Island thoughts

There was a day years ago when I  stood, with  a friend from the US with two of her grown granddaughters, in a Kerry layby. gazing over fields at the white farmhouse I was renting then. Nothing but fields.... Miles from any shop.

One of the girls asked, " What do you do if you run out of coffee?"

Truly and sincerely an appalling thought!

And as I replied, if I did it would be entirely my own fault...

A remote house is in many ways an island. The basic difference is that you can drive out rather than by boat. You still need to be organised. Take full responsibility and authority.

As it is, I carry at  least two months of foods in. Pasta, rice, ingredients for cooking, Yes coffee!  Dried milk... Tins   too, Frozen foods.. oh and cat food in bulk of course. Mine are fed half raw chicken, half tinned and    in need would have tinned only.. 

Always two cooking gas bottles and one replaced as soon as the second one goes on. Only once have I erred in that and then as I was unwell and had forgotten the spare was the part full one from the old place. And that was soon remedied.   
And I still have a small camping stove 

It becomes second nature and no burden.

Now the car has gone, and cannot be replaced, my list goes by email to a supermarket with island links, and to my door every two weeks. And as in previous places, I use mail order, Holland and Barrett have excellent foodstuffs and delivery is incredibly swift by An Post, with free delivery over E20, and a Dublin hardware firm have similar services.  Internet shopping!

Internet is the best I have ever had; a small local firm . The dish is on the gable end facing north right on the ocean and never a flicker in the fiercest of gales. ESB are grand and power cuts are rare.

Some folk who have to come out here .. " If anything goes wrong YOU CAN'T GET OFF !"  Whereas in fact we have a fine helipad and an excellent Air Ambulance service.

The only time I have ever been really cut off was in Kerry when a gale knocked my satellite dish sideways; I was using an IP phone.. So I set out to drive to town to find, on the narrow private lane, that a huge tree had fallen across the lane.

Left the car and sat it out; family would call alert if they did not hear for 48 hours. Poor landlord was shaking when he arrived as he saw the car and thought I was in it...

Always arrangements and precautions; and when I came here I invested in a  basic cell phone. 

Like more and more rural places, no post office, but we get our mail,,
   No resident Garda, but at need they would be here. No resident doctor or nurse but in real need they would be here. And in emergency our wonderful Air Ambulance service.    No resident priest but mass  every while.  There is nothing new about any of this. Just the easy practicality of experienced folk .

And the peace here.. a safe and restful place. Of beauty. The ocean to some isolates; to others  it protects. Encircles...

My days are slow and full. But then I am old! Never was one for eating out etc or city lights. And I have lived deep rural and island for literally decades now.  The life here is perfect for my needs. Nothing I miss by living here and everything gained. Last year when my dog was still alive, watching her run free on the lanes was bliss for both of us. 
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Glorious morning.

Essence of summer... High tide with the sound of the beach rocks crashing friendly on each other,.. The ocean a pale aquamarine  with rosy patches in the predawn flush...

So utterly quiet and a depth of deep serene peace. The birdsong has changed and muted as mating and raising chicks has passed . 

Sun now, and a stillness. The islanders are late risers.

Practicalities today include harvesting peas.. I had no idea they were so filled with vitamins etc until I googled. A superfood...

These will be eaten raw... One of the forbidden delights of a childhood when in post war England we all grew food ... picking peas and eating from the pod in warm sun .. No idea yet how many are ready so we shall see.

So in my second childhood, I shall later sit in the sun , podding and eating fresh peas!

Life is good!

Early to Church

First light saw us, my cats and I, out along the quiet flower strewn lanes between ocean shores to the Church.

A peaceful dawning, innocent of any malice; grey cloud and still air... 

The honour of praying there and caring for it is mine. So today, evading pollen and midges, with my trusty bag of cleaning supplies, water for flowers as there is no supply there, etc, we set off soon after five..

The art is not to feed the cats before we go. While I know they know the lanes and land far more intimately than I ever will, I am happier if I know where they are.

All five followed along, distracted by many small sounds and sights.

The lanes are rich in flowers. Tall daisies, more and more Royal Fern, buttercups, clover, scabious...

And we all six trooped into Church. A fair fine place built with love.

Cleaning, flowers, checking messages..... all the sweet routine of  caring.

When it came time to leave, only three cats and one of those emerged from under the floor where the organ is. Yes, Smudgie! Who needs renaming...

My plan had been to wander home the long way round but  I needed to know the two small black girls were safe so we backtracked

One was waiting half way home , sitting in the lane giving out to me. She followed, but the two lads decided to have a stand off, tails bushed and swishing, so we left them to it.

