Thought for today:
Poems are a good way to examine your past; you wouldn't dream of making changes to an entry in your diary from years long gone, but a poem, now that's a different matter, a poem, although it was not mean to, often turns out to be a long term project. What the hell are we thinking when we endeavour to improve a poem we wrote twenty years ago? Do we really imagine that we have an improved grasp of that specific moment in time when it was originally written?
Ferries: All as normal today.
We recommend checking the ferry web site if you are travelling any great distance, click the link: Cape Clear Island Ferries.com
This blog is maintained by Cape Clear Island Hostel: www.capeclearhostel.com
Wet or Dry:
Dry start but light rain later. Dry at 1pm.
Sunny or Cloudy:
Overcast to start and probably later too
Night Sky
Overcast.
Temperature:
Quite mild.
Windy or Still:
Possible gale force so check ferry timetable. Ferry is still on schedule.
Sea Condition:
Rough to rougher but possible fun -check with Rose for details.
Tides - approx:
High: 05.49
Low: 12.13
High : 18.07
Low: 00.32 on Saturday morning
Using 24 hour clock
During October
Short Eared Owl
Merlin
Collared Flycatcher possibly.
Barn Owl
Red Flanked Bluetail
Red Throated Pipit
Red Backed Shrike
Pied Flycather
Ring Ouzel
Chickens x 5: Maggie; Oraiste; Teapot; Billybob; Ginger
Plumage: Starting to moult - quite a few feathers in the chicken house.
Eggs: 2
Flowers
Roses looking lovely - pink and gorgeous..
Marigolds are huge and lovely.
Dahlia is in second bloom
Fuschia still looks good.
Sinead is tearing the hillside apart with her bare hands, getting rid of the fern and bramble.
Started building a herb garden a month ago using the front wall at the north end of the house as a backdrop.
Too many other flowers to mention them all.
Vegetables from the walled garden
Lettuce - picked leaves for dinner
Onion
Tomatoes (nearly ended)
Carrots
Spinach
Cabbage - one is nice and plump
Beetroot
Potatoes
Planted turnips
We had tomato,carrot, and onion soup a few evenings ago and it was lovely mmmmm!
Water Shortages
Please use water sparingly as water is still rationed on Cape
Fishing:
NA
Books: Currently reading:
Henry Martyn Field's History of the Atlantic Telegraph, published 1866:
The story of the heroic struggle to connect America with Europe.
Terry Coleman's Passage to America, published 1972.
Favourite Poems:
Raggedy-Rich, Rich-Raggedy
I left behind my fields so green,
My little cabin of clay,
I left behind my quiet times,
In search of a better way.
I left my hearth, my home,
My children, my wife,
I left my friends,
So raggedy-rich in life.
I left my Ma, my Da,
I went across the sea,
I went due to want,
In a land where plenty should be.
I went to a place of panic and push,
Of all take and no give,
I went to where the rich men live.
I worked and I schemed,
As I tried to improve my lot,
I became rich-raggedy in life,
With gains..…ill-got.
Beguiled were my family,
As they heard my talk of a better way,
But they heard my bluster-come,
Not my bluster-stay.
They left the dregs of our culture,
They left our quiet, quiet glade,
They came to where the rich men live,
To where fortunes are made.
They came with hopes a-flying,
With dreams of a better day,
They saw how the rich men lived,
And thought it a better way.
I saw them panic, I saw them push,
I heard their accents fade,
At Christmas we gathered,
Ever on went the charade.
We talked of walks to the well,
Of donkey races on the strand,
Of summer days, of the little people,
Of our own fairy-land.
We talked of our Ma and our Da,
Of times by our own fireside,
We listened as Mary sang, and we cried.
Oh how we cried,
Oh how we cried,
We will go now, my family and me,
Back to our sea-washed isle,
Back to our own Innisfree.
