Arts, art, and artistic endeavours. Irish artist Pigsy and The Old Knitting Factory, Connemara, Co. Galway

 In these crazy times (covid...and something else which I just don't have the energy to talk about right now, I think you get what I am talking about?) I am trying to focus on positivity.

Books. Escapism from the real word, I am trying to get back into more reading these days. 

Art.  

Pigsy

Irish artist Pigsy, now based in Spain (Malaga), continues to go from strength to strength.  The pieces he is creating are fantastically powerful and aesthetically stunning. And he is being noticed! He was recently featured in an English paper in Spain - click here to read the article.  And was invited on to Talk Radio Europe to talk about his artwork and the creative and uncharted year that lies ahead of him in Malaga.

The Old Knitting Factory

Do you remember that beautiful lakehouse cottage I used to visit in Carraroe, Co. Galway? Well! Wait until you hear what is going on there now.  

Best selling New York Times author Betsy Cornwall has the most amazing plans underway to turn it in to a childcare-inclusive arts retreat for single moms.  How fitting is that, considering the history of the cottage, built in 1906 by the Congested Districts Board as a knitting school, serving to provide employment for the women of the area.

Read all about the plans for the Old Knitting Factory here.

Click to follow the journey via Instagram...or even better...why not be part of the vision...?! Donate via crowdfunding here!

Separate, but related, Ms Cornnwall's 5th book was just published in June 2020 and it is awesome!  

While it is actually a Young Adult book, I thoroughly enjoyed this modern retelling of Rose Red and Snow White. With some novel twists, and thought provoking themes, I whole heartedly recommend this read for the Young Adult in your home/family/life.

Come West Along the Road

This weekend being Easter it is a long weekend in Ireland, so Enid and I took advantage of having Monday off and made plans for a little road trip.

 

With Enid's little IQ packed to the brim and coffee in hands we set off...with Bones in tow.  To be fair Bones is great company, and he really was no trouble at all this weekend. 

As we arrived near Galway city we realised we were very close to our sister Katie's apartment.  We drove up and gave her a phone call to see if she was home.  She was surprised, but delighted to hear from us and buzzed us straight in for coffees and a lovely chat.  She was delighted to see Bones too - she is a big fan of her furry nephew - and we all had fun playing with him and showing off the latest tricks he has learnt (a very funny one involving a €10 note in particular!)

 

The photo above was taken as Katie waved goodbye to us from her balcony.  It was great seeing her and we were really happy we had caught her at home.

 

Once we arrived at OKF (the lake house) we were pretty hungry so we whipped up a little lunch straight away.  It was so nice, we decided to take advantage of the weather and the beautiful setting, and eat lunch outside. 

Bones guarding the door!

Like I said above, he really was no trouble at all.

Later that evening we went for a little walk up to the village and had a drink in one of the local pubs.

But as planned, back in time to see the incredible sunset across the lake.

This photo was taken literally 2 minutes after the above photo.  Can you believe the different colours?

 

As the sky went dark, and the lights from all the houses around the lake twinkled on, we lit the fire and got comfortable for the evening.  We had a lovely night of chatting and reading our books on the sofa. 

 

Did I ever mention how bad the internet coverage is out West?  It makes for a nice little digital detox and a chance to catch up on ones reading!

On Sunday morning after a fantastic nights sleep we were up nice and early and I got the full Irish going on the hob.

 

Rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, and cheesy scrambled eggs. Nothing better! 

The weather was not as nice as the day before so there was no eating outside today. 

 

After breakfast and a little more relaxing, we began packing up the car and closing up the house. Before we got on the road back to Dublin we decided we would go visit the famous "Coral Beach" nearby.

Named for the unusual yellowish stony sand, Trá an Dóilín, a biogenic gravel beach actually made of coralline algae known as "maerl". 

In photos, and in real life, it was quite funny because Bones blended in almost to the point of camouflage with the "coral". 

Where's Bones?! :-)

Back in to the car for the long (but good) drive home, Enid and I chatted and listened to Elvis on Spotify.  We both agreed it was a super road trip and night away for the two of us. 

 

Sorry, I mean three! How could I forget Bones :-)

 

What a lovely weekend!

This weekend I decided to take a little break away from Dublin.  Here I am on the bus to Galway at 7.15am on Saturday morning.  I was up early as I wanted to wash my hair before I set off, but as you can see I look pretty happy with myself to be up and out, and on the road!

