petit vaca photos and stories

(Flatfish!)
(Mughal, in front of the aquarium in Galway.)
(At the end of the street there is one of the Spanish Arches in Galway -- built in the 1500s, when the Spanish were exploring in Ireland)
(Yeah, so what if I don't know this man? It's a lovely photo, nevertheless. :))
(Al and Mughal, in front of Glor, the theatre in Ennis. We didn't see a show...but we saw the building)

So I just got back from a little vacation with Mughal and Al (see above photos, in weird not-chronological but not-reverse-chronological order). It was lovely -- first and foremost that I got to see them, cause it's been awhile and I love them (you) both to pieces, and also that I got time away from Camphill -- because, as lovely as it generally is, it's still helpful to have distance and perspective once in awhile.
Once we were all here safely (Mughal having to wait and work around her plane being delayed leaving T.O because the luggage cart drove into the plane -- how absurd is that?) we spent a lovely V-Day watching a crappy rom-com (called, boringly enough, Valentine's Day, and riding on its plot similarities to Love, Actually -- it failed, though. Totally not in the same class as that lovely film, this one gave snippets of predictable stories and snapshots of unlikeable characters instead of complete stories. Alas. Still, good times ripping it apart after :)).
And then we went to Galway yesterday, and stayed in a lovely hostel and visited the city. Which is beautiful and artsy and near the sea, by the way. Maybe my favourite city here so far.
And we went to an aquarium this morning. Do you know of flatfish? Their faces are all on one side of their bodies and they swim along the bottom of the ocean -- funny enough, right? But apparently they start out looking like normal fish and slowly morph into these funny sat-on shapes. Who knew? Evolution is funny.

All in all, an awesome trip that has stoked my resolve to travel (I was getting complacent and thinking "oh, it's fine to stay in mountshannon on my days off". But really, why not see as much of the country as I can while I'm here?).

As hard as this renewed homesickness is, I know it will pass and I am so happy the visit worked out so well. Totally worth it. :)

Ok. More later, and hope all is well.

LOVE.

of rugby, haggis, peace, sea, word yoga, plays, buses and, of course, sheep.

Hey. So, a few things have happened in the last few days, and they are as follows:
1. I saw my first rugby match (yes, I know we have this in Canada. I just never got around to watching it). Anyway, to make it better I saw it broadcasted onto a wall in the pub of the Mountshannon Hotel, with several other people (all of whom had seen a match before) and a mug of tea. It was the opening match of the Six Nations international competition, Ireland vs. Italy. We won 29 to 11, although apparently it was a relatively boring match. Still, fun to watch people throw themselves at each other and the mud and the ball without any sort of protection except a mouth guard. And they say the UKers don't take care of their teeth.
2. We had a Robbie Burns night (courtesy of our Scottish friend, T), complete with mini bagpipes, Burns' "Ode to Haggis" and, of course, haggis itself. It was good -- the ceremony, the company, and the sheep guts (despite what it is, it doesn't taste horrible). Got me thinking, and there might be a Canada Day celebration in the future. We'll see.
3. Several of us went on Sunday to the Burren (it's an area of Clare that's essentially limestone, the vegetation getting more sparse as you get further up into it). We stopped on the edge, went for a little walk, visited the ruins of three churches built by some monks in the 12th century, I think. Oughtmama, it was called. It was incredibly peaceful, the same sort of stillness as when I visited Tre Fontane (an abbey in Italy) -- it was like the calm that our guide there, Brother Daniel, had. But transposed into a place instead. I loved it, maybe more so because being so caught up in all the massive changes to my life recently I haven't experienced such peace yet. Glad to know it still exists out there. :) Also, we visited the sea at a beach and Blackhead, a lighthouse (several jokes occuring about how I could see Canada, just a hop skip and a swim away, over the Aran Islands). Waves cresting and foaming against the rocks? Always beautiful.
4. Yesterday I went to my first eurythmy lesson. I like to think of it as word yoga -- it's something like expressing sounds through movement, I think. There are a lot more inner things happening than steps being learned (my dance brain was often sadly thinking "Oh. That's it?"). Still, there's something in it, in how slowly the movements are being performed, and how words and sounds are so integral to it. As long as I don't equate it with a dance class I quite like it. (If I do, or if I watch it being performed on youtube, I can't help but disdainfully think "What?". That's why I took the class, though. To see if I can get away from that thought, and I can.)
5.Yesterday was also our second meeting about this play that we want to do as a community. It's been established that we're doing it in the park here, the Ashtor; that we're creating its ideas as a community; and that I'm writing it down/making it coherent. Huzzah theatre skills! I'm pretty excited, especially since it's going to be written as a faerie-tale. Always fun.
6. Today was my day off, and I went with P to Kilcullen -- there's a Camphill community there, with some goats and chickens, and a lovely Camphill-run cafe. :) And then I walked around the town, enjoyed the river (I've missed the sound of water over rocks), had some apple tart. Mm. And then took a bus to Birdhill and got picked up by E (fun, because I haven't tried the buses here yet. This one, being intercity, was all luxurious with its padded seats and luggage racks and 10 Euro fare). And I watched some lambs gambol with each other as we rolled by on the highway.

