorrow, but I'm going to let my mood swing on this for a while, but most probably it would be just a walk in the forest nearby (not heading to Aughnanure castle yet). Gotta post this now and prepare for my little night outgoing!

Alexander 6, V117.

Well well! What do you know! It's Thursday! TGIT!
I won't waste much time here writing, since I'm going out of here so soon, but just few updates follow.
I've finished reading one of the books just now. That book about geological matters and fossils. It's an amazing journey really. Also, I'm about to finish reading the other book, Alain Briot's book. The discussion at the end of this book is so fierce with so many marketing and financial issues. In the meantime, I try my best to understand how the print works and quality issues, after printing several panoramas now with my simple HP Photosmart inkjet. Small panoramas, nothing serious really. Yet, some ideas and visions visited me while reading about marketing issues in this book. Mowahaha. Ahem...

However, finishing some books doesn't mean I'm totally free. I got another list of books at hand however. Anyway, their time will come.
Not much photography or photos to be processed as for yesterday, but seems people are more in love with the black and white images. One of those was in fact a slide in a panorama, but I had to take it out separately since the panorama to be processed was not good (due to some shaky images).

The Path to Aughnanure (or to Oughterard)

A slide from a panorama

Doing things in black and white gives you a sense of documentation really. Something very important being documented. This is what I feel.
Bigstock refused some images, well, it was not a surprise at all, but anyway their reasoning was acceptable at least (unlike other websites). Some of the images could use some adjustment and re-submitted even, while some others are not of interest (to them). That's fair enough for me.

Had some time to write something new, in a haste, after some imaginary story that I've made in my mind. Well, it is imaginary for me, but who knows, it might be true for others who lived in such situations; losing someone by force...
I called it 1945, signifying the end of WWII. No need to link it I guess, unless you would like to check the rest of my profile which I guess won't interest you anyway! Thus, here go the words...

1945

Was it, or was it not,
a rainy day, when I met you?
Everything was so fast, so quick,
so much I didn't notice, but you.
And then, you held my hand, Martha,
a hug then I felt, no end was for it.
You passed your hand on my cheek, Martha,
and Aufwiedersehen Geliebt you said.

Oh, the Nazis are gone,
so well the Soviets.
No Normandy now or then,
no explosives.
The two are one, Einigkeit in the sky.
The banners are here, all fly so high.
Been ages now, since that time,
Do you hear my rhyme?
Oh Martha.

Then you slipped into that train,
to somewhere, far away from Dresden.
"Wohin Geliebt?" I said so in vain,
and the utter came on with "Zu Leben".
"Freiheit" they're singing now, O Martha,
and not many of them know you.
But I'm here always and you know, Martha,
and an Ave I'll always sing for you.

Oh, the Nazis are gone,
so well the Soviets.
No Normandy now or then,
no explosives.
The two are one, Einigkeit in the sky.
The banners are here, all fly so high.
Been ages now, since that time,
Do you hear my rhyme?
Oh Martha.

Sure we'll wander high,
O Martha.
In between the clouds,
O Martha.
Just wait not so long,
I'll follow you along,
O Martha.

__________

2785. he saw huge collections of books and papers
2786. time forgot about such objects long ago
2787. and the dust filled the air with the smell of history
2788. Alexander with a surprise said: what are all of those?
2789. Agdalán answered: these are records of history,
2790. history that expands for thousands of years before you,
2791. everything people made and everything they invented,
2792. every move they made and every battle was made, all here
2793. Alexander said with a surprised tone: should I read it all?!
2794. Agdalán giggled a bit and said: no my dear, this is to see,
2795. your Charnagút was the key to all of this history,
2796. a history that will one day be spread again on Daynur,
2797. when the people and the the tribes are ready for it,
2798. your sword is the key to this history, assigned by the fathers,
2799. the sword had been moving from hand to hand,
2800. father to son, from son to a grand son, until you come,
2801. your time was a time when Ayvars got mixed with others,
2802. and thus you became a Caqobian, but with an Ayvar blood,
2803. you are the answer for the prayers of my fathers and myself,
2804. that one man from our lineage will unite Daynur again and do good,
2805. thus, God answered the prayers and now you are here to see,
2806. your own history and why you are here my dear,
2807. and for your own goodness, these secrets are for you now,
2808. you can do whatever you like to do with them now

Alexander 6, V4.

