Around the corner from a whole new journeY

glorious to have such a rapid paced world, for such a rapid paced minD.
or is IT!

seems like it is just floating righT a long, here in the land of Eire!
It is really wild to think, we have been here for a month, because it feels like 6 months, and also like 6 days.
time is really playing with us, huh?
let us see, we are alas, moving on from the cloudy days, here, and on toward the bright sun, of Portugal!! We are both extremely excited, and after the 4 full days of moving from ireland to london to paris to spain to portugal, to souther portugal, we will feel quite accomplished to arrive!
The past few days have been quite a blur, of weeding our asses off and walking in down-pours.
Yesterday was our last day of work in Ireland until September!
We went to Mike's mum's house and weeded her 5 raised beds, and her peas and her raspberries and her onions.
she made us plenty of tea, and then we got so hungry we had to tell her that we had to walk back before she attempted to make us Fish, because in europe, vegetarian, means pescatarian.

Last night we laid low, and did some much needed laundry and read our books, that we are both very absorbed in at the moment.  I also looked up on the site, Hop-Stop, (a international subway direction site) how to get from the airport to our hostel and hostel to hostel in london, and so on.  Turns out that the hostel we will be staying at on the 3rd, the night before we have to wake up at 4 AM to catch a 5 AM train to paris, is actually right across the street from the International St. Pancras station, so that is just grand!

Paris will be quite a trip, because we have to get from one train station to another, but at least we will have 5 hours to figure it out.

The days before yesterday, were spent doing some last work in Mike's garden, weeding every possible last weed, and we also transplanted some turnips to make room in a bed, for them to spread out , and also transplanted some brussel sprouts. 

Twice in the past few days, well two days in a row, we were in town, with out our rain coats, like fools, and got caught in DOWN POURS on the way home.  It got to be quite humerous on the second time around when we were drenched and trudging down this long country road in the pouring rain.  Really felt like an epic Ireland moment. 

On Thursday, Mike tried to have us help him in the forrest, with cutting the large branches off long skinny trees, to have them as logs, however after about 30 mins of me sawing my brains, out and turning my arms to jelly and Chelsey axing with her left hand at twigs, we told him we might be better off in the garden.  Was nice of him to let us try though!  Our pewny-granola selves just aint that aquired to be Lumberjacks!

We met a man named Will Fix It at the pub on Wednesday, i believe, and he entertained us for most the night, with his dog, Sky who was a search and rescue spaniel that loved fetching leaves and cigarette butts.   We seem to attract the most outlandish characters of ireland, and they indeed provide us with Primo Entertainment. 

Over all though, Ireland has been a beautiful experience.  We are in dyer need of some sunlight and warmth, but beyond that, these rolling hills of ever lasting green could never get old.  The people are kind, a tad traditional and simple, and the amount of pubs is always about half of the business on a block.

Today is Saturday, and we would like to go for  a walk in the nature preserve down the road.  Then tomorrow we will watch the final match of the EuroCup, Italia Vs. Spain.
On monday we catch an 8:40 AM bus, which is the first of 3 busses to take us to Shannon Airport for a flight at 5 PM.

Onward we shall go!
This journey is about to take on a whole new level!
and we are indeed, Ready!
wooooo!

holla back,
-mimi

a sing song for ya

click to lissen...

some more photos from Valentia and Kenmare

(click them and they will grow!)

 

From the epic gravyard at Valentia

The cutest teashop Ever in kenmare!! (scones, quiche and tea=)

On the channel in Kenmare

The driveway walk! (rocking out)

knots in my muscles can only mean one thing

time for a pint!

and that we have been working arse off, here at Peafield!

