An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

This is actually 3 posts! I went to Cobh this morning to see the QE 2 which is visiting there. Cobh has a great maritime history, it was the last port of call for the ill fated Titanic before she sailed to her doom and in to the history books. A pub bearing the name of one of the big liners of the last century 'The Mauretania '. This is the statue of 16 years old Annie Moore with her 2 brothers, (I cut her head off )! She left from Queenstown to find a better life in America.Books have been written about Annie's life in the new world. Titanic memorabilia on sale in one of the shops. I visited New York last year with my son and we went to Ellis island, it was where emigrants from all over the world were processed for entry to the US. It is now a huge heritage site, I have to say it is an eerie place ,even now.This is me standing next to the Annie Moore statue there, Annie was the very first person to be processed through Ellis Island. This is how Barry and myself may hav...

The memorial in Cobh to the sinking of the Lusitania. The ship was torpedoed 3 miles from Kinsale by a German u boat in 1915, I think The US then entered the first World War. The survivors were brought into Cobh, those that perished and their bodies recovered are buried in Old Church cemetery outside the town. About 30 years ago I had been reading about the Lusitania and went to the cemetery to see the memorials, as we thought.We searched the graveyard, mostly overgrown at the time but could find no trace of it, as we were leaving I asked a gentleman at the gate where they were and he said he thought they were up the back somewhere. All we could see were raised mounds of grass, There were no headstones or markers that I can remember now.I visited again today and the town council have done a great job of tidying up the graveyard and marking the final resting places of the victims.There are 3 of these large marker stones for the unidentified bodies buried here. A fairly new memorial sto...

The liner Queen Elizabeth 2, sailed in to Cobh yesterday.She is on her last voyage before sailing to Dubai to become a floating hotel. I remember my father taking us to see the original Queen Elizabeth many years ago, but that time it was berthed out by Roches Point. Now there is a deep sea dock in Cobh , the cruise ships can come right into the town. It is not the biggest ship that has come in, the Independence of the Seas actually dwarfed the whole town when it came in a few months ago. Another view of the ship with a lot of schoolchildren who were brought down by their teachers to see the ship.What a great way to get a sense of history and it was a beautifull crisp autumn morning, much easier to learn in the sunshine than being stuck in a classroom reading the story out of books. This is looking down on the QE 2 from the heights of Cobh . Cobh is a harbour town built into the side of cliffs, surrounding the harbour.The town council have made souvenir handkerchiefs available for...