North Atlantic Skyline » lough mask http://johnsmyth.ie/blog Despatches from the West of Ireland. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:06:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Lower Lough Mask http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/05/04/lower-logh-mask/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/05/04/lower-logh-mask/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 23:19:24 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=2762
There’s a small sliver of  lower Lough Mask that is part of county Galway. It is a  narrow channel of water squeezed between the mountains of Joyces Country. This part of the lake froze during the winter freeze this year, but on a sunny day in early April, it was hard to imagine. Taken with a polarizing filter which tends to make the colours more vivid than normal.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/05/04/lower-logh-mask/feed/ 1 Cows on the hill http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/04/13/cows-on-the-hill/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/04/13/cows-on-the-hill/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:36:00 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=2741
A cow is little more than a four-legged, cud-chewing, farting and belching heat sink. They love the sunshine. A sure sign of a good day is if you see cattle on the top of a hill, eyes half closed, sprawled out and bellies rumbling as they ruminate their way through previously eaten grass and hay.

These two cows were taking the sun on a hill beside the Galway part of Lough Mask (near a townsland called America – there has to be a story behind that one). It was really hot on Saturday - almost 20 degrees in Mayo – and I was wearing just a teeshirt when I took this picture. But in the background are the Maamtrasna hills and those white patches are clumps of snow.It ain’t summer yet.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/04/13/cows-on-the-hill/feed/ 0 Mayo Water, headed for Galway http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/02/05/mayo-water-headed-for-galway/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/02/05/mayo-water-headed-for-galway/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:06:57 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=2448
The evening sun was shining on overhanging trees which were reflected in the waters of the stream that runs through Cong – the stream originates in Lough MAsk in Maoy and drains into Lough Corrib and eventually Galway Bay.

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