Happy Thursday sweet friends. After a light frost on Tuesday morning, spring-like weather has returned!
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
James 3:17-18 (ESV)
St. Patrick’s Day is this coming Sunday! We have been fortunate to travel to many countries. Through our travels there are many places we would love to return and stay a wee bit longer. One of those is Ireland, the Emerald Isle! We are taking a look back on this trip from several years ago!
We sailed into Belfast, Northern Ireland but decided not to spend time in the city. Instead we opted to take in the countryside on the northern coast with its green grasses and rolling hills everywhere. It was breathtaking even under cloudy skies and misting rain. Dunluce Castle is a ruined medieval castle with extremely steep drops on either side. It has an interesting history going back to the 13th century with differing clans battling over ownership. On this cloudy morning, it was particularly eerie!
Nearby is the Giant’s Causeway, an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns resulting from volcanic fissure eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. I did not attempt to navigate the columns in a misting rain, but RM (the adventurer) climbed for half an hour or more. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Butch and I both have Irish ancestry. He is 40 percent Irish with his maternal grandfather’s surname being Kennedy. I am a sixty percent combination of Irish, English, and Scottish. Our granddaughter EK’s middle name is Kennedy, and she has beautiful red hair and blue eyes! Do you have traces of Irish ancestry?
The beauty of Ireland is found in its rugged coastlines, stunning landscapes, wide-open spaces, and its friendly people!
The Atlantic Ocean and the northern coastline can bring thoughts of a very harsh and cold place but Ireland actually has a temperate climate. The lush green vegetation is a product of a changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. This landscape of green has earned the island the nickname, Emerald Isle, and it’s easy to understand why!
From Belfast we traveled to Ireland’s capital and its largest city, Dublin. One of the city’s most beautiful sights is Trinity College, founded in 1592, and is Ireland’s oldest university. It is one of the most esteemed universities in the world. The Campanile of Trinity College is one of its most iconic landmarks.
The Old Library is the oldest surviving building on campus. Being an avid reader since childhood, this amazing library was a must see for me! The Book of Kells, a renowned artifact, is housed in the Library. Created by Celtic monks circa 800 AD, the Book of Kells contains lavishly decorated copy in Latin of the Four Gospels of the New Testament. It is one of Ireland’s national treasures, but no photos were allowed.
The Long Room (pictured above) is the main chamber of the Old Library and is 213 feet in length. About 200,000 of the Library’s oldest and rarest books are housed in this room.
With a passion for books, I was overwhelmed with the Long Room overflowing with leather bound books from floor to ceiling! Marble busts are placed down either side of the room, a collection that began in 1743.
Christ Church is Dublin’s oldest cathedral. Originally a wooden church founded in 1038, this building was started in 1172. Though restored in the late 19th century, the church retains much of its original structure. The nave contains high pointed arches and ornate decoration. While visiting, we were excited to hear a partial concert by the First Christian Church Chancel Choir of Norman, Oklahoma. With the amazing acoustics, the choir’s arrangement of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” was magnificent!
The church is located in the heart of Dublin City centre. Christ Church was originally a Viking church. It is an architectural masterpiece.
At the west end of the cathedral is a fully integrated stone bridge, leading to the former synod hall. The bridge was added in 1871, and modern traffic now passes under the distinctive covered footbridge with its fine wooden beams, ornate tiling, and priceless stained glass on the inside.
Dublin is situated at the mouth of the River Liffey which flows through the center and divides the Northside of Dublin from the Southside. The Liffey of today is spanned by numerous bridges, mostly opened to vehicular traffic. There are three pedestrian bridges which we found useful as tourists!
On the south bank of the River Liffey just west of Trinity College is The Temple Bar area. The district is informally known as Dublin’s cultural quarter. It is known for its shops, boutiques, restaurants and pubs along its cobblestoned streets, including The Temple Bar which is the most popular pub.