Yesterday we weeded! hey there's an idea!  But it is actually quite brilliant, because the repitition of action, can become monotonous, but so it goes in life ey?  That is one of the big lessons i have begun to gather on this journey.  I am always ready. Always ready for what is next, and getting over what is here, now.  Always ready to move on, and away from the present.  This is grand and all, but i mean, getting used to things in such a damn short time, can get a bit tiring in and of itself!  I just got to this farm a week ago, and after a 5 days of weeding everyday, i was ready to move on to the next place, like, Ok, great, next!  But this is the story of my life.  All ways getting used to things so quickly, and always needing constant change to keep my damn mind stimulated.  Well, well, great idea in a way, because it keeps me searching for new interests and theories, but shit, i could use a lesson in making peace with what i have infront of me!
And so i have been!
Having a huge sence of gratitude just for being in the beautiful land, helps, and i keep reminding myself to come back to the moment, and enjoy it, regardless of the monotony, to make it fun, and seek the lesson and value out of every instant!  It has been good.  Yesterday wasa grand example...Chelsey and I were weeding all most the whole day, and yet we were having excellent conversation the whole time, about life, and each of our stories so far, and magic and wonder, and how to over come fear with an impeccable trust in the universe!  It made the weeding just fade into the day, and kept our minds going like a hampster on his wheel.  I am very grateful for lessons i am receiving by remaining in my awareness and trust of this process and unfolding story.
Having an infinite trust in the universe, which conquers all fear and anxiety is quite the goal to be aiming for, but it seems the only tool worth achieving in order to accept the life i am calling for.  Fear is limiting and binding at that.  Chelsey helped reiterate and vocalise comfort in a way which made it clear to me, my goal in remaining my faith.  For while i remain in faith, the doors of possibilty are wide open to attract all that shall be attracted!

amen, to that!

so weeding became quite brilliant yesterday, and after Fabrice flushed the remainder of the cous cous down the toilet, at lunch time, and we bit our toungues at the marvel in that, since there is a compost and a garbage, and how different brains work is quite the wonder, indeed due for some laughter!  Also, worth a laugh, was that after work yesterday, we power-walked into town, to get some more of our Liquid Iron which has been keeping us going on the daily,  and when we got there the store was closed, and how pointless we felt.  Pointless! -what a feeling to feel!  As if!-really!  So instead we swapped that perspective in a minute, and laughed our tired asses back up the hill to the pub to have a pint and make a phone call to our mums, who always brighten our day!  Not such a wasted after all!  Just a tad change of way of seeing, and suddenly all is OK again!  Thank you for the minds eye!  After our pints, we got a 10 inch vegetarian pizza for 8 bucks, because we just wanted to and it seemed right, to have pizza in ireland.  It was quite grand!

Today was another day.  We began our work, by taking a heavy mad-lock or matt-lock, some heavy tool that i throw over my head and swing,with al my might, down into the ground to break up the dirt, i mean EARTH! (dirt is what you clean in your house, says mike) We then shovel the Earth onto the potatos, to add soil to their area for the next years crop.  Quite a job to do at 9 am, and hence the knots in the muscles!  Luckily, mike came out and told us we could head down to the shed to do some work with the wood.

Mike also sells bundles of wood, and so we spent the next hour or two deciding which of the "soft wood" was dry and putting that into sacks and throwing the rest onto a giant pile of other wood, to dry.  This was quite laborous too, but at least it was a change!  Labor is part of the deal with farmers lifestyle after-all =).  We definitely sleep well and eat well!

Today we only worked a half day, since Mike had to go get stuff for his car, and apparently tomorrow we will work extra in the forrest, axing off branches and sawing wood, (ha!) and so it goes!

staying in the now, tonight we will head ito town to watch Germany play Italy and hope that Italy wins!

We also bought our tickets today, for the Sud Express.  We now have our tickets for the 3 major trains on July 4th, taking us from London to Paris (euro star) and then, Paris to Irun (TGV) and from Irun to Lisbon (sud express).  The 12 hour over night train is the one we bought today, and there were only reclining seats left, no beds, so we will be seated for the ride, but we can handle that after all, we will be tired as poo, since our journey begins at 5 AM!

