Obama and Me….

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 | Mairead

We’ve seen lots more beauty in the past two days since leaving Kilkee but we got a great surprise in a small town called Moneygall.

(Beautiful place on Loop Head called Bridges of Ross)

Around noon I was hungry and we saw a cute little cafe in the town but it was closed so we travelled on for about a kilometre when we spotted a large service station that served Tim Hortons coffee.

(Amazing view near the lighthouse at the tip of Loop Head)

The same coffee we had become addicted to in Canada! We stopped off and had some coffee. Then while we were there a lovely couple from America arrived.

(Swallow feeding her chicks outside our bedroom at a farmhouse near Killaloe)

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to get a picture with them…

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(Me and Obama)

Turns out it’s their holiday home in Ireland. Who knew? Mairead.

Writing on the Roads

July 23, 2015July 23, 2015 | Mairead

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(Sunny day in the west)

I’m sitting in the window seat of our room overlooking a group of men painting lines on the road. They must have started before 7am. It’s so busy here during the day I suppose they don’t want to interrupt traffic. The traffic of visitors. Accidentally, we have found one of the thriving towns in Ireland. The old shop fronts are sparkling. The only one I found boarded up was being renovated. Ok it’s not perfect, there are a few places closed but they’re not boarded up, they’re waiting for their time. And now the road painting crew are out early to make the traffic run more smoothly.

(The bustling town of Kilkee)

We’re at the seaside in the town of Kilkee in Co. Clare and when we arrived yesterday it was at its best – sun shining, buckets and spades selling, ice creams dripping, wind breakers leaning and babies eating sand. There really is an air of prosperity here. Not showy prosperity, old-fashioned prosperity. On the seafront there’s a stall selling periwinkles and just now I’ve spotted a woman on the corner selling fish from a plastic box. She has a sizeable queue forming.

(Seaside)

The hotel is so busy there wasn’t a table for dinner last night, but we needn’t have worried searching on google we found 18… eighteen restaurants in the town… open! No worries so. It’s nearly time for breakfast now and I hope they have a table for us but if they don’t I bet there’s plenty of cafes here.

(There were lots of colourful old shop fronts)

(and even the closed shop fronts are interesting)

The lady with the fish is chatting with a family – mum with a buggy and two little girls. She’s let the girls pick up the fish. The taller one is holding a fish up in the air pretending it can fly. The smaller one is running around her sister pointing and laughing. The lady is giving them a towel to wipe their hands. No fish have been sold. Instead, connections are being made.

(Spotted this at the front of the menu last night… community is part of a vision here)

Stories will be told of holidays in Kilkee where real fish can fly, Mairead.

This Beautiful Country

July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 | Mairead

(Adorable little cottage with pretty china cups and tasty maple syrup pancakes)

We’ve arrived in Cashel… Not the Cashel in Tipperary. With the Rock. Where I grew up. The Cashel on the west coast of Ireland, looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean… with lots of rocks… and lots of sea view beauty. But before we left Ballaghaderreen we got to visit the award-winning cafe. It’s called Meet you Here and it was well worth going back. Even though we arrived before opening time the nice lady saw our hopeful faces and unlocked the door. As well as a cafe there was a little gift shop and an art gallery in a tiny gate lodge. It was a bit like being in an adult-size doll’s house. I liked it a lot.

(Peeling paint on a farm building… I’ve been attracted to all the beautiful old farm barns we pass and finally yesterday I got up close and personal with one – want to make this in mixed media!)

Sitting for lunch in the pub on Monday it was easy to see there is a community here in Ballaghaderreen, the tables were full and everyone seemed to know each other. A lady (of a similar age to myself) came in for a cup of tea and sat by herself at a table. As the GAA conversation at the bar became heated regarding whether a foul was real or faked, she looked up and joined in. She had been sitting on her own, reading a book, I thought she was alone. Instead her membership of this community made her part of every conversation, always included. During our stay in the town I had begun to imagine the Irish small towns of the past. I imagined the now boarded up shops on the main street bustling. I imagined a retiring shop keeper having a chat with his daughter about passing the business onto her. I imagined a new arrival deciding to buy a business and hoping it would succeed.

