The Father of the Great Beasts overlooks the Ox of the Earth

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Eventually I managed to track down the second sculpture of the pair. It took a couple of trips & loads of searching on line. Then I happened upon it by accident. Located on the opposite side of the same building. However the Bull is not as accessible as the Bear was. it can be found inside the lobby to the IFSC House. Again this sculpture was created by Don Cronin in 1999.

Shooting in public is perfectly fine, you can shoot whatever you want even private buildings as long as you aint trespassing. On this occasion my zoom lense was of no use to me due to the location, so I went into the reception lobby and asked if it would be ok to grab a couple of shots. Thankfully they were super cool and allowed me to get the shots.

What has a Bull & a Bear got to do with Financial institutions? Well the answer to this is in yesterdays post on the The Strong & Striking Bear of Great Deeds. Go check it out!

The Strong & Striking Bear of Great Deeds

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Damn its been a minute, with the better weather inbound Im hoping to get my activity levels back up at return to regular posts.

Here’s one of interest from the IFSC in Dublin, a cracking bear statue that I found outside the rear entrance to one of the financial buildings. There aint much information available. But I did find out that it was done by a Don Cronin in 1999. In fact I later found out that it is part of a pair of statues. The Bull & the Bear.

The Bull & the Bear seem to have a connection to finance in general. The “bull and bear” are terms used in financial markets to describe market sentiment and trends. A “bull market” refers to a period of rising prices, while a “bear market” indicates a period of declining prices. These terms originate from the way these animals attack: a bull thrusts its horns upwards, symbolizing rising prices, and a bear swipes its paws downwards, representing falling prices. 

The Jokers Chair

So who remembers the fantastic 90’s sitcom Father Ted?

What a show, sadly the church still had such an influence in Ireland back then that the national broadcaster refused the show, which resulted in Channel 4 picking it up and then RTE had to pay big time just to show the reruns as it had become so popular.

Situated in the heart of Merrion square you will find The Jokers Chair. A fitting memorial to the late and great comedian Dermot Morgan. Although probably best known for his role as Father Ted, a show that started the career of many well-known comedians, despite it only running for a short time. Mogan rose to fame in Ireland at least with his infamous Scrap Saturday radio show. In it he would take the piss out of every politician in the country. How he got away with it in 80’s Ireland is beyond me.

Father Ted ended in 1998. But less than 24hrs after they wrapped filming, Morgan died of a massive heart attack, aged just 45. The Joker’s chair is a rather unusual memorial, and its kind of fitting that it was located in a park not so far away from the home of the politicians that he spent so much of his time satirizing.

Sure it would be rude not to take a seat?

fbt

Memorial Fountain

Situated on the traffic island in the middle of College Green,  which faces Trinity College,  you will see this really interesting memorial Fountain. It is actually one part of a set. The other being a statue of the writer and politician Thomas Davis which you can catch a glimpse of in one of the images.

Erected in 1966 by Edward Delaney and unveiled by the then President of Ireland, Eamon De Valera. It replaced a former statue of William of Orange sitting on his horse.

The Circular Fountain is surrounded by four heralds, blowing their trumpets. These Heralds are said to represent the Four Provinces of Ireland. The enclosing parapet consists of alternating glass and Granite blocks. The latter contain bronze panel inlays that depict a famine scene and scenes from some of Davis’ poetry.

Mainistir Achaidh Mhóir

Any of the OG’s who have followed this blog will remember a time when I had been spending a lot of time down in Kerry. Hell, I nearly ended up moving down there. However not all plans work out, and life goes on. I recently came across some folders of images taken on these trips. The only ones that I had posted about were from the Derrynane Ogham Stone and the amazing Stone fort at Cathair Na Stéige. So, I got tonnes of old Ruinhunter images to share. Just bear in mind, these were taken during a time when I had no SLR. So, the images were taken on either a GoPro or a Sony HandiCam!

First up, we have the ruined abbey in Derrynane. Just a short distance from where I used to stay in Caherdaniel, the Abbey which is also known as Ahamore Abbey or (Mainistir Achaidh Mhóir) for any Gaelic speakers out there. It actually rests on an island which is appropriately named Abbey Island. But if you go down to the beach at low tide, you can walk right across to it. From what I remember it dates back to the 6^th century and was founded by St. Fintan. Nearby the home of the famous Daniel O’Connell, but more about that later.

The Abbey itself is in ruin, as you can see from the pictures. There is three parts of the building that are somewhat distinguishable, but the roof is totally gone and much or what remains is overgrown with only some scattered headstones jutting out from the surrounding uneven ground. Two of the most famous graves to be found here are those of Mary O’Connell, the wife of the afore mentioned Daniel O’Connell. The other is that of Tomás Rúa Ó Súilleabháin, whom was a well-known Gaelic poet from the 18^th century.

