A Canadian in Ireland

I was in Dublin on Tuesday, bringing the Mammy up to the airport. She's off to be with the new family for a month. Since her flight was first thing I decided to make a day of it. I had picked a few options for what to do and with the help of Desiree (and Google) I eventually choose the Natural History branch of the National Museum of Ireland. Colourfully nicknamed 'The Dead Zoo'.

Now it was mainly for the price - admission is free - but I would have gladly paid. The variety and number of specimens are mind blowing.





The main floor is devoted to Irish animals. And must have examples of every species found on and around the island.



The second floor is where the "exotic" animals are displayed. I was a bit nervous going up the stairs.



Since the musuem was only recently re-opened after an incident. But it turns out my fears were unfounded.

Again, the exhibits were mind blowing.



That's two whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling.







Not everything is quite so dramatic but still nice to see.



While it was extremely interesting, some displays were macabre



bordering on shocking





But this museum is practically a museum in of itself. The entire collection is from a different age.

It's a shame that the upper galleries are still closed.



I can only imagine what treasures were waiting up there though I did get some hints.



Desiree got quite a workout, these are only a fraction of the photos I took. Please check out the rest of the album.

The museum wasn't all I saw of the city.





EDIT: You're supposed to be able to click on the pictures to go to larger version in the album, but it's not working for some reason So I added the links below. Ok Now :shrug:

Hello,

Once again I feel I have to apologise for not being around as much as I would like. As usual college is keeping me busy. But it's reading week and a long weekend to boot so I have a little (too little really ) time.

And what does a Canadian in Ireland do when he has some time off and it's the October Bank Holiday?

He goes to the Conker Festival of course.

Held in Freshford

The chestnuts for the competition are provided by 52 Horse Chestnut trees that surround the village green, which produce 30,000 conkers.

Here's some of them.

I'm sure you're wondering what exactly conkers are at this point. Luckily, but not surprisingly, Wikipedia has an article.

A couple of competitors



Aside from the championship there were other games


And crafts


These lads

started a mini-company selling slate crafts as part of their transition year.

The Kilkenny Flower Club were exhibiting in St. Lachtain's Church

which is famous for its 12th century carved sandstone entry.

A good day out, aside from the weather. Tomorrow? Back to the grind.

Everywhere I look there seems to be one anniversary or another going on.

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Just barely enough time to post little tidbit of geeky-ness.

In less than 30 minutes it's going to be 1234567890 in Unix Time.

While it probably means more to your computer than to you there are some celebrations going on.

If I was in Vancouver I'd probably head for the Irish Heather, as I'm not I'll just raise a quiet glass on my own.

If you want to watch the count down, or count up, you can click here.

UPDATE:

The brother sent me a screen shot of the big moment.

Finally got round to posting some of the photos from my Vancouver trip.

So you can go have a look at The Museum of Anthropology



or Whistler, BC



or the BC Museum of Mining



More on the way. Stay tuned.

AKA Remembrance Day, Vetrans Day, Armistice Day, Poppy Day

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Finally got all the photos editted and uploaded. Enjoy.

I'm looking forward to your comments.

I shot a bit of video while I was in Stradbally, so hopefully this will keep you going.

Ploughing Engine

It's a ploughing engine - a Fowler, I think. You can tell it's a ploughing engine by the big winch drum mounted under the boiler.

Because of the weight and steel tires, using the engine to tow a plough would have caused too much damage to the ground. So they used two engines, one at either end of the field and winched a steerable plough back and forth between them.

when all you've got is your camera phone. Sorry for the poor quality.

We met this lad on our way back from the airport on Saturday evening. Mom decided she'd call up to her brother's house to see the relatives and try to fight her jet-lag. Just as we were coming down to the house your man was coming up the hill, out for an evening jaunt. 'Course this being the village, Mam knew him well - and we're related, distantly.

Busy with more visting yesterday. Though with the hurling semi-finals lots of folks were not available.

Today, I'm off to Stradbally to the Steam Rally. I go every year. I'll bring the proper camera so expect photos.