Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Well i finally went out and gardened yesterday. I now have a very different relationship with the garden. I made so many stupid mistakes in the past. I pulled up all the foxgloves and forget me nots. How awful is that? Than the Welsh poppies. The garden has never recovered from the trauma. Well, I have had to make amends. Over the years I have tried many things, but what I am realising now is that all i need to do is work WITH the garden. So yesterday, I left all the dandelions and i found and I selectively weeded the buttercups. I also continued for the final year to mulch the side of the house. I don't know what I will do next year when it is free of the most invasive weeds. Perhaps I will grow some shade tolerant plants like mint, etc. Or even create a pond area with running water. Bog irises and reeds. And the area along the side of the house, I'll plant with bulbs and then keep it short after the bulbs have bloomed. It also needs some height, but again it is quite shady....

Last Friday Oisin was taken to hospital because I thought he had appendicitis. I hate going to hospitals, so I never have anything to do with the doctors if i can help it. I was hoping I would be told I was overreacting and be asked to go home. Instead, he came very close to an operation he did not have to have. It was only because he protested that he still has a kidney. In the meantime, the GCSE Art exam was due to be marked. He came out of hospital on Monday and we worked all through Monday, Monday night and all of Tuesday night to get it sorted. Finally we managed to get it all together on Wednesday morning and off to the school it was dispatched.  I was utterly shattered when it was all over. I had no idea if I was coming or going. Between the possibility of operation and the stress of the GCSEs, it was a completely head melt. By the time yesterday rolled round, I was in bed by eight pm and immobile. Such is the life of a teacher. But also the mother. And just like...

The North Down Coast is just about as far away as you can get from where I was this time last week. It is gentle and mild, it is sweet, not spectacular. You can walk along it, with no fear. In fact we walked along it to get to the local park for our Olympics. It was around seven miles, I think. I can't remember. Maybe it was five miles. I can't imagine walking seven mils, although it is ten miles to Bangor from Holywood and we were almost at Bangor. Along this coast, one of the most important monastic sites arose: the Bangor Abbey. Here Comgall perfected the Bangor Antiphon and the austere way of life which tried to emulate the Desert Fathers, and it was from here which he then went out to the rest to the rest of Europe. It is hard to believe that the Ards Peninsula was a thriving centre of scholarship and industry. Imagein the boats being made here, the books transcribed and written, the entire activity of a village or town which would keep the 3,000 scholars who occup...

The tower in a graveyard in Valentia Island So, what is the upshot of my trip to Kerry? Will I be taking my class there? The short answer, is, No. It is too far. And the inability to depend on the weather as well is a huge factor. So, instead, we will content ourselves with an exploration of the Ards peninsula, which was one of the most important centres of monastic activity, and the Causeway Coast, which has one of the most beautiful and geologically interesting structures on the island, and finally, the Mourne mountains which are quite incredible. So, that will be our school outings from here on in. The Ards Peninsula, the Mournes and the Causeway Coast. But here is the last look at the rest of the trip. View from a gap in the trees of the North of Valentia Island Valentia island is an incredibly twee looking place. The thing about Kerry is that it is filled with places which are really well looked after. Where Donegal has this rough and ready feel to it, quite a m...

One of the nice things about travelling alone, of which there are TONNES, is that you can do everything spontaenously. So, after I had my lunch, I went back to use the bathroom and take five, and then after that, because it was the most AMAZING day, headed back out again. You never get another chance like this again in Ireland. If you don't take your good day you can forget about it. Once my mom asked me why I was having a BBQ on a weekday, why don't you have it on a weekend? she asked. Because I said, the sun is shining today. It may not be shining in four days time. When you come up close and personal with the Atlantic you understand why this is the case. I don't know why I never had this same experience in Donegal. There is something morose, and i mean PERMANENTLY morose about Donegal. Possibly because it is more northerly. But the feeling that you get in a place like Port Magee, you don't get in Moville or Bunbeg or just name any town or village in Donegal. O...

I didn't realise this was a holy well when I found it I just knew it was super special. That peninsula is inhabited by these incredibly sacred beings... you can really feel the Spirits of Form moving in the landscape. The day began cloudy, possibly all days begin cloudy because of the proximity to the ocean. That is the Atlantic Ocean. One thing about being in Kerry is that you feel held by the landscape. And by held I mean, there is something healing about the land. You don't get that seem feeling from Donegal. In Donegal these is an element of antipathy. In this part of the world, the land allows you to dream into it. That is the only way I can explain it. Because it is so empty as well, you and the land are alone. You feel this love exuding from it. The longer I stayed there, the more I felt restored. Even though it was only the start of Easter. There are innumerable numbers of bays all over the place Little Skelligs The Skellings were ...