Also random fact I finally know why a photographer says cheese before he takes a picture. Say the word cheese. No really say it. What does your mouth do? Stretches like you're going to smile! Ta da! So there is a point to saying that word when taking a picture. lol
Ok so school wise its pretty much the same old same old... it's school. Not much changes, well except for a couple of things. In one of my lit classes we got a new teacher, who I like much better than the last one! She's entertaining, and actually takes time to explain things, and doesn't talk like she's talking to herself. So I will probably enjoy the class much more!
In my other lit class, my dislike of the teacher has gotten much stronger... we're starting presentations and the first group to go she was incredibly rude to them. I felt so bad for one of the girls, because you could see her confidence wavering. For example there is this term she was explaining called ethnocentrism, which is basically when one country/society judges other cultures by the standard of their own culture.
So they had a map that was a political statement/joke just as an example. It was a map of how the United States sees the world, and it was like we see Africa as Aids, Russians as commies, China as a shopping mall. And the teacher interrupts them and was like wheres the credibility of this map? Who determines that this is how the United States thinks? I felt so bad for them! The girl was like "I don't know, I was just using this to show how ethnocentrism works." and teacher was like "fair enough."
So guess who gets to present this Friday.... guess who is not looking forward to it.... yep me. I don't like giving presentations to begin with let alone when I have teacher who seems ready to jump down my throat if I make a mistake.... yippee...
I did not miss archery this week! Yay! I learned how to string a bow (I believe that's the correct terminology) and put the arrow on the bow myself instead of someone doing it for me. So yay for learning! But there was one point in time where I shot the arrow and hit the WRONG target. Yes I hit the wrong target, but I got fairly close to the middle of that target. lol so that counts for something right? And I made people laugh so I guess its all good haha. But I do have an excuse for shooting the arrow that badly.
We have something we wear that is like this:
I've also met my first "official" friend. Don't get me wrong I've met tons of people, and I've hung out with people on trips and sometimes hang out with my roommates downstairs, and I'd probably consider a couple of my roommates friends but now I have a friend that I can actually see myself hanging out with, without having to go to a bar or getting annoyed with her every second. We're very similar in personality so yay!
I also passed the one month mark on Monday. Time is going by really fast... and I'm not sure if I'll really want to come home in December... lol
Well I think that's all I have to report on for the week so on to my trip!
Blarney Castle/Stone/Cork
I finally went to what I consider my first castle. The others while called castles, and I'm sure they are viewed as real castles here, aren't the picture I've had of castles in my mind my whole life. (I'll blame movies and Hollywood for that!)We went to Blarney Castle (which guess what? I have information about. What else would you expect? lol) which was pretty cool, and it is also where you can kiss the Blarney stone which was slightly terrifying.... So here ya go! Picture and information galore!
Castle First Vista
Blarney Castle is the third structure to have been erected on this site. In the tenth century there was a wooden hunting lodge here. Around 1210 this was replaced by a stone structure with its entrance some twenty feet about ground on the north face. This building was demolished for foundations of the third castle built by Cormac MacCarthy in 1446. It is the tower house, or fortress residence of this that we know today as Blarney CastleThe MacCarthys remain one of the most ancient clans of Ireland, tracing their ancestry back to its earliest days. St. Patrick himself converted on ancestor to Christianity. They were great warriors and recognized by all kings of Munster- or almost all if we are to include the English.
Besieged at least four times, and taken once by Cromwell's army the MacCarthys held onto their great fortress until forced to leave in the years following the Batlle of the Boyne of 1960.
Rock Close
The Jeffereyes family, ancestors of the current owner, bought the Castle and ground in 1703. In an area of fairy enchantment and ancient druid mystery, they laid out a beautiful landscaped garden knows as the Rock Close, so exquisitely beautiful that no just idea of its influence over the feelings can be conveyed by the tameness of prosaic description.
"All Blarney"
Queen Elizabeth I is credited with introducing the word Blarney to the English language. Her emissary, Sir George Carew, was charged with persuading the MacCarthy Chieftain to abandon his ancient rights and accept the authority of the English throne. Every time he tried, he was met with long and eloquent protestations of loyalty and honeyed flattery of the Queen- but also with no agreement.In frustration, Elizabeth exclaimed "this is all Blarney. what he says he never means." And a new word was born.
