Last week I got a bit of a shock, as I discovered I was a finalist in 'Arts and Culture' category in the Blog Awards Ireland 2013! There are four other fabulous finalists in the same category, some of them personal favourites including The Irish Aesthete, writing.ie, A Year of Festivals in Ireland and Lexicolatry. Honestly, to be even uttered in the same breath as these fine blogs, is a reward in itself! It has really encouraged to push harder with my blog, so perhaps some changes will be on the horizon in the near future. For now, I'll continue to blog about my cultural pursuits and interests, (on a budget!). You know, I'm happy that even some of my friends read my blog! I have considered doing some freelance writing because theres still a lot I'd like to contribute, but this content doesn't necessarily 'fit' with the blog as it is, but I am unsure as to where to start, so if you have any suggestions feel free to comment or shoot me an email!
Carolanne with her produce at a market in Johannesburg (via)
Two other Sligo bloggers made it to the final round of nominations also, my friend Carolanne of Carol-Anne's Kitchen (for best Blog of the Dispora), and Seomra Ranga (Best Science/Education Blog). Carolanne is a globe trotting foodie, with a passion for life and new experiences. She has lived in India, Australia, and after training at the reknowned Ballymaloe cookery school earlier this year, she is currently based in South Africa, where she brings Irish flavours to the farmers markets of Johannesburg. The girl makes a mean caramel square. I mean I'm craving it right now, thousands of miles away, I've not tasted better yet, and I eat a lot of things coated in chocolate.
(via)
Seomra Ranga (from Irish, translates to 'class room') is an online resource, for Irish primary school teachers, established in 2007 by the enterprising Damien Quinn. It provides a wealth of free resources for teachers to use in the classroom, and Damien is active on every social network there is it seems, tirelessly promoting his fantastic site.
I wish them both well, both are duly dedicated to blogging and promoting their ideals just as well offline!
Blogging was a total revelation for me, I've made new friends along the way, though I'm not sure I can claim that my photography skills have improved! I find it enjoyable and immensely satisfying but I just don't blog enough! The Blog Awards Ireland is a reminder of the talent throughout this small island of ours, and no matter how rural or urban we bloggers are, we can connect with a blogging community on this world-wide platform, whether we're at home, or one of the thousands of Irish abroad, thinking of home.
Minnie Driver and Saffron Burrows in the 1995 film adaptation of Binchy's bestselling novel Circle of Friends
As twenty somethings are loathe to do, a few weeks ago my friend Jean and I were dissecting our current situations (career, finances and relationships) and prospects for the future over tae. I'm trying to be positive and reflective with whatever hits me nowadays. We both see Maeve Binchy's book as a balm of sorts, as do generations of young Irish women, our mothers too.
Jean reached for her newly acquired kindle and brought my attention to a Binchy quotation she had highlighted in an article she had been reading. As with everything Binchy wrote, there's a sense of imparting wisdom, like a beloved aunt with a girlish heart, passing on her knowledge to make the difficulty of navigating your way through the obstacles of life a bit smoother, finding comfort in the knowledge that someone close to you grappled with similar situations, and came out the other side, warm personality intact.
"Learn to type. Learn to drive. Have fun. Write postcards. (Letters take too long and you won’t do it, a postcard takes two minutes.) Be punctual. Don’t worry about what other people are thinking. They are not thinking about you. Write quickly. (Taking longer doesn't usually make it better.) Get up early. See the world. Call everybody by their first name, from doctors to presidents. Have parties. Don’t agonise. Don’t regret. Don’t fuss. Never brood. Move on. Don’t wait for permission to be happy. Don’t wait for permission to do anything. Make your own life."
Maeve on the set of 'Circle of Friends', 1995. Binchy's international profile increased after her book was adapted into a film.
An ultimate autumn comfort of mine is curling up in my duvet before lights out and reading a chapter of a beloved Maeve Binchy book. I recently picked up a collection of her early short stories Dublin 4 in a charity shop, and read it on the train to Dublin. I lived in Dublin 4 for a time while I was an undergrad at UCD, and all the ups and downs of youthful naivety came flooding back. Her books are all so familiar, its like catching up with a dear friend, and one that has always been there for you.
