The Times They Are a-Changin'

A portrait taken of me by photographer Kate Nolan in April 2014. See the other photos in her project here.

Blogging will recommence at some point.

In the meantime, find me on instagram.

The Gaelic Chieftain / Colooney, Co. Sligo

It's been a particularly eventful few weeks in Ireland. Justice for Magadalenes tireless campaigning finally prompted Taoiseach Enda Kenny to issue a State Apology to Magadalene Laundry survivors. There;s little of value i can add to the ongoing dialogue, but if you're uncertain as to what I am talking about visit Justice for Magadalenes website.





If you're driving from Sligo to any of the other major cities, you will be on the N4, and you'll pass this fellow on the Colooney bypass. It is 'The Gaelic Chieftain', a steel sculpture by sculptor Maurice Harron, commissioned to commemorate 400 years since the Battle of Curlew Pass. As history has it, during the Nine Years' War (a revolt against English occupation, 1595-1603), in April 1599, the Earl of Essex landed in Ireland with over 17,000 troops and cavalry to put down the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell, which had spread from Ulster to all Ireland. Here, at the pass of the Curlew mountains, a rebel Irish force led by Red Hugh O'Donnell successfully faced down an English force under Sir Conyers Clifford, leaving hundreds of English casualties. (Thanks wikipedia for filing in the blanks!)

Maurice Harron's sculpture is iconic in Sligo's landscape. The Chieftain watches over those who enter and leave Sligo through the land of his ancestors. Harron is also responsible for the Boston Irish Famine Memorial in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Apparently this is also a hot spot for Irish UFO watchers. The west of Ireland has always had a reputation as being a mystic landscape. The Chieftain is located on a hill above the bypass, and while I can't speak for UFO sightings, it does have a fantastic view east and west along the motorway, and over Lough Key. There is a small car park here that has a few picnic benches, and it is a popular place for drivers and families to stop off on their journeys, particularly on sunny days.




Sadly, one of the consequences of Ireland's recession is the theft of Irish public art, particularly if they are made of valuable materials, such as copper. Only a month ago, a large part of a WB Yeats copper sculpture was stolen by thieves and has not been recovered.


For size reference, a reluctant picture of me beside the sculpture. It's certainly impressive to behold - I love Harron's use of material and angular shapes.

The Young and the Restless

I turned 24 on December 27th. Come January 30th it will be exactly one year since I moved back home. I feel restless, and on my worst days I fear I have no direction. My friend Maeve posted some quotes recently that particularly struck a chord with me, quotes on friendship and solitude.


Edna O'Brien, 1970s

"We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable..."

- Edna O'Brien


Jane Morris, 1865, photographed by Robert Parsons, styled by Rossetti

“It’s no good! It’s no good trying to rid your own aloneness. You’ve got to stick to it all your life. Only at times, at times, the gap will be filled in. At times! But you have to wait for the times. Accept your own aloneness and stick to it, all your life. And then accept the times when the gap is filled in, when they come. But they’ve got to come. You can’t force them.”

- D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover

I fill notebooks with words, ideas, I don't know how much they mean. Writing something is often a comfort, sometimes it's necessary, memories slip from my mind like shopping lists. I'm not trying to establish anything here, but to find comfort in the everyday, and to start translating words into action. I comfort myself by assuring myself I still have time, it's filling the time with something, that's the trouble for me. I struggle to live fearlessly and it's time I combatted that.

Regular posting will resume shortly.

A weekend in Dublin, a photo diary

O'Connell Street, with the statue of Jim Larkin (Irish trade unionist), the Spire and the historic GPO

A few weeks ago my friend Maeve, of The Plath Diaries suggested we see the Abbey Theatre's adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead. I immediately agreed and the intripid Maeve got a great deal on a hotel near St. Stephen's Green for this weekend just past. It was luxurious being right in the centre of the city. Both of us were determined to detox from the stresses of Christmas and made a promise to indulge ourselves without feeling guilty.

On Friday we both arrived in Dublin in late afternoon (she travelling from Omagh, I from Sligo). After checking into the hotel we went for a walk around the glowing environs of Grafton Street.

We had dinner at Maeve's favourite restaurant Acapulco, before going to see Neil Young: Journeys at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. Acapulco is somewhere I'd never been before despite passing it frequently on South Great George's Street, there was so much choice, which makes a change for a vegetarian like myself. I wasn't ready to order until the waiter came back to our table for a third time, oops! There is a plethora of Mexican establishments in Dublin, having popped up in the past three years. What I would've done for a burrito as an undergrad! Well I'm making up for lost time now!


