Anyone know what happened to lunch?

If we don’t look she might go away!

Race you to the Water!

Last in buys the Fish Supper!

Nursing is a very difficult career.

I don’t think I would have the patience for it.

You have to keep checking if the patient is wiggling her toes!

Play hide and seek to keep the patient active.

Plot about the style of headstone to use. :sad:  These are in the Pet Cemetery at Antrim Castle/Clotworthy House.

Run away and see if the patient will follow, curiosity killed the cat and all that….

The tower is all that remains of Antrim castle, the building in the background in Antrim Forum.

The Motte was transformed into a magnificent “viewing mount” in the early 18th Century with a corkscrew path lined on the outside with a yew hedge.  Elly remembers climbing to the summit when she was younger, but now it is fenced in and only accessible upon request.

So I had my photowalk!  I kept to the paths and let the ‘children’ roam free.  When I had enough I took the keys and headed back to the car, leaving the staff the opportunity to walk at Nurse Hitler speed along the river Six Mile Water to the shores of Lough Neagh.

I only told Elly yesterday what happened when I reached the car.  I was walking on two crutches remember…. I dropped the keys!

Looking about there were plenty of cars but not a soul in sight.  I remembered the lesson my brother taught me:-

“You may not be allowed to bend more than 90° to touch the ground, but you can always stretch your leg out behind you”.

I set one crutch between the wing mirror and the body of the car.  Then using the other one for support, I bent forward with the operated leg out behind me and picked up the keys.  I had this manouver well practiced at home before I went for surgery.

When the rosy cheeked young lovers returned I was well settled in the car and ready for home.

Driving through the grounds of Antrim Castle to Clotworthy House

The Long Canal

And around the corner

And there are more

A whole family

Now don’t forget…. I’ll be back at five (my time) waving, singing and shouting!

Clotworthy House

Last Friday morning in a short post about Clotworthy House, Ramana asked how it got the name.  Now I know!  While looking for information about Antrim Castle I discovered the following from Library Ireland.

THE original Castle of Antrim is generally supposed, according to Dr. Petrie, to have been erected in or about the year 1662, by Sir John Clotworthy, Lord Massarene, who died in 1665, and whose only daughter and heiresss, Mary, by her marriage with Sir John Skeffington, the fifth baronet of that name, carried the estate and title into the latter family.

The present Castle appears to have been originally erected in the early part of the reign of the First James, by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, who by that monarch’s patent had the charge of certain vessels on Lough Neagh. His son, Sir John, was one of the most distinguished leaders of the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War, and notwithstanding this fact, was, oddly enough, raised to the peerage by patent of Charles II., under the title of “Baron of Lough Neagh and Viscount of Massarene.”

All that remains of Antrim Castle

Belfast’s Waterfront Hall was designed by local architects Robinson McIlwaine and opened in 1997.  It cost £32 million and it took five years from the design & planning stage to the completion of the building.  The building is glass fronted, circular and at night appears to float on the River Lagan. Facilities include a main auditorium, BT Studio, 16 meeting rooms, two bar areas and a restaurant.

On the opening night, 17 January 1997 a special concert featured the Ulster Orchestra, pianist Barry Douglas and flautist James Galway.

On Saturday I joined these ruffians handsome gents who are all members of the Belfast Flickr Group for a private tour of the building.  Once again our special thanks must go to Andy for organising the day and to Adam for his patience as camera lenses were poked in every nook and cranny from the rafters to the basement.  It was the same wonderful Adam who only two months previously had herded an even larger group round The Ulster Hall

I have visited The Waterfront (as we call it locally) on many occasions and usually the concourses are filled with the sound of chatter, laughter and expectation, while in the main auditorium the audience settles into a hushed silence of anticipation before a show begins.

Yesterday it looked like we almost had the place to ourselves.

While floors below in the bowels of the basement:-

Miles of cables provide power and stores sit waiting for use….

We moved through offices, passed sound and lighting boards

to the area way above the world of Theatre.

I felt a litte like the famous Phantom.  We looked down at the auditorium as it was prepared for the evening show.

The auditorium

An finally looking out from the inside.

And on the otherside

My photos may not be as perfect as those of the Big Boys, but they tell a story and give the flavour of the day and place.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.

