All Things Must End

Tomorrow we leave this side of the Atlantic for Canada. We have had a marvellous time in all respects. It seems such a short time ago that we pulled out of High River and headed for Edmonton. We are planning to do it again, from Calgary this time. We will pick up our poor old car from Janelle's parents' kind care and drive to the coast to see Sheelagh' s parents.

We will be very sad to leave Dorian behind. He is very happy here in the company of many good friends, and that makes it a bit better. We have had sunshine here making Scotland a beautiful place. Several of Dorian's friends have kindly entertained us with picnics and lunches and drives round the countryside. A picnic on the shores Loch Lomond was fun followed by a drive up the Rest And Be Thankful road.

Anyway, we are coming home and will be back in High River on August 1st. We will have no computer after today and so this is it. We have enjoyed keeping a record of our adventures and we hope that you have liked the pictures and reading what we've been up to, or rather that to which we have been up. Bye bye. The Rolling Stones.

The last day in Ireland was spent close to our place. We visited an historic cottage that showed how an average family would have lived in the 1700's. It was a long low thatched building that had been a rectory and the home of a farming family. Sheelagh read that when the National Trust took the cottage they discovered that the thatch had never been removed when it was redone and there were six feet of thatch on the roof. Roughly equivalent to the weight of three double decker buses. From there we moved on to Downhill House, the remains of a stately home built by Earl Bishop Fredrick Hervey. This large estate was perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. The Earl had a domed library which was removed from the house where he could read in peace I guess. The windows were tall and gave fabulous views up and down the coast and out to sea. The house itself is being worked on by archaeologists restoring the yards and servants quarters.

Next we moved on to the quaint tiny restaurant down on the harbour at Ballintoy. Real Irish food and wonderful desserts. Lumpy bumpy in chocolate, strawberry, toffee or Irish cream were wonderful. After we waddled away from there Dorian wanted to go home and Shush and I wandered around a few Presbyterian grave yards looking for my ancestors, but no luck.

On Saturday we were up and away by 8:30 and the trip back to Dorian's was as smooth and uneventful as the way over. We had a great time in Northern Ireland and would go back happily. The coast and countryside are the draw. The villages are fairly bland and the cities are cities. The homes have been mostly rebuilt and although beautifully neat, are not as interesting as, say, the Cotswolds.

We are now thinking of the return to Canada. We get to meet, or remeet, some of Dorian's friends. The packing has started and on Wednesday we are off to the airport. How time flies when you are having fun.

Belfast City

On Wednesday we ate our breckie and went to Belfast. This is a 1 hour drive south and we cruised on into the parkade as the low fuel light appeared on the dash. There are very few gas stations along the M roads here.

When we arrived here last Saturday, I think I was in the mood to make Belfast my, "Gleaming City On A Hill". The sun was shining and everything looked clean and active, full of happy smiling people. Well, it is a fine city, but it is just a city. It's being torn up throughout the midtown core. There are grubby areas as well as the, "Gleaming" sections. Because we had parked, we stayed in the down town. We had hoped for one of the detailed walking tours, but they didn't go on Wednesdays, so we took the tour of the grand city hall.

The city hall is an impressive marble pile in the heart of Belfast. The foyer is high and a nice mixture of white marble and strong colours. in the council chambers we sat in the councilors seats. Dorian took pleasure in sitting as a Sinn Fein member. There is only one fewer SF members than Unionist. Here are some pictures.






After we finished the tour we took Shush's advice and searched out The Crown Bar. This is a listed pub in the heart of the city. Our pictures don't do it justice. The exterior is intricately carved wood, and inside all of the tables are inside little booths with doors and a brass button to ring to call for service. The bar runs the length of the room and is all done in very colourful tile.

After lunch Dorian set off to see the Cathedral and Sheelagh and I tried unsuccessfully to find some galleries. We met up at the tourist place to join our guide for a tour of Historic Belfast which we had discovered. We visited several churches where meetings were held to establish the heart of British rule in Ireland, and the site of meetings to try to dislodge British rule in Belfast. It examined the Nationalist Unionist question quite fairly I thought.

After our second tour we visited the Linen Hall Library for a brief sit down time and then we trundled off back to the car and made for home. Found gas at last when we strayed off the Motorway and ended up in a small town. If you come here, you will find that many places don't take credit cards, so do be careful.

Bogside Report

On Tuesday we had what was for me one of those confusing situations in life. I grew up hearing my Mom talk occasionally about the Catholic/Protestant troubles in Northern Ireland. I heard her take on it which was seen as a teenager in the 1920's, which was to some extent filtered through the eyes of her parents. They were land owning Protestants who were removed from the large cities and the living conditions of the Irish Catholic families. On Tuesday we heard the Irish Catholic side of the story, this time filtered through the ideology of the groups who favoured the formation of one Irish nation and the removal of the British rule in Northern Ireland. Neither story was, I suspect, the true story.

I couldn't begin to relate what we heard, but if you are interested you might google, "Bloody Sunday", or , "The Northern Ireland Unionist Movement". You would need both and I think a great deal more to get at any truth there is about. Anyway, we all came away very quiet and, as I said, somewhat confused as to what we thought.

Derry, or Londonderry, is comprised of a walled city and the surrounding residential area known as the bogside. The walled area was set up, in the 16th century, by the English as defense against the Spanish. It was a planned community housing the British troops and civilians. The Irish were not allowed in. The Ulster plantation took place in 1610 and brought Scots over to inhabit the area. This is how my Mother's ancestors came to Ireland. The Irish lived in a dried up river bed area outside the walls that became know as the Bogside.

