Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Guess what is Jim doing? Hint: he is at a famous castle
These people are waiting in line to do it too!
To find out what is going on, high-lite (with your mouse, hold the right button and drag across) the open space between here and
He is between Kilarney and Cork, Ireland, at the Blarney castle. You know what he is doing there, he is kissing the Blarney Stone. This endeavor is kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery)[Wikipedia link] [Sacred Sites link].
I think this is all Blarney.
here.
Mrs. Jim will go up there too. But she didn't want to kiss the stone.
This is the murder hole. French castles have them too. Read the sign from the picture below.
'Nuff said. In case you want to practice up on the Irish language, read the top part.
That opening at the top is where the Blarney stone is at. Someone is scrunched down there right now kissing the stone.
This is the current castle owner's home. We were allowed a tour of the 'mansion' but no picture taking was allowed. The home looks like a castle, but is not. Just a very fine home.
View of the mansion, grounds, and surrounding countryside as seen from atop the castle.
The grounds were very well kept and landscaped. I particularly liked the pretty spring flowers.
One last view. The round structure is what is left of one of the look-out towers.
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Notes: [from Ireland Information 07 (link for this and more)]
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History of the Castle
Blarney Castle was originally a timber hunting lodge built in the 10th century, which was replaced by a stone castle in 1210. The present day construction was completed by Dermot McCarthy, King of Munster in 1446. The Castle remained the ancestral stronghold of the McCarthy family until the arrival of Oliver Cromwell with cannon guns in 1646. Fifteen years later with the arrival of King Charles II on the English throne saw the return of the McCarthys to the Castle.Following the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, all Irish chiefs were stripped of their powers and the McCarthys were again forced to leave Blarney Castle. The Castle was sold to Sir James Jefferyes, Governor of Cork in 1703. The Castle is now owned and managed by the Trustees of the Blarney Castle Estate.
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Kissing the Blarney stone
The world famous Blarney Stone is situated high up in the battlements of the castle. Follow one of the several long, stone spiral staircases up to the top and enjoy the spectacular views of the lush green Irish countryside, Blarney House and The Village of Blarney.The stone is believed to be half of the Stone of Scone which originally belonged to Scotland. Scottish Kings were crowned over the stone, because it was believed to have special powers.The stone was given to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in return for his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.Queen Elizabeth I wanted Irish chiefs to agree to occupy their own lands under title from her. Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, handled every Royal request with subtle diplomacy, promising loyalty to the Queen without "giving in". Elizabeth proclaimed that McCarthy was giving her "a lot of Blarney", thus giving rise to the legend.You too can acquire the gift of eloquence by kissing the stone!
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Blarney House and Gardens
Blarney House is situated 200m South of Blarney Castle and was completed in 1874. The house is open to the public during the Summer months only. It has been completely restored over the past few years. The house is surrounded by extensive lawns, shrubs, trees, and flower beds. These slope gently towards the lake.
Ireland Travel Blarney Stone Blarney Castle travel and places Photos Pictures Quiz
Labels: Ireland, Jail, Luck, Places, Quiz, Travel
Friday, March 12, 2021
Letter "K" -- Weekend Roundup
THE ELEVENTH LETTER FOR THIS SERIES) - the Letter "K" Prompts are: (A) Starts with the Letter "Kooky"; (B) "Kooky" (Tom's Choice); (C) A Favorite; (D.1 & D.2) A Reflection/Street Scene and Lagniappe.
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First picture is the 'food to go' kitchen. Next is the inside of the men's room. Last on the right is the outside of this building. Mrs. Jim said the women's room had stalls with curtains for doors.
Here, at Luckenbach, Texas (google link), the action is starting. We were there from about 6:00 PM to around 7:15 and this fellow was playing and singing on the stage the whole time.
Mrs. Jim was waiting for me to come back from the men's room. The last picture says the singer is taking a break and that 'all that's left is us chickens.' Happy picnicking with your food on those tables. Shoo the chickens off first.
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[ The Blarney Stone is a part of the structure in the top passage inside this tower outside Killarney. ]
(A) Starts with the Letter "K": Killarny, Ireland, starts with the letter "K". I have Kissed the Blarney Stone on two different visits. (Read more)
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[large picture] [super size]
[large picture] [super size]Our nice B&B in Killarney, we stayed there three different years. (Read More) I found a four leaf clover beside the sidewalk while walking down into the town.
Remember to wear Green next Wednesday for St. Patrick's Day.
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(Down pictures, Kooky town of Luckenbach, Texas).
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First picture is the 'food to go' kitchen. Next is the inside of the men's room. Last on the right is the outside of this building. Mrs. Jim said the women's room had stalls with curtains for doors.
Mrs. Jim was waiting for me to come back from the men's room. The last picture says the singer is taking a break and that 'all that's left is us chickens.' Happy picnicking with your food on those tables. Shoo the chickens off first.
