Hiking in the Burren hills but Summer is nearly over, back to reality and a lost job.



Pirate enjoying Abbey Hill on the Burren with Galway Bay behind



My sister in law’s mother died suddenly on Thursday. She was elderly, but just not the person you would expect to vanish so unexpectedly. Peggy was part of the furniture. I thought the best compliment you could wish for came from her daughter. She said that whatever happened there was always someone there to say ‘it’s ok’. She has her own lovely family, but that was different and age 41 that unconditional security was gone and she knew what it felt like to be an orphan.

I was walking up Abbey hill in the Burren. The late summer flowers are carpeting the little pastures that separate the limestone flags. Ox eye daisies, eyebright, devils bit scabious, self heal; white, blue and purples predominating at this time of year. Just to get an hour up there in the late summer air, looking out over Galway bay, past Galway City, as far as the 12 bens of Connemara and the Aran Islands is powerful medicine, and washed away the anxiety of my husband losing his job last week. But as the old saying goes ‘you can’t eat scenery.’

Thoughts of moving or commuting to London are encroaching again. It’s not a great time of year to be looking for a job, with winter drawing in and the kids going back to school, with all the extra costs that entails. The holidays are really over. When school starts on Thursday we will have to sit down, assess the situation and make some decisions. I am trying not to panic.

The cows are having their yearly test for TB today and the calves are fat and shiny and ready for the mart at the end of the month. Also the farm area aid payments come in October but with just 50 acres and only 9 calves that will only keep us afloat for a few weeks. The only company that seems to be recruiting in Galway is Boston Scientific, who make medical devices, and are one of the companies that benefit from Ireland’s low corporation tax of 12 ½ %.They have always been a great employer in this locality, but I imagine the stack of CVs is hitting the ceiling at this stage. Hopefully my husband’s is on top.

With Peggy in the ground it made me very grateful that I managed to spend so much time with my parents and my children over the Summer. When you are working full time you do not have the luxury of complaining about how many meals you have to cook for your relations, or that the kids are driving you insane (and they are at this stage) as you bump into them every time you turn around…that time is precious.

birds

Talking about holidaying in Ireland…

I have been host to part of my family who have been visiting us for the last week. We have really enjoyed ourselves. The first day I took them up through the Burren and we had lunch of salad and local cheeses at the Burren Perfumery. It is a little gem of a spot with a new tea room, a wonderful herb garden and a free audio visual about the Burren.(www.burrenperfumery.com) I was bought a gift of Cedar and Lemongrass bath salts and Camomile, Sage and Shea butter hand cream. You can view soaps and creams being made on the premises.

We also went for walks on the flaggy shore, picking our way across the limestone flags as the Atlantic crashed beside us and ending up swimming at the little beach by Mount Vernon, the seaside house that belonged to the famous Lady Gregory. We took the bikes to Coole Park, spent time wandering around the village at the market, visited the Aillwee caves and had a great night out and some delicious turbot at the new Gallery Café in Gort.

The Bird of Prey centre at the Aillwee caves impressed everybody. (See the lovely Barn Owl above.) The Harris hawks displayed some amazing acrobatics catching food thrown in the air and the falcon showed phenomenal speed in dives from over 100 ft towards the lure. There is a great selection of owls and raptors that are in top condition, with beautiful aviaries and a fabulous location for flying.

The highlight of the week had to be the Kinvara minors hurling match against Portumna. Somehow this was another quarter final match and not the semi final but obviously slightly more important as we were charged 5 euro at the gate, even if you were a player... that’s the GAA for you! Portumna are tipped as the best team in the group and at half time when they were a few points ahead we were already accepting defeat. But even though our hurlers are a year younger and a bit smaller they managed to catch a wave and ride it right up to land.

It was a fast, skilful, controlled, desperate match. And just to impress the relations (as they leaned on the fence in the sun, confused with the score, shocked at the speed and ferocity of the hurling and startled by the expletives being fired over their heads by the supporters) my son scored a goal a couple of seconds before the whistle blew to put Kinvara in the lead by 1 point.

5-10 to 2-18, phew..now on to the semi?

cappal

It was the Cruinniú na mBád festival this weekend (‘the gathering of the boats’).

The traditional sailing boats ‘hookers’, some of them 180 years old and crewed by the same families for five generations, symbolically brought the turf from Connemara to Kinvara on Saturday, as they used to do for centuries, until the 1950s when the Bedford truck took over and they ceased to trade.

The breeze was stiff on Sunday, for an exciting race out past Island Eddie into the choppy waters of Galway bay to turn around the buoy beyond Trácht beach. In the heat of the race these large sailing boats were tilting so far into the wind they were virtually taking on water, completely exposing their colourful keels on the far side. Only three years ago The Morning Star sank as one small error of judgment, a rope tightened or loosened at the wrong moment, tipped her too far over. All the crew were fished out to the safety boat and she was hauled up from the bottom a few days later. The Cappal (the boat nearest the castle in the photo) was the eventual winner yesterday after a hair raising battle.