TGIW. Thank God It's Wednesday! A phrase I missed typing or saying for a long time after changing the weekend system in Kuwait, making the weekend on Friday and Saturday instead; which sucks! We got a holiday here extending until next Monday. Woho! No work on a MONDAY!
I'm planning to go out earlier today, and that's why I'm writing my blog earlier than usual. After finishing 2 verses of transliteration from Alexander VI, I took sometime on writing a short little poem. Something to the memory of Oughterard and Ireland. I named it "The Path of Oughterard."

The images I took the day before yesterday were not so special or anything, without any sparkle or life in them, and also not sharp enough and somewhat blurry. Thus, I decided not to work on the tone-mapping for them and instead, I kept on working stitching some old panorama I made for my work place.


The stitching process takes almost half a day. I made this parnoama before and it is not a quite spherical panorama, because I didn't take pictures for the ceiling in complete sequences, but it was a 360 degrees one made on 2 rows. This is the second time I make a trial with this panorama, as I made it normal the last time. Here, I've made my mind to make it as a "little planet" projection (also called Stereo). The first stitching process stopped after it reached the end almost with some error regarding the creation of the JPEG file (I remember it was related to the damn RAMs), and I thank God that it was a sequence of JPG images only and not HDR! Anyway, choosing the final creation to be saved as a JPG was a mistake as well because I wanted to keep the transperancy as well. Thus, I had to stitch again and this time, the end-product is saved as a PSD (more than 500MB in size but only one layer!). I manipulated the image later on (this morning and in a hurry), making it more sharp and minimized it from its original size (close to 20,000 pixels height and width). For web purposes I decided to save the image in a GIF format to save the transperancy, but unfortunately the picture was sluggish and spotted for the low quality. Thus, I decided to put it up as a PNG, but of course the file size would be a bit larger than the GIF version. The JPG format of course, won't save me the transperancy in the image.
This is said and done, I might try to construct my own softbox in the coming days, as something to do for fun at home and also it would be useful in the future. I have in my mind many sizes to construct currently, and to begin with, I would do a flash-mounted little softbox, to reduce the glare of the flash on objects (since I suffered this sooooo much with my trials on my censer). Also, I intend to make out a light tent, or a light box, in which lights are projected from the outside and the object is in the middle of the box with a white background. I wanted to do some trials with my camera yesterday, but with the stitching process that took almost half a day and took over most of the memory in my PC, I neglected such idea completely!


__________
73. and Alexander was shaken by the speech
74. and could not imagine the age of the man
75. what is going around him and what is the logic
76. nothing seems to bear meaning to him now
77. then he gathered the power to ask the old man
78. "and how shall I get to the lands of Ayvars?"
79. so the old man answered: you shall answer my dear!
80. and with a strange look, Alexander gazed upon his face
81. and then he said: you are the grandson,
82. you don't know how to visit your ancestors?
83. then Náwi answered with sadness apparent in his eyes
84. "my dear friend, your question revives memories,
85. of long lost tribes and nations, wisdom and faith,
86. my ancestors went away with their secrets,
87. and here I am left alone with my sons away from them,
88. and it is mentioned in ancient books that we had,
89. about a the poor and rich man, whose name is Vuqurnún
90. who has light in his face and a spot on his forehead
91. and his red hair go down on his shoulders
92. and his teeth are white with bluish color
93. carrying his sword of the three points
94. and his golden shield of the sun's image
95. he shall know the road to the ancients
96. and by his hands the secret is revealed"

Cong, Co. Mayo.

Today, after breakfast, I traveled along within a taxi to another county: Mayo. I headed (with the taxi of course) in a long journey that almost took one hour of driving to a village called Cong, on the north of the Loch Coirib. This long way was supposedly to be shortened (with lesser expenses) by a ferry, but since the ferry stops at the end of the September with the end of tourism season, I had to take the hard way. Not only that, but a ferry would take you into the lake to an island in the Corrib, named Inchagoill, where a grave stone of St. Patrick nephew is supposedly to be there with a church that dates back to the 5th century, and also a 12th century's Romanesque church. However, today I went to Cong, and tomorrow, if the weather was nice I shall be heading to Inchagoill by boat.