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(View from the bike on the road inland from Leenane towards Cashel)

As we left Ballaghaderreen it had started to rain again and maybe it was the lack of brightness that made me notice the housing estate with windows and doors boarded up, one of the outward signs of the recent recession. The journey to Cashel, Co. Galway took only a couple of hours and the scenery on route was very rugged. I spent most of the time imagining how it might be possible for towns with such a strong sense of community to recover their economy. Although it was overcast and there were some showers it was still possible to remember we live in a beautiful country.

Is it possible for us to live in a beautiful economy as well? Mairead.

Rainy day in Ballaghaderreen

July 21, 2015July 20, 2015 | Mairead

(This is why rain is so great… it makes wonderful green stuff)

Today was a little bit wet so I didn’t get a chance to take many photos. Fortunately, I took a lot yesterday. We’re staying in the small town of Ballaghaderreen, I’m not sure if I know how to pronounce it so I was waiting to hear someone here say it… but no one has yet. I think it’s Balla-hah-dreen but don’t quote me on that. We are staying in a room over the pub on the main street and when we dropped all our gear we went looking for a coffee shop.

(Perfect cafe in Ballaghadereen… with only one small problem)

We couldn’t find one on our own so we asked a lady in the supermarket and she was very proud to tell us there was a beautiful place up near the church. Her friend told us it won some competition as the best in Ireland. Well, of course that’s exactly the coffee shop we want to go to, right? We followed her precise directions and spotted a pretty little gate lodge with flowers in hanging baskets and window boxes. Perfect. We took some pictures outside and congratulated ourselves on such a great find. Then we went in through a little gate and spotted the sign. The CLOSED sign…. We were twenty minutes late. We pressed our noses to the windows for a bit and returned to our room over the pub. The instant coffee isn’t award winning but grand all the same.

(Claire and Paul’s lock-keepers cottage on the Royal Canal near Mullingar)

It definitely makes us appreciate yesterday’s tea break on the Royal Canal in the little lock keeper’s cottage. Paul made us great tea while Claire had baked delicious soda bread. If it hadn’t been for Claire chatting away outside with the passing walkers and cyclists we wouldn’t have noticed the opportunity for tea. She grew up in this cottage and years later when she and her husband retired they decide to renovate and they’ve been welcoming passers-by since.

(This was great tea)

They had been very busy yesterday by the time we arrived and all the scones were gone, then we ate the last of the soda bread. So that when Claire got word from one of the cyclists that there was a boat coming she had to dash off and put more scones in the oven. I wondered to Paul if there would be enough time to bake the scones and he told us the boat was coming from Mullingar and would have five locks to navigate. There’d probably be enough time to cook them dinner too. I really hope the people on the boat stopped yesterday and I hope Claire and Paul keep welcoming people into the little cottage because it’s a really lovely experience.

All the best from Ballaghaderreen, Mairead.

On the Road Again

July 20, 2015July 20, 2015 | Mairead

(Our first photo point was an old church and graveyard overlooking the river Boyne)

It’s been a long time but we finally dusted off the motorbike, charged the cameras and took to the road. As I write we’re just outside Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. About two hours from home. We’re taking it slowly this time. You might remember two years ago we went to Florence via Venice on the motorbike? I haven’t been on the bike since. Every time Denis would suggest a possible trip I’d remember that last journey and the heat (40 degrees C in full bike gear) and the length of time spent sitting on my posterior (some days more than 8 (eight!) hours) and the motorways in Germany (lots of big scary trucks.)

(Going over a little bridge we realised we were crossing the Royal Canal (at Coolnahay Harbour) so we stopped for tea and soda bread (baked by the daughter of the last lock-keeper))

But Denis is very persistent and eventually he came up with a formula I was willing to test… travel (on mainly country roads) for one hour, eat, travel for one more hour, eat and sleep. Also, temperatures would be less than 30 degrees… probably much less. This week we’re testing the formula. In order to make the test more interesting we’re following the Irish photo rally. This is a list compiled by Gerry Christie with twenty four GPS points around the island of Ireland. There are clues as to what you might find at a point but you have to go there to see. The idea is that you get to travel to places on your motorbike around the island that you might otherwise never find. They’re dotted around the country so you can spend your time meandering from one to the next for days. Have a look at the map on irishphotorally.com.

(Bumble Bee at work)

Anyway, it was with a bit of trepidation that I got on the back of the bike this morning but I was soon rewarded with the forgotten truth – it’s an amazing form of transport. I had forgotten. The heat and daily distances of the last trip had erased my memory of it’s beauty. The beauty of the smells… just five minutes from home we smelled the most amazing wild garlic smell. We pass this point at least four times a week, every week never smelling the garlic, but on a motorbike…. The beauty of fresh air! I know it’s free but it’s gorgeous and it smells kinda green, yep it does.

