Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
As far as other animals, I often come across a few ponies that live by the river. They belong to the Irish Travellers, according to a local man. Irish Travellers are an indigenous marginalized community in Ireland, who have their own customs and languages.
The river is a big part of my daily life in Cork. The River Lee runs through my campus, and along it many kinds of edible plants grow, including stinging nettles (which I have been drinking as a tea), blackberries (sadly mostly done for the season), and even elderberries. Something cool in retrospect, but frustrating at the time, was being stung by nettles. They are covered in little hairs which, you guessed it, sting you. You can find them in the US as well, growing in moist areas, such as by creeks. In nature, whenever something harmful is growing, the cure often grows nearby. In Ireland, the cure for stinging nettles is the dock leaf (broad green lumpy leaves with red veins). I was able to crunch it in my fingers and place it over the nettle sting, and it went away very quickly. For comparison, in Kentucky, a common cure for nettle stings and poison ivy is jewelweed (named for the way it shines silver in the water).
This week, on the coast of Dublin, due to the high winds and rainfall, a massive blanket of seafoam swallowed the coast, like snow. The seafoam itself is apparently a kind of algae. A friend of mine remarked that it was probably stinky (like fish). It was wonderous to see on social media, and I hope to witness it first-hand sometime soon.