There was a full program of music at the festival with a stage on the quay featuring Jim McKee on Saturday, The Rascals and Sean Slattery on Sunday and plenty of traditional music. The grass along the water’s edge was bustling with stalls selling crafts and food; the guy doing the wood turning display in the main marquee was very popular every time there was a shower. There were also art and photography exhibitions, a fancy dress competition and a model railway of the newly re-opened Gort-Adrahan railway line. Other events were the climin (seaweed raft) race, the crazy raft display and an attempt to break the world record knitathon in aid of Somalia.

On Saturday the Kinvara Minor hurling team, (my son in forward), played Kiltormer in the quarter finals. They won 7, 11 to 1, 13. It felt so right to see him in the purple and gold again and I was drowned in happiness (and rain) when he scored a goal and a point, especially having just recovered from a badly broken right wrist. The team, who have played together since age five, have always shown promise with excellent hurlers, but have a history of getting to the finals and then losing. This year, although they are young for their group, they are looking hot. It was heart warming to bathe in their joy on the way home and a good night to celebrate in Kinvara with 23 bands listed throughout the pubs over the weekend. So on to the semi final..

snakes

I am back from France, a slightly different colour and with what feels like two fat ducks strapped around my waist. We ate a lot.. After the second week I forgot what I was meant to be worried about, so the holiday obviously worked. Both of the girls are swimming without arm bands which is brilliant (all those swimming lessons paid off at last) We stayed an extra week because the first week it rained, which is very unusual for the midi-Pyrenees in July. When I got home the thing that hit me was the lovely fresh summer air with no humidity and the absence of scary creatures such as hornets and snakes.

There was one objection to our planning application for the nature centre when we returned; it is from the neighbour who makes it her business to object to everything and everyone, so that is no surprise. She even wrote to the council and threatened court when we put a sign up at the gate at Christmas saying ‘organic turkeys for sale’

The main points of her six page rant were;

• the extra traffic would be a hazard
• the noise would be a nuisance
• the waste water treatment would effect the environment

We are in the process of getting letters of support from the other six houses in the townland and have been assured by Galway County Council that all of these issues have been dealt with appropriately in our application. But an objection like this, (costing her €20), means that even if the council grants permission she has a right to appeal to the planning board (An Bord Pleanala) which could take over a year and their decision, made by an engineer in Dublin, could go either way. They have a bad relationship with Galway County Council and a history of ruling against their decisions.

It seems to make no sense for an enterprise that would generate jobs with so little impact on the area (the building is already there) to be refused in the current economic climate, but who can tell? If it goes to appeal we will start a petition as the village as the area is desperate for facilities and we already have the backing of the Galway Enterprise Board and all the local hospitality businesses.

The other news is the young pony, Floyd, who competed in two shows while we were away and won first and second prize, has now been sold. He will be going to an excellent yard in Austria in September, which is good news but I will be sorry to see him go.

So back to reality and a reduction in calories.

market

Kinvara was traditionally a market town. On the borders of Clare and Galway and accessible from the sea it was a natural meeting point. Cattle and sheep were traded and vegetables and eggs brought from local farms to sell. Turf was brought in by sail boat from Connemara in the famous Galway hookers and much Guinness was drunk in the ten pubs. 

The market now opens on Fridays between 10 and 2 behind Johnston’s hall on the main street. A covered area for coffee and teas, live traditional music and a walled garden contribute to the family atmosphere. There was great excitement last week as amongst the hens for sale were ‘giant bunny babies.’ The babies were the size of a fully grown rabbit! Although under great pressure we managed to leave without a giant bunny baby but with a pot of Catriona’s delicious tabouleh, some of Annie’s freshly pulled carrots and some excellent value fresh hake and sea bass fillets. You can also buy delicious lobster and Dublin bay prawns, a great selection of breads and baked goods, and every sort of fresh fruit and vegetables.

This week a new sweet shop opened in the village. It sells old fashioned sweets like lemon bon bons and home made chocolates. The traditional shop front is painted a pretty duck egg green and inside the owner has built a lovely wooden display dresser and hung old fashioned wall paper. It is an asset to the village and its reputation is spreading like wildfire through the playgrounds and summer camps, drawing much needed footfall to the village. Geraldine Blackwell, another local organic farmer, moved from there to a larger premises with her shop, ‘Ger’s Place’ The shop front design of buttons might give away what she sells and she also runs the popular and expanding ‘stitch and bitch’ knitting mornings. Another new venture this year is ‘DIY pursuits’ which is doing a good trade selling and renting bicycles. Cycling has become another recession hobby with a recent 60 and 120 k organised cycle drawing over 1000 participants up the Corker hill and around the Burren. Other shops on the main street have had a fresh coat of paint and this seems to be generating a slight spread of optimism.

