Jean Reinhardt's Blog, page 21

Thursday Doors

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I just couldn’t resist taking some photos of this wee cottage for Thursday Doors. It’s near where we parked our car on our last visit to Killykeen Forest Park in Cavan (featured in last week’s post).

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Nature is slowly reclaiming the space, as you can see from the image. I wonder where the descendants are now, of the people who originally lived there. I peeked inside the door but it was too dark to see anything clearly and I wasn’t adventurous enough to brave the creepy crawlies I knew would be lurking within, ready to pounce on me, at any moment. I could feel their eyes staring at me through the darkness – okay, so I’m exaggerating slightly, it’s the writer in me coming out.

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The house we are living in now, and still renovating, wasn’t quite as bad as this one but it was getting there. You might have seen my previous images of it, with a curtain of ivy covering the back door and growing into the house through the window frames.

Eventually, our wee house would have ended up looking like this one:

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It’s a shame, because it would make a lovely home, in such a beautiful setting. On second thoughts, it’s possible a herd of cattle might frequently pass by the front door. That would be a bit too close for comfort – for me anyway.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to visit. If you would like to see a plethora of international Thursday Doors, carry on over to Norm’s blog, where you’ll find a blue link to them at the end of his post.

Thursday Doors

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I know, it’s Friday and I’m posting Thursday Doors. It might even be Saturday in your part of the world, by now. I blame the clock going forward, we should stop doing that, even the dog finds it annoying. The building you can see in the distance seems to be a public facility of some sort but you have to agree it’s in a beautiful setting. There are some lovely walking trails here in Killykeen Forest Park, about a ten minute drive from our house.

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At this time of year, there are lots of these little beauties all over the place, and wild garlic everywhere, too. The smell is wonderful but it makes me hungry.

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The windows are fake but the doors are real. At first, I assumed this was an old toilet block, as it’s close to a picnic area, but there are a lot of fireplaces inside, judging by the amount of chimneys (I couldn’t get in, as the doors were locked). Then I thought it might be a disused schoolhouse but it’s in the middle of the forest, well away from any houses. Maybe it’s an old building converted to a toilet block but it’s only open after Easter, when there should be a lot of picnickers about. No doubt my curiosity will be satisfied at some point in time.

The whole building is decorated with large pebbles and around the fake windows you can see an attempt at some sort of design. The pillars are interesting, they’re made of tree trunks. I’ve tried to find out more about it but with no luck.

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It would make a lovely holiday home as the view is amazing. Such a fabulous place to have a picnic. I can’t wait till the summer arrives, I hope it comes on a weekend, as we say here in Ireland – that tells you a lot about the length of our ‘warmest’ season, doesn’t it? Joking aside, after such a cold, snowy, winter, we are all hoping for a long, hot summer. Thanks for stopping by and for more Thursday Doors from all over the world, have a look at Norm’s blog, then click the blue ‘frog’ link at the end of his post.

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View original post 288 more words

Thursday Doors

I’ve been a bit hit and miss with my posts lately and with getting out of the house to capture some new Thursday Doors but I still have a few beauties from my last trip to Blackrock that I’d like to share with you.

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Danny Hughes & Son on Main Street in Blackrock is where my daughter bought her electric guitar. The shop is home to Beat It Music and sells vintage, second-hand and new musical instruments and equipment. It even has a music school on the first floor. In the past, it was a seaside shop, selling buckets and spades, tourist souvenirs, religious items and ice cream. My grandparents had a similar shop a few doors up, so it would have been sacrilege to buy an ice cream from him but I do remember buying a black plaited wig that I even wore to bed for a while, I loved it that much.

Danny Hughes was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland, in 1920, the eldest of seven children. His parents ran a fruit and veg shop but when his father died, Danny had to start work in his early teens to help support his younger siblings. When the family moved to another town, Danny followed in his father’s footsteps as a trader. He used to cross over the Cooley mountains to Dundalk with his horse and cart, selling his wares along the way. When the weather was too bad to return home, he slept alongside his horse in a stable in the town.

In time, the family moved close to Blackrock, where Danny opened his shop in 1949. He died in December 2014, at the ripe old age of 103, running the business with his son Conor up until a few years before he passed away. He was a man of many talents and was an accomplished musician, playing the accordion and fiddle. Along with being involved with showbands and céilí bands over the years he wrote a number of books and was well known as a story teller.

As you can see from the first image, the premises has two doors, one for the music store and the other leading to a treasure trove for lovers of anything vintage. The shop is as interesting on the outside as it is on the inside, with a fun piece of sculpture to attract your attention as you pass by. It’s always well worth crossing the street to see what’s on display in the window and I wasn’t disappointed this time, either.