The Stone of Eloquence
For over 200 years, world statesmen, literary giants, and legends of the sliver screen have joined the millions of pilgrims climbing the steps to kiss the Blarney Stone and gain the gift of eloquence. Its powers are unquestioned, but the story still creates debate.Some say it was Jacob's Pillow, brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah. Here it became the Lia Fail or 'Fatal Stone' used as a oracular throne of Irish Kings- a kind of Harry Potter like 'sorting hat' for kings. Legend says it was then removed to mainland Scotland, where it served as the prophetic power of royal succession, the Stone of Destiny.
When Cormac MacCarthy, king of Munster, sent four thousand men to support Robert the Bruce in his defeat of the English at Bannock Burn in 1314, the Stone was split and half was sent to Blarney.
Some years later, a witch saved from drowning revealed its power to the MacCartheys
"There is a stone there, that whoever kisses, Oh he never misses to grow eloquent."
The North Wall
Blarney Castle sits directly on a eight-metre cliff of rock, which formed the quarry for building the castle.This is the most imposing view you'll get of the Castle and it looks even more dramatic because the walls slope gradually inwards. The blarney is even in the architecture.
The casemented oriel window projects out from the Earl's Bedchamber and sets Blarney a cut above the everyday Irish castle. But what projects from the three large square holes in the wall is best left unsaid. These are the outlets for the garderobes and before you ask for a translation, note that these were always built downwind.
High above you, you will see two identical two-light windows. Because these were clearly not designed to be glazed we can tell these are very early features. But it was not all cold winds and bleak stonework. Originally, these walls would have been whitewashed.
Kennel, Sentry & Dungeon
Enter with careYou are standing at what was the gatehouse of a substantial bastion tower that once defended the tower house we know as Blarney Castle.
To your right, the dog kennel and sentry guarded its entrance. Defense was obviously a key priority and you will see several musket loops in the external walls.
As the centuries have progressed, what you will find within has become more mysterious. A labyrinth of underground passages and chambers, dating from different periods in the Castle's history, and mostly now inaccessible, are beyond the most intrepid explorer.
If you do venture within, you will find the chambers of what is believed to have been the Castle prison.
If you climb the left-hand of the parallel staircases you will find the chamber that some say housed the castle well.
The well's vital role in times of siege would have ensure it considerable protection. A nowadays inaccessible tunnel, over 16 metres long connects this chamber to a small cave in the rock- possibly and attempt to force entry by a besieging army.
Tradition tells us that this was the Watch Kepper's or Lookout Tower.
It was probably restored in the nineteenth century but if you look to its base you can see fragments of older masonry that suggest this formed part of a curtain wall that in earlier years surrounded the Castle.Look around the interior walls and you can see the holes that would have housed the wooden treas of the spiral staircase taking you to the lookout position. Time has spared us the climb but given us the breath for the oratory.
Welcome to where the Blarney began
"Cormac MacCarthy, bold as bricks, Made me in Fourteen Forty-six"Cormac the strong, chieftain of the MacCarthy clan, and Lord of Muskerry, built this fortified tower in 1446. It stand on the site of a 10th century wooden hunting lodge used by the Kings of Munster and was the most powerful fortress of its time. It was originally set in an enclosed area of around eight acres, with a perimeter wall, and a series of small watchtowers.
Over the last two hundred years, it has become the best- known and most photographed building in Ireland. Then, it was a seat of power and site of battle.
But then and now its allure has always been magical
Blarney Castle: The climb to the Stone.
Many of you may be here to kiss the Blarney Stone and to gain the gift of eloquence. You will be following in historic footsteps. As long ago as 1789, the French Consul to Dublin wrote of "Blarney Castle on the top of which is a stone that visitors who climb up are made to kiss..."You will learn the story of the stone as you pass through the Castle Chambers. Take care as you mount the winding stairs and if you think that way is narrow, consider that two who went before you were Oliver Hardy and Winston Churchill. Eloquence is not just a gift for the sylph- like.