Number five raced in as I was closing the gate and at the word, "Chicken" the dwelling saw all cats home.

They sleep now, full bellies, safe home. 

Such a little life we lead here! Yet so great and wide also

Summer Sunday!

As wet a day as ever was! No mountains, no ocean, just dark heavy cloud and a wall of falling water.
Midges and pollen.

Sunday, sweet Sunday..... An indoor day unless and until it lifts and clears. No early walk with the cats who have gorged on raw chicken drumsticks, and collapsed in a heap wherever there is room.

 

They are wise critters! But then they are mostly out at night now. Loving the freedom.

Plenty to do here; sorting yarn, knitting, watching various things on youtube. Just a pleasant relaxed Sunday.

Of course this could all change in the blink of an eye. Amid the ocean things rarely stay static for long..

Quintessence of summer.

Yesterday saw high summer... Sheer utter bliss. Benevolent sun with a warm breeze to offset scorch and energize.

One of those days you revel in and never forget.

Out here, surrounded by the mighty ocean, always the living, rippling changing face.

A day for action!

When the sun was at its zenith, out to the back garden area, north facing. Almost fell over Jacob, skilfully camouflaged ..

 

The grass has grown long and lush and I am cutting it little by little with one-handed grass shears. 

My potatoes failed; the long dry spell killed them. Just now the old roosters are cheap and many have sprouted shoots so I put down more cardboard, set them on that and covered them with the cut grass and seaweed . We shall see.

I worked out there until I could do no more. Visited periodically by various felines. Listening o the birds in their exuberant joy.   

Later, there was time to sit at the front in the small flower and bean and pea garden there. Checking progress, inspecting pods. It has  been a strange year; with the coolth and the winds that kept the bees away germination has been compromised. Even the marigolds are just withering and not setting seed. 

There is time and more buds. And they are a bright, blazing beauty.

The strawberry plants that seemed dead are flowering. 

Sweetness to sit there, fingers flying through cream wool, between the wild flower driveway and the white stone bordered flowers  with its bog oak features. Watching the bees in the fuchsias. 

Yes, yesterday was summer.  

It was the fortnightly grocery drop day so we are well stocked and at peace. 

Early hours

it was irresistible. the quiet coolth around half past four. Skies gently grey , no rainfall..

So we decamped , the cats and I.. OK it took a few hundred yards before they all cottoned on to a Serious Walk, then the stragglers caught up and even went ahead of me on the boreen to the shore

 

Heads down for all the fascinating aromas...

There they revelled in the areas of seaweed at low tide, racing and  running.. I filled a large bag for garden and hearth and added a posy of honeysuckle and sea thrift for my prayer table.

 Littlest cat decided the moving foot of my walking stick was PREY so pounced at every step I took

 An adoration of cats!

These last days the hedges and ditches have exploded into flower and fern.
That boreen is lined with the majestic flowering Royal Fern I took photos of this last week

                                           

All the more fascinating because of its history ..

http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=599&Wildflower=Fern,%20Royal

Summer days rich in flowers..

Weekend and heat in sight

Contrails... resting easy in a garden chair in the sun, gazing at the deep blue clear sky.... And contrails, from the direction of Shannon, heading for ... the great world out there. Fewer incoming than outgoing...

Contrails; and at their head a tiny black speck. And in that speck, people.. many people. a skilled pilot, cabin crew, passengers heading ?????? Never fails to ....

Earthbound is enough for me.. The sturdy ground under my feet, birds a-singing, cats a -purring.All the small sweet things that make up life here.

Yesterday was perfect weather. Warm to sit in but not overwhelming so outdoor work was pleasant. I caught up with washing and it all dried in the benevolent sun. Sat knitting in between gazing at the sweet blue and watching the bees going crazy in the old wild fuchsia.   

You can all but see the peas swarming up the wire netting..their flowers smiling and a promise. Such a privilege to grow things.

The three new rescue cats continue to make swift sudden progress. The fluffy black one who was terrified of doors and silent now cries to be let in. She allows petting sometimes but this is something to be offered but not pushed,
Yesterday after a loud demand for IN, she raced to the kitchen and leaped on to the chair and nattered at me! Thinking she wanted food, I filled the dish. She took one bite then back on the chair and chatted on nonstop. Eyes wide and golden... When I offered to stroke her, she enjoyed that too in a way never before.. revelled in the contact she had fought shy of. Such a purr..

Six months on and still making strides.

Today will be as lovely as yesterday for at least much of the day they say.
The peace and utter silence here  are palpable and to lean into , Just.... 

So , soon, we will decamp outside with handwork ,   Last week this was a thick warm blanket with some of the odd balls of luxury mohair that were left....

Three feet by five..