I like Coffee!

Coffee is not just a drink.

I like iced coffee and Coffee Helps & the Coffee Maker.  They are people.  They are Bloggers & Twitterers that I have met in real life.

iced coffee takes great photos.  The Coffee Maker makes great coffee & Coffee Helps tells great stories of her travels around Europe.

Hailey from Coffee Helps is home in Norn Iron for a couple of weeks and I was anxious to catch up for a real live chat.  The word soon spread, and on Thursday evening Hails, D@\/e, Nelly, Hannah, Ed Hillan and I gathered for coffee and a good old chat.  Topics covered cats, dogs, chickens, a nasty fox and a clarinet.  Mother’s, mothers-in-law and prospective unions were in the ring too.  We touched travel, troubles, politics and blogging, the craic was mighty and the laughter rang from the rafters.  A very enjoyable evening indeed.

Now when is the next one….

Belfast Flickr Group are meeting at noon and The Waterfront Hall is in our sights today.

I might be missing for some time.

Time to reveal the answer to my mystery outing yesterday.  I was here:

Glenoe Waterfall, Co Antrim

From the car park, the path leads through trees. There is a network of paths and steps, slippy and uneven in places, that meander up and down the sides of the valley to give good views of the waterfall.  The land is owned by The National Trust.

This last one is for the Flickr folk!

How to get there: On the B99, 4 miles south of Larne. Bus route 170.

Yesterday I made the most of a little sunshine.  My aim was to have a short walk, bring home the evidence by way of a photo or three.  Part two was to find a coffee shop with Wifi and put Tobias through his paces.  This was in fact a lesson for me.  I have used my laptop here at home and in Elly & Georges house (Everything in their house is connected to Wifi… even me!).

Well, I did manage to go for a walk.

I had decided I wanted a photo of a bridge and had a particular bridge over the Six Mile river at Lough Neagh, Antrim in mind.  As I neared my destination I noticed a few PSNI (Police Service for Northern Ireland) in Visi vests, then I saw the crowd of marchers.  I quickly changed direction and drove on to Randalstown, passing Masserene Barracks, where the two young soldiers were shot a couple of weeks ago on the evening they were due to leave for a tour of duty in Afganistan.  I am very anti war in any part of the world.  Those young men were some mothers sons and the ripples of heartbreak will radiate through many lives young and old for many a year.

I did find my bridge a rather unusual one:

The river Braid at Randalstown

The lower bridge is the road into the town and the upper one was originally a railway line.  The last train to travel this way was back in the late 1950s or early 1960s.  Randalstown was another Linen town in days of yore.  At one stage about 1000 people worked in the mill weaving and finishing the linen.  If you inherited Irish table or bed linen from you mothers or grandmothers, perhaps it came from Randalstown.

Another section of the railway bridge taken from the road bridge

The old railway now paved as a walkway.

I did manage to have a circular walk along the train track and back through the town.  You see the photos but alas I have yet to discover a coffee shop with Wifi.  I suppose two out three are not bad.  Next time I aim to post my pics on the blog while enjoying a coffee away from home!

Hail, glorious St. Patrick, dear saint of our isle,
On us thy poor children bestow a sweet smile;
And now thou art high in the mansions above,
On Erin's green valleys look down in thy love.

St Patrick certainly smiled down on Erin’s green isle on Tuesday. Dublin was festooned in a sea of green, bright sunshine & high spirits.  Elly & I traveled in to the city by bus and it was a delight to see people of many nations, colours and creeds join us at every bus stop.  All the children had some token or green decoration in honour of the day, clothing, hats ribbons or wigs!  Many old and young sported painted faces.

The St Patrick’s Festival team can be justly proud of their efforts…

The 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parade saw over 675,000 people lining the sun drenched Dublin city streets to enjoy one of the best St. Patrick’s Day Parades ever. Thousands of performers and characters joined together in a carnival of dancing and music as they wowed on-lookers with uniquely commissioned original pageants accompanied by marching bands from Ireland and across the globe

The Winner of 2009 Best Pageant was awarded to CITY FUSION with The Conference of Birds. The award for Best Marching Band in the Parade went to German band, SIMSEGRÄBSLER from Hofstetten, Black Forest, South West Germany.