Almost Always Welcome
Throughout history, any passing traveler could knock on the Castle Gate and expect to be invited in for refreshment. In 1602, the invading English even tried to take advantage of our Irish hospitality to avoid the daunting challenge of taking the Castle by force as they noted."...his Castle of Blarney... is one of the largest and strongest castles within the province of Munster, for it is four pile joined in one, seated upon a main rock, so that it is free from mining, the wall being eighteen feet thick and well flanked at each corner to the best advantage."
The cunning Sir Charles Wilmot and a force of men pretended to be hunting for deer. At the height of the heat of the day, they simply knocked on the Castle Gates and asked, as was traditional, to be let in for some glasses of wine and whiskey. But their homework had no been thorough enough. The doors were only opened when the Chieftain was at home- and at that very moment he was languishing in the Cork gaol. Our usual warm welcome was unforthcoming.
A few days later the Cheitain made a daring escape. But that's another story...
The MaCartheys, Lords of Muskerry
Cormac Laidir (the strong) MacCarthy the reputed builder of Blarney Castle in the late fifteenth century came from a noble linage extending back many centuries.The castle was built sometime in the 1480s and Cormac Laidir was probably the first occupant, though he was slain by his brother Eoghan in 1495, until he in turn was killed and succeeded by Cormac's son, Cormac og. in 1498.
Blarney Castle is one of the largest examples of a type of castle once common in Ireland called a tower house. Unlike the large castle we see today, the orginal tower house was a tall, slender tower, four stories high, dominating one corner of the courtyard. Traces of this courtyard (known as bawn) are still visible in the north and south walls of the present building. The original tour survives today as the block projecting from the northwest corner of the castle.
At some stage in the sixteenth century, the east and south sides of this tower were greatly extended by a five story tower block built on the site of the earlier bawn. A new bawn was then laid out to the west of Blarney Castle, of which the north wall and a corner turret still survive.
The origins of the famous Blarney stone legend may derive from the actions of a descendant of Cormac Laidir, Sir Cormac Macdermod, during the Nine Years War (1594- 1603), when the native Gaelic aristocracy came together in open defiance of the English Crown. Sir Cormac tried to appease both sides and his ability to play one side off the other allowed the word 'Blarney' to pass in modern speech, referring to smoothly flattering and cajoling talk.
Below your feet is what is called an "Oubliette"
A fifteen metre deep pit with a conical ceiling. Its only entrance was from above.If your arrival was unwelcome as you stepped on a certain paving stone the guaard could loose a catch on the wall.
The stone would turn over and the ground would seem to swallow you up.
Oubliette comes from the French for to forget- and forgotten you would be.
(There are some historians who prefer to think of this pit as a granary, but they've never kissed the Blarney Stone.)
I looked at the ground to see if I could evidence of this... and either I'm blind, it is well hidden, or its not there anymore....
The Court
If you look to your right you can see the ruins of a late eighteenth century Gothic mansion, know as the 'the court' and built in 1739 by the Jeffereys, who bought the Castle in 1703, but found it rather uncomfortable to live in.It was a grand residence, three stories high, with ranges of casement windows facing east and was a thriving and lively country house through the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Sadly it was destroyed by fire in 1820 and all remaining good building materials were sold off.
There were rumours that this was to prevent the son from inheriting it. But that could be blarney...
I also looked for this but I have no clue what its referring to....
Great Hall
You are enterting the Caslte from the basement, and area that until relatively recently housed cattle. It also served at a buttery, where barrels of wine would be stored and decanted before the faithful retainer would begin the weary climb up the spiral staircase to deliver some Blarney hospitality.
The vaulted ceiling above you was not the basement ceiling but that of the room above. The basement had a beamed ceiling resting on the jutting stones known as corbels above your head. As you make your way around the Blarney Castle, you'll have to use your imagination here and there as our ancestors were not always so careful of fixtures and fittings. Once you've climbed to the top and kissed the stone, you'll find that gets even easier.
The ceiling that you can see was originally built using a weave of hazel. It has since been plastered but you can still see its original style where the plaster has fallen away.
Although perhaps originally a storeroom, the building of the splendid Jacobean fireplace in the early seventeenth century made the room above a welcoming chamber- the Castle's great hall. The large windows would have been glazed and a warm and imposing introduction for any Castle guests guaranteed.
