The main driving route to Europe from Ireland is a 20 hour ferry crossing from Rosslare to Roscoff in Brittany. Brittany is very like parts of Ireland with a strong celtic tradition and so we Irish often feel at home here. Our family spent many summer holidays in Carnac when our lads were young. From pottering around shallow pools when . . .
A brass band reception!
News travels fast and when the boat arrived in France there was a brass band out to greet us. Well not us specifically but as we lapped up the news from Ireland that the Marriage Equality Referendum had passed it felt like the whole town of Roscoff had some how gotten wind of it. From very early on Saturday morning it was . . .
Angela Jupe
Angela Jupe's Georgian home Bellefield House In March the garden is full of daffodils and hellebores. Wild woodland planting around the house The stable yard stone out buildings have been transformed into rental . . .
Comeragh Mountains
The Comeragh Mountains lie towards the west of County Waterford. All year long we can track the sun as it sets further north or south along the high ridges, from one solstice extreme to the other. Like our elders, we tell the season and the hour by it. The weather comes to us from these mountains too and so every . . .
Embracing shade
During the summer of 1975 when I was on the road with an architect, a singer, an uileann piper and a gypsy guitarist, we diverted from lucrative street performing in Germany to visit Scandinavia. We travelled in a green VW van which had been gifted to us one night during a dinner party in the home of an . . .
She is honey coloured like Swedish architecture
My sister is honey coloured so she tones in beautifully with traditional Swedish architecture. From the old town of Gamla Stan to the hilly cobbled streets of Sodermalm, the Swedes seem to favour warm Italian tones. That's the first surprise I wanted to share with you. Maybe this is why . . .
The Italian paintbox
When I was in Rome earlier this year as part of this Pilgrimage year, I remembered those tiny paint boxes that we used to get for Christmas when I was a kid. Each little square or tube of colour had an unfathomable name; Yellow Ochre, Warm Sienna, Burnt Umber, Terracotta, Vermillion. I had no idea what they were or how they . . .
A man who knows his flowers
When the streets of Vienna are getting too hot to bear, I duck into a side street flower shop. It's the bunches of "weeds" in the window that first catch my eye; familiar wildflowers as carrot and catmint, laurel leaves and common grasses, in bouquets and tall vases. As I stick my head in the door I ask "do you . . .
Beginning the descent #Pilgrimage~ July
Mountains of the Mani Peninsula Beauty underfoot with every step Down to the land and sea near Pylos Beau Lotto's TED talk about perception and reality. So today I'm thinking about the fact that the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. (Yes that's the kind of . . .
Paint yourself beautiful
I know! I'm gadding about a lot recently. It's a long story. This week I'm in Vienna. Strikes me as a conservative and wealthy city. It's only my initial impression and I've never been here before. Right? Wrong. Turns out today is the Gay Pride March. It's my first proper Gay Pride. It's got bells and . . .