Danny’s son Conor is very much like his father. His band, The Willin’ Fools, are fun loving and, judging by the video on their website, very entertaining. Conor’s charity, Crosscause, has done amazing work, from sending trucks of humanitarian aid to refugees in Calais in France to supporting orphanages in Eastern Europe. Not too far up the street from his father’s store, Conor has opened a shop to support Crosscause and I love spending time in there whenever I’m in Blackrock. Note the elephant’s head sculpture above the doorway.

At present, Crosscause is focusing on five projects in Ghana, including the setting up of an eye surgery clinic. Conor and his group of volunteers are always coming up with interesting ways to raise money for the charity and December 26th 2017 was no exception. He sat on top of a tower of pianos on the beach in Blackrock for his annual Stephen’s Day fundraiser.

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Source 1: Visit Blackrock Village

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog. If you would like to explore a worldwide selection of Thursday Doors, head on over to Norm’s blog and click the blue ‘frog’ at the bottom of his post.

Source 1: Visit Blackrock Village

 

 

 

Thursday Doors

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Before the big snow arrived and smothered Ireland to a standstill, I managed to capture some Thursday Doors shots of a lovely, characterful business premises in my native town of Blackrock. Belles Tea Rooms has two floors where you can sit and have a nice cup of coffee or tea, while looking out over the beach across the road. They have an unusual front door, with a mermaid on it and I love the colour they chose.

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A few years ago, I launched the first book of my historical fiction series in the upstairs room of Belles and it was such a fitting location. Many of the events in the saga take place by the beach in Blackrock.

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Here’s a photo of the main street taken from the top end of the village, with the sea lapping up against the wall.

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The tide always goes out a great distance from the shore, which is a pain in the summer if you’ve come to have a nice swim. It’s a long trek out to find water deep enough to paddle in, let alone do the back stroke. Of course, if you live there, you’ll see the tide coming in twice a day, like any other coastal area. There is a large sandbank that can catch the unwary by surprise when the sea comes in around them. This has caused quite a few rescues and unfortunately some drownings over the years.

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There used to be an outdoor sea water 50 meter pool in the village. It’s where I learned to swim but it was replaced by an apartment block some time ago. I suppose the indoor pools a couple of miles away in Dundalk offered a bit more luxury. Who wouldn’t prefer a warm swim in a cold Irish summer?

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This is an old photograph of the main street and beach. You can see that some of the roofs are still thatched. I wonder was that fishing boat carrying any of my relatives, as we have fishermen on my mother’s side of the family going back as far as the late 1600’s. In the upper right hand corner of the image there appears to be some wooden swing boats. I remember as a child my sisters and I would pile into a brightly painted swing boat whenever the funfair came to Blackrock. In recent years they have been back there again and we’re hoping to have another ride in one this summer, although I doubt the four of us will be allowed in the same boat this time.

Well, that was Blackrock, past and present. Thanks for stopping by and taking an interest. If you would like to see a few more Thursday Doors, swing by Norm’s blog.

Thursday Doors

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Ballycastle is featured once again in my Thursday Doors post, there is such a great variety of old properties there. Of course that means a nice selection of doors, too. No, I didn’t photoshop the sunshine into these images – it was actually a very sunny day.

Forty shades of grey or green seem to be popular hues here, but I did find some nice colourful doors in the main street. The Indigo shop caught my eye not just because of its colour but because my nail salon was called Indigo Nails. I had really lovely clients who were more like friends, they had been coming to me for such a long time. I don’t miss the work but I do miss them.

This is one of my favourite properties in the town. There’s a nice walled garden at the back and it’s just a few minutes walk from the beach (and ice-cream parlours).

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I’ll take some more photos of Ballycastle doors on my next visit there but in the meantime I captured some nice shots of Blackrock and it’s lovely shopfronts, which I’ll be featuring on next week’s Thursday Doors. Thanks for stopping by this week and don’t forget to check out what Norm (the founding father of Thursday Doors) has featured on his blog.

 

 

Thursday Doors – Chillin’

It’s a snowy Thursday Doors post this week from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, where I’m chillin’ (literally) with family. Here’s a few photos I captured from inside the house, where the temperature was much higher than outside.

We had a heavy snowfall overnight and next morning the sunrise was beautiful, I almost didn’t photograph it, I was so busy admiring the scene.

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Even the sunshine later on didn’t melt the snow and it remained like this for the next few days.

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I know all of you who live in colder climates will laugh at the few inches we call a snowfall, but as we’re not used to having the white stuff dress our landscape every winter, when it does so, it’s a big deal. Even The Gaffer thinks so, as you’ll see from his reaction in this video.

I was worried his poor old paws might not take to such a chilly surface (after all, he was born in Spain) so I didn’t let him spend too much time outdoors. Our walks lately have been infrequent and very short. There’s nothing like a nice warm bed beside a radiator on days like this, wouldn’t you agree?