I'm not totally sure how this was a bedroom. Can't imagine anything sitting without an angle with that floor! There was a sign that said the Young ladies and Priest's room, but since my camera was being stupid I couldn't get a good picture, and I didn't have time to really read anything since we were sort of on a time crunch and the line was moving quickly.
Kitchen
You are now standing in the kitchen of the CastleIts lofty position in the Castle served a number of purposes
- It was built next to the Banqueting Hall, greatly easing the catering delivery
- If the cook burnt the cakes, the whole castle was not at risk
- and if boiling oil was needed to pour on unwelcome guests, it was handily places for the battlements.
The large window to the south made it a glorious suntrap and it was probably originally a rather special bedchamber for the lord and his lady, with a pyramid shaped roof.
But all was changed in the late 16th century with the construction of the enormous fireplace, capable of roasting the biggest beast.
As you stand in this fireplace and look up, you'll see it resembles a ship's funnel. We do love a party...
Beware of imitations
In 1908, any Americans unable to visit us in person could imagine this view by visiting the World Fair in St. Louis Missouri where a replica of the Castle was built.In the 1940s, Blarney Castle was offered $1,000,000 to tour the Stone throughout the USA. The Blarney Stone stays in Blarney Castle: Beware of imitations.
"Here on top, exists a wondrous stone. Which to the tongue imparts that soft'ning tone; Its high pretensions are acknowledged wide, And with the nation 'tis identified: Nor can its long established fame subside. Throughout the world, till tongues themselves have died; But this strange feature multitudes have got Who know no other of this charming spot." - Hogan 1842
Blarney is a varnished truth. Blarney is flattery laid on just thin enough to like it. Baloney is flattery laid on so thick we hate it. I firmly believe that if the world had a little more Blarney and a little less Baloney it would not be in the mess it is today.
"Baloney is flattery laid on with a trowel. Blarney is flattery laid on with the lips, that is why you have to kiss a stone to get it." -Monsignor Fulton Sheen
"Blarney: He has licked the blarney stone; he deal in the wonderful, or tips us the traveler. The blarney stone is a triangular stone on the very top of an ancient castle of that name in the county of Cork in Ireland, extremely difficult of access; so that to have ascended to it, was considered as a proof of perseverance, coverage, and agility, whereof many are supposed to claim the honour, who never achieved the adventure: and to the tip blarney, is figuratively used telling a marvelous story, or falsity, and also sometimes to express flattery. Irish"
"The stone this is, whoever kisses, He never misses to grow eloquent. This he may clamber to a lady's chamger. Or be a member of Parliament."
When the great novelist Great Walter Scott visited the castle in 1825 (following some say in Byron's footsteps), Father Prout enthused " You behold, Sir Walter, in this block the most valuable remnant of Ireland's ancient glory... Possessed of this treasure, she may well be designated: "First Flower of the earth and first gem of the sea." for neither musical stone of Memnon, thats so 'sweetly played in tune' not the oracular stone at Delphi, not the lapidary talisman of the Lydian Gyges, nor the colossal granite shaped into a Sphinx in upper Egypt, nor Stonehenge, nor the Pelasgic walls of Italy's Palaestrina, offer so many attractions."
We cannot confirm how many times the Father had kissed the stone but it must have been many!
When a Frenchman tried to bamboozle Scott the following year, Sir Walter was quick to point out his Journal "All this jargon I answer with corresponding blarney of my own, for "I have not licked the black stone of that ancient castle?" As to french I speak it as it comes...
The Blarney Stone was involved in the earliest days of cinema.
In 1904, the Edison manufacturing company produced a motion picture called "European Rest Cure" The hero visits Blarney and is so eager to kiss the Stone that he arranges to be dangled by his heels over the ramparts. Sadly his helpers lack a strong grip and we see him disappear through the bottom of the screen (he does later recover) We're rather more careful of our visitors nowadays....
It features again in the 1949 film Top O' The Morning, starring Bill Cosby.
"One bright morning, the villagers near Blarney Castle, Ireland hear terrible news: the famed Blarney Stone has been stolen. Enter Joe Mulqueen, singing insurance investigator from New York..."
In 1984, it is stolen once more in the international popular children series Inspector Gadget.
Kissing the Blarney stone. Yes you have to go upside down to kiss it. It is NOT the entire wall, just a stone at the very bottom. I feel kinda bad for the guy though, having to hold people all day long.
