Yesterday In Pictures.

Do check out Lucy's Lounge  which is where the top two photos were taken. I also have more about it over on my blog Carnival.

Something Lovely.

First of all, thank you all for your kind and sweet words on yesterdays post. We have Jay home for the weekend and then he's off again on Monday for the week. We survive. We always do. It's where the phrase 'your other half' makes sense to me!

***

So I reckon it's time for something cheerful.

I love knitting but I don't do very much as it's too slow (or I should say I'm too slow) and I get impatient. But lately I've been inspired by all this 'Guerilla Knitting' that's going on around the planet. Small things that make a statement? Sounds right up my street. And the whole 'graffiti' element appeals to the latent anarchist in me. I would have loved this as a teenager, when I rediscovered knitting and knit giant black mohair jumpers on the biggest needles I could find. And then wore them to death.



Has anyone seen any? Or done it? I can't find much evidence of any in Dublin, but I bet someone is doing it. These images are from flickr. The fact that meet-up's of all sort of crafty-ness are happening all around the place convinces me. For example The Loft Market in Powerscourt had a Sew and Tell meeting last Thursday where people shared their know-how. And I know there are various knitting cafes going on around Dublin, and I'm sure other parts of the country. My own group is still in the fledgling stage, but I can see potential, and hopefully we can help spread the crafting love!



It's great to read online and increasingly in the media about the growing world-wide knitting and stitching that is going on. I love seeing it become the norm. Every second person I know does something, even in a small way. And I celebrate the online/blogging world that brings all these people together! Isn't it brilliant.

Have you any stories, groups, meetings to share? I'd love to hear.

And finally, there's even a documentary film about it. Check out the trailer for Hand Made Nation here. Has anyone seen it?

I'm off in to Dublin today, camera in hand. You never know what I might see.

At Sea.

How I am.

When he goes away.

The Little Boy Who Made.

There is a wonder afoot in our house. A cascade of creativity.

This little boy just can't stop making. He has entered his 'heart' phase, when all things grip him in a passion, and he just has to get it out onto paper.

At the moment it's all about super-heros of one kind or another. In particular, Ben 10. And every day I am amazed at the things he knows. The things he is learning away from my eyes.

It was no surprise that he lost his first baby tooth today, in the midst of this explosion of expression. It feels as though the time has come for his super-hero to be revealed.

This wee gyroscope that is our middle son has in the last year outgrown his position of one of the babies in the house. He lives such a physical existence and he is  so strong,  that at times, as he bounces around to try and figure out where his new place is in our little family it's too much for one or another of his siblings.


(This photo from the Solstice Party Summer 2006, from Lisa's archives. Thanks Lisa!)

But his heart is big and generous and bursting with enthusiastic life, and it's impossible to ignore.

The Why Of It...

A couple of people have asked that I post the introduction that I wrote in the book. So here it is. This is why I was inspired to do this project in the first place. 

***

This is the view from my back door, from my kitchen window.

The Sugarloaf.

Each day bringing another sky, another wonder to fill my heart. So many days spent here at this window, on this doorstep. In summer, a sunny corner of scented flowers, creeping green. Generous lush rushes lean and sway and whisper. In autumn late blooming roses fill the evening with perfume, which greets us like a friendly melancholy ghost, wrapping around us, seducing us, inviting us to stay awhile. In winter, a sudden gift of light to gladden your heart. A heron against a stark winter sky. And in spring the birds return. Along with the green.

And you love this place. It is filled with such ghosts and echoes of other lives. The garden breathes the faint memory of long-ago children. A lingering sensation of hidden joy.

Come follow us. Share our blessings.

One year.

Ciara Brehony,

Co. Wicklow, Ireland.