What an epic change it will be from here to Portugal!

We are both very stoked, and may i say, Ready!
ha!

Love to all,
-mimi =)

Italy won, yip!

Peafield is grand! We've been getting along just dandy here. We are officially the weeding twins and should become immune to nettles any day now. The past few days have been pretty nice. We worked hard last week and then had the weekend off. We've become big time Euro Cup fans and have watched the games 4 nights in a row and it's turned out to be quite entertaining!
Yesterday we walked around a mile and a half, right outside kenmare town, to the "sea" which I think is just a river maybe? It's hard to tell but was very beautiful nonetheless. There was a small beach with tons of rocks and seaweed and also some big rocks to lounge on. We spent a while there laying in the sun and gazing out towards the dock. There was a really large sculpture of three human like figures carved out of rock that held instruments like the accordion and violin. It was super neat and we could see it from an opening on the beach. After a while of peaceful rock restin' we noticed that Damien and Fabrice, the other two wwoofers staying here where fishing on the beach. It was surprising and funny so we went over for a chat. It's always great talking to them because only Fabrice knows a bit of English, so it allows for some creative connection. He asked if we wanted to go to town with them later to watch Italy vs England and being the good fans we are we surely accepted. He also told us about a lovely park that was on the way home so we trucked on over that way and found the entrance. It was really beautiful and have a bunch of slimy swamps and marshes and a whole section of international trees. They had an awesome collection and it was fun to read what they were and where they were from. Apparently giant rhubarb is a huge problem for the park- so said the signs- and once we saw it we knew why. It truly is giant! It has the biggest leaves of not only weeds I've seen but plants as well! We continued our walk out and onto the golf course which led us to the road home. Sweet day!
Later that night the boys came home and made some soup and shortly after we walked to town and stopped in the wander inn pub. This is where they usually watch the games and it was much different then our normal Ryan's pub experience. It was much busier and that night was completely divided between two rooms, Italy and England fans. The Italian side was much darker lighting and had big comfy chairs ha! We got our ciders and the game began!
The game was almost ridiculous. If the goal was about 15 feet higher Italy would have scored about 10 goals. It was mostly in their possession but it was very back and forth. They ended up going into 2 extras and it was still 0-0. In between extras we went outside and met an awesome Italian man who now lives in Kerry and had some bright, colorful, fast-pasted conversation with him. He guessed we were Swiss at first because I apparently am his Swiss friends' identical twin sister, who woulda guessed? Talking to him made us  want to visit Italy even more! Eventually the game came down to a  shoot out and ITALY WON! woooot. It was very exciting and dramatic! We were pleased and our friend from earlier even more so. He came by, got down on his knee and said "we did it!" naturally i patted his shoulder and said "oh yeah!" which made him super excited so he hugged and kissed my neck hahah. Those Italians are wild. So we walked on home and saw crescent moony which was lovely and a perfect close to the night.
Today was pretty normal. We weeded the garlic and then the raspberry plants for about 5 hours, broken up by planting some pumpkins in the polytunnel and then planted some more peas for Peafield! We also weaved our other peas in the fence that the guys put up and they liked that. Now Mimi is banging on the guitar and I want an ice cream cone even though it's pretty cold out!
Oh yeah, I forgot to include in the post about Valentia that we were included in the photoshoot for whats her name's festival ad that may or may not be in the paper. It would be pretty hilarious if it was! Everyone was all dolled up and looking modely and we just get in there-regular every day clothes, no make up, had paint all over me for making the signs for the shoot. Pure ridiculousness and so it went on Valentia. Just thought I should include for  some laughs!
Hope ya'll feelin' fine :)
-chelsey

s'more photos of rocking and rolling

my BABIES i miss more than anything (sorry family, but i didnt see you everydaY!!)

mountain tops<3 level with the clouds!

Great Success!

Our Time on Peafield!

Yes, the current place we are staying is called, Peafield!