The three arched windows in the remaining gable end which look out to the sea are in fairly, good condition, most likely due to the wall being buttressed. But if you venture out to the opposite side it gets quite dangerous. There is an extremely narrow cliff edge here and it is not for the faint of heart. One false step and you could easily end up bouncing of thee rocks below before being dragged out into the depts of the wild Atlantic Ocean.

There is very little else worthy of noting here, the remaining walls are crumbling, with a tomb that appears to be made from white tile, but it has been chipped away at in places. I was told that on occasion Coffins would be shouldered across the beach and up into the burial ground off the Abbey. I will add the location to the ruins maps shortly.

The Hungry Hippo’s

Down at the bottom lake in the park, an area I had bever ventured before, I came across two hippo’s loitering in the lake. This is the same area that I witnessed the chaotic feeding of a bunch of unruly birds. Very strange that there does not seem to be any information on how two hippo’s ended up in the middle of a lake in Tallaght of all places. I named this post The hungry Hippos after an old 80’s board game. They just seem to be part of the furniture now. Ill keep looking and if I find out more, I will update this post. At least the ducks seem to enjoy using the shade provided by the sculpture.

Crann an Óir

Sometimes referred to in slang terms as the ‘Money Tree’. Its Official title is ‘Crann an Oir’ is Gaelic or The Tree of Gold. It had been commissioned by the Central Bank of Ireland to mark Dublin’s year as European City of Culture  and was installed back in 1991 by the late sculptor Eamonn O’Doherty. He was also known for the famous Anna Livia installation. It is situated on Dame street in Dublin, just outside the site of the former Central Bank of Ireland. Which has since moved off up to the docklands. The sculpture consists of a formalized tree in gilded bronze surrounded by a sectioned building in Wicklow granite.

A Moment of Chaos

This was one of those surprise capture images. I was down the far end of the park exploring the bottom lake when this chap took out a bag of breadcrumbs or seed and started firing them up into the air. Within seconds there was a menagerie of various birds that came swooping in. It was almost like a bar room fight. Thankfully I managed to power up the SLR and opted for burst mode before the panic was over. Next time I want to set up a shot and get my feathered friends attention, ill be bringing a box of bird seed in my kit bag. 

A quick kit update, I still haven’t managed to give my new Amazon monopod a try out. If the weather holds out tomorrow I might get a chance. Also Ive lightened up the kit bag. My 18 – 135 & 55-200mm lenses have been obsolete for a while now. Ive been using the 18-140 & 55-300mm lenses on my D3100 & D3200 respectively. Instead of them taking up unnecessary space I decided to sell them at a local tech store. Out of habit I checked the window to see what was on offer. I spotted a standard 18-55 lit lens for €58. But on closer inspection, the lens was an 18-200mm with VR! So I ended up doing a partial trade with the sale. I had pointed out the error, but they sold me the lens for the price shown. So now I think the 18-140 will be getting the chop as well. The only two lenses that I do keep in my bag now are the 35 & 55mm primes for special occasions.

Brown Ducks

Another bird to cross off my list, the Mallard or wild duck. So that’s Heron, Cormorant, Mute Swan and now the Mallard. Except I didn’t spot any males around? The Brown ones I shot are the female or hens. Whilst the male drakes have a green head. See you learn something new every day. These lasse’s were either kind enough to stay relatively still and pose for a few shots or they were too preoccupied basking in the mid autumn sunshine! Will have to keep an eye out and try to identify some more. Might even catch one of those Robin’s that seem to be nesting out in my Mum’s back garden!

4 Nations Championship

So here I am sitting at home in Dublin, all my Powerlifting crew are over in Slovakia at the World Championships. By all accounts they’re killing it, one gold medal is already in the bag and I reckon there are plenty more to follow for Team Ireland before the week is out. I spoke already in a previous post, regarding the why’s so we won’t go into it. On a positive note, not being able to train or compete has given me more free time to spend on my photography and graphics. 

A while ago I posted some material I had done for this years GPC Winter Open, I’ve been doing posters for the competitions for a while now and also get to help out with the GPC Ireland website. So maybe I’ve being doing a good job, because so far I have been drafted onto the committee and recently appointed as webmaster. (well its either , Ive been doing a good job or they just want to keep an eye on me 🙂 )

And so we move on to a fantastic bit of news. Next year GPC Ireland have the privilege of hosting the 2025 Four Nations Championship. With a bit of luck I might be healed up enough to get back training and complete? But in the meanwhile here is the Event poster and as is becoming the norm, a Facebook Banner version. (Got to keep the gaffer happy😉 ) Gonna be a big comp between Ireland, Scotland, England & Wales. But its also open to non GPC federations and outside countries whom wish to compete. All are welcome. If you want to know more, check out the official post over on the GPC Ireland Website.
Oh and here is a cheeky plug. We also have an app in the google playstore. Created by our Public relations officer Liam.