Answer, if you believe the Bible is true, the chicken. Genesis says that God created the fowls, it doesn't say that he made eggs. He made chickens so that the chicken could make her eggs.
Now, also the Kook or Kooky as both being words. Please see google's answer in "D" below.
(C) A Favorite: Keeping with Texas Spring Tradition, this Redbud Tree that we found on our Wednesday's walk decided to bloom. Note the brown grass due to our recent cold, very cold. But the Redbud Tree stood ready to bloom.
(D.1) A Lagniappe: Kook or Kooky?
Now you know.
(D.2) Street Photo and another Lagniappe: Where I broke my Kneecap, at Powerscourt Garden, Ireland. I fell on these steps going down the hill into the garden, the Young Lady sitting there and another fellow helped me get up. They overcame my objections, I didn't want to get up, rather just lay there and misserate. (Read More)
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Bonus Questions:
(1) Tell about your accident or other some other unusual experience away from home that you'd like to share. Besides breaking my kneecap, I would tell about backing our rental SUV in Italy into a bruiser monster truck double parked behind me. Several witnesses told me to hurry and leave before the owner came back. Fearing an altercation by judging the frenzied motioning we did leave, quickly. The rental people passed this damage on as I had noted previous damage there at the time we picked it up.
(2) What is your favorite Word starting with "K"? Mine today will be "King", because at my age people have started treating me like a "King".
(3) Anything else you were reminded of here that you would like to tell about?
My going blogs:
Jim's Little Blog, http://jimmiehov.blogspot.com/
Jim's Little Photo and Picture Place, http://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/
Jim's little Christmas tree farm, http://jimmiehov7.blogspot.com/, and
Ask Dr. Jim (blog), http://jimmiehov8.blogspot.com/ (seldom newly posted)
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Fine print stuff:
- [Click on any picture for larger, click it again for extra large]
- I am linked with Tom of "Backwoods Travel" (Link here to click for Tom's Weekend Reviews)
- I am also linking again this week with James of "Weekend Reflections/Street Photos" (click here for his Reflections Photos).
- The pictures mostly are all mine and rights are reserved to me under Copyright Law.
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Labels: Friday's Weekend Roundup 06, Humor(?), Ireland, Reflections, StreetPhoto, Texas, Things to know, Walk pictures
Friday, August 27, 2021
Letter "I" -- -- Weekend Roundup and Street/Reflections
THE NINTH LETTER FOR THIS SERIES - The Letter "I" Prompts are: (A) Starts with the Letter "I"; (B) "Insect" (Tom's Choice); (C) A Favorite; (D) Street/Reflections; and (E) A Lagniappe.
(C) A Favorite: Taken from The Backwaters off the coast of Southeast India, near Co Chin. There we had a houseboat for our group of ten for a morning cruise on the lakes. 
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(A) Starts with the Letter "I": Iris starts with "I". The was our first blooming Iris last spring in our Iris bed. The Iris blossoms don't last very long but they are pretty while they last.
(B) "Insect" (Tom's Choice): More than several Insect Eaters. How many Birds on the Wire here?
(C) A Favorite: Taken from The Backwaters off the coast of Southeast India, near Co Chin. There we had a houseboat for our group of ten for a morning cruise on the lakes.
(D) Street/Reflections: Intense?
(E) A Lagniappe: Here will be a copied Letter "I" post that I made showing places where we have been that start with the Letter "I" Over all we have visited all 50 of the U.S.A. states and 74 to 78 countries in our world, that series I showed a few pictures from those places we were that started with the Letter "I".
Here goes: [from Wednesday, January 14, 2015, Link]
""I" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "I" where I have traveled:
- Countries: (I've been to between 74 and 78 countries) (Here is a list of those 78 which participated in the 2020-21 Olympics in Japan this year, 2021. Link )
- Countries: (I've been to between 74 and 78 countries) (Here is a list of those 78 which participated in the 2020-21 Olympics in Japan this year, 2021. Link )
Iceland (not in the original version, since then we have visited)
India (not in the original version, since then we have visited)
Israel
Italy
- States: (I've been to all 50)
Idaho
Illinois
- U.S. Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
Independence, Missouri
Irving, Texas
- International Cities:
Innsbruck, Austria
Lets start with the countries. I liked them all, not really a favorite. So, Ireland gets the nod, we've been there a couple of times. Both times we had a rental car (drive on the left side of the road). It is a pretty country, not overpopulated, and they speak English. Currency is the Euro which has a better U.S. exchange rate than the British Pound. A favorite thing to do is to visit the Blarney Castle outside of Kilarney. And you will just have to kiss the Blarney Stone while you are there.
