It IS Easy Being Green :WPC

Lismore Castle

Springtime is THE best time of the year, no matter whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere.  After the dullness of winter, it’s so nice to see the greenery emerging, and the flowers and trees showing their buds.

In our visit to Lismore Castle and Gardens last weekend, it was wonderful to see all the greenery and also the beautiful magnolias in full bloom, some even shedding their blossoms already on the green lawns.  Check out some of my favourites in the gallery below:

Green, white and pink

Very old magnolia tree

Sweet Magnolia blossoms

Linked to Daily Post WPC

Atop : The Daily Post

These are the views from atop the Main Tower in Frankfurt, the tallest building in Frankfurt at about 260 metres high, and 56 floors high.   Don’t worry though, you don’t have to climb up 56 floors, there are high speed lifts to get you to the top in no time at all.

You will see from the top picture the symmetry of the streets, all laid out in neat blocks, and with many trees and parks that make Frankfurt a very green and open air place, in spite of the skyscrapers in the business district.

And after all that sightseeing, when Nana treats you to a big Ice cream with lots of extras, you are on top of the world!

Yummy yummy!

The Albatross and The Three Cranes!

The title sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it?     Well for the past month or so in Cork Harbour we have been following the story of the Three Cranes – not the long legged long necked ones like this, but the actual metal structures used to lift heavy objects – in this case very heavy objects, each crane is 100 metres high and they weigh about 1 000 tonnes each!

The cranes on board the Albatross

These cranes were manufactured in the Liebherr factory in County Kerry, brought in pieces to Cork Harbour, and then assembled in the Verolme Dockyard in Cork.    The final destination of these cranes is Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, a distance of approx 4970 nautical miles – not a journey to be undertaken lightly!

To get these cranes to their final destination, the very long, (265 metres) and very wide ship ‘The Albatross’ arrived in Cork a few weeks ago.    According to the local newspaper “the ship was originally designed as an oil tanker and converted to a crane carrier. The ship is designed to carry a very large volume of ballast in the lower ballast tanks to counteract the weight of the cranes on deck.”   That is good to know, given the height and weight of the present cargo!

The journey across the Atlantic will take over two weeks, I don’t think I would enjoy being on board in a heavy storm, as can happen at this time of year, I hope the ship is not too top heavy in strong winds.     The departure from Cork was delayed by 12 hours, as there were some high winds last Sunday afternoon when it was due to depart, but the ship did get away next morning on the high tide.

You can read more about the story here and here.

Linked to Daily Prompt : Nervous

 

Daily Post Photo Challenge : Solitude

Shehy Mountains on a cloudy day

The mountains are a good place to be alone, in solitude, unless of course like me you are part of a 50 strong group on a cold wintry day, all huddled together for company from the biting wind!  There always a chance to stride out on your own though, and enjoy the scenery of the distant hills, and a few isolated cottages in the distance.

Snow on the distant hills.

And if you don’t want to go hiking, there’s always the call of the sea on a calm day.

Lone sail boat

 

Daily Post : Ostentatious

ornamental, colourful and expensive

Fit for a king

Some ostentatious ornaments we came across in a shop window in Italy.

Weekly Photo Challenge : Tiny

For this week’s Photo Challenge, let’s go back to the Model Railway Village in Clonakilty, West Cork.   We had such an enjoyable day there in the summer, not only did we see and get a ride around the town on the old train, but we also got to see the models of the surrounding towns, showing life in the 1940s and 1950s  in Ireland.

Market day long ago

Above is a scene from an old market day, with produce, cattle, sheep and pigs on display to the highest bidder.

 

The model railway station shows commuters waiting for the train, as a goods train passes carrying new cars.

My ‘giant’ grandchildren!

Looking down on the tiny houses!

Linked to WPC : Tiny

Weekly Photo Challenge : Local

This photo was taken at evening time in Maynooth, Co Kildare.   It is part of Maynooth Castle, a ruin of a 12th century castle, and the walls still look as solid as the day they were built.     This was the local place of employment for most of Maynooth in past centuries, as the castle was known as one of the richest and largest estates in the locality.

Maynooth Castle