There are three main sites to see in Cong, but I saw only two of them since I didn't really care much about the third! They are: 1. Ashford Castle which has been turned into a luxurious hotel, 2. St. Feichin Monastery which dates back to the 6th century, 3. A museum, which was the house where a movie was shot, named "The Quiet Man."

1. In Ashford castle, tourism was much still alive and people were going in and out, either for picnics or to play golf in the wide green fields around the castle. I took many shots around the place and I had a long walk in the forest behind the hotel (the castle). We were thinking that the monastery is somewhere around the castle but we got it wrong. Anyway, I really loved the trees there, and some of them were giants and obviously hundreds if not at least one thousand years old. On the way out of the place, we asked a valet about the monastery, and he guided us to it. It is in the village itself and not near the hotel.

2. We got back to the village and found the monastery. Frankly, I don't know if it is St. Feichin monastery, but it was Cong Abbey, or "Ministreach Chonga." It was a national monument as the signs in the place denoted and from the design and the hard rocks it was obvious that it was a medieval building. The graves were every where and I was trying hard not to stop on them. The dead deserve their respect. The graves were marked by a grave stones sometimes but lot of times they were marked by a Celtic crosses. The abbey had a second floor which was exposed like a roof, and I tried to take a panoramic shot up there. The building was magnificent, and after the castle of Aughnanure, this is the second time I see a real medieval building with religious significance. The castle itself was not completely medieval as it was obvious that it had been renovated to be in shape of the hotel that it is seen today. The abbey was unique with its ruins. Upon my way out, I snapped the gate of the abbey as well;

3. On the way back from Cong, I had a nap in the taxi, as the long drive to Cong actually made my stomach a bit disturbed. On the way though, I couldn't help to stop my camera from snapping but this I had to make fast shots with no HDR intention (3 shots with different exposures and blah blah blah). There were many spectacular views for Connemara hills and the Corrib lake with the road being up and down all the way, but I had few shots that were good enough, specially with the problem with the light source and the speed of the shutter;

Tomorrow, Hopefully, I'll be heading to Inchagoill, and only 4 days left to get back to Dublin, and on the 5th day then, I shall fly away back home!

Oughterard (again)

Today, I've walked to the village again since the taxi was not free and I wanted to finish things as fast as possible to have all the day to rest and write and think. This time, I didn't take any camera or tripod, so relatively I was light when I went there. But the way back was harder because I was carrying all the souvenirs and gifts that I got. I spent around €400.00 on gifts! That's around 168KD. Well, back in Kuwait I think the amount is not much to be mentioned, unless if you say for someone "gifts," I believe everyone will yell at you and say "are you crazy!" Also, I got myself the thing that I always wished to own... a pipe! I got me bodhrán and some books as well. My main concern now is the extra weight, thus I have to check for more information from the Turkish Airways site. I'm planning after 1 or 2 days to go on the boats near the Waterfront for a little voyage, if the weather helps out.

I didn't catch any pictures today but yesterday, I got one picture which inspired me for something. I called it, "The Lonely Barley."

I couldn't gather the words yet for the poem, but it shall be a dedication for a beloved one...

Correction: I took lot of photos!

Oughterard

Today, I had breakfast in the Waterfront as usual and went on a long long walk to the nearest village to get some cash and buy some stuff as well for my stay. The way took me one hour of walking to there or more a bit and one hour to get back or so... in total I think I spent 3 hours of continuous walking, so much that even now, 3 hours after my return to the Waterfront, I still feel my feet burning and aching. Trying to fight though not to sleep now or else, I'll be awake by night time with not much to do and so on.

On my way, although I didn't want to take much pictures and stared down most of the time, but still, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures. Anyway, they were not as much as yesterday though. One of the funniest thing that I've found on my way, is some sign that was planted on the earth, upside down!

Maybe this is how Gaelic is supposed to be? Who knows!

After checking the maps that I got from the hotel some days ago, I think I need to go back to the main city (Galway) to go around and get some gifts for the family... and myself as well if possible although I don't have much to buy for myself! Well, maybe a memorial for myself of this stay. Yet, I collected some pinecones from the ground the day before yesterday and intending to keep them for a memorial. Hope the airport check won't think it is a bomb or something!