Temple Bar is a Dublin institution established in 1840 and famous across the globe for its traditional Irish ambiance, unrivaled vitality and craic, for its celebrated charm and conviviality. We investigated its many small rooms and then enjoyed a lunch of traditional Irish fare.
Of course, while in Ireland, I had to try Irish coffee. I must say I am not a fan and I love strong coffee…but not to the tune of 1.2 ounces of Powers Gold Label Irish Whiskey!
The flowers were prolific all over Dublin…with their moist climate they thrive. We visited in late July and the flower boxes were blooming profusely in vivid colors. By late July in our zone 8a, my flowers are weary! Not included in this overview was a trip to Waterford, Ireland to the House of Waterford Crystal Factory and Retail Store. You can see it here!
I hope you enjoyed our recap of Ireland. Have you visited Ireland? I leave you with my take on an Irish floral arrangement…white and green hydrangeas, Fuji (spider) mums, and Bells of Ireland against the backdrop of RM’s lush winter rye grass! For more, visit St. Paddy’s Day In The Country.
And an Irish Blessing…
“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again
may God hold you in the palm of His Hand.”
~Traditional Irish Blessing
Thank you for your visit and gracious comments. Wishing you a joy-filled day!
Linking with: Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Life and Linda
A beautiful country I would love to visit someday Pam! Oh my… looking up at the ceiling of the Long Room and Old Library gives me vertigo 😊 I’m fascinated by all those volumes. The window boxes in Dublin are stunning. My hubby’s family roots are Scotch-Irish. Thanks for my armchair visit this morning ☘️💚
Scotch Irish ancestry for your hubby, it is so interesting to know your roots. My brother and our son have done extensive research on Ancestry. I think it is a deep rabbit hole once you dive in! The flower boxes are everywhere and healthy ☘️💚
I got goose pimples just now thinking of how beautiful the sound of the Norman Oklahoma choir singing sounded like in the church. Oh and the library was over whelming. How marvelous that you visited and saw the book of Kells. Our Lords Holy Word kept for so long. We in the USA really don’t have anything to match it and never will. Butch survived the climb up the Giants Causeway but wasn’t it slippery? And I remember the flowers everywhere. My maiden name is Collins. So Irish I am.
The choir singing was truly magnificent. The Book of Kells is has been so well preserved. Of course it is encased and well blocked from harmful light. The Causeway was slippery, I wasn’t going to attempt it. Yes, you are Irish ☘️ Are you getting the snow?
Yes. Two feet of the heavy wet stuff. We needed the moisture. It was 80 at m daughters house in NC today and everything is blooming there.
Yikes, at least that much snow will produce the moisture your ground needs. It was 80 here yesterday, but rain is promised for today 🙏🏻
I love visiting Ireland with my morning tea! Thanks, Pam!
I am so glad you enjoyed, Nancy!
With Terry and I having Irish in our heritage we have a trip to Ireland on our bucket list. Looked like a really great trip. Hugs. Kris
Yes, you and Terry would love it ☘️
Wow, that library is amazing! Gorgeous photos.
Thanks Carole and glad you enjoyed ☘️
Thank you for the virtual trip to the Emerald Isle! Ireland is such a beautiful country! The library is incredible, I’m sure it was overwhelming to stand among those towering walls of books. I love all the flower boxes and the red Temple Bar. My heritage is French English. You and RM have had so many wonderful trips, thank you for sharing as I’m an arm chair traveler
☘️💕
Ireland is truly beautiful! I am so glad you enjoyed the arm chair traveling. I do some of that, also! French English heritage, a couple of beautiful countries! Thank you, Jenna ☘️💚☘️
Ireland is so green! The window boxes are incredible!! My sister and I took our mother to Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Her mother was a Kelley and my paternal great grandmother was a Small from County Cork. I had a doctor once ask if I had Viking heritage. When I replied yes, he said that is who to thank for your osteoporosis! Not much sunlight, no Vitamin D, soft bones…yikes.