On Grafton Street, thanks to Maeve for the photo!




On Saturday morning Maeve and I went for breakfast at Fallon and Byrne, before taking ourselves for a cheeky mid-morning tipple at the Bank bar on College Green, our excuse being that it was a "brisk" day!

One of my resolutions this year was to read more Irish literature. Before the matinee showing at the Abbey we stopped by the Winding Stair bookshop, just off the Ha'Penny Bridge for a browse. I wanted to pick up a copy of Kevin Barry's short stories. A few of my friends recommended his writing to me and what better souvenir of my lovely Dublin weekend. When I buy books as gifts I endeavour to buy Irish books from independent book stores, as a matter of principle.

It was such a lovely clear afternoon on Saturday that we were almost disappointed that we had to sit indoors for a couple of hours, but it was still light when we came out of the brilliant performance, which played to a full house. After having a look in the GPO museum (more on that another day), we took the opportunity to behave like tourists and took some snapshots outside.


Sloe gin on the rocks at the Bank on College Green, a grandly decorated yet cosy bar in the heart of Dublin, housed within an old nineteenth-century bank


Maeve's photo of the Winding Stair bookshop


Kevin Barry's 2007 compilation of short stories, often with a rural, Irish context (something I can relate to as being from a relatively small Irish town)


Waiting for curtain call at The Abbey


The lovely Maeve at a pillar of the GPO, the bullet holes of the 1916 Rising are still discernable, which give me goosebumps whenever I go looking for them!

We walked up to College Green and as dusk fell we walked on the cobblestones of Trinity, having a long talk, before meeting a friend of Maeve's at the Trinity Gate. Indulging in a very twenty-first century vice, I idly browsed through instagram, while we mused on where to have a sociable drink. On my feed I noticed that someone had posted a delectable glass of elderflower and gooseberry infused gin, from the the newly opened Damson Diner on South William Street.

Damson Diner's vegetarian selection was very limited, so I had the portabello mushroom burger, not expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised upon arrival, both with taste and presentation. I especially loved the American style fries on the side. The staff were attentive and I loved the cool contemporary diner feel, a great place for a Saturday night meal.

We headed back to the hotel for a lounge and outfit change, a couple of hours later, we emerged, sparkling, returning to the Bank bar, now bustling with the older Saturday night crowd, before moving on to the No Name bar on Fade St, a favourite of us both when we're in the city. Tiredness won out though, and we retired to the hotel shortly after midnight.

On our final morning, we didn't stray far from Stephen's Green, going for food at Bewley's, always busy but always beautiful. Then we walked to the National Concert Hall, a portion of which is currently dedicated to Alice Maher's mid-career retrospective 'Becoming'. The exhibition was enlightening for us both and I will certainly return before it concludes on February 17th.

**

There you have the recipe for a great weekend in Dublin: a dear friend, cheap seats at the theatre, a bargain hotel room, delicious food and drink, mixed with leisurely walks, beautiful bookshops and gallery visits.


Pursuing Damson Diner's menu


Projections onto the facade of Trinity College ahead of the NYE celebrations on College Green

Resolutions

I thought I'd get away without making a list of resolutions, (my procrastination being one thing I hope to conquer in 2013) but seeing some of my favourite bloggers making thoughtful posts, I'd like to give my two cents too before the year runs out in about an hour.


The last of the summer prosecco, Venice, September 2012

I won't elaborate on the "highs and lows". For the next year I want to be more consistent with my blogging (feel free to tell me to pull up my socks if I slack on this one!). I read à la garçonnière's comprehensive review of the year and found many of the articles she listed particularly inspiring, especially 'Real Talk: Am I living radically?'. It epitomises what I want to accomplish in 2013, the confidence to write radically, to listen, to learn and to be a better ally. I have spates of identity crisises with the blog, and as a personal space I want it to mean something, whatever I put here.

Another resolution: to live without fear.

I'm tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there: not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart: but really with it, and in it. (Wuthering Heights, Chapter 15).


Musing over mosaics, Brussels, March 2012

I originally wrote 'try to live without fear', but that try part was giving me an escape clause. I don't want to try, I want to accomplish. I want to find meaning in everything I do. I want to be the best version of myself I possibly can be, to find happiness, to not shut people out. I want to live up to my potential, and find it in others.


Classiebawn Castle, Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo, December 2012

Goodbye 2012!

Happy Holidays everyone!

I hope you and yours are having a lovely Christmas, wherever you are. It's a difficult and stressful time of year for others, but you're never alone. I wish you all the best for 2013.

