This image brings to mind many memories of my time in Ireland, not least of which those of dear friend Evelyn McCullough, who is currently in hospice at the MacMillan Unit in Antrim, Northern Ireland… this place was stompin’ ground for her, and she knew it as intimately as anyone. My first time here was in the company of Mari Ward, who also does Northern Ireland proud with her photography. I know that most folks are prone to memes with few words, but for this photo, I’m going back to the text I wrote on a photo from our first visit here… if you take the time to read it, I’m sure you’ll love it:
Verdant cliffs cascading down to the sea, crashing waves of turquoise water, brilliant blue skies with a hint of rain clouds, and a black sand beach... this must be Punaluu Beach in Hawaii. Wait a second... that’s not sand... and this isn’t Hawaii. This is Clochán na bhFomhórach, also known as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
This was a strange beach, indeed. It reminded me of the irresistible force paradox, a classic paradox formulated as "What happens when an unstoppable force (the sea) meets an immovable object (the rocks)?" We would soon find out. It was our second stop along the Irish coast with our friend Mari. Though crowded with a throng of humanity, we still managed some shots sans people. This would be an excellent place for sunrise and sunset photography, especially among the wet rocks... though, as we found out by proxy, the wet rocks can be perilous. Thank you so much to the young and foolish for pointing this out to us (read the text from here to understand: www.flickr.com/photos/snapdraggin/10962143944/).
Gravity’s weird here... and so are these rock columns of dense basalt that have a very crystalline appearance. We watched as young men and women seemed to be out to prove something by venturing out toward where the waves crashed the rocks. Needless to say the waves weren’t the only things to crash... that hard basalt just reached out and smacked a few of them... and they didn’t bounce. I told you gravity’s weird here. It’s actually nice to know that regardless of culture around this world, some things are just the same... it’s evident that so often youth is wasted on the young. Will they ever learn? Did I?
It’s estimated that approximately 60 million years, 11 months ago, on a Tuesday at precisely 1:56 AM, volcanic basalt pushed through the strata that is now the chalk cliffs and cooled in such a way to end up as these (mostly) hexagonal pillars. One thing of note here: someone counted each and every one of the columns... wish I had been there when they did that... Them: " ...2,165. 2,166. 2,167..." Me: "32!" Them: "32... For crying out loud!" Similar structures also exist across the ocean in Scotland in a place called Fingal’s Cave... now this is where the story gets interesting. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant... sounds good to me.
The Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Their conversation could have been “Oh, so lovely to meet you! Would you care for a cup of tea?” But, no, it was more like “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!”... and it was on like Donkey Kong. The earlier myth has Fionn build the causeway and promptly put a whoopin’ on Benandonner... The End. But, just as in Hollywood, that doesn’t make for a good story... so it evolved into this: Fionn hides when he realizes that Benandonner is much bigger than he thought. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, fearful of becoming a widow, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a huge cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the “baby”, he supposes that its father, Fionn, must truly be HUMONGOUS! He hightails it back to Scotland in terror, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. How funny is that? And no one was hurt in the spinning of this yarn, so it's doubly good.
It’s apparent with such a creative way that the Irish explain Clochán na bhFomhórach (which means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh", a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology), nothing in this land escapes the scrutiny of the artist’s eye. Check out Ireland from the perspective of five such artists: Mari Ward-Foster www.flickr.com/photos/22784225@N07/ , Evelyn McCullough www.flickr.com/photos/herringpond/ , Rodney Harrison www.flickr.com/photos/rodneyharrison1966/ , Sean Mulligan www.flickr.com/photos/swordscookie, and Jane Mclaughlin www.flickr.com/photos/jeanniemac/. Aloha!