Brú na Bóinne

 

 

Brú na Bóinne (or Palace of Boyne) is basically a collection of tombs, mounds, and standing stones in County Meath, Ireland. This particular one is called Newgrange. It's supposed to be older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids so I guess I have now seen several of the the oldest man-made structures on earth. It was used and/or visited up until the middle ages and then everyone forgot about it until the 1960's when it was rediscovered. It is made of 90-something of the larger stones on the bottom (about 2 tons each) and countless smaller stones. They told us that the larger rocks came from about 70 miles away. This is very impressive when you take into account the fact that they had no trains or cars and that most of this area was densely wooded at the time. Whatever time that was exactly.

The top opening is a window which the sun only shines about two weeks out of the year around the time of the winter solstice. You can only see this phenomenon if you are one of the lucky hundred or so people drawn from a lottery of about 20,000. Impressive. They showed us a demonstration with an artificial light and that in and of itself was pretty cool. The beam coming through the window shines across the floor because the (extremely) narrow passage to the tomb chamber slopes up to the exact height of the window opening. Those neolithic people were precise, I tell ya.

From the size of the exterior, it is really surprising, once inside, to find yourself in such a small chamber. I think about 20 people fit in there at a time. And it is pretty cramped. I looked up to see gigantic stones stacked high above my head in a circular design and the tour guide will comforted us with the fact that they are all resting on each other with nothing to hold them in place except their own weight. I guess the fact that is has survived more than 5,000 years is comforting enough.

All of the twirly, geometric designs were my favorite part. There were so many more inside that were even better (like triangles) but, as usual, no pictures were allowed inside. It was pretty dark anyway. 

Pretty Things

This week I have really been feeling like too much of an adult what with going to dentist appointments without my mother prompting me and exercising regularly. So last night I made crepes for dinner. At 9:00. I even made the caramel sauce and everything! I've never really had crepes except once in London from a street cart (by Westminster, anyone?) but they always look so pretty and I wanted some breakfast and adults can do whatever they want,  right? 

So here is the recipe for the crepes and here is the recipe for the sauce. They're both actually really, really easy. I had never made either before yesterday and they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. The sauce will make way too much for just this one serving of crepes, but you can put it in the fridge for up to two weeks (probably longer if we're being serious) and it's really good on ice cream and, let's be honest, it's good straight from the jar. 

Also, the Wedgwood plates are a new acquisition. I completely scored at an auction and bought 14 of them for $5! Best deal of my life. They're the prettiest things I own, possibly. That and the my new writing desk (!!!) that I have yet to photograph. 

Another pretty thing in my life recently are the lilacs that Forrest brought home for me. Oh, that guy. He's a winner.

 

Aren't lilacs just the prettiest flowers?

Have a good weekend!

I wish Dublin was warmer

But other than that it was perfect.

  

 

 

 

 

 

So when I always pictured going to Ireland, I didn't really picture cities or museums. I mostly pictured castles and pretty green hills stretching for miles. But when I was planning this trip, I asked myself if one could really say they had experienced Ireland if one had not also experienced Dublin. I use the term experienced loosely here because we were only in Dublin for a day and because we didn't even visit the Guinness factory. I think that touring a beer factory when you don't drink is probably kind of a let-down and also probably a waste of time since I don't care about how beer is made not even a tiny bit.

Dublin, though, was, surprisingly enough to me, a really great city. At this point in my travels, a lot of European cities have started to overlap and run together for me; Dublin was different. I really loved the layout of the city and the colorful doors and the hundreds of churches everywhere and just everything about it. Also, did I mention that they have green mailboxes instead of red?

It was really quiet the day we were there because we happened to arrive on Easter Sunday and everyone was recovering from their End of Lent parties (I assume). This was great because it means there was zero traffic (we had a rental).The main things we wanted to see in Dublin were the Trinity College Library and Book of Kells, the Kilmainham Gaol, and.. I guess that was really it. We did a lot of walking around and oohing at the buildings too. And we talked to a lot of Irish people because, I mean, as accents go, the Irish one is probably the best.

This brings me to Trinity College. We saw the Book of Kells and had a guided tour of the campus by a student, which was very informative and also pretty funny. I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life. The wind was blowing at least 100 mph making the temperature probably around -27 F. That kind wind also created a nice little (HUGE) knot out of my hair and is also the reason I don't have more pictures with people in them. Because we look so cold. 

To my great pleasure, The Trinity College Library (like you haven't seen it on Pinterest) is trying out this new thing where they allow pictures inside. This is big news because it's easily the most beautiful library I have ever seen. It might be a toss-up between the Library of Congress but I guess you can judge for yourself. The books are arranged by size and the hall is lined with busts of famous authors. It was so breathtaking and lovely and I could have stayed in there for several hours just sitting and looking. 

Unfortunately for me on the photo-front, the grumpy old man who was guarding the room did not let me in on the secret that, according to him, I was only allowed to take a very minimum amount of pictures, a number that only he knew, because he yelled at me for taking too many and also accused me of conducting a "photo shoot." I may not be an expert on this, but in my book, 12 or so pictures does not constitute a photo shoot. I took a few more just to show him who was boss and we strutted out of there because, mister, there were no signs telling me the precise number of times I was allowed to click my shutter button. I think I got some pretty good ones anyway. Also! The oldest harp in Ireland was in there. 

We had the best hamburgers I have ever had in my life at this Irish gourmet burger place where they used cow hide for the booths and one serving of fries was enough for the three of us. I didn't take any pictures because I was too starving which I kind of regret now. But I'm not much of a food photographer anyway, so I guess I don't regret it after all. After this, we had a nice (hilarious) chat with a man who owned an Irish name store. We had him look up "Hayley" and it turns out they are from Sligo (Slyyyyygo), the earliest inhabited part of Ireland. And Yeats is from there. Good to know. So now I'm Irish by marriage and royal by blood. I am just finding out all about myself this year. 

Why May is My New Favorite Month

Yesterday was the first day of May and I welcomed it with open arms. I also got sunburned after sitting outside with a book for probably less than two hours. It seems fitting, really, that the sun would make me wait so long only to greet me with overeager rays. I just never thought I would need sunscreen in England, well.. ever. But as the first sunburn of the year, it feels good. You know what else feels good? Being able to wear Toms again.

The sunburn I have received is the kind of sunburn that elicits concern from those who have only ever seen me at my pastiest. "It just looks worse than it is," I assure them, "I won't get skin cancer, I only see the sun about five weeks a year." I mean I've lived in Washington state and England my whole life. I have to cram my vitamin D intake into a very small window of time, you know? I made the mistake of wearing a v-neck shirt outside so I've got a nice V on my chest and some great farmer tan marks on my arms.

Anyway, as I was trying to capture the first truly warm day (where I don't freeze if I wear shorts) on my camera, I wished that I could get a little closer to some of the most delicate and tiny flowers in our yard. That is when I recalled the macro lens (that I have never used) sitting in its box under my nightstand.

Behold (but not all of these are macro)

 

This might be my new favorite thing.