Water and Stone

  Water and Stones

Ireland truly is green. A satellite view of Ireland shows its brilliant green. I certainly saw at least 40 shades of green as the bus took us around the southwestern counties. Ireland gets 29” of rain on average each year. That rain falls on the fields and meadows and forms the 40 rivers that flow through the country. That seems a lot of rivers for a rather small island. 
 

SHANNON is named for the river Shannon that runs for 224 miles and bisects the middle of the island.

We were told that it would be cold in Ireland and that we should pack warm clothes and rain gear. These bulky items stayed in our luggage as Ireland enjoyed unusually warm and dry weather during our trip. The only rain was in the second week after the COEP had left.

The temperate climate, rich soil and abundant rain result in all that green and really amazing flowers. Here, we nurse a fuschia plant in its basket through the summer. It seldom survives winter even indoors. There, fuschias formed hedges six feet high! Nationwide there is a “Tidy Towns” competition for cleanliness and for stunning plantings in public spaces and people's homes.

As we traveled around, I could not help but reflect on how hard it must have been during the Great Migration of the 19^th Century to leave beauty such as this and end up in New York, or Boston, or Chicago.

Ireland is blessed  also with stones. The geology ranges from volcanic (1.7 billion years) to drummlins from the last ice age. Because of abundant stone and centuries of deforestation, Ireland built and builds s stone houses.  The house below dates from the 11th or 12th Century and sits in Glendalough. After 800-900 years the mortar is beginning to melt on the upper parts of the wall.  If there were a thatched roof and it was maintained, the walls would still be solid.

Irish stone according to guide Seamus is in layers that lend themselves to forming cubic stones that do not need a lot of dressing. The walls are finished in and out with a thick heavy stucco formed of cement. The finished stucco lasts forever if the roof stays tight and intact. All of the walls shown in the photo of Ennis are of this method.

This layering was clearly seen in the Cliffs of Moher.

Limestone, clay, granite, karst, basalt, sandstone, chalk and flint. 

The richer farmlands are on the eastern part of the island. More of that later.