\\*//*\\*//

Part two of our day was at the Guinness Storehouse where the welcome was mighty and it was possible to pull your own pint!  I sat and watched the fun as the young folk played at being Barman and were awarded with certificates for doing so!  There were plenty of photo opportunities here but with my camera enclosed in my little hand I was rather intimidated while surrounded by camera lenses as long as my arm. :sad:  No I was not sad really.  No seriously!  I was happy to watch and listen.

Now steph are you paying attention, a Black Velvet is Champagne & Guinness…..

Guinness mixed fifty-fifty with champagne. This famous drink was invented in 1861 at Brooks’s Club in London. Prince Albert had died, everyone was in mourning, and the story goes that the steward at the club, overcome with the emotion of the occasion, ordered that even the champagne should be put into mourning, and proceeded to mix it with Guinness. The taste was so delicious, Black Velvet became extremely popular.

But do you know what the following are or how to make them?

• Tumbril
• Midnight
• Wasp Sting
• Red Head

Now you all think I was drowning in a vat of the black stuff when in fact I was very busy.  Well…. it takes time to try out all these exotic combinations!

Go on I know you want to try them.

William Joseph Barre (1830 - 1867) was a prolific Irish architect who was responsible for many well known buildings in Belfast.* By the time he was thirty he had beaten numerous rivals to win the task of designing the Ulster Hall in Bedford Street, Belfast. It is a two-story painted stone building with a stucco front. It was opened in 1862 and at that time was one of the largest music halls in the British Isles, seating a maximum audience of 2000 people and facilitating as many as 250 performers.

It contains many items of historical interest, including the famous Mulholland Organ, the Ulster Hall’s centerpiece feature, which was presented to the people of Belfast by Andrew Mulholland, a wealthy industrialist and former Lord Mayor of Belfast in the 1860s.

The building was sold to the Belfast Corporation (now Belfast City Council) in 1902 for £13,500. By way of celebration Belfast Corporation commissioned a series of 13 oil paintings from J W Carey, in 1902.

During World War II, the hall was used extensively as a dance hall, providing entertainment for the US troops based in the province.

The Ulster Hall has played host to a wide variety of famous figures over the years; they range from Jenny Lind and Caruso to Charles Dickens and John McCormack, from Henry Irving, Randolph Churchill, Lord Carson and the Dalai Lama. In more recent years the names included: Billy Connolly, the Rolling Stones, Christy Moore and Led Zeppelin & Barry McGuigan.

Photographing the photographer

The main hall is designed with wonderful acoustics in mind, giving the perfect platform to deliver keynote speeches or that special acoustic performance.

Finally after two years of renovation work the doors opened once more to Joe Public a week ago. The work involved cost a total of £7.43 million. The restoration included:

• new roof and floors
• internal redecoration
• new removable downstairs seating
• installation of new high-specification sound, heating, lighting and air-conditioning systems
• refurbished artist dressing rooms which will double up as education suites for schools and community groups
• up-graded toilet facilities.

The 13 large scale canvases by JW Carey, dealing with the history and mythology of the Belfast region are on display in new dedicated gallery space within the refurbished hall.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tour the building with the Belfast Flickr Group.

The Gallery

Special thanks must go to Andy for organising the day and to Adam for his patience in taking us to every nook and cranny and answering all our questions.

In the main hall a sound and lighting rehearsal was in progress on stage for the event of the evening. Withlights flashing and dry ice rising at all angles, my attempts to capture some images were a FAIL! The Mulholland Organ was well hidden by a large screen. The boys with the big guns cameras no doubt did better than I did. Phil from iced coffee was there a few days ago and seemed to have the place all to himself. He has some lovely photos on his blog.

Stacked Chairs

It was good to meet friends old and new, mull over the events of the day with a pint (for the non drivers) and a meal as we planned our next outing.

*

Albert Memorial Clock

University Road Methodist Church

Bryson House

Shaftesbury Square Ophthalmic Hospital

Provincial Bank of Ireland

remodel of Roxborough Castle in County Tyrone

Clanwilliam House, now called Danesfort, in Belfast

Ceiling renovation of St. George’s Church, Belfast