Belvedere Sun Worshippers

The leaves cushion our footfalls, but at the same time amplify them as they crunch. We stop by the lake, the water lapping at the sand, the sun sparking diamonds on the water. She sings to the element of water. We touch it, trail out hands in it. Small white shells along the bottom, reeds growing farther out. Dead reeds, their lives ended, buoyed by the water, it holding them in death, as they held themselves in it in their lives. Leaves browned by age and the absence of chlorophyll rest at the bottom of the lake, and every passing wave stirs them slightly, and they move a centimetre, then return to their original rest.
A small breeze carries a whirlwind of leaves past us. The lake could stretch on forever. The blue water, such a deep blue, is so clear. We can see the bottom, here clean, here a clump of rocks, here maybe a small fish, or do my eyes deceive me?
We walk again in silence.The trees overhead cast their dappled shadows on our backs as we move beneath them. She asks us did we notice the change in wind. They did. I did not; I was watching the ground. My element must be earth then, for after a while I take off my shoes and walk barefoot on the rocks and in the mud.
We stop in a circle of trees. There we pray to the earth. We speak about how everyone has lost touch with the earth, how they walk on concrete, on carpet, not knowing that they are missing earth, but feeling an absence in their lives, something that they cannot fathom. They think that they are happy, they have houses, cars, a family, money.
Soon the earth changes, the path slopes upward. We slip and slide in mud. Once we do not care about dirty, we do not get dirty. The ground is a carpet of leaves, dead and decaying, but in them there is the presence of the complete circle, for poking up between and behind are small green shoots. Relentless they climb to the sun and relentless they push their roots to the bedrock.
At a clearing we stop, we assume an unplanned circle. We gaze to the sky. We pray to the element of wind, of air. A helicopter roars overhead. I watch birds as they dart from tree to tree, swooping and flitting. They sing to us, but soon they go quiet, it is blissfully silent save for the soft rush of a breeze whispering through tees.
I notice the path is gravelled, my feet hurt. I wonder how earth appreciates the unnatural gravel carelessly dumped on beautiful pathways and on mud that longs to be squelched between toes. I walk on the grass verges here and there, on carpets of pine needles. Pine needles that are friends and foes. They cushion, but one wrong step sends the point of one into my skin. my feet grow numb, the earth is cold, the ground damp and dark. Once I stop trying to avoid sharp stones, they seem to not be there at all.
We stop again, one last time in our elemental mediation. We close our eyes and look into the sun. We pray to the element of fire. But also, this last prayer is to all the elements, for behind us a small stream winds under overhanging boughs. The sun shines upon our upturned faces, a wind soothes the air, and my feet rest on solid earth.

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MM and I went on a nature walk in Belvedere House and Gardens today. The purpose of the walk was to reconnect with nature, and celebrate trees and our ancestral heritage, especially for National Tree Week. It was really fun!


P.S. This is officially my 100th Post :D Yay! However, I will continue with the last three "countdown" posts nonetheless.

Kilarney-Day Two

Man, were the beds comfortable!

We went to bed quite late. The beds were amazingly comfortable. There were actually loads of rooms. Well, the kitchen and dining, sitting w/ fire, two bathrooms, and four bedrooms. One bedroom down stairs, another downstairs, en suite, but with an outer door as well (to the bathroom). Also there was another bedroom upstairs, with a real wardrobe - by real, I mean built in to the room, something awfully rare in Ireland. Also, the bedroom I slept in, which was in a loft, overlooking the sitting room. Really cool!
After we got up, we ate breakfast - microwave-porridge with bits of ginger cookies and some tea (in the porridge). Then we had our sandwiches made, very interestingly, I must add. They had jam, crunchy and creamy peanut butter, Nutella, banana, and then muesli sprinkled on top. Delicious! (Yes, no lie)
We were going to the park again, the national park, that is. The deer were suspiciously absent, but some passer-by said they had jumped the fence to go to another pasture!?
We planned to go to Ross Castle. There was a path to it, as well as other paths around it we planned to take. It wasn't that long of a walk.
There were many interesting opportunities to photograph things. I have a photo of ducks, crows, trees, mushrooms, berries, and a really cool pond that was part of an old copper mine. It was green! (Because of the copper, of course)
We ate lunch as it began to rain on the shore of a lake looking at the mountains as the fog rolled in. Really gorgeous...
We had to go back shortly though. There were some crows perched on a signpost, and I got some really good shots of them, as well as of some nearby swans and some moored boats. I also snapped a few pictures of the horse-drawn carts.
We went inside the cathedral lastly, as we went back to the car. It was lovely inside! It was huge, all made of stone, and had television screens so everyone could see the priest! It reminded me a bit of an American mega-church.
I took some prayer cards, printed with some of the scenes from the stained glass inside.
Hopefully we will be returning to Killarney, as it was just beautiful. So many things to do. The national park, for instance, would be perfect for a cycle.

Kilarney- Day One

I realised in yesterday's post that I never actually mentioned Killarney.

It was fun. First, well, we arrived, then we sat around talking a bit. When the light was almost surrendering its glory - well it wasn't quite yet actually - we set off. We thought we would go to the Gap, a valley in the mountains. Its proper name is the Gap of Dunloe. We couldn't climb it or anything, as it was late. However, we walked to a suitable location to photograph it and did so. It was really beautiful, in much a different way than the rugged, hash beauty of the Burren and Connemara. It had more of a soft beauty, shown off by the calm air and tree-covered slopes.
We then went to the National Park, after a small stop at Kate Hearney's cottage to use the toilet.

We went to to see the deer, although the church we parked near was St Mary's Cathedral. It had beautiful architecture from the outside, and looked nice later, at dusk, as it was lit.

The deer were amazing. They were fenced off in their own area, and so were mildly timid, but not excessively. I took many photos, and a few videos. They were deer-calling (sort of like cat-calling, but with deer) and the sound echoed through the park and the mountains nearby. There was a male chasing a female around, and a number of males fighting (head-butting). The males also had big racks, and were moulting I could see from the somewhat blurry pictures.

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries or I could have taken more picture.

That was about all we did the first day. (Forgive me if I shortened it a bit because I am tired of sitting and typing)