Blog Posts - Reading the Signs

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Stone Art

12/8/2019

Having spent our holidays on the Dingle peninsula over the past years, we are well used to the Irish summer weather. We have had to have distractions and other activities for the not-so-great days.

Collecting sea glass and making art pieces has been a form of entertainment. Another has been Stone Art – where stones collected on the beach (on a marginally better day) are then painted.

This summer, in both Kilshannig and Killiney Cemeteries, near Castlegregory, I noted painted stones. It appears that the weather may not be restricted to the summer months and others have some mindfulness with StoneArt.

A selection of images of the painted stones:

Keep The Faith

11/8/2019

I had spotted on Twitter a while ago of utility boxes in Blackrock being painted in the colours of Blackrock Hurling Club.

Today, driving up to Mayfield, I noted that Brian Dillons have taken up a similar marketing strategy on the northside, with three utility boxes spotted at St. Lukes Cross, Dillons Cross, and Old Youghal Road.

A welcome introduction.

A Cure For Seasickness

10/8/2019

I do not think that many consider the purpose of a headstone is to bring a smile – it looks like Josephine Deane held the minority view, thankfully.

KIlshannig Cemetery must have one of the best aspects of any graveyard that I have visited and Jospehine’s headstone occupies prime real estate.

So the visitor gets a smile and a view.

Well Done, Rita Donnellan – I like

9/8/2019

In Killiney Cemetery in Castlegregory, it took me a few seconds to spot the headstone. At first I just saw grass and the bush.

The oval shaped stone was then spotted. It could easily be a stone from the neighbouring beaches, repurposed to accommodate the essential information of name and date – Rita Donnellan, 27 – 11 – 1986.

I like this on so many fronts – using materials that are near to hand, and free; the understated nature; the fact that someone thought of this 33 years ago; and, the skill of carving on a carving on a curve.

Fancy That, In Tralee

8/8/2019

It is not just in Liscannor that they have ‘Fancy Goods’. They have also been spotted in Knock, and Fancy Cakes were in Amiens St in Dublin. Mallow had a warehouse full.

Recently in Tralee, I was delighted to see ‘Fancy Goods’ still written big on the face of a shop.

I wonder if, in the cyclical nature of things, whether there might be some marketing type person wondering if the time has come to re-introduce the lucky bag imagery of ‘Fancy Goods’.

A Ghost Detail

7/8/2019

Yesterday, in Tralee, I asked the three teenagers with us if they knew what the building was before it was a hairdresser. They all missed the ghostsign on the pelmet detail of the shopfront.

They were looking face on and did not see the cross on the end faces – that was their excuse. Once the mortar and pestle was ponted out, they knew it had been a chemist.

I cannot recall many such ghostsigns.

I wonder how much longer it might stay.

A & C G C - riddle unsolved

6/8/2019

Without the ampersand, I might have suspected Átha Cliath Gas Company, a bi-lingual possibility for early form of Dublin Gas Company. With the ampersand, I am clueless.

And the internet has not provided the answer. Sometimes it is more rewarding when the puzzle beats google and lingers unsolved for a time.

This iron cover was spotted a week back on Monck Place in Phibsboro. Inspiration as to meaning still awaited.

Without Blood

21/7/2019

I think I am becoming a convert to the short novel.

Chess was read in two sittings over Christmas and remains on the brain. It almost made it into my #7DayBookChallenge on Twitter

This morning, as the lobster fisherman went about his business in Brandon Bay, Without Blood, all 87 short pages were enjoyed.

I was not expecting to be thinking of Terence MacSwiney and enduring pain – but I was.

Without Blood

Utility Box, LIberty St., Cork

There Is No ‘I’ in ‘Team’ – or in Clonakilty

13/7/2019

The old expression of management types came to mind when I spotted some temporary signs in Clonakilty today.

It may just be that there are no proof-readers in Clonakilty either …..

Cork For 12

12/7/2019

When out and about looking for even more pieces of Lost by ArtOfAsbestos, I spotted some strange and unusual stickers on poles, walls and traffic signs – possible strange just to me, as some were beyond my comprehension.

I would expect that it has nothing to do with The Glorious Revolution of the Twelfth of July.

