Saturday, May 29, 2010

Meath.


Last night we walked beside the castle in the twilight. It was down a trail swarming with midges that we went, next to a river full of furrows where the water folded over rows of invisible rocks; fish flashing white, springing out of the water to snap air. The castle was illuminated by tinted artificial lights, making the walls look green as if mossy. The sunset turned some nearby ruins pink. It was not cold.

We walked for quite a long time as the sky grew darker, and, unexpectedly, we reached a priory built in 1202. The roof was missing and the walls crumbling. It was still and perfect. Graves cluttered around it, as if they had grown there with the tall grass and grabbing nettles and bent trees. I sat on a decaying old headstone and looked at the outline of a cross against the flat blue-toned sky, feeling the darkness around me and the sense of space and quiet.

On Sunday we went into Dublin to see Mariee Sioux play at a bar called Anseo. We walked through Temple Bar and it was transformed, full of music emanating from the pubs and tourists and buskers bustling about on the streets. A guy screaming out The Auld Triangle; someone singing Mustang Sally. We walked and walked and walked.

Yesterday we went and gave the donkeys some carrots. I like the donkeys. One of them is very friendly. I ate some vegan chocolate and did not do much else. I do not want to go.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Donegal, Derry, Armagh and back.

We are staying in Meath now.

Knots of bright yellow dance in my mind as I sit here listening to the fridge sighing. The scenes we drove through today recurr to me. From Donegal to Derry to Armagh. The highlands of Donegal all brown and bronze, tussocks of grey grass studding the fields, black rows trailing in the wake of the plough, squat mountains swathed in cloud. That piece of the landscape had a certain wildness to it that is notably absent here in Meath. Then there was the city of Derry, and one town after another; they suffer some kind of synthesis when exposed to recollection; mercilessly flattened into a single idea.  I guess that happens when you drive all day; you see a lot but don't really see anything.  Hopefully I can go back and see them again.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Tipperary travels.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Tipperary. We passed through Offaly and Laoise. Low hills became more abundant as we moved further south, away from the flat centre. We saw again the old house where the family used to live, now impossibly overgrown, decaying under a net of brambles and nettles.

More flights have been grounded today due to the ash.