"Door to the Sea IV." Another study: one of the many ruins alongside and in front of our cottage.

"Door to the Sea V." One of the many studies of the ruin in front of our cottage.

Climbing to the top of Bolus Head

At the top of Bolus Head, the stone fortress.

Here's another shot of what we saw outside our cottage door. Standing there, drinking coffee, watching the light change. In retrospect, I find myself immersed in the life there. Tonight a long walk up the road would have been perfect; but I'm back in Chicago, feeling myself in two places at once.

At Bofey Quinn's. There is no doubt that Irish food is amazing, the people lovely, lively, warm. Most of the areas we visited on the west coast were Gaelic-speaking, as well as English.

Up in County Clare, we drove through Corofin, and decided to stop for dinner. Another lovely town-- but no traditional music that night, just Sundays and Wednesdays. At Tig Rosie's pub in Ballinskellig we all danced to traditional music and drank Guinness on tap, but we'd hoped to hear more.

On the way to Killorglin

The River Loame, at Killorglin, on the Ring of Kerry. And yes, those are white swans in the distance.

One of my fellow artists was able to photograph the whole arc.

After the storm, this bow made a complete arc up, over the water, and down into the water-- a perfect arc. I've never seen that before. Our cottage is in the left corner; cottage #1 is at the bottom.

A hike up the road led us to these standing stones, supposed to be the burial site of Erinnan, from Galicia, who defeated the Teratha de Danaan in 1700 B.C.

A closer view

Here's the view out our kitchen door.  It seems that every time the light changed there was a new spectacular vision. The tufts of plant life that grow in the cracks and chimneys make the ruins seem alive.

Our first day, July 16. David is walking past our cottage. Cill Rialaig was a pre-famine 18th century village. In 1991 the ruins were slated to be bulldozed for a road and vacation development. Noelle Campbell Sharp convinced the Council to let her restore the cottages and turn the village into an artists' retreat. There are now 8 cottages among the ruins, including a meeting house that was the storyteller's cottage.

This is the view down the road from our cottage. Quiet, a view of the North Atlantic, mountains all around. A new life, off the grid, for 2 weeks. It gets dark at 10:30 pm this time of year. A glorious stretch of time ahead.

The Skelligs from Bolus Head

This has become the iconic image of our residency on the southwest coast of Ireland, County Kerry. The Skelligs (skellig means craggy rock) are 2 islands. The larger one (Skellig Michael or in Gaelic Sceilg Mhichíl) housed monks from the 7th to the 12 centuries. More images on that later, as it was toward the end of our stay.

We're off to the SW coast of Ireland tomorrow. This was from the Wyoming Residency. I want to continue these with the megalithic structures in Counties Kerry and Clare. There's a stone table top outside our cottage, overlooking the North Atlantic. . . my drawing/writing table during morning coffee and late at night. Daylight till 10 pm.