Mike, Fabrice, and Damien, are all very nice, although the latter two, speak minimal english, it is quite a trip communicating with them.
Our first day here, we were hooked up, as Mike took us to the grocery store and stocked up on food we could eat!

That night, we took a tour of the land, and it is rather neat how it is laid out, there is a giant hill on the north end, where his sheep graze, and some other people's cattle graze at the top of the hill.  It is very mountainous area around here, with lots of green hills and mountains.  We are quite close to the atlantic as well!  So as you head south, down the drive way, which winds and curves, you come across a section of about 15 raised beds, filled with garlic, spuds, onions, beetroot, horseraddish, comfrey, cabbage, and rutabaga!  There is also a super long poly-tunnel with tomatoes, more spuds, and a grape vine growing in it!

Really cool lay-out.  Mike uses sea-weed from the ocean, to deter slugs and other pests away from his food, which he grows so much of because he sells it to the co-op and another stand in town.  He also has some raspberries and goji berries and goose berries growing!  Also, he uses nettle water, from the stinging nettles, which he basically lets decompose in barrels which fill up with rain water, to add nitrogen to the plants.  He does the same thing with comfrey to add potassium!  Teas for the garden!  Another thing he uses as fertilizers are the weeds we pick all day, after they decompose, and settle under a tarp in the sun, he lines the beds with them.

So after our tour, Mike offered us to join him and his neighbor for a drink in (one of the 15)  local bar in town.  We got into Crowleys and ordered our Ciders, and met an old guy from Australia who was Biking around Ireland!  Also, another retired man from Portland, who was also wwoofing!  It started out pretty quiet and there were only about 10 or 12 people in the bar, however there was an awesome Irish band practicing their music, and that was lovely!  A banjo player, two flutes, a violin, an accordian, and a really cool hand drum!  Mike also plays the banjo! =)  We enjoyed our time, and especially once the Old Irish men began to break out in song!  It started with one, and then it began happening every 5 minutes, another would just begin singing these traditional Irish songs, it was pretty outstanding, and once the bar got busier and the young lads began singing, it became quite-a-hoot!!  The only song i remember was one about only having a Four and Nine in your pocket, when taking a lady out to dine.

But that was awesome, and it was really great how after we were done at the pub, around 12, instead of getting back in Shawn's car (mike's neighbor), we just walked right past it, and onward home, without anyone saying a word, about it, as if it was Obvious that we would not drive, after drinking some brews... which i thought was just brilliant!

Since its only a twenty minute walk from town, it was rather nice!  Especially because it was soo dark, once we turned onto the country road/. drive way and we could barely see the ground beneathe us but the stars were sooo bright!!

So our first day of work was rather great.  SO much weeding to be done!  And now that we have worked for about 3 days, we only have a tiny bit left in the garlic bed!  We are the weeding twins, and we can become monsters in that dirt!  We also have planted some peas and some cucumbers! 

Today, we also dug up some Earth, to put in the wheel-barrel, to than shovel out onto the spuds, since weeding them really cleared out the dirt, they needed more dirt to pile up, to allow the spuds to sprout up beneathe it!

It has been really nice, working our asses off, and then walking to town to have an espresso or a guinness at night.  When you work hard in the sun, food taste better and sleep feels better! 

It is all great craic really!=)

We will keep ya posted with the exictement of our dirt explorations!

love to all!
-mimi

some photos we've been wanting to share!

click em and they will Grow!

(a crystal dispensor)

on the cliffs of moher!

hand-dandy sign and smile, works everytime!

our dear friend, shavonne<3 who loved our hat

the epic lizard we got to paint on christine and stiofan's house!

a wild ruin of a castle in a cemetery on Valentia Island

in the cemetery

on the tallest mountain on Valentia!

on the peak of the mountain!