Maeve Binchy, 2005, by Maeve McCarthy, National Gallery of Ireland (source)
Film-makers David and Sally Shaw-Smith
As a child growing up in the West of Ireland, on the suburbs of a large town, we had the "poverty channels" (how us those of us from outside the Pale would later jokingly refer to a childhood spent watching the basic national TV channels). There were only 2 national television stations, Rte 1 and Network 2, the more obscure TG4 and TV3 were later arrivals in the mid 90s. In the pre-Celtic Tiger years, only the more affluent classmates seemed to have the British channels.
I'm glad my parents refused to budge though, because in the days before our huge, awkward desktop arrived in the early 00s, rainy day television was my only distraction when I'd finished reading all my books. I watched a great many things, my interest in old films and eclectic old documentaries stems from this time (necessity fuels the imagination). By happy coincidence, Hands was one of those iconic documentaries screened repeatedly by RTE over the years, I watched quite a quantity of them, charmed by the almost skill of the craftsman, many who seemed to be kindly old rural bachelors who spoke in indecipherable heavy Cork accents. Now numbering over 37 documentaries focusing on the survival of traditional Irish craft in the Age of the Machine, in all the 32 counties on the island of Ireland.
Hands always stuck with me, especially as I later went on to study History and Art History. The nobility of Ireland's rich arts and craft tradition remained as one of my untapped interests. Happily, Lara Byrne, the film programmer at The Model arts centre in Sligo, arranged for some exclusive screenings of the documentary last weekend, with a Q&A with the directors afterward. The weather was a washout, and unfortunately probably deterred a lot of people from attending, but for those of it who determinedly battled our way through the rain to get there, we were rewarded with an intimate Q&A session with the filmmakers, David and Sally Shaw-Smith.
Lara made her decisions wisely. We were treated to two thirty minute long documentaries, one on Rushwork – In Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, we see the harvesting of rushes on Lough Ree, curing and making traditional rush baskets and other items (1989). The second, 'Of Bees & Bee Skeps' (1983) – winner of the Golden Harp for Ireland and in the museum of Modern Art Collection New York; this arresting and moving documentary records the traditional work of bee-keeping from making a straw skep to catching a swarm, and extracting honey.
(Chairmaker John Surlis, Wool spinning and an Irish tailor, Images via David Shaw-Smith)
I can happily report that after watching these documentaries for the first time in many years on a big screen, the authenticity and intimacy of this series has not dated, even though the fashions have! There are 37 documentaries in all, recorded between 1969 and the late 1980s. I love the easy pace of the documentary, reflecting the pace of life in the countryside in which it was filmed. There were a couple of narrators as far as I remember, but the easy, familiar tone of hs voice still is most comforting. I decided to save up to buy the 15 disk complete Hands series at Christmas, but I did purchase a copy of David's beautifully illustrated compilation Traditional Crafts of Ireland. David and Sally kindly signed it for me, and it is now resting on my beside locker, for me to look through before bed each night!
'Imbued by a sense of urgency to record crafts in their natural surroundings before they disappeared completely, David and his wife Sally, under contract to RTÉ, travelled the length and breadth of Ireland and it’s islands to assemble this important collection of 37 films on traditional Irish crafts and lifestyles, where the emphasis is on the skills of human hands rather than on machines.'
While I would urge people to purchase the DVDs from their official website, while searching Google for images I found a few episodes of 'Hands' available to watch online (and I believe in sharing culture wherever you find it):
1. Rushwork
2. Of Bees & Bee Skeps
3. Currach Makers
4. Chairmaker John Surlis
PS. 'In Good Hands' will be a six-part series revisiting some of the families of craftspeople featured in the original 'Hands' series, I believe it is screening on Rte this Sunday.
St. George's Market
My friend Maeve hosted a Sylvia Plath retrospective on February 11th, marking the 50th anniversary of Plath's death. I stayed with her over the weekend, and I hope I acted as a foil to all the stresses that come with hosting an event single-handedly! Not that she needed the support, an impressive crowd filled the large lecture hall in the University of Ulster lecture hall. In fact, it was the only Sylvia Plath event on the island of Ireland. So congratulations to Maeve for pulling it off so successfullly. She had some engaging speakers, from Plath academics to poetry students, and she gave some impassioned speeches of her own. Maeve is big on promoting Plath studies, removing the layers of myth that come with biographical readings of Plath.
