Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
Taken while walking the dog – or in this case just after walking the dog. We’d been for a walk and I noticed a few things I thought worthy of a picture. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera. Luckily this stream is only a couple of minutes walk from where I live so I took the dog home, grabbed the camera and went back. The weather had been fairly warm and the stream was far from being frozen over. However, this patch where the water flowed over some rock had a lot of ice.
I came across this old cart in a friend’s garden. I liked the faded colors and the rotting, weathered wood.
St. Aedan’s has a number of interesting stained glass windows, this being one of them. I’ve so far been unable to find any other information e.g. what it depicts, when it was made, who made it etc. Maybe I’ll give the church a call and see if they have this information.
According to Wikipedia (via the church’s website):
Saint Aedan is also known as Saint Maedoc (6th & 7th century), also known as Mogue and Aidan (Irish: Aedan). He was an Irish Saint, founder and first Bishop of Ferns in County Wexford and a Patron of other churches, such as Rossinver in County Leitrim and Drumalane in County Cavan. Aedan is a diminutive form of the Celtic name Aodh, Aedh, or Aed, originally Oed in Old Irish. The name meant “fire” and is related to the god of the underworld in Irish mythology. Madoc and Mogue are other pet forms of Aodh, meaning something like “my dear little Aedh”.
Aedan was born in Inisbrefny (an Island in Templeport Lake) County Cavan, about 558. Irish sources make him a son of Sedan, a chieftain of Connaught, and his wife, Eithne. A close look at the statue of Saint Aedan over our church doorway shows him holding a bell in his hand. Irish legend says that the “Bell of St. Mogue” was given to the infant on his birth by St. Kilian, who was also credited with his baptism.
When a youth, Aedan was a hostage of Ainmuire mas Setnai of the Cenel Conaill, High King of Ireland. Ainmire was so impressed with Aedan that he told him he could stay or go. Aedan said he would go, but only if the other hostages were released, whereupon Ainmire let them all return home. He studied at the great school of Saint Finnian at Clonard Abby. While at Clonard, Aedan made friends with Molaise, who would later found the monastery of Devenish Island on the River Erne.
He spent some time in Wales studying under Saint David. He returned to Ireland in 570 landing on the coast of Wexford with hives of bees, which had been scarce on the island. He is credited with helping King Brandubh win a victory over his enemies and consequently was granted land in Ferns which he used to start up a monastery. When it was agreed in a synod that Ferns be made a diocese, Aedan was ordained its first Bishop in 598.
He is credited with having evangelized many people and having established thirty churches in County Wexford. Many miracles are attributed to him including walking on water, changing leaves into loaves of fish and bringing a dead girl back to life. His staff is kept in the National Museum in Dublin, other relics with satchel are in the Armagh Cathedral. Aedan died on January 31, 632, on Lough Melvin’s shore in County Leitrim. His relics are claimed by St. Aedan’s in Ferns. His stone tomb is inside the cathedral, although his remains are under it, in the original cathedral crypt below.
In an earlier post I mentioned that an old friend of ours had passed away. His memorial service was yesterday and of course we went. I was sitting near this organ and decided that it would be worth a picture when the service was over. I liked the straight lines contrasting with round stops; the black keys contrasting with the white keys; the smooth keys and stops contrasting with the slightly textured wood. Some of the pictures also have strong diagonals which I found appealing.
We were returning home along the Taconic one day when we decided that neither of us felt like making dinner. Instead we thought we would have our old standby – Chinese food. So we got off a the Secor Road exit and went down to Chan’s Garden (It’s mostly a takeout place and so not much to look at but the food is good and plentiful – or at least the Chinese food is. They also make Japanese food, but the one time we tried it it wasn’t very good). My wife went in to order the food while I walked the dog. A block or so down Secor road I came across this lovely old tractor in a garden. There seemed to be a lot of other interesting stuff there, but I couldn’t get shots of any of them without walking down the driveway and I didn’t have the guts to do that.