Busting a QUICK move off the island

Well, wow. How to even try to explain Valentia Island...bitter sweet? That might be accurate. Since we didn't have access to a computer while we were there, it was very hard to make posts, Mimi did manage to get one in, but that was only the very beginning of day 2 and things really changed after that. So much happened its somewhat of a blur but it was basically crazy prep for a big party Anthea was throwing as her festival kick off the whole first day of work, so we thought it normal not to see a garden or anything of the sort at first since she needed lots of help. The party turned out to be awesome ("like a million hotdogs"-as Allen the chef would say) and we met and talked with a lot of very hilarious drunk Irish folk and ended it by dancing our asses off to house music, really blowing the minds of many people I'm sure. The next day we missed majority of the clean up-because no one was there at 10:30 so we went to go eat amazing pancakes at the only other coffee shop- but got sent right to the kitchen for dish duty...by this point we had already eaten atleast 2 goat cheese sandwiches, since it was the only thing on the menu we could eat and Anthea had given us two days of "tomorrows" in reference to our groceries. The next day was Sunday so we assumed there was no work because you usually have off on Sunday for WWOOF so we headed over to Cahirciveen by ferry and explore a little. By this point we were becoming a bit weary of the whole situation and tried to reach out to some new farms and look for people who were really trying to live sustainably. We went in Monday to try to talk to her about some food and seeing the polytunnel and arrived at about the same time. As soon as we saw her she was looking ready to send us on some cafe duty so we quickly ring in "So we're heading to the polytunnel today?" she explained that she wouldn't be able to take us and that she was very busy and disorganized and sorry and yeah yeah blah, very fast talking and the like. At this point I couldn't hold back and longer and said something like "well, ya know we signed up for WWOOF that stands for working on organic farms or gardens, and we really didnt expect to be working in a cafe..." so she says we didn't have to work today and she would take us to the tunnel tomorrow. I think she actually got the message then. We took the first half of the day to email lots of people and find an escape route off of Valentia. Probably up to 4 goat cheese sandwiches by now. The second half was absolutely incredible. We went on a 4 hour, around 9 or 10 mile hike and saw tons of extremely surreal scenes. First we walked up the side of a mountain to a huge slate quarry and grotto which was a hugeeeee hole in the side of the mountain that had water running down. Next we walked further up the mountain and made our way to signs that pointed us to Geokaun Mountain and Fogher Cliffs, which is Valentia's tallest mountain. It was pretty steep but well worth the hike. Definitely goes down as the most beautiful scene I have ever seen. Stunning 360 view of the neighboring islands, the skelligs and of course the mighty Atlantic. We were both in awe. There were also sheep everywhere with tiny babes follwing. We made it home right before the pub was closing and ate a lovely meal, drank some cider by the water and watched a beautiful sunset.
We checked out email and a few people had responded! We figured it was because we saw all Valentia had to offer us and it was now time to leave. One guy Mike said he empathized and had two french wwoofers, but had an extra room, left us his number and told us to call him and we could work something out. We went to sleep grateful and hopeful. We awoke this morning and pretty much decided that if we could get a hold of Mike, we would bust a QUICK move right off that island.  AND WE DID, pretty quickkk.
We called and Mike said he could pick us up in Kenmare today and everything seemed great! So we went home, packed up all our stuff in a half hour and ran to the ferry- the apparent quick way, says Mimi, which was climbing over a small bush/hill with all of our luggage, and through the grass. Good for a laugh, she is. We ended up hitching a ride from Anna, who worked for Anthea, which we thought perfect and hilarious, to our bus in Caherciveen. They all must have known it was coming, as she wasn't too surprised to see us leaving.
So two buses later we met Mike! He saw us come right off the bus since we were so brightly dressed and he took us over to the veggie cafe to grab a drink and some fig pie! Then right to the grocery store. This is how wwoof is supposed to be! This night has been a huge relief. We are extremely grateful and ready to work in the gardens! I am tired of typing and we're going to go get a beer in town!
All is well :) Namaste!
Chelsey