Groves of Blarney
The groves of Blarney, they look so charmingDown by the purlings of sweet silent brooks, All decked by poises that spontaneous grow there, Planted in order by the rocky rooks, There is a stone there, that whoever kisses, oh! he never misses to grow eloquent. Tis he may clamber, to a lady's chamber, Or become a member of parliament. A clever spouter he'll sure turn out, or an out- and- outer to be let alone. Don't hope to hinder him, or to bewilder him. Sure he's a pilgrim from the Blarney Stone.
There's gravel walks there for speculation, And conversation in sweet solitude: Tis there the lover may hear the dove, or the gentle plove in the afternoon; and if a lady be so engaging, As to walk alone in these shady bowers, Tis there some courtier he may transport her.
For 'tis ther's a cave where no daylight enters, But cats and badgers forever bred; being mossed by nature that makes it sweeter than a coach and six or a feather bed. 'Tis there the lake is, well stored with perches And comely eels in the verdant mud; beside the leeches and groves of beeches Standing in order to guard the flood.
It was Great Craic
The MacCarthys were legendary entertainers and this, the Banqueting Hall is where it all happened. The Chieftain's table ran across the wall facing you. Here the prevailed few could sit on their master's shoulder and enjoy the revelry before them- many were later to write poems in apology for their behaviour.Around an open hearth, oak tables extended down the Hall, creaking under the weight of roast and huge baskets of bread, not to mention plentiful supplies of mead, beer, wine, and whiskey. At the top table, the principal guests enjoyed haunches of venison and tankards of claret
We had a jolly good time.
The Banqueting Hall
The clear step or offset you see below marks what was once the stone-vaulted floor of this, the Castle's fourth story and banqueting hall.The hall once extended even further behind you, but was shortened when the kitchen passage was built. The shelf cut into the wall of the passage acted as a serving area.
Looking down the hall, the self to your left would hold the drinking vessels for the revelry and the press to your right displayed the chest of fabled Muskerry plate, today worth hundreds of thousands of euros, and allegedly cast into the lake to keep it out of the hands of the Jeffreys (and, yes, the lake has been drained to search for it.)
Above the hall was timber roof, appearing as a point above the parapet, and probably slated in the later years.
The spiral staircase stops abruptly at the door to the Banqueting hall. Any attacker who got into the spiral stair could not bypass this chamber and go to the roof. Hospitality has its limits.
"There were a people accustomed to bestow wines, and tender beef and holiday dresses! They were graceful and beneficent; their strongholds were filled with beautiful women, and quick- slaying cavalry viewing them; mirth, playing on harps, poems and songs were at their feasts; their women were prolific, and accomplished; silken, chaste, white were the slender bodies, and sedate the eyes of their maidens! Hilarity, drunkeness (occasional) were at their festivals! Loud sounded the song of the bards" ~The bard Donal na Tuile (1696)
Family Room
Blarney Castle could be a dark and foreboding structure so its hardly surprising as the centuries progressed, the family would want a more cheerful room for themselves.New and larger glazed windows were added, bringing both light and warmth. An enormous fireplace was built against the north wall on your left, big enough to roast a side of beef, and around which, according to one 19th century historian, 'tales of hero's were told.'
This was a luxurious room, and certainly not as stark as it can look today. If you look to the top of the room, behind you to your right, you can still see traces of the ornate stucco decoration that provided a frieze for the plaster ceiling of the 17th century.
This must have been a joyful room for the family and even after the castle began to fall into disrepair was often used for elegant picnics by some of its grander Victorian visitors. To assist in this, a smaller, more practical fireplace was built within the former one.
The only other thing I was able to look while at the castle was the Poison Garden, which I really only wanted to look at because it made references to Harry Potter, but I know there was a lot more stuff to look at if I had had more time. Why we spent more time in a city than at the castle I'll never know but here's some picture of what I found in the Poison Garden:
European Mandrake
Mandrake root is supposed to look like the male form and its use would give a man that power which men are always willing to spend a lot of money to get. Its high price was maintained, in part, by the difficultly of harvesting it because, as every Harry Potter fan knows, mandrake screams when you pull it up. The scream was fatal so it was common to tie a dog to the plant and let the dog pull it up and suffer the curse.