And that's all for now, because I'm out of stories and this blog is becoming epic.

Hoping all is well.

LOVE.

do you know what day it is?

So today (Feb 1) is the official first day of spring here in Ireland. That's right, Canada. Spring.
(If you ignore the fact that there was still frost this morning and my room is like an ice cube, it sounds inviting).

It's also St. Brigit's day -- A (neighbour, co-user of the office) stopped by this morning and read the story of Brigit. It was a lovely story, totally Irish mythology, with the Dana gods and the Tir-na-nog and Tir-na-moe (land of youth, apparently). It was about the founding of Ireland, Brigit casting down her mantle onto a world of writhing, swarming things that devour each other. Mm. So the mantle spreads, and then becomes mist, and when it clears the gods are standing on an island with a lot of hills and vales, which suddenly fill into rivers and lakes with an outpouring of water that is said to be the Earth laughing. (Mm :)). And yup, this island is Ireland, or the White Island, or the Island of Destiny.
Man. Ireland gets faeries and laughing earths and myths, and we get Confederation cause we rampaged over Turtle Island, back in the day. Urg.

Also, funny appropos of nothing tidbit: Waldo, of Where's Waldo fame, is called Wally here. Apparently Europe is on a more familiar, nickname basis with him.

Getting my fill of Irish culture these past few days: a traditional music concert in a church (with Martin Hays, who is a world-famous Irish trad music fiddler, apparently. The only fiddler I knew was Ashley MacIsaac...but hey. Different continents). It was lovely, but long (I felt 90: oh, these pews are hurting my keister -- oh, 10:00, it's getting late -- oh, this half is so much longer than the first. Mm, age). And Canada was mentioned a few times, one time to say that the pianist's favourite city is Halifax and here's a song that he composed specifically for it. Who knew.
And then tonight we had another ceilidh (spelling right this time, maybe. Cape Breton-right, at least), and it was awesome.

Oh, and I went horse-back riding the other day at E's (see a previous blog post). The whole kit and kaboodle -- brushed and tacked the horse, rode for an hour-ish, de-tacked and brushed down said horse and released her back into her paddock for lunch. I rode Pixie, who was very calm for most of it but spooked a bit near the end and would suddenly increase her speed nerve-wrackingly. Also, I thought I would remember more than I did -- curry comb use, check. How to mount, um... (I flailed. It wasn't pretty). And there was some boot-related drama, in which I couldn't find riding boots to fit me for some time because they wouldn't fit over my calves. I consoled myself with the thought that tap dancing (and dancing in general) muscles up your calves. Yeah, that's it. That's why the boots wouldn't fit.
Still, all in all it was lovely to be back on a horse...and it was a beautiful place to go riding (no white cows in mist, but a heron flew by and there was the ewe and lamb from the last trip).

Yup. I'm definitely chugging along quite nicely here (or, rather, moseying along). It's grand.

Until next time.

LOVE.