Ireland continued - finally!

I'll be appreciating and celebrating St Patrick's Day in a whole new way this year.

Knowing now that 41% of my DNA comes from Ireland makes a difference, 

as does having made a trip to the island;

which reminded me that I never finished posting my pictures of Ireland.

Well, there's no time like the present.

Since it's a Sunday,
 I'll concentrate on pictures of holy places -
although the sense of the sacred permeates most of Ireland,
not only designated buildings
or patches of fenced grave yards

From Dublin to small parish churches, with no apparent 'significance',

we saw glimpses of histroy and the faith of generations of ancestors.

 

           Jerpoint Abbey, the ruins of a Cisterian abbey

was particularly lovely,

even on a rainy, cold grey day.