A selection of Plath books donated by the publisher Faber and Faber, especially for the Retrospective.
This time last year my only experience of Belfast was from the motorway. Thanks to Maeve for introducing me to the sights and sounds of the city, I've grown to love the place! When I was up last Spring I visited Titanic Belfast and The MAC.
Due to the trouble in the city before Christmas, local businesses have been running the Backin' Belfast campaign to combat the bad press surrounding the city over the past few months and to encourage people to visit Belfast and support it's vibrant local businesses, who were hit badly by the decline in turnover over the Christmas. On twitter they've been using the hashtag #backinbelfast to offer discounts in local restaurants, as well as printing it on t-shirts and other merchandise.
Vegetarian paella - not sure why there's two forks, I wasn't going to share!
Lily Pink Bakery treats
No visit to Belfast is complete with a visit to St. George's Market. There I visited Belfast blogger, and friend, Claire at her stall - The Lily Pink Bakery, where she sells a popular selection of delicious cupcakes.
The place was buzzing, we skipped breakfast and decided to get brunch at the market. I had vegetarian paella, Maeve and her pal got burritos. Finding a table is a bit of a challenge in the mid-morning, so you do a bit of ducking and diving, but you get to enjoy your food at the end of it! All our food was very tasty and fresh!
One of my favourite stalls at the market is the Blue Door Studio where a mother and daughter team make these very contemporary, quirky birthday cards. I bought a gin one for my desk, for the days I need cheering up (there alongside Tavi's First Kiss Zine from 2010)! The illustration is taken from an original pen and ink drawing by Sarah Majury and you can buy her work from her Etsy shop 'White Hart'.
I wandered around the stalls for a cheeky browse, they sell everything you could think of under the lofty Victorian roof of the market. Cakes, jewellery, retro clothing - an abundance of locally made crafts and goods, and it heartens me to see the place so bustling with people eager to buy local. I'd love to see something similar in Sligo, or the North-West. Though, Belfast has the population to cater for it. I do remember enjoying a similar market whe I was in Leeds in the autumn.
Lovely copper studs from Beadmag.
I purchased these lovely copper star earrings from beadmag, made in Belfast, at the Silver Trilogy stall (I assume its a collective of 3 jewelry sellers). Now I have much less money, I'm not inclined to buy cheaper bits of jewellery from high street shops. I cleared a lot of my trinkets out in January. I'd rather buy items made from more quality materials when I can afford it. Copper is very expensive now, but I thought these were good value for £10! I love how you can see the indentations in the metal.
My top purchase was this hot chocolate from the O'Conaill stall. They've recently set up shop in Belfast. Their flagship and only other store is in Cork, and has been high regarded for many years now. As I giddily waited, for my dark chocolate drink to be prepared, I jokingly expressed my dissatisfaction at being stranded in the middle of the two best chocolate shops in Ireland, over a 3 hour journey each way! I don't know if the poor fellow running the stall has any sway in the company, but I was insistent that they open a store in Galway at least! There's plenty of greedy chocoholics in the West!
Find out more about the #backinbelfast campaign here.
Admiring the view, in my 1950s mouton jacket that I picked up at a vintage fair in Sligo before Christmas!
A couple of weeks ago I was down in Westport over the weekend for a friend's birthday. I hadn't wandered around the town itself (voted best place to live in Ireland in 2012) since I was in my mid-teens and was obliged to climb the reek at Croagh Patrick with my parents on pilgrimage Sunday. Since that observance has faded from my life, Westport remained in my mind as a place where I spent an uncomfortable few hours stumbling upwards and downwards on a rocky mountain face with thousands of others, and ate at a hotel carvery with my family afterward. I always felt a curious mix of guilt and resentment, guilt because as a family we didn't eat out a lot, but I hated carvery food, and have developed a life long aversion to this Irish tradition ever since.
My friend Lara told me of the beauty of Old Head, and true to her word, took me there for a drive on Sunday morning. It's about a half hour drive outside Westport town and there are some quirky houses to be seen on the way! One of the joys of living in Ireland, you can have Sunday rituals where you go for walks in the countryside, to shake off the sleep.
