September in Ireland means Feile na gChloch – Festival of Stone, once more
Whereas in previous years we have stuck to dry stone wall building – this year offers new skills
Such as the ancient art of stone letter cutting – mentored under the excellent eye and hand of Karin Sprague
With the rare chance to take a workshop with fine art sculptor Alexandra Morisco
Both Karin and Alexandra have been at work on a memorial to honour those islanders lost at sea
The stone depicts a curragh caught in a wave & is inscribed with words by Ireland’s unacknowledged poet laureate Mártín Ó Direán
Maireann a gcuimhne fós i m’aigne
Is mairfidh cinnte go dté mé i dtalamh.
“Their memory is in my mind still
And will surely remain till I go into the clay”.
For drowning goes with the territory of island life
with the graveyard itself sitting high on a dune where the sea can not ravage it
Here a sunken church –
Teampall Chaomháin – reminds us of the ever shuffling sands of time
This lump of limestone is mine to play with
While to the west the memorial stone finds it’s home
Islander Ned Ó Congaile, Karin and Alexandra
Sometimes it is hard to leave Inis Oirr
yet always take fond and happy memories home
limewindow 
Really interesting. I am in Australia and love your blog!
Hello again and thanks – it has been a bit busy here, over summer, but hopefully more time now for blogging.
I think you are a fabulous photographer. Thank you for your well laid out blog posts; they are consistently a delight! We have limestone quarries not too far from where we live here in north central Oklahoma, USA. Thanks so much!
That is quite the compliment thank you – especially since I am too lazy to read the instructions for my pocket camera resulting in lots of badly focused/badly lit shots, which I try to correct afterwards – but hard to go wrong with a wonderful location!
What a weather you’re having up there! It is great to see skills not being lost.
And you know one thing? Cork’s favourite book this year is…. Seamus Murphy’s Stone Mad 🙂 I will have to read that soon.(http://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/servicesandprogrammes/theconstantreaderbooksreading/corksfavouritebook/
Ah what a great book thanks for reminding me to add it to the blog ‘booklist’. Surely nobody can complain about the weather this year!
Hi Louise,
As usual you have produced another beautiful Blog.
What a befitting Memorial sculpture Alexandra and Karin created to honour the Inis Oirr inhabitants who gave up their lives to the sea.
It was great to meet you again at another very successful and enjoyable Féile na gCloch and I’m sorry for not getting more time for a chat.
Hi Eddie – the warm glow in the aftermath of Feile na gCloch says it all. Being that I wasn’t working on the wall, missed some good chat time but the beauty is, there is always next time.
Louise,
Do you know of this site, one which also deals with Irish rural life. –
http://restoringmayberry.blogspot.co.uk/
Nick
Hi Nick – I’ve added Brian Kaller’s great article on Lime Kilns to the title page ‘What is Lime’ – thanks!
The absence of ungelded creatures was noted at Feile na gCloch this year. Let me know how the book is going!
Beautiful pics…as always/ That sculpture is beautiful…so fitting. It was my childhood dream to live on an island…still waiting.
Hi Bridget – we shall just have to settle for life on the bigger island..
I love the shape of that big triangular stone, the carved detail, and how it creates a portal to the sea. These talented women carved it in only three weeks.