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I took some nice shots of Ballycastle town during my visit, so I’ll feature them on the next Thursday Doors post. It was great to have you chill out with me and The Gaffer this week and if you’d like to see a few more doors from around the globe, you’ll find them on the link at the end of Norm’s post. Enjoy.

 

Thursday Doors

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This green Thursday door belongs to the Ancient Order of Hibernia hall in the seaside village of Blackrock, where I was born. One of my mother’s relatives was contracted to build it in 1919 at a cost of £2,500. The hall, with its dance floor and gallery, was a favourite for local and visiting dancers, and a venue for theatrical performances. Today, it is no longer in use but there was talk of it being made into apartments some years back. I would like to see it being put to good use but I hope it keeps it’s original appearance.

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Source 1

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When the weather gets nicer I’ll spend a day capturing Blackrock’s lovely doors but in the meantime, this is a sample of some of my favourites. Although it’s on the east coast, the village gets some amazing sunsets.

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But I took that photo a few weeks ago. The days have been quite grey and full of sleet lately.

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This is a photo of the buildings on the main street looking out over the sea. It’s where I spent my childhood summers, staying with my grandparents in the white house on the left-hand side of the image. Even on a grey rainy day, this place appeals to me. As a child, I loved listening to the sea as I lay in bed at night (whenever the tide was in) and I still find that sound so relaxing. Now I bring my own grandchildren here to play on the same beach and they enjoy it at any time of year.

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Here’s what the village looked like in the past when some of the roofs were still thatched.

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I hope you enjoyed our trip to Blackrock this week. For a great selection of interesting Thursday Doors, surf on over to Norm’s blog and click on the blue ‘frog’ at the end of his post.

Source 1 Blackrock Village Heritage

 

Thursday Doors

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Here’s a nice red door with matching snow speckled car to start off this week’s Thursday Doors. Although we’ve been having very cold weather, some days are dry enough to bring Tino, aka The Gaffer, out for a walk. Lately, he’s been on a break from house renovating and doesn’t seem in too much of a hurry to return to Cavan right now. We have been staying in Blackrock, a lovely seaside village in County Louth, known as the Wee County as it is Ireland’s smallest county by area 826 km2 or 319 mile2. I was born here and lots of relatives and family members still live in the area. According to the records our roots go back to the sixteen hundreds, so I love spending time here, in the place where many of my ancestors lived, worked and are buried.

Guess which wall The Gaffer prefers. He has the same taste as me, so the old one won ‘paws’ down. My mother took me on a walk up this road, which was surrounded by fields when she was growing up, and pointed out places of interest along the way.

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For instance, this house is said to have a haunted room. Sure enough, the white shutters are closed over on the downstairs room to the left of the door. Guess what? It’s a red door. Have a closer look.

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Apparently, those shutters have remained closed for many years. When my mother was a young girl, she knew a woman who worked in that house as a cleaner and at times the job required that she stay there overnight. While in her room she could hear crockery breaking and the sound of objects being thrown around but when she checked next morning, nothing was damaged and everything was in its place. It could have been the owner letting off some steam but you can see from the photo how that room downstairs is the only one with the inside shutters drawn. Sorry I couldn’t get any closer with the camera.

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Although the house looks to be in good condition, some of its surrounding stone walls need a bit of attention. It looks like this big old tree is threatening to push a section of it over.

My favourite wall along this road is this one, by far. It’s a dry stone build and the stones are placed vertically instead of horizontally. I was so focused on the wall, I didn’t even notice my shadow selfie until later.

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As a teenager, my mother ran through this entrance with a boy she was out on a date with, to hide from her older brother, who was following her. I asked her if the walls were the same then as they are now but she said she hadn’t paid much attention to them at the time, even though she was hiding behind them. I guess she didn’t get to do too much courting on this road as, on another occasion, she was in my father’s car (she thinks they were married at the time as her brother wasn’t with them as a chaperone) and as they drove past one of the fields, a big black bull jumped over the wall and chased the vehicle down the road. She was grateful that they were not on their bikes at the time. Maybe he was spooked by the haunted house

Thursday Doors

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Here are a few more Thursday Doors from Clevedon in Somerset, England. This is the last lot that I photographed but there are so many more I’ll make sure to capture them on my next trip over.

Of course I managed to spot a couple of red doors, too, but blue seemed to be a popular colour in Clevedon.

There are two lovely cliff walks that lead into Clevedon, Poet’s Walk and Lover’s Walk. Here are some shots of garden doors in the huge wall along Lover’s walk, next time I’ll take the former one as we didn’t have time to do both.

The wall got higher and higher as we went along.

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I wonder if these gigantic ‘rivets’ are helping to keep this wall standing.

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At least it didn’t fall down while I was there. Thanks for stopping by this week’s Thursday Doors. Norm has a link on his blog post to more doors from all over the globe.