the end of summer holidays

for an hour I found my place
underneath the citrus canopy
holding just-in-case jackets and apples

for an hour I knew the summer
of northern climes, lush rains, peaty dirt
paths for imagination and delight

for an hour I followed feet in pink shoes
to fairy forts, flowers and feathered finds

for an hour I invited the faint fog
of memory to play, only to loose it again
in the chatter of my bright today

A little more

We are on our last week here in Ireland. We have packed a years worth of family outings into a month. Soon enough we will be back to the hot and humid of Houston, depending on A/C and waiting for the rare blessing of a cold front to give some relief. In the mean time we will enjoy the 13 - 16 C temps, short, light rain showers and easy access to scenic and historical places to walk.

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I have my computer back! What a relief, the motherboard had to be replaced but the memory was untouched! So I didn't loose any of my photos! Yeah! Being without my computer showed me how dependent I am on it for so much of what I do for myself. All my photo storage and processing, connecting with friends, art research, poetry reading and writing happens right here on my computer. I am OK with that to a certain extent, but it took a little getting use to the idea of my computer being gone this last week. It is never easy to be shown a dependency, it feels a little like a weakness even though logically I know it is not. I love what the computer and the internet has given us by way of connection with others, creativity and productivity. While I plan to continue to limit my mindless, unproductive use of technology, I intend to go on celebrating what is good about it.

Here's to the guy at TypeTech who solved my Apple woes :)

A place for poetry

Reading and listening to poetry are different beasts, I like poetry sites where you can hear the poet reading their own work. So here is a link to a source for current day poets reading their work: From the Fishouse.

Photo + collage

Recently, I did a series of art pieces where I combined a photo with a collage. I discovered this little birdie on my journey and once found he seemed to fly into each piece. It was fun seeing where he would show up!
The photo was taken in Glencree, Ireland last year. We visited the same place again this year and it is equally as lush and green and magical.

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Computer saga:
My mum brought my computer into the shop for my on Friday afternoon as I visited with old school friends (my mother wins the award for being the most wonderful mother, ever). They will call me Monday or Tuesday to tell me the damage. I am down about it, as so much of me is on that computer... no, I had not backed my files up for a few months... I am hoping that they can fix the problem without loosing any of my photos and documents. Note to everyone: go out and get an external hardrive, even the best computer can crash :(

Computer issues

My computer has crashed, I don't know the cause or the exact reason, but according to the Apple specialist my computer is in 'Kernel Panic' with video distortion. Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? I have been advised to bring it to a local MAC dr. Tommorrow is the last day of our creative writing class and then I have a playdate with 2 women I went to primary school with (our kids will play, we will be talking of course), so I will not be able to take the computer in until Monday. AHHHH. Hopefully by next week I will have the issue resolved.

In the meantime I can't process any of my current photos, so I am 'borrowing' photos from my personal photo blog that dates back a few years. Fortunately, this rust cross looks pretty much the same as it did in '07 when I took this photo. Typing on my Mother's PC & using photos from the past is pretty much all I can do until my laptop is fixed. ~sigh~

Creative writing class

Mark and I are taking a creative writing class here in Ireland. We have been to 2 of 5 classes so far and are enjoying it immensely. The instructor is a playwright, poet and university lecturer, Kevin Wallace. He has given us a decent insight into the life of a writer and some fun writing exercises to get us writing. Both Mark and I have written tons in the 7 hours of class time, it is interesting to see how differently our styles and ideas are expressed and to hear the work our classmates create (as you can imagine there are a few interesting characters in this creative writing class ;). The focus yesterday was on prose, today it was poetry. I may post some of the exercises later in the week when I have had time to digest everything a little more.

I have been reading this excellent book called 'Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting' by Robert Mckee and many of the points that are made in this book Kevin has made in his class. It is very affirming. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested, not just in screenwriting, but in writing short stories or even novels. The principles of writing outlined seem to transcend all writing genres. I am thinking of ways to extend some of the ideas to poetry writing too.

