July 12 2001

Well it's the 12th. It doesn't seem to bother Ronan or Dylan. There's a coincidence for you. To have a grandson born on the 12th of July and a couple of years later to have a great-grandson born on the 12th of July again. Happy birthday Ronan, Happy birthday Dylan. While I'm here it doesn't seem to bother the swans either. Here's a picture showing a black swan down at Lough Ennel, minus a few green bits, by kind permission of Clondalkin Ray. I wouldn't say there's too many black swans to be seen in Ireland somehow. I wonder if this one is related to The Swan of Tuonela The Swan Of Tuonela is based on Finnish legends about a black swan that takes souls into the after-life. Lemminkainen, a hero and poet, wanted to master the secret of death by shooting the swan of Tuonela. Tuonela is the Finnish Hades on which the black swan glides, singing as it goes back and forth over the river of death. Now he lies defeated beside the blood-red stones of the Tuonela river. The swan, the symbol of death's eternal secret, swims away majestically on the dark river