Fáilte go hÉireann - The Beginning...

Here I am after a tiresome traveling from one country to the other and with "somehow" troublesome time, I got finally to my final destination... The Waterfront - Oughterard, Galway Co. in Ireland.

I took off from Kuwait Airport around 2:20 a.m. at the 29th of September. The destination was Istanbul, Turkey. The flight took around 4 hours or more a bit, and generally it was a nice one since I didn't have anyone sitting beside me at all (there was on guy who left to some other seat as it seems). I didn't expect the number of people though. In the plane I was trying hard to sleep a bit by flipping my head left and right or leaning my head against the window and so on, till I reached Istanbul. In in Istanbul, all I had to do is go on with the rush wherever it goes and follow the signs and ta-da I was in the transit zone. I had to wait for 4 hours there for my next flight to Dublin. It was a great waste of my time really. I was coping to keep my eyes open all the time, and I found some people sleeping there already but no place for me... thus I decided to take some Espresso from the Starbucks café in the transit zone. I guess that café was the only thing that I wouldn't really miss from Kuwait at all! However, the expresso effect wasn't effective enough. Finally the time was up and I had to go on to my plane. I was surprised to see the number of people traveling with me in the same plane! I thought tourism time is over and people don't travel at this time of the year, but most of the travelers with me were actually Irish people returning home! Thus, it was a crowded place and I was stuffed like a sardine in my seat.

My seat was another story. In this flight, the curse of children started to follow me like if I was at home. Children crying and children kicking my legs... why don't these guys use glue? However, I was seated, and 2 old people sat beside me then suddenly (as it seems) they discovered that they made a mistake and they must sit at the back and not in my row. That was a relief for some time till the stewardess came to me to ask nicely if I can change my seat to give a chance for a lady with her 2 children (african, and her kid was kicking and crying all the time) because they got separated in seats. Thus, I had to go to some other seat, with 2 people sitting there and I had to stuff myself... at that moment only I was thinking of a diet indeed.

After reaching Dublin, I ran around looking for a taxi and I got one to pick me to Heuston Station where I have to collect my ticket. Unfortunately, I missed the train and the lady on the information desk told me I can get on the train of 10 O'clock, which meant that I have to wait for more than 8 hours!

After all, I got sick of waiting and then after asking again some other lady, she told me I can go on the next train to Galway. I had only 15 minutes to catch it and I did. We moved at 7:20 p.m. and the train kept on stopping on several stations until we reached Galway station at 10 p.m. . The train though was a bit miserable inside and stuffed, and with my heavy luggage and backpack it was tideous. I found a place later with 3 other people who accepted me. The funny thing was that later on the way to Galway (but before stopping in some station before Galway) , we heard some cracking and it was a scary sound indeed, and the train was shook a bit. We stopped for 10 minutes almost and then moved again, and they informed us that it was a sheep that lost its way! Few minutes later we heard the same sound, and I said to the lady in front of me "hope it's not a cow this time, this sound looks stronger!"

After reaching Galway finally, with tiresome body, I got a taxi and asked him to pick me to the nearest hotel. He delivered me to Carlton Hotel. I remained there till the next day for breakfast and then made a confirmation for one extra day in the Waterfront, the place where I'm going to stay most of the vacation.

The owner of the place, a very nice lady, didn't expect me because they did not tell her about the update (i.e. the agency did not tell her), but everything went smoothly. The road from Galway to the place in a taxi was like 45 minutes.

I spent my first day in the Waterfront in phototaking first (until the owner prepares the place for my arrival) and then once I got into my room... I fell asleep one time after the other.

Today, my second day at the Waterfront, I went to the side of the lake, which is called Lough Corrib (Gaelic: Loch Coirib), I wonder about the meaning though. After that I had some rest and headed to the Aughnanure Castle (Caisleán Achadh na nIúr) which belonged to the Flaherty's in medieval times. I got dozens and dozens of images all the way to there and from the castle itself. It was like a dream. However, I will work on the photos later to put on here. I'm just so tired to type this entry even!