PERIODIC PHOTOGRAPH  
I will display different photographs here at fairly regular intervals.

Here is a view of one of the narrow roads that wind through the foothills of Mount Leinster. It was taken on a frosty morning in the middle of December. The birch trees still have their dead leaves and these are highlighted brilliantly be the early morning sun. Until about a dozen years ago this road was virtually a dead-end. This was because there wasn't a bridge over the River Clody at this point and it was only rarely that the water was low enough to cross with a car. The only way to cross on foot was by a couple of precariously narrow and very slippy tree trunks.

Jacobs Ram

One of the most unusual sheep that I have ever seen. He has two pairs of horns and a two-tone coat. It all makes for an alarming looking animal. We both stared at one another, neither of us sure of whether we should run away. However as I tried to get closer for another photo (one eye on the eyepiece and the other on the ram) he decided that he disliked the look of me more than I of him.

Cocks of Hay

An unusual sight nowadays. This used to be a sight very common when I was growing up. I always enjoyed the bustle that was caused by the large number of men required to make these cocks. We (children) used to go around the ditches looking for stones to use to tie down the cocks so that the tops wouldn't be blown off them. The best part was tea time, when the women of the house would bring tea and freshly baked bread. We had no thermos flasks and the tea was brought in glass bottles with a home-made paper cork. The bottles were each put inside a woollen  sock to both protect from breakage and to keep the tea warm. Everyone would sit with their backs to the cocks and during tea would partake of that favourite pastime of leg-pulling. Woe betide anyone who couldn't take it on the chin, this person was singled out as fair game for everyone present.

Grotto near Kiltealy

Here we have a common sight around Ireland. It is a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Most of these were built during the Marion year; perhaps 1932. Some of  the grottoes are simple affairs and others can be very elaborate. I suppose that then as now, their design was down to the zeal of the organisers and their success in extracting money from a poor people.