I know you and your sister have wonderful memories of that trip with your mother. We have been to Scotland and Wales also. Well, that wasn’t too comforting to find out that your Viking heritage caused osteoporosis…Yikes!
We visited Ireland a few years ago. I also have an Irish heritage. As we drove through the hills of Ireland, I could not help but compare it to the hills of Tennessee where my Irish relatives settled. I’m sure that made them feel right at home.
The hills of Tennessee would have reminded them of Ireland. I know you enjoyed your trip to Ireland!
Every photo, every memory is a gem! Ireland is on my someday-list and seeing photos like this only reforces that someday wish! Happy St. Paddy’s day!
Thank you, Jeanie! I know that you have more to see in England!
Beautiful pictures! I have no Irish ancestry. My grandparents on both sides immigrated from Italy. I had red hair as a child, one of my grandmothers and grandfather had red hair. Enjoy your day!
Thank you, Maryann. Interesting the red hair from Italian immigrants. I hope you have a lovely day. It is almost 80 degrees here!
Happy Thursday, Pam! I always enjoy reading about all of your wonderful travels. Thank you so much for sharing your trip to Ireland with us. Your photographs are beautiful! A trip to Ireland is definitely on my bucket list, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, sweet friend!
Thank you, Shannon! Hopefully you make it to Ireland one day, sweet friend!
I loved going down memory lane again with you to Ireland, Pam. Yes, I am part Irish, and long to see the motherland. It looks as though you hit a very good time, weather-wise. My sister was there last year in early March and it was so windy and so rainy, they were pretty much miserable. Her granddaughter was spending a semester at Queen’s University in Belfast. Thanks for sharing all the beauty!
Thanks Rita! Most days were cloudy, but only misting which didn’t hinder any sightseeing. I hope you make it to Ireland one day!
Pam Thank You for the trip photos of Ireland . We are Irish. Three of our Paternal grandparents came from Ireland. Mom had a little Irish in her. We are not sure where they come from Maybe Cork. We are listening to our Irish music,watching movies and DVDsof The Irish Tenors and Frank Patterson.
Enjoy the day
Marilyn,Joan and Marion
You all have a lot of Irish heritage. I love hearing the Irish tenors! Happy St. Patrick’s Day my friends ☘️☘️☘️
This was a wonderful trip! I am in awe of the library. The church is magnificent! I am always awestruck by the architecture. The flower boxes are beautiful! Thanks for sharing your trip. We hope to visit Ireland and the area someday. Hope you stay safe in the storms. It’s going to be an interesting night. Clara❤️
Thanks so much, Clara. Stay safe my friend ❤️
Thank you Pam for a look bad at Ireland, your photos are wonderful, I haven’t been there in years. My maiden namer was Hughes and my heritage on my father’s side is Irish, Scotish and Welsh. We were just visiting with friends how have family in Ireland and they make a trip back every year.
Pam, that library is just so incredibly awe-inspiring. Just to wander through the stacks, quiet as a mouse, would be an absolute treat. And don’t get me started on the ancient castles. To imagine the lives of those who went in and out those doors for generations is so thrilling.
Linda, the library is amazing. I could have spent days wandering around. The churches are magnificent as well as the castles!
Beautiful pictures of your fabulous trip! The Library is gorgeous. I bet it was unbelievable to wander around there! Beautiful church as well.
So you didn’t like the Irish Coffee! That sounded a bit strong with all that whiskey in it!
I am not Irish but I did enjoy our visit to Ireland. We had beautiful weather and no rain! Which is a lucky day in Ireland when it does not rain.
Thanks for the wonderful tour!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Nancy ☘️💚☘️ I knew you all had visited Ireland. We may have gone to different places. We needed more time, which I always find is true. Happy week to you, my friend!
A lovely post Pam! It’s definitely the Emerald Isle, look at that green.
