It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More

It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
Read More

An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
Read More

Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
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Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
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Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
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Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
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Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
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It’s not called Sloe Gin for nothing!

Hello, today I have a visual step-by-step guide and recipe on how I made my first batch of Sloe Gin this year. The beauty of making one's own Sloe Gin is in the slow process of 'steeping' (infusing)  Sloes in delicious Gin. October is a great time for picking sloes if you know where to find them. The concoction of sloes, sugar and gin need plenty of time to commune with one another in order for them to mature into a full bodied liquor. My Sloe Gin should be sumptuous just in time for December's festivities. Luckily, we have lots of Blackthorn growing on the back avenue in the hedgerows. Blackthorn produces…
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An Urban Setting

Hello, from Dublin City… Not my usual blogging spot, as you well know. Today I am submerged in an urban setting. Everything about the city vibe is fast and unstopping. I see it as though a patchwork of cultures, languages, styles, cars, shops, offices, hospitals and bicycles. It keeps spinning, like a human vortex of urban survival. I can hear a constant stream of exhausts groaning outside the window. An occasional thunderclap from a lorry’s under belly bursts the air as it hurdles another speed bump. I also identify the sound of people, unlike at home. The shouts and screeches of a disgruntled toddler scare a few cats from their…
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Wild with the Scent of Lavender

* L A V E N D E R *  Hello, as you can see I have been harvesting Lavender and I am wild with the scent of it! I was accompanied by the last of the thrifty bees who were sucking the remaining drops of scented nectar from the flowers, while I gathered basket-fulls of the ancient herb.     After about a week of air-drying beside the Aga I have now begun to collect the flower heads. Each head harbours a pungent aromatic smell… It is safe to say my home is engulfed in the stuff. [caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="644"] By the end of my cutting I had filled…
Read More

Take a Closer Look

Hello, yet another week has flown by and it is blogging time again! The days are subtly shortening and the fire places more frequently lit. The mornings are slower to rouse my sleeping body as a grainy light sifts though my curtains. I have a collection of photos that document the patterns, textures, layers, forms and colours that have caught my eye over a period of time. The photos capture aspects of the grounds and farm that are routinely overlooked. Some of the photos pose questions about the existence of urban decay amongst thriving nature. I discovered a visual communication that exists between the two, whereupon a collaborative beauty appears. Both man-made and natural formations…
Read More

Creative Play and the importance of mistakes!

Hello, today I have been painting an archway in my flat. I am always drawn to arches and it was looking a bit bleak so I decided to get the Annie Sloan chalk paint out and start letting my creativity flow from my subconscious. I put my music on as loud as I can get away with and do a sort of doodle-dance with my body and the paint brush- making marks as I go. There is a peace I find while painting. Nothing much can go wrong, many years ago I learned how to make a mistake into a modification. A 'mistake' often becomes a streamlet  of unexpected inspiration…
Read More

Crabbing!

Hello, today I have been ‘Crabbing’ with three children whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for about five years. We have got to know each other very well. Many a school holiday we have spent time getting up too all sorts in order to entertain ourselves while I mind them. [caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Where the Crabs Hide[/caption] Often we go for walks on the beach, fully equipped with a picnic to sustain our activity for the day. They make sculptures from the materials around them, using stone, seaweed and shells. Last year it was hot enough to go swimming or sunbathe at the beach, but this year…
Read More

Homemade Elderflower and Gin Cocktails

Hello, today I would like to dedicate this post to Matthew and Iseult Leonard, who are the first of my friends to have tied the knot! The wedding was last weekend and what a fabulous weekend it was! There was so much love for these two lovely people and the ‘crack’ as they say in Ireland was most certainly had by all! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and make some new friends! Since I have come back home, I have been toasting to the newlyweds with our newly made Elderflower cordial. We have been experimenting for a few days and the consensus is that Gin and Elderflower…
Read More

Midsummer Eve Gathering

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="644"] Me getting my home made bunting out and tying my origami butterflies to the apple trees![/caption] Hello, I write this to you with an air of contented fatigue- a warm fuzzy sort of feeling. You see yesterday was quite a day. I hosted my first Midsummer Eve Gathering- A ritual I had little knowledge of until I read Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The novel was a sheer delight. So much so that coming to the end of the book was a rather sobering feeling for me. Yet I knew I had to hold on to Smith’s vivid descriptions of the Midsummer Eve rituals one…
Read More