Lost & Found: March 2013

Monday, 25 March 2013

random photo of the day: revealed retro

Old signs revealed during work at the Fountain Centre, Belfast.

Weird weather

This time last year this corner of Ireland was enjoying a freak heat wave. This year we have a freak snow fall, in March! Climate change deniers please take note.

Now I love the snow, but the sun gods really need to make an appearance soon; I'm still itching to get my new tent up!

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day!

This year Belfast City Council pulled out all the stops and put on a four day festival for Saint Patrick's day and I was drafted in to do origami and papercraft workshops for three days.

We made shamrock badges, hairclips, necklaces and origami shamrocks and four-leaf clovers with kids from one to a hundred (more or less) and it was great craic, the only thing problem being that I was kept so busy that I hardly got a chance to take many photos or indeed to take part in some of the amazing other traditional crafts that were on offer.

I hope you all rose a glass for luck on Sunday, wherever you were in the world.

Adventures in sacred Ireland: Nendrum

During a brief spell of sunshine last week Danny and I escaped the big bad city and found a little oasis of calm which I never even knew existed before, just 16 miles out of the city. I'm mapping out sacred Ireland for myself inch by inch.

On the edge of Strangford Lough lie a series of tiny islands connected by causeways and on the very last one, Mahee Island, sits Nendrum monastic site dating from the mid fifth century, when Christianity was beginning to flourish in Ireland under St. Patrick. This monastery was founded by an associate of his called Saint Mo Choí.

The monastery had its greatest days between the 7th and 10th Centuries and the ruins include a church, a round tower and a sundial all within enclosures of three concentric circles.