Londonderry, as the Unionists call it, or Derry as the Nationalist call it, is interesting, if not charming. We walked the walls and took the ,"Bloody Sunday" tour and as I said got a taste of the conflict that has raged here for many years. It is calmer now but by no means is it settled. There are posters everywhere demanding the removal of the British. The picture upper right shows one of the many murals done by the Bogside Artists. Just to the right here is the bogside as it is now. I guess my final thought is that there is enough blame for all to have a share.

Where The Wild Iris Grows

With another pleasant day yesterday, we decided to return and have a proper look at the Giant's Causeway. The drive there is quite short, so we were quickly parked and starting the 20 minute walk from the car park down and around the headland to the causeway. The sea is very clear and blue and the rocks are dark gray with red flashes. Wild yellow irises grow in the rocks adding more colour. As you approach the causeway, the strange hexagonal formation becomes plain and extends out into the sea toward Scotland. If you go to Scotland the same formation is also seen there. When I get home I plan to find the story of the story of the Giant who legend says created the causeway and read it to Ngila and Beatrix and let then have the shells we found there.

We completed the circular walk up the steps to our car and continued along the coast to the east. As you go you pass through small villages with crofts clinging to the cliffs. Most are painted white, with the occasional rebel. Dorian had chosen the Rope Bridge as one destination so we stopped there next. I hate heights, so this was a challenge for me. There is another km walk here from the parking area to the bridge. This is very good exercise, this tourist thing. I could feel myself tense as we approached the steps leading down to the swaying rope structure. Only 8 people at a time are allowed on. My thought was, "Of course, that's because it might break, and send one tumbling down onto those sharp rocks down there." With considerable shortness of breath on my part, apparently none on anyone elses, we made it over to the island. It seems that the island was used in the salmon fishery in years past. The fish came over from Newfoundland and spawned in the area. The return was not as bad.
Several more lovely spots along the coast completed our day, and and we made it home in the light. Dotted through what I have just described were a very good lunch, a really good ice cream cone and afternoon coffee. Not bad, this tourist thing.

A Brush With The Past

One of the last adventures that we had planned for our year is happening now. When we returned to Glasgow, Dorian was able to take a week off and we booked ourselves into a self-catering flat in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.

On a sunny Saturday morning we caught a bus out of Glasgow to Stranraer on the west coast of Scotland, passing by the tiny Ailsa Craig where the best curling stones in the world come from, and then on the Stena Lines Ferry to Belfast. Sheelagh and I had always wanted to go across the Mull of Kintyre, but that ferry doesn't run anymore. We all enjoyed the ride across as it was smooth and Dorian could sit and watch some of the World Cup matches as we went. The crossing was about 2 hours. Belfast looks to be a clean busy city and we will be spending a day there before we go back.

We picked up a rental car and set off north for Ballymoney. The country is a beautiful green farming area that looks just as you would expect Ireland to look. We passed small, by Alberta standards, fields, and very neat homes along the way. It took about an hour to find our place and get a few groceries.

On Sunday we went to the tiny village of Stranocum where my Mom was born. I had discovered that she lived in house #14 in 1911. It was gone. That was a disappointment. We did find the church where she and her family attended and people there showed us where my Grandfather had his flax mill and where he lived at the end of his life. I saw an uncle's grave. To worship where my Mom worshipped as a little girl, with my son on Fathers' Day was a special treat.

Later we explored along the Causeway Coastal Road visiting Port Stewart, Port Rush and Dunluce Castle ruins before stopping at the Giant's Causeway. The MacDonald family stopped living at Dunluce after a storm caused a wall of the great kitchen hall to crash into the sea, sending several servants to their death. Subsequent homes have burnt to the ground as a result of a Servant's Curse (so they say). A great day.

A House For Art Lovers

A German magazine, specializing in Architecture, held a contest in or about 19oo. Designers were asked to create a house for lovers of art. Charles Rennie MacIntosh, a son of Glasgow, submitted a design he had done in collaboration with his new wife. MacIntosh was disqualified because he had failed to submit all required drawings. Later, in the 1980's, when a fan saw the plans, he decided that they were too good not to build. With the help of his step daughter, he found a site and built the House for Art Lovers in Bellahouston Park.
The house was never a home, but was used as a centre for art study and a meeting facility. It is open to the public and Shush and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. It is set beside a wonderful brick walled garden which the city crew maintain as a sanctuary with benches. The house itself is the art. Working from the MacIntosh drawings, and using a degree of artistic licence to fill in details that were not obvious, the team of craftspeople and artists have brought the drawings to life.

The house has a semibasement where a kitchen would have been and now houses the cafe and gift shop. The first floor has an entry foyer which is small and dark on purpose to increase the impact of the large bright greeting hall with ceilings rising two stories. Off this hall is a dining room and the music room. This room is the star of the show with one wall of glass leading out to a terrace. It is done in cream and pale greens and pinks. A large cream coloured piano dominates one end of the room and a fireplace at the other. An oval ladies room was nextdoor and then a gentlemen's room across the hall.

The top floor is reached by a wonderful staircase with a curved window looking over the gardens. A suspended open passage looks down on the greeting hall. It is decorated with the unique lighting fixtures and stained glass that mark a MacIntosh designed house.
We enjoyed our visit and found that, as always, we came away wishing we had the money to go home and do things like that with our house.