Teleporting to March

Cast your eyes and self back to last month

Hello and welcome dear reader,

Get your helmet on and strap in tight because today I am going to take you hurtling back through the hours and days to the month of March. Where were you when March happened? personally, myself, I was up to my eyeballs in gratitude at the longer evenings laid out before us. I was also in Cork City of course, holed up illustrating frantically lots of different grassland landscapes and native species found within them for an almost finished animation on aforementioned ecosystems. It is always very heartening and inspiring working with such devoted botanists, scientists and enthusiasts of Irish surroundings. As well as becoming very overwhelmed by the prospect of losing these threatened habitats, working on these projects deepens my appreciation of our country and the life it sustains. These lands are soaked in an ancient knowing that continues despite everything.

I am currently reading the second instalment of the Boudica book series, an obsession passed to me by my mam in the form of the first book given to me on my birthday. HO BOY it is so so good. It has fanned the flames of a deep yearning to reconnect to a more magical and harmonising force. Set in like 57 AD or so in Britain and tells the story of Boudica the warrior queen. Manda Scott brings you right into the world of dreamers and warriors, hares and Nemain the moon goddess and wrens and majestic horses and the importance of things. Of real things like swords and torcs and cloaks but also of the ancestors and links to the past and intuition and community and ceremony and honour. Then the Romans come and they are such an ick. It is CAPTIVATING. If anyone knows of something similarly engrossing and spellbinding set in Ireland, PLEASE tell me xx (I haven’t even looked, but a recommendation is worth it’s weight in gold) (I won’t be paying you in gold)

For paddy’s day (or rather, the bank holiday weekend) we went to Mellen and Rory’s in Sligo. We climbed up to some p. cool caves with a very good view and we had many beers and went to the Garavogue (a personal goal for me which I can now say I have done and am content not to repeat) and watched the RUGBY game because we are very big supporters of the ruggers and Johnny Sexton and we were told it was his last game but it wasn’t even so it wasn’t actually that sad when his child came on the pitch and he was crying but I guess it might be the last game he wins. Look I don’t know if he was crying but the emotions were high. Sunday was rounded off with a lot of First Dates, as it should be.

I have been trying to incorporate Spanish and Catalan into my diaries in the hope of it spilling out of my mouth in waves of fluency next time I see the famalam. Also to try and feel more connected to that half of me.

And don’t I have a little treat for yous this month. I finished the diary at the beginning of April so I am just going to include the remaining pages in this instalment. A little peek into the future, aren’t ye lucky. Here ya go:

See you soon, love you xxxx