Have you researched your Irish ancestors? It’s absolutely fascinating to do so.
To answer your question;
Yes I do have Irish ancestory, & found that in approx. 1030 AD our ancestor Prince Anthrothan Ui Neill Flaithbertach son of King Aodh Athlomhan mac Flaithbertach, the King of Ailech – Donegal left Ireland to settle in the Highlands of County Cowal, Scotland.
So I also have Scottish heritage through one of the Scottish Highland Clans who were the first to come to know Christ. God definitely keeps his promises down through the generations!
Blessings sweet friend, Jennifer
Thank you, Jennifer. Your Irish ancestors are interesting, as are the Scottish ones. Yes, God’s promises are true. Have you been to Ireland or Scotland? We also visited Scotland which is beautiful. Our son and my brothers have done research. I am afraid if I started I would never get out of that rabbit hole, it would consume me! Sending hugs, sweet friend!
O precious memories… Christ Church and Trinity where, when we were there, the Book of Kell sat exposed and opened with a page turner laying beside it and each day a page was turned so it was ever-changing..My brother, of blessed memory, married a lass from Dublin and became a true son of the sod… I just viewed The Quiet Man and said, “This is for you today, George Edward dear”…. I recall sitting in
Grandma Lynch’s kitchen with the brood, where the tea kettle was always on… There is a spirit there
that is contagious and never to be forgotten. May God always hold us all in the palm of His Hand.
Mary, thank you for sharing your beautiful memories with us. Your sister-in-law was from Dublin, and sounds like you visited several times. Your comments are always charming my dear one. Happy St. Patrick’s Day ☘️💚
I feel like I have just enjoyed a wonderful sojourn to the Emerald Isle! Ireland is such a lovely place filled with much interesting history. May luck be on your side this St. Patrick’s Day!
Thank you Mary for arm chair traveling with us. I have missed your posts, my friend!
thank you Pam for a beautiful travel tour. I am Scotch -Irish and so enjoy any visit to Ireland. I have a dear Irish lassie for a friend and she was born and raised in Ireland and we keep in touch. She lives in Dublin. You may have noticed her comments on my “4 St. Patrick’s Day tablescapes” yesterday. Her name is Margaret but I have always called her “Mags” as does her family. Over the years she has gifted me with many Irish keepsakes and I treasure our friendship. Your Ireland pictorial brings back many memories. Hugs and Blessings dear friend.
Thank you, Kari. How wonderful to have a dear Irish friend. I am sure your friendship has many wonderful memories ! Looking forward to seeing how you use the traveling shamrocks cloth tomorrow! Blessings and hugs, sweet friend!
I have never been to Ireland but these photos are fabulous. Oh that library! Wow!!
Thank you and I am so glad you enjoyed, Joanne! Wishing you a lovely week!
Hi Pam. It was lovely visiting Ireland tonight from my armchair. That library is magnificent – I would definitely want to spend time there as well. I do have Irish in me and visited Ireland as a teenager with a band competing in an international festival many, many moons ago. I think it’s beauty was lost on me at the time, but it was so lovely to see the Emerald Isle through your eyes.
Thank you, my friend. It sounds like you were a world traveler as a teen. Maybe you can return one day ☘️
With my Papaw’s and Mom’s name being “McCoy,” I guess you know the answer to whether or not I have Irish in my ancestry! LOL! I love it. I wish so badly I could go there someday. I feel such a kinship to so much of it, though I have never been there. Your photos are just so lovely! I can’t get over Christ Church and can only imagine how beautiful that dear, old hymn sounded as the choir from Norman, OK sang it! I would have been in tears, no doubt. I love my coffee as strong as I can get it, too, but like you, I would certainly pass on the whiskey! It is such a joy to visit with you today, sweet friend. Many blessings to you.
I think you might have some Irish in you Cheryl. You would enjoy the Irish music and it is a beautiful country!