I wont be posting for the next two weeks as we are going on holiday. We will know on our return if planning permission for the nature centre has been granted.

level headed

 

This week I have been designing a house for a friend who needs to convert an outline planning permission into full consent before it runs out. It may never be built. It is a simple, traditional design, with nice proportions and plenty of insulation- nothing flashy.

It brought me back to a few years ago when I was spewing out 3 or 4 houses a week. The fact that I had started a part time engineering degree was enough to instantly qualify me as an architect. I designed hundreds of houses, probably half of them on Nama’s books now.

Anyone who could get their head around Autocad was employed drawing up house plans. It was Celtic tiger fever. You had to learn on the job- draw up plans, take levels, survey sites, do trial hole tests and design waste water systems. I could often be seen wandering around fields with a level (those intermediate levels still confuse me), a shovel and a bucket of water, searching for a trial hole, or trying to find a JCB driver to dig it, in the pouring rain, on a random hillside, so I could look into it. And don’t bother asking the boss for advice; he was far too busy running around in circles trying to keep up with the deluge of work.

The desperation on Friday to get the applications submitted before the newspaper notices were out of date was head bursting. Each one was at least 4 inches high with six copies of all forms, reports, plans, elevations, cross sections, site layouts, waste water treatment system reports etc etc. My boss would tear off after lunch to Galway with a towering pile of paper to join the fight at the County Council office planning desk to get them in before 4 pm.

The houses got more and more elaborate. It started with en-suite bathrooms for every bedroom, then walk in wardrobes, then laundry shoots, then bar areas, games rooms, swimming pools, loggias (never quite worked out what they were) The most lavish house I designed was a home for one of the big building contractors. It included all of the above, the master bedroom was 1000sq feet (the size of a cottage) and the en-suite bathroom included ‘his and hers’ wash basins and to top it all a pair of ‘his and hers’ toilets side by side….

I then upgraded to a structural engineer’s office and was immediately employed in specifying reinforced concrete for foundations and columns. There are countless different shapes of bent steel that are of varying lengths according to the design of the building. These have to be picked and placed on the drawing with the help of one of the dullest, but most useful computer programmes called CADS RC. The steel specifying job was a race to get the lorries to site and keep ahead of the builders. One Christmas Eve I was doing overtime specifying steel for a new retail development. Every now and then I would feel a wave of panic as I ordered yet another lorry load of cut and bent steel, absolutely useless if any was the wrong size, and costing thousands. Every time I emailed a drawing to the suppliers I felt like sprinkling the computer with holy water.

That was how crazy it was. And then the deluge stopped

holidays

There is a saying "ni neart go cur le ch́eile" which translates roughly as "no strength without unity" and would have been used for energetic activities, for instance, gathering together to save hay. It is much more than many ‘hands make light work’. On Sunday we did the Galway women’s mini marathon; 10k along beautiful Galway bay and up Threadneedle mountain (road) and around in a loop. There were about 1000 starters and we were all warmed up by a zumba dancer. The positive energy is still vibrating.
Those energetic community activities have been lost to machines. The photo above was taken in 1956 by Robert Cresswell, an anthropologist from the Sorbonne in Paris, who lived in Kinvara for a year documenting the community. His work was published in a respected book about rural Ireland. The photos paint quite an austere picture of life but also show that sense of unity. They include interiors of the cottage on this farm. You can view them at www.kinvara.com/cresswell/gallery
I was shown this week how to access Griffiths valuation (1847-1854) a full scale valuation of Ireland comparing the value of an acre of land in County Meath at one pound to the rest of the country. From the maps you can read the information that leads you to the correct record. It showed that on this farm there were 7 in the family in a 3 bedroom cottage, with an office, a coach house, stable, pig shed and a hen house. I have been told that there used to be a horse drawn taxi service here so maybe that explains the office. See the records at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/

I also felt "ni neart go cur le ch́eile" on the swimming bus at the weekend. 40 children singing Jedward’s ‘Lipstick’ at 9am on a Saturday morning is certainly powerful! They were thrilled to see John Fox heading out of town on his 540 mile mule ride from Malin head (Donegal) to Mizin head (Cork) to raise funds for the Barretstown centre. The Kinvara swimming club was formed in 1969 after nine local school children lost their lives at New Quay in a boat accident. After winning a Camogie match a fisherman was giving the children spins on his new oyster boat at Linnanes bar to celebrate. Too many children got on the last trip across the choppy inlet and when they all ran to one side to look at something the boat capsized. The scars are still there and the Kinvara swimming club has been taking the children to the local pool for lessons ever since. A documentary was made about it www.rte.ie/tv/disasters/s2ep4

School holidays start today, the sun is out and it is raining, there must be a rainbow somewhere.