But the story of the Mandrake does not start with J.K. Rowling. Genesis chapter 30, verse 14 says that Reuben 'found mandrakes in the fields' during the wheat harvest. According to Hebrew folklore, however, what Reuben found was a dead donkey which had been tethered to a mandrake and, trying to escape his tether, had pulled the mandrake up and died as a result
The shriek of pulling it upis mentioned in Romeo and Juliet and King Henry VI and its power to cause insanity comes into Macbeth. In Antony & Cleopatra asked for Mandragora to help sleep through the time Antony is away.
Hallucinogenic, narcotic, emetic, and purgative. The effects are similar to deadly nightshade and henbane.
Whole books and websites are devoted to discussing whether this complex plant deserves its harmful reputation but, it seems safe to say that it has become widely used for beneficial purposes.
Cannabis is one of the most complex plants with over four hundred compound identified. The interactions of these compounds are impossible to model and variable effects on different people are well-known. Research has even suggested that cannabis affects different parts of the central nervous system in different ways in the same person. There is no evidence that anyone has died purely from consumption of cannabis.
There is much debate about how long cannabis has been known and whether its past use was entirely for its hemp fibre rather than its' psychoactive effects. In December 2008, researchers reported finding cannabis in a grave in the Gobi Desert believed to date from 700BC. Analysis suggests that substance would have had intoxicating effects and its presence in a grave with other high value items is taken as an indication that it was a valued substance. In addition, only female material was present suggesting that even then the difference in potency of male and female plants was understood.
Opium Poppy
Second only to Nicotiana in terms of numbers killed, the opium poppy causes death accidentally, when prescribed medication is taken in overdose, to innocent victims, when used as a murder weapon, and as a by product of its use a substance of abuse.
The resin, opium, present throughout the plant but concentrated in the sap of the seed capsule, yields, morphine, codeine, and other alkaloids called papaverine, laundanine, narcotine, narceine, amurine, nudarine, and protopine. It is likely that some names refer to the same alkaloid. Morphine is the best known of the alkaloids together with its derivative diamorphine which is better known as heroin. Morphine and heroin are narcotic and death due to overdose is common. In Europe, around 7,000 to 9,000 people a year die purely from overdose. This does not include those whose drug addicted lifestyle leads them to early deaths from numerous other causes.
Though now a little dated the word 'hip' has been widely sued to mean someone who is trendy and generally to be admired. The term comes from 'being on the hip,' that is lying on one's side in a den smoking opium
Scattering poppy seeds round the bed on St. Andrew's night would provide dreams of a maidens future husband. Putting a question about love in an empty seed pod under the pillow would provide the answer in a dream.
Henbane
So poisonous that the smell of the flowers produces giddiness but in some cultures used for ritual and recreational purposes due to is strong hallucinogenic properties.
Conatins tropane alkaloids called hyoscine (scopolamine) hyoscyamine (L- atropine) and atropine (DL- hyoscyamine.)
Causes dry mouth, thirst, difficulty swallowing and speaking, warm flushed skin, dilated pupils, blurred vision and photophobia, vomiting, urinary retention, tachycardia, pyrexia, drowsiness, slurred speech, hyperreflexia, auditory, visual, or tactile hallucinations, confusion and disorientation, delirium, agitation and combative behavior. In severe cases there may be hypertension, coma and convulsions.
Most modern cases of poisoning seem to result from its consumption as a hallucinogenic.
The seed heads look like a piece of jawbone complete with a row of teeth. The plant, was, therefore, used in dentistry from ancient times. The hallucinogenic, soporific effects of the plant would have made people forget the toothache.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb was introduced to the west as a luxury with restorative powers long before the consumption of the stalks as a dessert began but it is the leaves, deadly in 'normal' amount, which earn its place here.
Though the stalks are widely eaten as a dessert, the leaves are highly toxic. They contain oxalic acid in the form of oxalates which is widely believed to be the poison but there is evidence that these are insufficent to cause the know fatalities. There are reasons to believe that it is anthraquinone alkaloids which are to blame but the mechanisms have not been fully studied. Symptoms of rhubarb poison are said to be weakness, burning in the mouth and throat, difficulty breathing, pain in the eyes and stomach, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, red colored urine, and kidney stones. Death from eating rhubarb leaves occurs quickly and is proceeded by drowsiness, possibly leading to a coma, convulsions, internal bleeding, and nosebleeds as coagulation is inhibited. Symptoms begin within an hour of ingestion.