It's not Christmas until you send your first card

Before I skipped off to university I used to make the family Christmas cards every year. Mostly nativity or twee winter scenes in watercolours. While I was an undergrad the motivation slipped away, my time was precious, any spare time was spent with my new college friends who 'got' me, at that particular moment in time anyway.

Now that I'm back home for the time being, my days are long, with few friends with as much spare time nearby. So five years after making the last Xmas card, I shook out my dusty crafting skills and plotted to make a card this year.


Cutting out a small piece of lino is tricky so I kept the design as simple as possible.


One the lino is cut out, it takes a few prints for the paint to fully adhere to the surface of the lino, to give a successful impression. (Printing while listening to Christmas music is the best way to go about it).


I then added some simple embellishment to the peacock to make it sparkle!


I then left them to dry overnight.



Then I wrote them up and posted them before the last posting dates for Christmas! As you can see I also printed a greeting on the inside with the leftover vinyl.

My design was inspired by a peacock decoration I bought in Liberty of London in October. The peacock was a popular symbol and decorative trope used by the Aesthetic movement and in Art Nouveau designs, I felt this tied in with my plan to lino print the image onto the card (the inclination to art & craft). I chose secular imagery because I'd be sending them to friends who didn't celebrate Christmas, or were agnostics themselves.

Film Fatale / Some Like it Hot

Source

Glamour visited my hometown last weekend. Film Fatale hosted a screening of Some Like it Hot at The Model, as part of the North West Film and Music Festival. Guests participated in the evenings spectacle by togging out in 1920s and 1950s inspired gear. Before the film chanteuse Derby Browne sang a set of Marilyn songs. Afterward, The Andrews Sisters' Brothers played a DJ set with tunes from the 20s to 50s.


Derby Browne


Anna of Film Fatale

I relished the chance to do something different with my make-up and hair (a hairdresser called Mairead, based in Streedagh, Strandhill takes the credit for the hair). I'm currently reading Letters Between Six Sisters, a collection of letters between the notorious Mitford sisters from the 1920s-90s, edited by Charlotte Mosley.




Nancy, Unity & Diana Mitford

I've been looking at a lot of photographs of the sisters, included in the book, particularly portraits of the sisters in the late 1920s and 30s. Note the cupids bow lips, dark eye-makeup and tailored, slim eyebrows. I watched pixiwoo's Clara Bow inspired video for some professional inspiration and went at it! Of course I wasn't sacrificing my eyebrows, so I just drew them on with an eyebrow pencil.

I'm not used to wearing such heavy, dramatic make-up but when an event calls for glamour, I respond accordingly.







My dress is Noa Noa, my coat is Peter O'Brien from the 2009 A-Wear collaboration, and my earrings are last year's Topshop. The little black beaded bag was a gift, but it was from Accessorize.


Source

Venetian islands: Burano

The Venetian island of Burano is reknowned for its colourful houses and its lace. The houses are painted in distinct colours following in a wonderful tradition, where the sailors returning from sea in bad weather conditions would be able to identify their house by its unique colour. This was in ye olden times before electric lighthouses (another tradition now becoming defunct due to radar technology).







I spent the best part of a day in Burano. We were in a daze walking around the tranquil alleyways, hardly believing this technicolour place to be real, it felt like the film set from a 1950s MGM movie. There were less tourists than the main island of Venice certainly, and it possesses a certain magic that I didn't find in Venice. I think that was because without the overwhelming hoardes of tourists I could see the locals, and actually interact with them and exchange camaraderie!


That awkward moment when you paint your house a different colour to your neighbours but you share a window.


Quiet streets! A rarity in Venice.


I went to the Lace museum (more on that later).


The leaning tower of a church, if you look closely at the churches in Venice, you'll notice that this is very common - it is the old foundations they're built on, these are all reinforced, so they don't tilt further.




Its almost as if the washing was specially selected to fit in with the colour scheme!


This house, Casabepi, has an interesting story. In Burano, locals have to apply to the council, to apply for approval of the colour they wish to paint their house. I suppose it matters to the aesthetic effect of the whole island, but knowing this information, and realising that the beautifully kept exteriors of the houses isn't down to the individual motivation of the community, tarnishs the magic slightly! In the 1950s, the owner Guiseppe 'Bepi' Toselli (1920-2002), a candy seller, turned film theatre owner, began painting his house in these geometric patterns. It has become quite the tourist attraction, there were a few people taking photos while I was there, and I didn't want them in my picture, therefore I don't have a full photo of the facade! A quick google of "casabepi burano" will turn up loads of results!






The vaparetto journey back to the main island takes around 40 to 50 minutes. In the evening, watching the sun set is a wonderful experience.