 

When I arrived in Galway I had an hour before my next bus to bring me right into the heart of  the gaeltacht area of Connemara. So as is tradition I went into Garveys across the road from the bus station for some food and coffee.

 

As it was still so early in the morning I went for the full Irish and it was very good indeed.

 

After a lovely day pottering around the house - indoors and outdoors - sunset arrived and the night drew in.

You just don't get views like this in Dublin do you?!

I settled in for the night with a lovely fire and a little drink for the evening. An open fire is a real treat in this day and age I think you will agree. There's really nothing like the look and smell of it, and of course the heat from it is fabulous. 

 

On Sunday morning I woke to this glorious view

Sadly it was time to go but not before I managed to fix the zipper on my weekend bag (which I had managed to break by overstuffing on the day previous - oops).  All's well that ends well and I do enjoy doing diy/craft stuff like this.  Quite proud of myself too if truth be told!

I had a brilliant time away, I feel truly lucky to have access to such beautiful part of Ireland in such a cute little cottage beside that amazing lake (what a view!!),

 

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In other news! At 9 years of age Bones went to the cinema to see his first full film today.

As I travelled home on the bus I followed the exploits of Enid, Ciaran and Bones at the cinema with a big load of other pups and doggos for a first ever #dogfriendly movie screening in Ireland.  It looked ridiculous but apparently was a great success according to Enid. If you'd like to read more about this Enid has done a full trip report over on her blog.

 

This week in pictures and a few small accompanying words!

Gosh I have had a busy week/weekend so shall do a flyover post with some photos of the highlights - of which there are many!



A sampling of some local hostelries.  In particular the hospitality of Baggot Street - last weekend I had a drink in a combination of Toners, Doheny and Nesbitts, O'Donohues, McGrattans and of course my favourite Reilly's.  After 20 months of living on Merrion Street I finally have a local!  We also took a stroll down to the Grand Canal area (near the Grand Canal Theatre/Marker hotel and the Google and Facebook quarter) where we had a drink in Charlotte Quay.

 

A visit to Mary's pub.

And burgers in Wowburger.  Mary's is a cute little pub off Grafton Street on Wicklow Street.  It's done up in the style of an old Irish grocer/pub/shop.  It actually sells hardware along with the Guinness!  It's cute but I wouldn't be rushing back.  I do like the way they have wowburger downstairs though I must say!  It's quick and handy and the burgers are decent.



Free Vaseline! Well kind of.  I realised I had none on my person while walking down Grafton Street so I nipped into Boots where the girl on the till helpfully pointed out that I had enough points on my boots card to get it with.  It takes ages to build up any kind of points to get something  so I must remember instead just to exchange them for Vaseline in future - if you know me you know I like to carry and use it all the time as my lips can get quite dehydrated. Also if you know me, you know I like free stuff :-)



Rosa Madre, Crowe Street
I simply cannot recommend this lovely Italian seafood eaterie enough.  A shared starter of baked (melt in your mouth) scallops were flavoursome and divine.  Then for my main I was very excited to try the seabass which was completely covered and baked in a crust of rock salt.  Once cooked it was brought from the kitchen in the baking tray, shown for inspection and then taken away to be chipped out of the salt shell, fileted nice and neat, before being returned to the table for eating.  It was a plain white fish - simple and succulent with nice flavour from the salt and lemon oil.

Cottage in Connemara.
I had the BEST little mini break in Galway.  In fact the only criticism was it was too short.  Look at that beautiful lake (right beside the house where I stayed).  How beautiful is it?!! 



Culchie Chinese food in Connemara :-)  A sharing platter of satay chicken, bbq ribs, spring rolls and sesame prawn toast. To be fair it tasted much better than it photographed. And it was a fun evening with lovely company!

DM from a blog reader. 
I received a lovely DM tweet from a reader of my blog telling me they had recently got involved the pro-choice movement and saying how helpful they had found my recent Repeal the 8th blog post.

Paleo soup
Do you remember my recipe for sweet potato and chorizo soup?  I made it again this week and loooooved it.



Little Museum of Dublin.  This morning I nipped to the LMoD to see an exhibition on Irish fashion which is due to close soon.  The 50s and 60's really were the heyday for exports of beautiful Irish design and materials (tweed).  Sybil Connolly as always is my favourite designer of that period.  Classic and elegant.

All in all, I've had an action packed and FABULOUS few days.  Here's to some further fabulous days in the near future!