Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Midsummer Dawn

Solstice Sunrise II

You’ll have to forgive me this evening if I’m not too chatty.  When I’m tired my brain tends to turn to mush and basic things like constructing a sentence can be a challenge. So I’ll be keeping the words to a minimum tonight since I’m just the tiniest bit exhausted from traipsing about the countryside at all hours of this morning.

A few of us from my local camera club set out at ridiculous o’clock so we could catch the dawn of the solstice sun. And not just from any old place, from the home of the sungods themselves, An Grianan of Aileach. During daytime hours you can drive right up the fort, but at 4.30am the road was closed and we had to climb (ok, walk) a large part of the 800ft hill while still rubbing the sleep from our eyes. (It’s at this point I want to add that, cliches bedamned, I’m just not as young as I used to be!)

Midsummer Dawn
Solstice Sunrise
5am, 21st June 2011

It was well worth it, though, and we were even lucky with the weather for once. It was raining all yesterday evening, and then all afternoon today, but at dawn this morning the clouds parted just long enough for the sun to peak its proud head over the hills so we could get our snaps. After that it was all tea and biscuits and picnic blankets- at five o’clock in the am, on the solstice, at a millennia old site of sun worship. I could think of worse ways to pass a few hours.

Well folks, I hope you’re all having a lovely Midsummer and now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to conk out somewhere…

p.s. Is anyone else having trouble viewing their dashboard? I swear, Blogger’s really beginning  to try my patience!

15 comments:

Robin Larkspur said...

Incredible and enviable experience. Blessed solstice to you and yours!! Stunning photographs. And yes Blogger has been causing troubles right and left, with comment problems and dashboard problems.

JJ said...

Inspirational post, Roisin. Liked it a lot. My solstice celebrations were limited to lighting a fire in honour of Aine last night. I got very wet!

I thought Blogger was sorted now. It was causing all sorts of mayhem a few weeks ago, but mine came back after about ten days just as I was on the verge of switching to Wordpress. No doubt their FAQs forum will have some information.

Heathen said...

This is so beautiful Roisin. Lucky you to have this wonderful experience.

Now go get some sleep!

Kathy said...

Ah, but this is a glorious post my Irish friend. Thank you for sharing. There seem to be pixies dancing about technology these days. On the Internet, on Blogger, at work, at the dentist. I have spoken to more people with technology issues. Odd...

Glad you went out early for those pic. I loved them all.

Kathy

Lady Godiva said...

Breathtaking photographs. What a treat to be up for the Solstice sunrise. I'd love to be in Ireland, watching the first rays of that sun peek over the horizon!

I read your post on An Grianan of Aileach. Fascinating! I just love your blog. I added it to my list of favorites in the side bar of my own blog!

Solstice Blessings...

ps...yes, blogger has been giving me heart-burn today!

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

What a lovely group of photos of a magickal place. Thank you for sharing this solstice gift. Thanks.

Donna~Q~ said...

Early morning magic! What a great way to start the summer :~)

Kate said...

Wow Róisín, your photos are fabulous, well worth getting up at something stupid o'clock for! The solstice came in like a damp squib in Hampshire, I woke early, looked out the window and went straight back to bed! No photos for me this year!

Lynn said...

Unbelievably gorgeous photos! Yes, well worth the insane wake-up hour. And at that magical spot. Doesn't get much better than that.

Thanks for sharing these. I'm awestruck.

ps. I was also having strange troubles with Blogger a couple of weeks ago, but they just cleared up suddenly on their own. ??

TheBlakkDuchess said...

Oh my goodness... Those are some of the most heart-achingly beautiful pictures... I can FEEL the magic vibrating in the colors... you gave me goose bumps & heart flutters. ^-^

Triston will get your hug as soon as we go visit later this week. ^-^ He is indeed way too adorable for anyone's good... lolz.

I work at the hospital, but I'm not a nurse (yet). I'm going to school to be a nurse, or will be, rather, as soon as my name comes up on the wait list... hopefully soon! =D

Right now I work in the Staffing office, making sure that every unit has enough staff for the amount of patient they have, amongst other things. I also fix time cards & whatnot. ^-^

Being around Triston totally makes my hormones kick it into high gear too! @_@ I'm definitely waiting for a bit though... I gotta finish getting my shit together, finish school, pay off debt & get a house first. So I'm hoping within the next 10 years. ^-^

For now, though, I'll stick to cat herding...

Glad you had a wonderful Midsummer, hope you got some sleep & I'll be back to bug you soon! =D

XOXO

Jeanne said...

Wonderful photos! Just breathtaking!!! I could really carry on with the adjectives to describe the absolutely gorgeous pictures you took of the sunrise.....
Thank you so much for sharing them!!
Solstice Blessings to you! ♥

Unknown said...

Stunning photos! WoW! Looks like 3Lord of the rings" landscapes... :-)

Romantic Heroine said...

oh wow. what amazing shots of the sunrise. the colours of the sund and the sky. so beautyful!!! I'm sure it was a magical moment.

oh, and you're right. I used to have a different one. But I wasn't quite satisfied with it so I created another one ^^ thank you for following!

Robin said...

Oh my....so well worth the early morning climb. Your photos a fabulous.

.Trudi Sissons said...

Hi again,
I don't know if anyone figured out your problem with Blogger. What I finally did was switched to Firefox and when I used Firefox as my browser, then Blogger works perfectly!

I am not sure if you are a Facebook user and/or if you use Windows Live Email but - 'those two' don't like each other either! What happens to me is if I get a message on Facebook, when it comes into my Live Email inbox, it crashes my Inbox and freezes it and I have to boot my whole computer up again to get it working.

So - some programs just don't seem to be compatible when they run into each other!!!

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