Since the publication of Solace last year, it has been an amazing experience to have such a personal book out in the world. Over the last few months it has been heartening to get feedback, support and to connect with readers all around the world. Thank you all so much! Here is a selection of thoughtful messages and posts from some of you. Go raibh . . .
Hope for 2023
First of all Happy New Year to you all! Doesn't 2023 feel like a date from some futuristic science fiction novel. Amazingly it is now 55 years since 2001 A Space Odyssey was first screened in Ireland. Even more astonishing is that all of the futuristic ideas in it were from a book by Arthur C. Clarke written in the 1950s. . . .
Solace
I am thrilled to announce that my book SOLACE; life, loss and the healing power of nature has been published by the O'Brien Press with a launch in the Book Centre, Waterford. It is now available in bookshops and online booksellers. (You can see what readers are saying here) 'Solace is that feeling of calm and comfort, that sense of . . .
In the wild garden
It's always been a dream to have a wild garden, one that respects what's going on in nature and at the same time plays with colour and delight. For so many years I have just pottered once a year to try and keep some order on mine. Gradually as I focussed all my time on the day job, gardening became overwhelming and . . .
October
“To know fully even one field or one land is a lifetime’s experience.” Patrick Kavanagh Today we began our second lockdown. It will be another challenge especially as the light fades into winter time. But we are well and the weather is kind. Most of all we are lucky to have space and to be warm . . .
The lake
The lake is a permanent feature of life here. It has a unique ecosystem but it's not a popular place unless the sun shines. To us it has a special charm all of its own. I don't remember swimming in it at all until my two nephews, who live in Sweden, came for a visit. In Swedish culture, lake swimming is the order of the day. At that . . .
Such a wonderful Spring!
Spring has been a difficult time. It's not just the social isolating, or the threat the pandemic poses. Our family lost our beloved Step Mother to the Covid 19 virus on April 18th. I've written 4 pieces for the Waterford News and Star since the lockdown. They meander through the last few weeks with the story of what happened . . .
Making a home for birds
I know pheasants are mostly bred in captivity and therefore can almost be regarded as predators in our wildlife sanctuaries. But somehow, I can't discriminate and here they are, still living in our patch. Charlie is the big fella and he arrived last year. His offspring, a young cock, has long gone or may even be . . .
This we have now……but are we already in the decline?
This we have now is not imagination. This is not grief or joy. Nor a judging state, or an elation, or sadness. Those come and go. This is the presence that doesn't. Rumi It's not that I didn't already know. I had been aware of the decline in wild things for the last few years. But the news this week that our insect . . .
Nice exhibition on the car door this morning
Dripping with morning dew, these silken webs are at their most luminous. Later they fade into dry vegetation, invisible again. Damp and dark they shimmer on the branches, woven art works hanging between the gorse and the brambles. Sometimes they are stretched beyond a circle, or a long leash extends into the . . .