Family Creativity

We went to Powerscourt House and Gardens in Enniskerry to read the 2nd book of ‘The Cat Family’ series, written by Mark and Matthew. Granny came too, but ended up watching Annie, 3, who wanted to do her own thing and then needed to go to the bathroom, which was really far away.

We bought our tickets in the house and went out into the gardens. There are different parts of the gardens, so moved to a new spot for each chapter. We started on the grand steps in front of the house where Mark read chapter 1. Then for chapter 2 we went to the Pepperpot Tower, followed by the Japanese Garden (Lily’s favorite place) for chapter 3. The last chapter was read at the Dolphin pond. Here is a little taste of the day:

Date with my boy

Matthew is a quality time person so every so often we go on Mom and me dates. Last week we went on one to town, ie. Dublin.



Matthew learned to juggle from an entertainer we met at Family Night at Chick Fil A in The Woodlands. He taught him the basics and recognized Matthew had good eye hand coordination and encouraged him to work at it. So we bought some ‘how to’ juggle DVD’s from an online juggling store. 7 months later and he still loves to juggle.

So on our date we went to a juggling store in Temple Bar. The shop owner was super friendly to Matthew and gave him some great advice. After the store we had dinner at Eddie Rockets (in the US it is called Johnnie Rockets, but looks the same!), spent a little time at Hodges Figgis bookshop and then off to the park where the Trinity College juggling group meets (who knew so many university kids were into juggling?). Matthew juggled there for about 2 hours, joining in with different groups, asking advice from the better jugglers and wowing the mainly older crowd with his skill. We stayed until the crowd grew to over 70 and Matthew realized he was the only kid!

Words from dirt

Last year when we were here we got to hear Seamus Heaney read his poetry. He packed a huge tent, we were sitting on bales of hay, it was raining outside and everyone was damp, but the performance was so mesmerizing that it didn't matter. One of my favorite poems of his is this one about the Irish bog land. I love the dark earthy-ness of this and how the woman is now part of the land. So very Irish. Enjoy!

Bog Queen
By Seamus Heaney

I lay waiting
Between turf-face and demesne wall,
Between Heathery levels
And glass-toothed stone.

My body was Braille
For the creeping influences:
Dawn suns groped over my head
And cooled at my feet,

Through my fabrics and skins
The seeps of winter
Digested me,
The illiterate roots

Pondered and died
In the cavings
Of stomack and socket.
I lay waiting

On the gravel bottom,
My brain darkening,
A jar of spawn
Fermenting underground

Dreams of Baltic amber.
Bruised berries under my nails,
The vital hoard reducing
In the crock of the pelvis.

My diadem grew carious,
Gemstones dropped
In the peat floe
Like the bearings of history.

My sash was a black glacier
Wrinkling, dyed weaves
And phoenician stichwork
Retted on my brests'

Soft moraines.
I knew winter cold
Like the nuzzle of fjords
At my thighs -

The soaked fledge, the heavy
Swaddle of hides.
my skull hibernated
in the wet nest of my hair.

Which they robbed.
I was barbered
And stripped
By a turfcutter's spade

Who veiled me again
And packed coomb softly
Between the stone jambs
At my head and my feet.

Till a peer's wife bribed him.
The plait of my hair,
A slimy birth-cord
Of bog had been cut

And I rose from the dark,
Hacked bone, skull-ware,
Frayed stitches, tufts,
Small gleams on the bank.

Working & playing

This week in my spare time I have been working on my book's author review, making changes, sending them to Liz at North Light, viewing the pdf's she sent back with the changes (she works quickly!), offering even more changes... it is amazing that she can follow my notes and make it all work! The book is taking great shape. I even got a peek at the cover that Marissa Bowers has designed, very exciting stuff. Marissa is a wonderful designer. I look forward to see what she does with the interior of the book too. But before she gets to work on it the text must go to the copy editor for proofing.

In the meantime, I have not made anything artsy.... just memories of picnics and castles, we are in Ireland after all :)





Malahide Castle

Fairytales

Mount Usher Gardens




Oh my.... we found these houses at a kids park in Lullymore. What an inspiring find. I totally want to build fariyhouses like these when I get home!!!