The Canadian poison plants information service website says that "ingesting rhubarb leaves has caused many fatalities, especially during World War II, when the leaves were recommended as food for a short time" This seems to be the only reference to rhubarb being used in the UK during World War II
Wolfsbane
This highly poisonous plant has a long history stretching from its use in euthanasia in Ancient Greece through to its appearance in the Harry Potter books.
Lycoctonum comes from the Greek word 'lykos' 'wolf' and 'kteinein' kill' based on its common name Wolfsbane.
Ingestion of even a small amount results in severe gastrointestinal upset but its the effect on the ehart where is causes slowing of the heart rate, which is often fatal. The poison may be administered by absorption through the skin or open wounds, and there are reports of people being unwell after smelling the flowers. Its distinctive taste makes it unpleasant to eat so accidental poisoning is rare.
On the island of Ceos, in the Aegean, the elderly and the infirm weree xpected to drink a potion of wolfsbane to free their families of the burden of caring for them. As the only poison capable of killing a wolf, it was used to poison arrowheads. It was, sometimes, called panther strangler after its ability to kill panthers. Eating human excrement was said to cure a panther of aconite poisoning.
Just a little bit more information
The poison Garden
The Blarney Castle Poison Garden was created with the purpose of education visitors about the poisonous plants that can be found both in the wild and also in our own gardens. It aims to show both teh positive and negative side aspects of these plants by looking at their various uses, including medical, both traditionally and in modern times.
The site on which you are standing may very well have once been a similar garden where plants would have been grown for medical and culinary purposes. These 'physic gardens' were common in medical Europe. A basic definition of a 'physic garden' is a garden maintained for the study and cultivation of plants for medical purposes.
How many people die because of poisonous plants?
In Europe as a whole, the number of deaths from ingestion of a poisonous plant is so small that no separate statistics are collected in the USA, less than five people a year die as a result of eating a poisonous plant.
So, the plants don't cause many deaths?
Actually, they do, millions of deaths every year in fact, but not when they are in their natural state. The huge number of deaths occur once we start to make products from the plants in Europe, over 7,000 people die from and overdose of Heroin. Ever year and around the world, over 5 million die from smoking related diseases. That plants aren't "bad" we make them harmful by the ways in which we use them.
The Curtain Wall
This is all that remain of what was once a curtain wall around the Tower House.
This was an important part of the castle's defenses and is 'doubly skinned.' The outer and inner walls are separated by a layer of earth and small stones to better absorb the impact of unfriendly cannonballs.
In friendly times, this provides a good vantage point for those to laze to climb
The car park you can see ahead of you was once a station yard of the railway that transformed Blarney Castle into one of the worlds great tourist destinations. The line opened in 1887 on July 4th, and appropriate date for a site proud of its American connections.
Ronald Reagan: 1984
"I am the President of a country with the closest possible ties to Ireland. One Irishman told me he thought I would fit in:"
"Mr. President," he said "you love a good story, you love horses, you love politics- that accent we can work on."
But I also came to the land of my forebears to acknowledge to debts: to express gratitude for a light heart and a strong constitution; and to acknowledge that well-spring of so much American political success: the Blarney stone. I do not have to tell you how the Blarney stone works; many times, for example, I have congratulated Italians on Christopher Columbus's discovery of America, but that is not going to stop me from congratulating all of you on Brendan the navigator.
Cork City
The other place we went to was cork city, which i think we should have spent much less time there because really who needs 3 1/2 hours in a city? Especially when there's another one that's a 15 minute bus ride away from the school...
But here's a couple of nice pictures :)
So there you have it! Another week, another trip, and more amazing sites.
After this week I may not be posting weekly, If I do it will probably be a small little blurb on my week. I don't plan on travelling as much, because honestly traveling every weekend if really tiring, so my goal is to travel 2 items a month. My next confirmed trip is October 26-28th so may not have a nice juicy post until then :)
but hoped you enjoyed it!
Is it just me, or does it seem a few of those poisonous plants names are from Harry Potter.
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