To the Hills

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Clare

As ever, the monthly FAFF proved to be a delight.

For over four years now, once a month, a group of friends gather. Sometimes we are many, sometimes less. We have brunch in The Happy Pear in Greystones- a gem of a place- which serves super vegetarian food and other variants of yum.  Yesterday there was even a community chocolate competition, judged by the local kids, of which we were alas only witnesses and not participants. The hills were calling.

The weather yesterday did not look promising, but we gave it a blast and the rain held out, remarkably.

On our way up we ate wild sorrel and saw the rippening of wild blueberries (or maybe they are bilberries). The ferns are currently unfurling and spring is trying to fight a good fight with its pert new green and still delicate leaves.

I just love getting out of the city. And when a friends are about, all the better.

Posted in Living | Leave a comment

From Do to Poetry

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Clare

It has been a beautiful and busy few weeks. It involved a trip to Wales for The Do Lectures. It involved camping out under the wind and stars, campfires, amazing conversations, good food, a humbling chest infection, the loss of my camera and the miraculous return of my camera, ideas spinning, yoga teaching and learning all the way. It also involved the launch of Street Feast and a powerfully transformative yoga workshop with Sianna Sherman and then, a trip out West with a group of wonderful friends, where we tagged along to the Strokestown Poetry Festival and encountered the phenomenal talent of We Banjo 3.

Today I am grateful to the kindness of strangers (the ones who returned my camera to me), and to the kindness of friends, who are forever giving in their love and hope, their laughter and delight.

Here is a photographic round-up. More words to follow.

Posted in Living, photography, poetry, travel | 1 Comment

Street Feast 2013 Launched

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Clare

So we got Street Feast off to a colourful start yesterday, with a rooftop feast on Dublin’s new urban farm. Music, bunting, friends and amazing food from the wonderful Katie and Co. of Living Dinners.

It was all in preparation for the 23rd June, when we hope to inspire a nationwide day of feasts across the country.

It is such a simple idea. But one we love. You can register your feast on the Street Feast website here. This year we have also teamed up with Centra food stores, who are helping to provide handy Street Feast packs with bunting, posters and goodies to kick start more feasts across the country. Pop in store for details.

Huge well done to Sam Bishop for all this work on launching the project this year. Tres impressive.

Posted in Street Feast | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s all a Happenin’

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Clare

Dublin is coming alive again in that brighter, longer day kind of way. There are posters up for pending festivals, and signs of outdoor ventures. Along the Liffey this weekend, for instance, a varsity rowing regatta, with so many young and eagers making use of the water in such a wonderful way. I love seeing this. (One of my regrets is not taking up rowing while in college. I just couldn’t hack the 5am starts and the dawn run to the river-  so I applaud them all).

Also this weekend, Happenings kicked off their season of outdoor pursuits with a screening of ‘Some Like it Hot’ in Fitzwilliam Square. The grass still being a little damp, and the chill in the air still chilling, the crowd came undeterred. It’s my friend Peter O’Brien’s clever venture. Ireland’s notorious weather patterns play havoc with outdoor planning but Peter and co have cleverly pre-agreed event management plans and logistics with the City Council and park services to get events happening within a 36 hour notice period. So, if there is blue sky over the coming months, there can be sure to be some more screenings. Notification of the events will be released via social media channels and their mailing list. So, if in Dublin, be sure to get yourself signed up.

Happenings are also hosting the incredible incredibles of This is How We Fly in the  Fumbally Café on 30th April. Only a few tickets left and you have to pop down to the café to collect- but oh so so will be worth it. If you have not heard the band before, here is some of their musical magic. And if you have not been to The Fumbally, well you are in for a treat.

Peter is also the man behind the weekly outdoor yoga sessions in Dartmouth Square, Ranelagh, every Saturday, 11am.  It is on a rotating teacher schedule, and always a great community vibe. Updates from their facebook page here. And as the weather warms, it gets even better.

Street Feasting

And staying with the outdoor theme, Street Feast’s plans are ramping up a notch in preparation for 23rd June, the big day this year when we hope to have even more feasts across the country. Sam Bishop is holding the Street Feast reins this year (I have stepped back from the core team to focus on developing some new projects and my teaching practice, but I am lending a hand where I can and still really eager to see make it’s way onto more and more streets). It is just a simple idea- the sharing of food, banter, and community. More information on the Street Feast website and blog, and updates in the coming months with some new and exciting developments.

And other adventures…

And while on summer thoughts I am also thinking of the other upcoming events and gatherings I am being enticed to. Strokestown Poetry Festival, directed my friend Martin Dyar, is taking place over the May Bank Holiday weekend (3-5th May). There will be readings, music and a multitude of poems by a mix of young and old, those on the scene a while and a healthy mix of emerging poets such as Sarah Clancy and Erin Fornoff. So, if you happen to be in Roscommon…

Later in the year we will also have some surprises in store for the Body and Soul Festival over the mid-summer solstice, and I am already looking forward to wild and wonderful shenanigans. It is always a great line-up. Kudos to the talented trailblazer (and friend) Avril Stanley for her vision and passion to make it all happen. I so admire what she is doing.

Then, of course, there will be random hikes, picnics, cycles through the city, walks through the woods and maybe even a sea swim or two. Outdooring it. Yes, please. More, please. I’ll have sunshine with that too, please.

…

A few more photos below from the outdoor screening. Well done to Peter, Sam, Claire, Emily, Taja, John and all the other crew and volunteers.

Posted in Living, Street Feast | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What happens when I sit…

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Clare
They are not trying to be anything, these words. They just came to me.
My thoughts had been rattling. My head felt compacted. I knew I needed space.
So rather than accepting an invitation out, I invited myself in. I sat. In silence. Allowing the space of it, and the grace of it.
Afterwards, these words came. They are not formed as a poem. Nor were they formed as prose. They just are. I present them as is. Just because, for once, I’m not asking for perfect. They just feel real. And right now, that is enough for me.
….
What happens when I sit:

The noise softens.
The chatter diminishes.
The breath reveals itself.
The quiet takes me in.

Something opens.
Something else releases.
I think it may even be love.

What happens is simplicity.
What happens is raw.
It glistens, darkly.

It has no end. No beginning either.
I know I am unknown there.

Space, at the pace of being.
Light, at the level of life.

I think I should sit more often.
I hear it calling me home.
…
(Image above from a print by Vincent Miller. I see it everyday, and love it all the more).
Posted in Creativity, Living | Tagged , , | Leave a comment