Eye on the sky

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams.

These are the words of a poem called “He wishes for the cloths of heaven” by an Irish poet W B Yeats. They are written high on the walls of the main room in the Historic Science Centre at Birr castle. I had to study that poem in school. It was only later in life I understood what it means.
The centre and the demense are fascinating places, at least for me. It was the site of the world’s largest telescope in the mid 1800’s. As I looked at the huge structure that supported the telescope and at the technology that was used, I could not help but think of what was happening at that time. Inside the walls of this grand estate no money was spared in developing the latest technology in photography, optics and precision engineering in order to build this instrument while outside the walls a million people died from starvation and millions more were forced to leave their native land to survive.
Here is a link to the Birr castle website http://www.birrcastle.com/#

We moved on to Roscea and then set out for Dublin. My friends taking the opportunity to get some sleep on the way. On arrival in Dublin more shopping was done before dinner at The Vineyard in Blanchardstown. I dropped off my friends at the Castleknock hotel and drove back to my house