Got up to more rain today, blustery, and very cold. We headed to the quilt show at 8am. Show opened at 9 but we were able to enter the building with most of the quilts prior to that. Lots of beautiful quilts. Since this was the first year of the show there were some technical issues, class issues, and general lack of signage around Northern Ireland university Galway campus. With a little perseverance though, we found our way. The other great thing is that the rain finally stopped around 2 so while it remained quite windy and cold, the lack of rain was a welcome reprieve.
I did a tour in the afternoon to Cnoc Suain. A couple have taken over a set of cottages about 6km outside of Spieddel, one of the towns not far from Galway. They are renovating cottages and welcome visitors for tours. We started with a visit with the husband who is a geologist. He showed us samples of the bog, including the still very wet peat, then the various stages of drying. It was a really interesting talk. Then we went in to one of the refurbished cottages with the wife where she talked about cottage life in the 1800's into the early 1900's. She showed some of the food that helped keep people alive during the famine. She also made a batch of soda bread and shared samples with us. Then we went to another cottage where a local musician met us. He played some Irish tunes on his accordion and on a penny whistle. Then we were taught an Irish jig and a couple of types of Irish songs. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, beautiful scenery, very informative folks, and some music. Can't best that.
I'll post a few pics. Because I'm using the blogger App which moves pictures however it wishes - I'm editing now to add captions.
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| Beautiful wall and greenery |
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| A view of the bog from the top of the hill |
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| Out of order, but one of the quilts on exhibit |
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| Gate at Cnoc Suain |
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| I love the rock walls - you'll see lots of them |
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| Quilt in the Chocolate Exhibit |
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| Cottage at Cnoc Suain |
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| Wild Garlic Plant - edible |
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| Yep - another rock wall |
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| Quilt from Australia |
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| Quilt from Yin and Yang Exhibit |
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| Quilt from International Exhibit |
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| Cnoc Suain - view to the lake |
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| On the way to Cnoc Suain (about 25 miles from Galway) |
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| Presentation on living in the cottages in the late 1800's |
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| Irish Music - we heard different types of music and learned an Irish Jig |
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| View of the bay |
1 comment:
Those rock walls can be the bain of some people's exhistance...like my dad's who ran in to one in a rental car when we were there once. You are right, they are EVERYWHERE and can be quite well hidden under the "greenery". :) Lovely pictures, that Cnoc Suain Cottages seem facinating!
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