A little glimpse at some of the layers
It is interesting to see the train tracks still above ground in 1956, The North link road now covers them – see the lorry on the left. I am curious to see the Glen in 1956 shows few trees, there are many more today… I hear that The Glen was wooded up until the end of the 19th century, I am told the trees were cut down and used for military building practice, creating test trenches in the Glen, in training for active duty in WW1. I am wondering about these structures and the many others below our feet across time..I think of the rats who are always there….
Goulding Fertilizer Factory ceased to Function shortly after this photo was taken and the family donated the land to the people of Cork for recreational use in the 1960s. Sir Basil Goulding was a noted art collector, a champion of modernism when painting clung to figurative realism, an influential arbiter of art and architecture, and one of the early members of the Art Council of Ireland (established in 1951). I am intrigued by the circular form above the factory in this picture.
I am dipping into Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and, curious to see how it looks, I did a search for “sweetgrass” the first link to show was https://www.gouldings.ie/our-products/fertiliser/sweetgrass-fertiliser/ probably the bots in action.
The Latin name for Kimmerer’s American Sweetgrass is Hierochloe odorata, meaning Sacred fragrant grass https://blackstemplants.co.uk/hierochloe-odorata.html this one is rare in Ireland, and known here as Holy Grass, here’s a post about Holy Grass http://www.habitas.org.uk/priority/species.asp?item=2666 and on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierochloe_odorata
We have a type of Sweetgrass in Ireland, known as Floating Sweet-grass
Glyceria fluitans, or Milseán uisce (water sweet) in Irish. Here’s what the plant looks like http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/pages-grasses/g-21.html
Grasses are in the Family, Poaceae
There are lots of grasses in the Glen, I must look out for Sweetgrass when it flowers in the spring, to find it there now would be satisfying. I have been making cordage – a kind of spinning with fingers – from some grasses I gathered there in August, it would be some kind of synchronicity to find out it’s Sweetgrass//Milseán uisce or the other type of Sacred Sweetgrass.
This google photo doesn’t show the hilly nature of the area, my home is at the bottom of this map and the house is on the north lee of Military Hill, sloping northwards down to the Glen river. The terrain appears pretty much flattened out in the google view. Below is a photo taken from the south facing slope showing the narrow gorge the river cuts through the land, the footpath flanks the river and is overlooked by a chorus of dead (elm?) trees.
Nightfall in the Glen is a gentle exchange of sun and moon, bringing colour to the skies, and this time of year in the cold snap the mist rises from the river silhouetting bare trees that appear like other tributaries into the main flow. This sun||moon arc is one of the most beautiful things about the east west axis of this deep river gorge. One of the walkers tells me that the Glen was always known for its pink sky.
Last night as we were sitting under the oak and dusk was creeping in, Lisa caught a glimpse of a fox over my shoulder, I turned and saw only the white tip of her tail as she slithered down the slope, we heard her trip, the stumble causing stirrings in the bracken, all fox coloured and darkening in the evening light. There have been many fox sightings in the Glen, one zipped across our path a week ago, and recently a walker posted images of a poorly one, all bony haunches and balding fur. I keep missing glimpses “Is that a squirrel?” asked Tom, as I turned it was gone. Ed has seen a sparrowhawk on the zigzag, mouse carrion in claw. The zigzag is a popular place for sightings, there has been a budgie at the bottom, and a jay at the top – Lisa alerted me to the squawk and I missed the blue streak dive into the trees. there have been talks about flashes of blue “is there a kingfisher in the ponds ?” on walker wonders.
There are so many specific zones in the Glen park, stopping places which invite moments of stillness and listening. Moments where sonic and visual worlds collide … recently, Rudolph in the Glen: