16 April 2015

‘Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days …’

Sunset seen in Knocklyon this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

Male voices:

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Female voices:

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

– Fiddler on the Roof


Just a week ago, it was raining and snowing in Cappadocia. It is hard to believe now, a week later, that further north in Ireland there is a feeling of summer in the air today.

The sunshine has been so bright and warm, I have enjoyed the opportunity to walk home most of the way these last two evenings, and to walk much of the way into work this evening.

I am about to face into a long working weekend, with little prospect of a walk on a beach or in the mountains. But my three walks by the banks of the River Dodder in little more than 24 hours have given me plenty of time for thinking, clearing my head, and reducing stress.

A heron on the River Dodder this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerfprd, 2015)

There are many herons on the Dodder, and one in particular seems to nest in the tress between the bridge near the High School, below the Ely Triumphal Arch, and the weir below the bridge on Rathfarnham Road.

This morning, as I approached, he was picking his way carefully through the stones on the riverbed, quite happy to disregard him even as I inched closer and photographed him.

Sunrise seen from Rathfarnham Bridge this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Earlier in the morning, I stood awhile on the bridge at Rathfarnham Road, looking down the river towards the east and the sun that had been slowly rising over Churchtown.

This evening, from the bridge, I walked north along Rathfarnham Road towards Terenure village, passing a house I lived in as a child and by the house I was born in.

The trees are in bloom, the cherry blossom is at its best, and the flowering trees are adding colour to the scene against the blue afternoon sky.

Sunset in Knocklyon last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

By the time I got back to Knocklyon each evening, the sun was setting slowly in the west, filling the sky with bright tallow, orange, purple and pink hues.

There may be a little rain over the weekend, but the weather forecasts say the temperatures may reach as high as 20 by the middle of next week.

Despite all the excitement and exhilaration of last week’s holiday in Cappadocia, I missed being by the sea while I was in Cappadocia. Perhaps, as the weather improvise here, I may get a walk by the beach next week.

Walking by the banks of the River Dodder this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)