It was a cloudy day so the peak of Croagh Patrick was obscured (see second picture). What I found most breathtaking at Old Head however, was the many different shades of blue I could make out, between the sky, horizon and the sea. There were shades of blue I don't think I've ever seen before, even on afternoons in Italy gazing across the water. It was a still, tranquil landscape, I found it very peaceful there.
We took a walk along the headland. The wood there reaches right down to the water and I think it is one of the only remaining pre-medieval forests in Ireland.
Couldn't mention a party without a party picture!
A restaurant where the patrons can openly complain about the food then?
Sunday afternoon trad session in Matt Molloys
I didn't take any pictures in the town itself, preferring to wander round and peep in boutique windows. I'm hoping to get back some weekend when the weather's warmer. They have some lovely pubs and restaurants, and beautiful boutiques. I have also heard of a café that apparently sells an incredible cup of hot chocolate, and that's always a serious lure for me!
Of the two main beaches in Sligo, Rosses Point is the closest to where I live. It is referenced in W.B. Yeats poem The Stolen Child, and one stanza in particular comes to mind whenever I go for a walk here:
(Click images to enlarge)
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand
In the summer when the sun does make an appearance, Rosses Point was my preferred beach for sun lounging. The sea here is much calmer, and if you walk to the end you can see Lissadell House across the bay. I remember when I was working at the Leonard Cohen concert in 2010, in the evening just looking across the water to see Rosses Point glowing in the moonlight, with Cohen's husky voice providing the backdrop to a memorable midsummer's evening.
Less bustling than Strandhill, it is more popular with dog walkers than surfers. The romantic in me endears me to Rosses Point, and I find it very restful sitting on a bench among the sand dunes when I feel like having some headspace. Maybe Yeats did the same. The artistic and mystic poet George 'Æ' Russell said to have witnessed mystical visions here on one of his summer visits with Willy Yeats. I'm not so sure about that, but Sligo can be magic, if you allow it to be.
Photo by Denise
Sligo is surprising. It's a surfer's paradise with its sandy beaches, on the cusp of the Atlantic sea, all those waves. The only thing that's missing from this paradise is the sun that puts in an occasional appearance.
A couple of weeks ago, Denise informed me that Billabong's Tow In Session was taking place. International surfers ("wavehunters") travelled from around the globe at mere days notice to surf the big waves. I had known that 'tow surfing' (getting towed out further to enable surfers to ride bigger waves than they'd normally be able to paddle out to) was a thing off Mullaghmore Head (in North County Sligo), but I'd never witnessed it for myself. I dressed in my most sensible woolens, my winter coat, packed a thermos and she picked me up and we headed out.
The biggest waves in Europe, measuring 40-50 foot high had until this year had been surfed off Mullaghmore Head by an Irish surfer in 2010. The day we went out there (January 23rd) groups of onlookers had gathered to watch the waves and the surfers in the blustering wind. The waves seemed to me to be almost like something out of a film. When you stand at Mullaghmore Head you are confronted with the awesome power and force of the sea. I get an adrenaline rush just standing there, thinking of the restlessness of the sea, and how nothing but the unpredictable Atlantic is between you and America.
Ooops, I forgot to bring gloves!
I was mostly too absorbed anticipating the waves to take many photographs, and these are a poor reflection of the mood out there that day. The surfing community is an international one, they're all there for a common goal, there's an etiquette to surfing, that you won't find in many team sports. The community is very pro-active, there are extreme surfing photographers and surfers who capture incredible footage to distribute and share with the international surfing community. In these cases, capturing these moments on film aren't simply for personal preservation, but as visual proof for competition judges, but they're also enjoyed by surfing enthusiasts and curious folk such as myself (I had a brief fling with surfing when I was 16, and haven't been involved since).
This is what was taking place a couple of weeks ago, in my backyard (in a sense):
Classiebawn Castle, with a snowy Ben Bulben providing a winter backdrop, January 2013
At Classiebawn Castle, December 2012
As you drive along the coastal road of Mullaghmore Head, Classiebawn Castle with Ben Bulben in the background comes into view. I always have to get out of the car for a few moments to admire my favourite view in the world.
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