(There’s a lake right next to our hotel with a little jetty)

Anyway, we’re off to dinner now and tomorrow we’ll drive for an hour, eat, drive for another hour eat some more and sleep. We’ll also take some pictures and smell some more smells.

Bye for now, Mairead.

Under Starters Orders…

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 | Mairead

28 05e

(Danger! Danger!)

A funny thing happened as soon as I sent an email saying I was going to write an ebook… Someone (me) turned on the Dangerous Warning System. I’m sure it’s a very useful system for something, but as yet I don’t know what… but not much use for making stuff or writing stuff. The Dangerous Warning System message is very clear: You are about to fall flat on your face, stop everything!

Danger

(You’re not good enough to go in here!)

Although it creates quite an uncomfortable experience it’s also a familiar experience. I’ve experienced it lots of times. Like that time at the spelling test in 2nd class when I forgot how to spell, couldn’t even manage my name, had to stand in the corner. And the time in the swimming pool when I thought I was drowning. Or that time I was learning to drive and I couldn’t breathe. Very familiar… not very helpful.

Speed Limit

(Narrow road ahead. Photo credit: Caoimhe Walsh)

When my Dangerous Warning System is turned on there’s a sort of rigidity that comes over my whole body, my thinking gets filled with shoulds and long forgotten rules about how to do things right. Soon I want to eat a bucket of sugar, the thing I’m doing gets sidelined and my priority is to find a safe place to hide.

Terror

(There’s a terror attack – find somewhere safe to hide, now!)

If you ever find yourself afraid to take the next step, afraid of falling on your face, afraid of the possibility that you have opened the door to some awful monster… then you know about the Dangerous Warning System. And you might want to find a way to turn it off.

BabySteps

(Little baby steps)

I found a way! My way is to turn it off with kindness, from myself to myself. Soothing words like ah sure you’re alright, there’s nothing too dangerous going on here OR lets take it one step at a time and my all time favourite you can do it… your way. After all that kindness I’m probably loosening up on the rigidity and I might even be breathing again. Just to be sure I remind myself to soften, I shake my shoulders and I blow all the air out of my lungs. Then I remind myself, there is no right way to do this, it is possible I will fall on my face but that’s ok. I know it might hurt but it’’s still ok. Just take one baby step at a time from this soft place. And breath… all the way out. Your precious priority is to move and keep moving in the direction of what you love.

And so we begin, Mairead.

Three days in Edinburgh.

September 5, 2014September 5, 2014 | Mairead

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(Cute salt and pepper)

We went to Edinburgh on Monday. We came home on Wednesday. We fitted in loads and left out loads (sorry Dan and Carol and Amy and Calum and Aaron…) We didn’t bring blogging tools, so here’s a summary and lots of pictures. Edinburgh is well worth visiting and especially with lovely weather.

05 9b

(Cobblestoned street near our apartment)

We were meeting Doris and Grahame. They booked a pretty apartment within walking distance of the city and we arrived on Monday afternoon to a warm welcome from them. Let me fill you in on these personalities. Doris is Canadian, Grahame is British, living in Canada for almost 100 years (I think that’s accurate.) Doris smiles a lot, Grahame laughs a lot. Doris is very, very generous, Grahame is learning to be patient. Doris loves to shop, Grahame is a fast learner. Doris make great pancakes, Grahame writes great Facebook updates.

05 9c

(The American barista in Starbucks almost spelled my name right, but… hey, there’s my sister’s name – Moira!?)

Of course I knew all these things already so when Doris said, “this room is yours, I hope it’s ok”, I should have known she had given us the big bedroom, with the comfy chair (for mediating as Grahame calls meditating) while they had the little one with no chair. I have no idea where their sixteen suitcases (slight exaggeration) were stored. I also should have known that when we were offered pancakes for breakfast the pancake ingredients (including oil for frying, cups for measuring and maple syrup for pouring) had come all the way from Canada in one of those sixteen suitcases.

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(The measuring cups from Canada)

I didn’t know these thing until later and I’m glad I didn’t because I really enjoyed the room and the pancakes and I didn’t feel even a little guilty.

