Making Waves

I like the sea. Not so much the warm, calm seas and beaches of holidays, though they’re good too –


...but especially the big stormy seas we can get here on the west coast. Unfortunately, living 30 miles inland I don’t get to the sea all that often, but when I do I make sure I have a camera. With a big mid-Atlantic storm raging, the weather forecasters are predicting a huge swell to hit the shore over the weekend with waves of up to 50 feet high. So I’ll definitely try to make it to Strandhill for their arrival. Even in calmer weather Strandhill is often stunning and if you’re there around sunrise or sunset the colours can be amazing. These pictures are from two different visits this year, while the black & white at the top of the page was taken on Hallowe’en 2006 and is a favourite.


While I’m at it, here’s an East coast scene, from Newcastle in Wicklow. With a bit of luck I might have some big rollers to post on Monday.

Conference

Saturday morning it was off to the Radisson in Sligo to the annual BSTAI conference which was opened by Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, with David McWilliams giving the keynote address. As usual he was very entertaining and insightful, and when his taxi didn’t turn up I enjoyed chatting to him as I gave him a lift back to the station.

Diplomats, Dancing & Fashion

On Wednesday a group of 16 Ambassadors and other foreign diplomats began a three day visit to Leitrim, touring places of interest and local industries. The local council and enterprise board had taken the initiative to promote what Leitrim can offer. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves – I was surprised to hear the Norwegian Ambassador saying that in the four years he has served in Ireland it was the first time a county or region had invited him out of Dublin.


In between diplomatic events I was able to follow Lunasa on three performing visits they made to local primary schools and a day care centre for the elderly in North Leitrim. Lunasa are traditional Artists in Residence in Leitrim this year. It was great to see the reaction of the kids in these small rural schools to having famous musicians in their classrooms. Kevin Crawford had a great way with them and had the children in his spell as he told stories and encouraged them to play and perform.

Then to the day care centre for the elderly in Drumkeeran. While we might think of such places as cheerless or depressing, nothing could be further from the truth. The spirit and energy of the senior citizens was infectious, and Lunasa had to wait their turn to perform like everyone else. This being the weird and wonderful interweb I won’t post any pictures of the schoolkids but here are a few pictures –

Even legendary musicians performing 10 feet away have to wait for attention until the game of draughts is over.Then Aggie gave us a song, Tommy played a couple of tunes on the accordian and Louise did a bit of sean-nós dancing. The three lads enjoyed the spectacle.

Thursday night we covered the finals of a “makeover” competition. The four finalists had gone through 8 weeks of styling, colour coaching, etc. I’m wary of these self-help type events, but everyone seemed happy. It was followed by a fashion show from local boutiques. Thursday night we covered the finals of a “makeover” competition. The four finalists had gone through 8 weeks of styling, colour coaching, etc. I’m cynical about these self-help type events, but everyone seemed happy. It was followed by a fashion show from local boutiques.

Cover Shoot

A hectic week – starting with a cover shoot for this year’s 40th Anniversary edition of the annual Leitrim Guardian – of 40 especially commissioned cups from Shannonbridge pottery decorated with the names of the 40 villages and towns of the county. They were displayed on a traditional Irish dresser in the Glenview Folk museum, which has a very interesting collection of objects that were part of life in the area until recently, and a little street with shops and a pub as they were in the 1930s.

Fast Cars

The biggest sports events to hit this part of the world for years zoomed past at the weekend and I didn’t get near it. The world Rally Championship came to Sligo/Leitrim/Donegal, but the closest I got was to pass through Boyle on Friday evening after dark and fire off a couple of shots with no tripod or flash – not a recipe for great night-time pictures. But I quite like this of a couple who seemed a bit bemused at all the activity, and another, hand held at 1/13, iso1600.