Smooth as silent glass
Water bends beneath webbed feet
Darkness rims the day
Weekly photo challenge: Refraction
Haiku and photos by Sandi Fleming, October 2014
All photos were taken with an iPhone 5. “Return to Connemara” copyrighted ©2014 by Sandra Fleming.
For Irish readers, Connemara is the name of Carl Sandburg’s home in Flat Rock, North Carolina. An American poet and writer, Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize three times. Today, his house is a National Historic Site, which I wrote about in a September post. On Sunday afternoon, my husband, son, and I went to Connemara for a short hike–short, because it was after 5:00 by the time we arrived and beginning to grow dark. As the light faded, so did my hopes of fall color photos. Even so, I could see why Sandburg found this peaceful setting conducive to his writing.
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Hi Sandi, never realised that Sandburg’s house was called Connemara! Beautiful house, and named after one of my favourite places in Ireland. Did he name it himself, or was the house already named when he bought it?
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Carl Sandburg did not give the home the name “Connemara,” but he and his wife did not change the name during more than 20 years of living there, so presumably they liked it. The second owners, the Smythes from Charleston, SC, changed the name to “Connemara” because of their Irish ancestry. The setting for the house is lovely–I should have taken a picture of the place where Sandburg is said to have liked to write. Oh, well, we will probably go back: there was a longer hike that I wanted to show my husband.
I will have to Google the real Connemara now and see what it looks like!
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Ah, Thanks for explaining, Sandi. Connemara is a wild and rugged and beautiful region here in Ireland, and has an atmosphere and allure all its own. I try to get there once or twice a year. It soothes my city-soul and feeds my senses — keeps me going for another while.:)
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So lovely!
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I want to follow that path and see where it leads.
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I think that path circled back to the main house, Deborah? At one point, we went down to the left, through a small apple orchard, and across a field. It was very peaceful, but I have wondered what it was like when Lilian Sandburg’s large goat herd was roaming about the place.
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I like exploring paths like this where you are not sure where it will lead 🙂
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So pretty and beautiful at the same time 🙂
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Thank you for sharing these lovely photos- I must add this to my “to visit” list next trip to NC! Best, Karen 🙂
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Strangely, I have lived near Connemara for 18 years but never visited until this fall. There is a small fee to tour the house–$5.00–but it costs nothing to hike and see the goats.
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