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(Big rivets in the big door at the big castle in Edinburgh)

We hadn’t realised that Doris and Grahame were vegetarian… and they weren’t… but they seem to have started a new health regime, possibly? So… none of us ate meat for the three days and we walked… a lot. Denis has an app that tells you how many steps you’ve taken over the course of a day and we were walked an average of 15km. We may have led the Canadians to believe that this was normal for us… but the truth is we might top 2km a day, normally. So… we kept up with them and they kept up with us keeping up with them! There was a moment when someone mentioned the possibility of taking a taxi to the restaurant but Denis said “not at all, it’s just around the corner” and the rest of us smiled wanly at each other and trudged on for a further 2km.

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(Our guide around Edinburgh castle. Well… his kilt and socks and boots, anyway)

We saw Edinburgh castle (where the kings and Queens used to stay and fight), Holyroodhouse Palace (where the Queen sometimes stays and works) Marks and Spencer’s (where underwear is world-renowned) the Royal Mile between the castle and the palace and a beautiful castle called Tantallon near north Berwick – ahem, the town where Denis’ sister-in-law works… but we didn’t visit, sorry 😦

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(The Bass Rock as seen from Tantallon Castle. Why is the rock white? We wondered too and Doris investigated. Each white dot is a bird!)

We didn’t have any arguments which could have been because of all the gifts Doris bestowed on us (you remember I said she was generous.) I didn’t even mind that I had to wear two pairs of leggings, all my underwear, all my tops, my fleece and my rain coat on the plane home in order to fit the gifts.

05 9h

(The ruined abbey at Holyroodhouse Palace)

If you are thinking of going on holidays with some friends may I suggest you only go with the ones who give you the bigger bedroom, lots of gifts, make the breakfast, let you choose the restaurants and generally make you think you’re lovely people to spend time with… but don’t go with Doris and Grahame – they’re ours.

We’ll be back, Mairead.

Lost and Alone in Budapest…

May 29, 2014May 29, 2014 | Mairead

29 05d

(Beautiful Buildings)

Budapest is quite beautiful and quite big, so we gave up the walking tour for a bus tour… not our finest hour. Not just because of the lack to exercise but for the choice of tour. Our home for the next two days is situated beside Margaret’s Bridge or as we’re saying now Mairead’s Bridge (Well, I’m the only one saying it… if you don’t know Mairead is the Irish for Margaret… ) And as there’s a bus stop for the tour on the other side of the bridge we went looking for it. Took us a long time meandering around trying to find it with a less than useless map. Eventually Denis went into a chemist to ask for directions while I waited outside taking pictures of all the beautiful buildings.

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(Mairead’s Bridge… well ok it’s still officially Margaret’s Bridge)

Now, you may not know but as soon as you tell people you’re off to countries like the Czech Republic or Hungary the stories of adventure gone terribly wrong start surfacing. The worst of the stories were generated by the mention of Budapest. (Just as an aside, while we’ve been away I’m keeping up with news of car hijackings around Ireland and murders in Dublin, we’re at the moment attempting to change our flights to land in a safer country…..) While it is very helpful to be wide awake and notice what’s going on around you, it’s not so great to be walking around in fear. It makes the walking around noticing all the amazingly beautiful things very difficult.

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(Street Scene)

Anyway, there I was on my own with an expensive camera in my hand in Budapest. I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t speak the language, did I mention I was all alone? …and nothing happened.

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(Beautiful Parliament Building)

Well, nothing bad happened. There was this older man and his wife who practically crawled along the ground so as not to get into the shot I was taking of a building across the street. When I realised the pains they were going to for my art I was mortified and grateful. I said Oh sorry and thank you and smiled. The woman smiled and the man was a joker and said something funny in Hungarian to me and I smiled in return. Of course, I have no idea what he said but I completely know from the way he said it and his body language that he was being nice to me, making a connection with me, encouraging me. That’s what humans do. It’s hard to spot when I’m afraid.

29 05b

(Look at the cute car!)

Meanwhile Denis was in the chemist having little luck explaining in sign language to the people behind the counter what he wanted when one of the customers spoke in English and said he might be able to help. He did help and we found the bus stop but we might have been better off going for a coffee instead.

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(A public transport bus with the reminder that Budapest is two cities, Buda and Pest)

We’ve had great tours with great guides in Prague and Krakow (sigh) and now we were on a bus listening to a recording. Prague and Krakow have ruined the simple pleasures of a bad bus tour for me…

From lovely Budapest, Mairead.