Another thrilling soap opera episode
Empty beaches and a pink lake
We were gripped by a drama this morning on our early dog walk. The thrills and twists of an urban soap opera or wildlife "reality" series have nothing on Lamb TV. What's all that baaing? Will the two babies get across the raging stream to their frantic mother? How did they get over there anyway – did she abandon them, the heartless wench? Surely she's not telling them to plunge into the icy flow?
No, it's OK; she's going along to the crossing place and splashing over to their side.
But wait: a last-minute hitch. One of the babies has got lost or stuck in the weeds along the stream bank. Will we have an ad-break for incontinence panties or pizza; or have to wait with chewed fingernails until next week to find out what happens...?
No, it's a happy ending, thank goodness. The ewe runs around the bushes and goes down to get her errant child. All’s well. Phew!
As everything quietens down, I look up to see if my husband is miles ahead, or coming back wondering where I am – but he's just up yonder, as enthralled in the episode as I am. Ah, the joys of a simple life here in West Kerry...
While the rest of Europe has been sizzling in unimaginable heat, here in Dingle we've been grumpily maundering about in thick fog for the past few days. The mountains tend to collect all the cloud coming over the Atlantic and concentrate it like candy floss in the basin where we live, so even though it's sunny over the eastern side of the mountains towards Tralee, here we can't even see over the garden hedge. And the atmospheric pressure is like wearing a hat that's too tight – you feel like your brain's going to explode.
One good thing to take my mind off the weather is that I've been awarded a grant from Kerry County Council for Culture Night on September 19. This is a national initiative to provide free concerts and events to the public. I will be performing Calm Ceol (music) in St Mary's Church for an hour, playing Celtic harp, low whistle and guitar, and singing both traditional and original songs. My husband, Ben, will accompany me on the cello and double bass (one in each hand?), and we are busy practising. Funny how you can play something perfectly one day, and not at all the next.
Ben also got a grant for the MD Project, the band in which he plays bass, so he's got a lot of work to do. He's also busy applying for various public sculpture projects, now that he's finished the standing stones for the American Sacred Heart University in Dingle. This major project involved the complete refurbishment of the old Christian Brothers school and will provide a dedicated campus for the 200 students that come here every year.
His public sculpture project in North Wales last Autumn has just won an environmental award for his sculptures using recycled materials. His mother is delighted, since it was she who suggested carving a stone bench like a big hug.
Despite my moaning about the current weather (now tipping down as I write), at the beginning of the month we had some lovely days and got out and about a bit. So here are a few images for you:
A quiet moment on Ventry beach to soothe your soul…
Finally, two news items of interest. Firstly, loads of historical records destroyed in the Civil War in 1922 have been recreated from duplicates gathered from around the world and digitized. This amazing new resource now gives everyone the chance to research Irish history and genealogy from years once believed lost forever. I’ve already found a 17th century clergyman – so our family weren't all rebels and rapscallions, after all.
Secondly, if you were wondering what to give someone who has everything, how about an Irish rock? Specifically, a Lifting Stone. This 115 kg item of Irish cultural heritage recently went to Boston. I wonder how the import tariffs were calculated.
Now I must dodge the showers to check that cheeky blackbird hasn’t pinched any more strawberries in the polytunnel. Slán go foile!
This Blog just better and better, amazing images through the words and pictures really showing that where we are fortunate enough to live is most magical indeed.
P.S. I not maundering, I'm strolling. : )