Cork have 7 All-Ireland Football Wins so it will take some time to get to 12.

Any ideas?

Resisting Everything Except Temptation

11/7/2019

My bookshelves are not absolutely full – but they are not far off.

At my current pace of reading, it is quite possible that I have more unread books than I will read in the remainder of my lifetime – without even considering library visits.

It looks like full capacity may be approaching.

Last weekend, we were in Ennis. This child’s sweetshop was actually Scéal Eile, Lahinch Bookshop and Bookstop Ennis. I was disappointed to see that Scéal Eile have removed a section of their older history books for online sales only. That was one of the joys of my irregular visits, and I am not yet a full convert to online book purchases. I cannot recall an impulsive unplanned online book purchase, preferring to touch and read which had led to many of those books as yet unread.

A Brave Father & Two Worthy Sons

10/7/2019

There have been quite a number of tweets today remembering Kevin O’Higgins who was killed on his way to Mass in Booterstown Avenue, Co. Dublin on this day in 1927 – Barry Sheppard including a cartoon of Gordon Brewster from the Evening Herald; This Day in Irish History; RTE Archives; Minister Charlie Flanagan; and, The Irish At War.

Come Here to Me, and Stair na hEireann give information on the man and the assassination.

All of this reminded me of the memorial which I spotted in Stradbally, Co. Laois last year. I was particularly taken with the inscription, ‘A Brave Father and Two Worthy Sons’. This was more significant when I read an Irish Times article today that Kevin O’Higgins father was murdered in 1923 by the I.R.A. in revenge for I.R.A. men executed by the Free State on direction of Kevin O’Higgins.

Collapse Imminent – Or Maybe Already Happened

9/7/2019

Very many thanks to KH for forwarding the photograph above which was taken at Barleycove, Co. Cork.

It may be that the collapse has already happened and one letter ‘l’ slipped away in the dune slide.

Or maybe it is just a proofreading issue.

Lost in France in Love OR Lost in Cork Smiling, Your Choice

4/7/2019

Last week was the first time that I encountered Art Of Asbestos. Twitter suggests that the artwork has been in Dublin for at least the past year and had been around years ago.

I don’t know when the sticker campaign started in Cork but they have had me smiling since the weekend. There are probably more that I have not yet seen. Art of Asbestos is on Instagram, with even more.

If the humour is not to your liking, you could try the Bonnie Tyler ‘Lost’ version.

And the day he died it was a birthday - And I noticed it was mine

8/6/2019

My Bucket List is not very long – possibly reflective of the reality that has been encountered, having learnt the lesson of not getting ones hopes up.

A night on An Blascaod Mór, a trip to the Skellings, ascending Croagh Patrick and walking part of the Camino remain on the list – as do two places inspired by songs.

Peter Gabriel’s So was probably the most played record during my later school days. Afternoons laying on the floor with the big padded headphones plugged into the three-in-one are fondly remembered. From an earlier album, Solsbury Hill has been a song to which I regularly return and a place to which I would like to spend an evening.

“And the day he died it was a birthday
And I noticed it was mine”

Cathedral by Crosby Stills & Nash had me intrigued by the above line, and I was not alone in wondering as to the birthday and the name of the soldier who died in 1799. Hugh Foulkes of the Royal Cheshire Militia died on February 2nd and appears in many websites explaining Graham Nash’s bad-trip that led to the lyrics. A tweet, similar to this, some time ago, showing the main altar only confirmed Winchester Cathedral’s position on the Bucket List.

Today represents day 159 of 2019 and in an ongoing attempt to categorise my photographic collections. It is the day when I have tweeted the 159th Street Art installation, Post Box, Ghostsign, and Roadside Memorial.

Today’s Roadside Memorial was from the N61 from Boyle to Roscommon town, erected to Gavin Lee. I had a Graham Nash-like moment when I came across this memorial, noting it was my birthday.

"Fiche bliain ag fás.
Fiche bliain faoi bhláth.
Fiche bliain ag cromadh.
Fiche bliain gur cuma ann nó as"

As the twenty years when it doesn’t matter whether I am here on not approaches ever more rapidly, today’s Roadside Memorial is another reminder of the motivational line in Shawshank Redemption – Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying.