Cork: Finbar's house of worship

2 days in class

Yes! Above is the River Bandon which empties into Kinsale Harbor. The cloud, which Irish broadcasters might call "fierce" actually was - gum ball sized hail stones pelted us minutes before the picture was taken. Here we are planting birch, alder, and hazel in Michael's field (center right, blue attire). The field was occupied by British forces in 1621, it being the highest point for some distance. From it, they took stock of both Irish and Spanish positions, both of whom they routed. The Battle of Kinsale set Irish independence back decades if not centuries.





Asked if the plastic, which controls competition, would starve the new tree of water, I was kindly informed, "what?" Evidently 'drought' or anything resembling it is still something a non-traveler has only heard of, and maybe not even that. Suddenly for me, my lifetime in Seattle felt dusty.





This is Paul, our organic gardening instructor, demonstrating the function of a draw knife and his neat jig. He and two friends felled, hauled, and milled the trees/boards used in the house behind us. Timber framed houses are spoken of as an anomaly here, their virtues touted (year-round constructability, easy to insulate well, flexibility in design...). I think even the brick houses in the PNW are timber framed. I knew I loved wood. Save the damn forests! Gotta love steep undevelopable, sprawl-stopping slopes. While we are on the subject, if Washington state, with it's tall mountains and deep valleys, if it were stretched flat, how big would it be? And when we refer to it's area in square miles, are we being true? Does not the angled land get discounted or mismeasured? Does it really rank behind South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas? And how does it compare to Texas?

Barcelona and Catalunya

The monastery of Montserrat

On our last day in Barcelona, we took a train out to the mountain of Montserrat. Montserrat literally means "jagged mountain" in Catalan. It was spectacular as we approached in the early morning. The mountain is composed of striking pink conglomerate, a form of sedimentary rock.



Fifty years after the birth of Christ, St Peter is said to have deposited an image of the Virgin carved by St Luke in one of the mountain caves. It was supposedly lost in the 8th century after being hidden during the Muslim invasion. It reappeared in 880 and a chapel was built to house it, superseded in 976 by a Benedictine monastery set about three quarters of the way up the mountain at about 1000m. Miracles abounded and the Virgin of Montserrat soon became the chief cult image of Catalunya and a pilgrimage center.






The path to Santa Cova, a 17th century chapel built where the icon is said to have been found originally.



The monastery.



Chapel at Sant Joan.



This was from a trek that we did on Bob's birthday. We walked from the small city of Olot, through an extinct chain of volcanoes to the charming village of Santa Pau.


Oh, yeah and we are now engaged!

Water bird sightings of late

Common teal (Anas crecca)


The speedy common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) adorns the covers of many of the local bird guides probably because of its electric blue rump and back. We see members of this family often, usually darting from the woods to the bank below, then back to the woods. Never lingering. Its numbers are declining.



Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), its slender bill has developed along with its habit of eating buried worms and molluscs, but also fish, crabs and shrimp. They are visiting from Scotland and Scandanavia, where they will return shortly to breed.



The Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) is the largest (sometimes called a marsh hen) and easiest to identify local shorebird, its bill curved downward. It is noticeably larger than the others. Irish breeders are joined by Scots and Scandinavians in the winter. And it eats mainly ragworms, crabs, and molluscs. They forage individually during the day but roost communally, presumably telling stories like the one about the pesky ragworm that got away, and sorting out other thoughts they had.





Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) flock together in the winter, the Irish breeders joined by continental breeders. They feed at day but also at night. Speculation is that the larger sub-water surface worms that come out at night might be a cause. As might be the need to avoid black-headed gulls and their troublesome kleptoparasitism (food robbing).









Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)



The grey heron, this one and the stern of Shane's boat.







A greenshank touching down.