Marvellous Mermaids

Jose Ortiz - The King With a Heavy Crown

This post concludes my fairytale trio of Fabulous Fairies, Delightful Dragons and now Marvellous Mermaids.  Mermaids featured in many stories of my childhood, so much so that I accepted their existence without question.

 The next three images appeared in issue #83 of Once Upon a Time from 1970 illustrating a story called 'Moorea and the Fisher-boy'.  It tells the tale of a princess stolen by sea kelpies.  A resourceful fisher-boy called Raphael manages to lure her into his net and takes her back to shore. When her feet touch land Moorea realises who she is and all that has happened.  Raphael, of course, is knighted for his efforts and and he and Moorea are married.  Sometimes at night they would then walk down to the shore to watch the kelpies at play - but they were always very careful not to venture too close to the water's edge.

Moorea and the Fisher - Boy

Moorea and the Fisher Boy

Moorea and the Fisher-Boy

A cute illustration by Joze Ortiz from a story called 'Salty the Sea Fairy:

Jose Ortiz - Salty the Sea Fairy

I don't know who the artist was who painted this wonderful depiction of King Neptune.  It is clearly signed with the initials RH.  I think the blue/green shades and water colour technique very effectively convey the essence of the sea.

King Neptune

The Water Babies are not strictly speaking mermaids but I'm sneaking them in as this gives me another opportunity to include some more of Jesus Blasco's brilliant illustrations from this classic story:

Jesus Blasco - The Water Babies

Jesus Blasco - The Water Babies

Jesus Blasco - The Water Babies

The next two illustrations are from a book called 'My Book of Fairy Stories' published in 1959.  It is one of my earliest memories.  My grandmother kept this book at her home for many years so I had something to enjoy looking at when we went to visit.

There are six different stories in the book.  The author of each is clearly acknowledged, but the illustrations, which all appear to be the work of the same artist, are strangely not recognised at all. 

These rather suggestive little mermaids come from 'The Golden Crown' (written by Margaret Smith) and have a lovely delicate touch. 

The Golden Crown

The Golden Crown

Disney's re-telling of the classic Little Mermaid story came long after my childhood so does not qualify for my blog.  Before Ariel the most famous Disney mermaids are probably these glamorous little creatures from Peter Pan.

Walt Disney - Peter Pan

Ballet Colouring Book - Watkins Strathmore / 1962

This is my latest nostalgia purchase.  Besides paper dolls, colouring books contain some of my most vivid childhood memories.  This is one I can remember particularly well so when I saw it for sale I snapped it up straight away.

Below are a few of my favourite pictures from this lovely book:
  

Autumn Harvest

Autumn seemed to come early this year.  Apparently it is because we had an unusually dry spring!  This is the first year we are following the seasons in our new home.  The apples are enormous - much bigger than those we had on our previous tree - and they taste even better than they look (which was an unexpected surprise!)

  

There is also a pear tree and the pears have been surprisingly tasty as well.  I've never had home grown pears before so that was another unexpected treat. 

Some yellow berries at Trinity College:

Holly at St Stephen's Green:

Angels

I just had to include these even though the photos did not come out so well.  In real life I think they are too delicate to scan and the colours are much softer and prettier.

These little angels were made by a grandmother whose grandchild has leukemia and is in hospital.  The proceeds of those she sells is going to the hospital to buy toys and games to brighten up the children's lives while they are there.  I found the appeal very touching and bought one for myself and one for my sister.  For different reasons we could also both do with a bit of heavenly intervention right now so I'm hoping these little angels will smile on us as well.     





Glendalough - County Wicklow

I've always felt that I can't have a post about Glen of the Downs without having a similar one dedicated to Glendalough (recently voted the third best place in Ireland to visit by both tourists and locals.)  Yesterday we had the most wonderful walk there, giving me an opportunity to take some new photos which I am including here.

We started our walk from the car park at the Visitor Centre.  When you cross the bridge you can see the famous tower at the monastic village.  As we have visited Glendalough many times during the 10 years we have lived in Ireland we chose a different route to the usual tourist trail.  We ended up with a walk that was satisfying without being too strenuous and was also away from the crowds.  It does mean though that I won't be including any pictures of the main tourist attractions like the monastic village and Reefer Church, the lake from the shore or the waterfall from the viewing platform as we did not go via any of these places on this occasion. 

I adore the trees in this forest (and Ireland in general).  There is something about the antiquity of these forests that I find incredibly atmospheric and powerful.  In my experience many places that are recognised tourist destinations have all the mystique and soul sucked out of them but that isn't the case here.  I can understand why the hermit monk St Kevin decided to settle here in the 6th century and find it incredible that the majesty of the place remains intact to this day.     

The heather growing everywhere was lovely.  I got a bit carried away and took about 100 photos of it!  

I've included this photograph because even though it is not the most attractive it does show the forest regeneration project that is currently underway.  All the conifers and flat leaved trees that are not indigenous to the area are being cleared.  The hope is that the natural woodland and trees such as oak will re-establish themselves on their own.  If not a planting scheme will give them a bit of help to get started.  Some fencing has been put up to stop deer from eating the new growth but it has been done in such a way to keep access to all the walking trails open.

Looking down on the Visitor Centre and car park.  You can see the row of tourist buses.  The car park is to the right and the visitor centre is just in front.  The next picture shows the hillside from which this one was taken.

The monastic village photographed from the same hillside:

The upper lake.  There is a bench positioned at this lovely vantage spot.  I could sit here all day.

  

My two 'boys' as we meandered along the trail.

The only part of the more popular tourist route we touched on was the site of St Kevin's cell.  I love the view of the lake from here.

This is where St Kevin had his cell.  I can see why he chose this spot   I would love to have it to myself and wake up here each morning.

A tiny corner of the lower lake on the walk back to the car park.

 Back to where we started.