The Hairy Lemon in Dublin

'Nuff said!!

Paolo Uccello: In Dublin's National Gallery of Art

For those of you who have never heard of  Paolo Uccello, he was one of the inventors of linear perspective, as demonstrated in his battle scenes . 

Imagine our surprise at stumbling onto a rare Uccello in Dublin!

A master of the early Italian Renaissance, he created a Madonna and child. 

Which proves: ugly babies are out there!

Beef or Salmon??

There is a hugely successful racehorse named "Beef or Salmon."  Story has it that the owner had attended a multitude of weddings prior to naming his horse, and was asked the inevitable question, "Beef or Salmon?"

Peat Bog Museum

The farmers of South west Ireland have long used peat logs for fuel and warmth. It is eveb used as roofing insulation.

Peat is 90 percent water and 10 percent rotted roots. It is still carved from the bogs today. Unfortunately,  it is a non- renewable fossil fuel. It took 10,000 years and the ice age to create.
You could wait around, if you like!!

Kildare Stud Farm, in Kildare, Ireland

Gelded males

Pregnant mare and one year old foal

Innocent bystander

This is the land of 70 million euro, net worth, stallions for stud.

The stud fee for Kildare's "Invincible Spirit" is 70,000 euros, payable upon foaling. 

After the pregnant mares give birth, they are made available  as little as nine days later to mate again. 

The studs are gelded before they become jumpers. Hmmm.

St. Patrick: Rock of Cashel

Dear Imaginary friends,

St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, who was actually born in England, was kidnapped in his youth and forced into slavery in Ireland.  He escaped, then was sent back to Ireland as a priest to convert the pagans to Catholicism. 

He is famous for his sermon at the Rock of Cashel, where he used a shamrock to explain the three-in-one nature of the Holy Trinity. 

Catholics, the world over, make pilgrimages to this holy site. 

As for his banishing snakes from Ireland, there were never any snakes to expel.

There are no reptiles and scarce amphibians in Ireland. That is due to the recession of the ice age and migration of the slowest creatures northward. When the ice finally melted, animals began to migrate northward. The fastest ones made it to Ireland including deer and badgers. Slow movers such as reptiles were stopped cold by the water rising around Ireland, and were locked out because of the melting land bridge. 

There are also no mosquitoes in Ireland. 

Who's complaining?!

Potatoes: The Virginia Tuber

We all associate Ireland with the potato, but it was Sir Walter Raleigh who brought the "Virginia Tuber" back from the New World and planted it on his land grant in Ireland.

Elizabeth I infamously stole land from her Irish peasants and granted it to English noblemen as reward for their deeds. 

Sir Francis Drake blockaded the English Channel from the Spanish Armada after he defeated them, forcing the Armada to go the long way around Ireland. The Irish took pity on the starving Spanish sailors and fed them. The Spanish in return, built the Irish two stone churches as a thank you. 

Ireland is rich with stories such as these. 

There were "starvation boats", when the potato famine caused millions to die.  The starvation boats carried the desperate from Ireland to America. Those who survived the journey began their lives anew. And reunited with the beloved potato. :)