For Italy we took a Grand Circle (travel company) tour of the island of Sicily for two weeks (link). Since it was by bus, we could explore each part for about a week.
First we stayed at Palermo for a week, then Argrigento (Greek ruins there) one night, and six more nights at Taormina, a small (population 11,000) hillside town on the east coast of Sicily with a nice view of Mt. Etna. We did go onto the slopes of Mt. Etna.
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Then we took a Grand Circle excursion on the Amalfi Coast for another week.
After that we flew from Naples over to Milan where we rented a car and toured Provence (France) and Tuscany a week each to finish our five week vacation.
I took a lot of motor scooter pictures when I could. A lot of women ride them in Italy. To the right we see Mrs. Jim sampling the goodies at the Market in Palermo, Sicily.
Israel
Italy
- States: (I've been to all 50)
Idaho
Illinois
Independence, Missouri
Irving, Texas
- International Cities:
Innsbruck, Austria
Lets start with the countries. I liked them all, not really a favorite. So, Ireland gets the nod, we've been there a couple of times. Both times we had a rental car (drive on the left side of the road). It is a pretty country, not overpopulated, and they speak English. Currency is the Euro which has a better U.S. exchange rate than the British Pound. A favorite thing to do is to visit the Blarney Castle outside of Kilarney. And you will just have to kiss the Blarney Stone while you are there. Mrs. Jim went up there also but she didn't want to kiss the stone. I've kissed it twice. To read and see more please check the original 2007 post, found here.
The Isle of Man isn't a country so I can't put it on the list above. It is a self-governing British 'Crown dependency,' not a country. (Wikipedia link) It is located off the coast of Britain. Though there is a ferry that goes there, we flew. My grandfather's family came from the Isle of Man. We visited it in 2007 (prior blog posts).
The main thing we did in the Isle of Man was to go from Douglas, the capital city in the middle, where we stayed up to the north by train and then go to the south end via bus. Lots of site seeing. We did see evidence of the Corkhill family having been there. One lady at the information center (above, right) informed us that her maiden name was Corkhill.
For Italy we took a Grand Circle (travel company) tour of the island of Sicily for two weeks (link). Since it was by bus, we could explore each part for about a week.First we stayed at Palermo for a week, then Argrigento (Greek ruins there) one night, and six more nights at Taormina, a small (population 11,000) hillside town on the east coast of Sicily with a nice view of Mt. Etna. We did go onto the slopes of Mt. Etna.
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Then we took a Grand Circle excursion on the Amalfi Coast for another week.
After that we flew from Naples over to Milan where we rented a car and toured Provence (France) and Tuscany a week each to finish our five week vacation.
Above, to the left is looking out our hotel window to the north to the sea. Next, Mrs. Jim and I took a walk up our hill in Sorento (Amalfi coast) and could look over to the Isle of Capri.
I took a lot of motor scooter pictures when I could. A lot of women ride them in Italy. To the right we see Mrs. Jim sampling the goodies at the Market in Palermo, Sicily.Iceland was a part of a New York City to Dover, England cruise aboard the Pacific Princess ship in 2016. You can search my blog for Iceland, this post has our itinerary (link) and another in the Labels at the bottom of the post.
India was a fun trip too. This one was aboard the Oceania Nautica ship in 2019-2020 with several posts using this link, 2019-20 Dubai to Cape Town . At the end we stayed in Cape Town, South Africa to spend a few days. The highlight there was a safari.
Independence, Missouri, is the home of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum (link). It is a wonderful presidential library. I have visited slightly more than half of them, seven (7) of the thirteen (13).
The libraries make a nice goal for seeing places in the U.S as surely if you go by car you will not only explore the state of the library you pick, but also the states along the way (List of all 13 links on left sidebar). We love to make a sweeping tour and try to not come back the same way we went. We have been to ALL 50 of the states.
Independence, Missouri, is the home of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum (link). It is a wonderful presidential library. I have visited slightly more than half of them, seven (7) of the thirteen (13).
The libraries make a nice goal for seeing places in the U.S as surely if you go by car you will not only explore the state of the library you pick, but also the states along the way (List of all 13 links on left sidebar). We love to make a sweeping tour and try to not come back the same way we went. We have been to ALL 50 of the states.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe Thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
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Fine print stuff
- [Click on any picture for larger, click it again for extra large]
- I am linked with Tom of "Backwoods Travel" (Link here to click for Tom's Weekend Reviews)
- I am also linking again this week with James of "Weekend Reflections/Street Photos" (click here for his Street Folk and Reflections Photos).
- The pictures mostly are all mine and rights are reserved to me under Copyright Law
Labels: 2019-20 Dubai to Cape Town, Birds, Driving Pictures, Flowers-buds-plants, Friday's Weekend Roundup 07, Iceland, India, NYC to Dover Cruise, Reflections
