NorthDownMuse

The Rising

I leave tomorrow for London so I will miss the final five days of the arts festival. Tonight was my last event. It was a play that explored the role of Belfast in the Easter Rising, which is usually associated with Dublin. But many of the leaders and foot soldiers

Bravery

When I told co-workers at Vanguard that I’d been hiking in Peru and Chile and volunteering in Haiti and St. John, they made out like I was full of derring-do. The reality is I lived on borrowed bravery. My friend Cynthia was the ring leader for my hikes and

Random church

I’m aware that I haven’t had a photo up in a while. Here’s a church up the street from my church. I took photos of it a while ago and saved it for a photo drought. There’s a rooster on top of the steeple. Here’s

Green and Blue

Tonight I saw a play called Green and Blue based on oral histories given by policemen on either side of the north/south border before the peace agreement. Two actors played the roles of an Irish Garda and a Royal Ulster Constabulary member. The play was successful in its goal

Hit and Miss

Last night I went to see a series of films by a young Irish filmmaker (maybe around 40) and hear her discuss them. I’d say they were a bit avant-garde, and so I struggled to make sense of them. In one, a teenage version of her traipsed around Ireland,

Writers’ Paradise

When I lived here in the 1970s, I was taken with all the great Irish writers--poets, playwrights, novelists, lyricists. This is a land that reveres writers--that hasn’t changed. Last night I went to my first arts festival event, which honoured the life of Roger Casement through the work of

Back in the swim of things

For many months I have been talking about going swimming. Today, I finally did. I haven’t been running for maybe a month due to pains in my feet, so the motivation to swim has been building. I’m through most of my deadlines for the month, so I decided

Quitting Time

I was cleaning out e-mails today (one of many arrows in my procrastination quiver) and I found an e-mail to my friend Lola at the beginning of my second semester at Queen’s: "I’m 95% sure I’m going to throw in the towel this week. In shorthand:

And then there’s this...

Vis a vis yesterday’s post ... I have definite prejudices regarding art. I’m much more interested in something that, to my mind, is saying something important about the world we live in. The emerging artists featured in the FT magazine were turning a mirror on the societies they lived

Emerging Artists

On the way to Dublin I read a magazine put out by the Financial Times about emerging artists in such diverse places as Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and South Africa. Each was working within a system that was hostile or indifferent to their work. The introductory essay had a passage that

Dear Dirty Dublin

Joyce’s words, not mine. Dublin is not as dirty as in his day and at the moment a lot of it is under construction--tram lines or something--so there are barricades everywhere. I took the bus down and had lunch at a pub called Searsons with Theresa, my former yoga

The Shipping News

Is not good. I wrote an article today for ESG Magazine about the shipping industry, which, due to its global nature, is not covered by the COP21 agreement to reduce emissions. Same for aviation. The International Maritime Organisation was encouraged to do something about this--to fill the gap--but has so

Social graces

I am happy to report three upcoming opportunities to hang with old friends. Saturday I’m going to Dublin for the day, where I’ll have lunch and hang out with Theresa Conroy and her husband. Theresa taught yoga at Vanguard for many years -- really her class was the

Of War and Sunlight

I went to book club tonight for the first time in a long time. One of our members had suggested we read the poetry of Louis MacNeice, one of Northern Ireland’s great poets. The collection was edited by W.H. Auden, MacNeice’s contemporary and fellow war poet. The

Super Tuesday

I get all of these Facebook posts telling me how easy it is to vote while living abroad. You can vote ANYWHERE! It’s so easy! That’s like the McDonald’s commercials with all the really pretty teenagers smiling at you like they want nothing more than to make

Teenage horror story

Today we hiked from Whitehead to Blackhead. I think that sounds like a teenager’s worst nightmare. In this context, the names refer to headlands. Here we are near Whitehead, beginning a hike that leads to the lighthouse in the distance. To the Lighthouse! There were a lot of fishermen

Stripper

As in wallpaper. I started taking down the hallway wallpaper. I have a long way to go. The plan is to replace the plain vanilla wallpaper with nice bright yellow walls and black and white accents. Don’t hold your breath. 10-8

Gogglebox

Even though British TV is very good (and the BBC is commercial free!!), I haven’t developed much of a TV habit. Not yet. Even though there’s a new version of Poldark that everyone (mostly women) is ga ga about. And even though there’s a series called Victoria

National Poetry Day

Today is National Poetry Day in the U.K. In celebration, Prince Charles read [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37565253] a poem by Seamus Heaney, the Shipping Forecast. I have commended him for his support of conservation, architecture and, now, Irish poetry. My poem for the day will by

Free lunch

My friend and former study buddy Colm O’hAimhirgín sent me an e-mail on Monday asking me if I were going to Business in the Community’s annual conference today. I didn’t know about it, so I sent an e-mail to my BitC contact on Monday, asking if she

Mums the word

Another thing that struck me about Jennifer Johnson’s book, which takes place in recent times, is how much the lives of women in Ireland have changed in a short period. Nora Webster took place in the late 60s. Then, women second guessed their every move--what they wore, where they

How the South sees the North

A very different discussion than one might have in the U.S. I read a book by Jennifer Johnson, an Irish author who wrote about the Troubles in the 1970s--when not many did. The Troubles had a small role in this book, which is about Clara, who lives in Dublin

Day at the Beach, Part 2

Today all I did was go to church and begin stripping wallpaper in the foyer. So I’ll continue with yesterday’s photos. This is Portrush harbour: There are signs like this all over Northern Ireland, which drive home the folly of Brexit. Just a bunch of guys going surfing.

A day at the beach

Today in Portrush there was a beer festival. Once we got there, there was a long line, so we went for a walk. This beach is east of Portrush and features Royal Portrush Golf Club in the dunes on the right and Giant’s Causeway in the distance. It was

Substitution, part two

A while ago I was being all brave about getting older. If I can’t run (due to plantar fasciitis), why I’ll just swim. However I’ve had a cold ever since I got back from London and swimming has not been in the cards. So I’m getting