sheep on the road

i decided to wake up super early in galway the next morning and take a quick drive up in connemara/county mayo before heading back to dublin. i am so glad that i did – those few hours were by far my favourite in ireland. the landscape was ethereal and raw – it felt like the brushstrokes on the canvas were deliciously thick. i snapped some photos on the first half of the cruise and then as i looped around by the sea i decided not to stop and just to take it all in.

this is a good time for me to tell you what i feel i must, must. dear reader: in this instance, and many others during my gallivant around the british isles, you are glimpsing only about 1/100th of the beauty i saw. i have to say – believe me when i write that it was so much better than this! isn’t it amazing what the human eye can see and what the human heart can feel? all alone on this island in the ocean, i felt such a streaming urge to share and to remember – which i hope to accomplish after employing both methods: frantically taking photos at times and dreamily soaking it all in other times.

when i have experiences i feel i can’t capture or explain, i often think of what oliver cowdery wrote after a sacred event: “i shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded [me] on this occasion, but you will believe me when i say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner [necessary].” we try to express or share, but really all we have is what is written on the flesh of our hearts or snapshotted on the often fadey memory-book of our brains. i think i’ve made it very clear on this blog in the past that i get frustrated with the inability of words and pictures to really, truly, authentically capture … and sometimes i hope there are extensive archives kept in heaven.

anyway.

here’s what you get to see from the early misty morning drive.

i got to kylemore abbey before it had opened for visitors, so i hopped the fence and explored in the still quiet. all i could hear was the tiny running of little streams down that glorious mountain. i felt like i owned the place, and i loved the twittered/nervous knot in my gut.

the non-picture half of the loop was craggy coast with yellow moss, teal water and of course green and sheep. it was really like a dream. and it was just me and the earth. and my rental car. and “celtic romance.” good combo.

i think this solitary and reflecting morning was why i came to ireland.