from darkness to light in 5 miles

hello!! so i am writing this on my iphone so forgive my briefness.. but yesterday was Someeee Day! started out with Stiofan driving us South to Cork city where it was pouring rain & we caught a bus to Killarnery. the bus driver was a tadd too slow & we missed the last bus to Caherciveen! So we were walking with all our luggage and not a Clue as to the highway direction, in the pouring rain & wind. Somethin Else i tell ya. really was testing our trust in this universe! and so it goes... a gas attendent gave me some directions i didnt understand and so we just held up our sign and hoped for an angel. luckily we got 4! 1 man said we had to go in the opposite direction that we "wont get anyone to stop there" soo we cross the street and hold our sign, another man comes to tell us we have to walk through the down & up the hill for a ride.. soooo we trudge through the rain and get up the hill. By this time our sign is soaked as are our faces & along comes another man who told us we must go Up the road a bit! after seeing our discouraged faces he said Get In, and took us, alas Right where we needed to be to catch a ride to Cahersiveen... bout 5-8 miles from where we were. we only waited then, maybe 8 minutes before a lovely young girl named Caroline picked us up & took us right where we needed to be! she even lent me her phone to call Anthea & tell her we had arrived in the town! anthea said for us to wait in a pub & sent 2 young gals from dublin who were working for her to come get us! so we definitely had some cider & relished in our success!!! the gals came & took us in their car & onto a car ferry!!(way cool!). then we arrived in Knightstown, the super small village on the super small Island. Anthea runs a super cute cafe & gave us tea & fresh pizza when we arrived! we really changed extremes since our last spot! anthea is running around like a nut because they are hosting the first music festival on the island in September & tonight is the kickoff party for it. we are housed in a tiny beach house type thing where anthea's sister lives or lived...we cant really tell. this shall be an interesting experience for sure! the island is quite beautiful & has stunning views of mountains on the main land! will do m'best to keep posted! cheeers! -mimi

onward, we go!

Hello there folk!

Last night, Christine took us out to Gort, where we went to the Gallery Cafe, and had delicious thin crust pizza and cider!  I had a blue cheese pizza with pears and vidalia onion and Chelsey had spinach, beet and goat cheese!! Oh my it was delicious, and the restaurant was super cute, it was in an old house, and still looked like a classic old house, with a chase in the center of the room and couches and ol'fashion wall paper.  The tables were not on top of each other and the waitress had a seat when she was asking what we wanted, i liked this.

When we got home, it was about 11:15 and the sky was not dark, but that "sun-just-set-deep-blue", it was beautiful!

Today, was another pretty day, with the clouds going on and off, being fluffy and white.  The lizard was completed!!! It looks amazing, and Christine, wailed out in excitement when she saw it!  I hope we can get photo's of it on here, soon!  It has really sweet orange spirals in it's body, and it hangs over their front door, like a protective spirit!


I also cleaned our cabin, like a banshee, whipping out some of my skills from the good ol' philth-adelphia days!

Christine gave Chelsey some reiki on her shoulder, which apparently was super fantastic, of course! And I sewed a piece of waterproof fabric Christine gave me, with her sewing machine, onto my rain coat, which was tearing at the arm pit.  Now i can barely lift the arm up, with my coat on, but that's OK!

Tomorrow at 9AM, Stiofan is driving us South, to Macroom, where we are going to try and hitch hike to Killarney, and than catch a bus to Cahirciveen, where Anthea, is picking us up and taking us to her abode on Valentia Island!

We really know very little about our next stop, except that she has a cafe ,where she sells food from her garden, so that's pretty rad.   But we also knew very little about Triscle Tower, when we came here, and this place was pretty fantastic...so trusting the universe/ multi-verse, that we will land exactly where we shall, this place should be wonderful!

And we shall let you know, when we discover the new land!

Next Chapter!

-mimi

wonderful song. for a wonder-full mind.

just the kindA cutenesS, we all need.

this band. (click!)

Today was really nice, and it is so wild, because we are almost done our first stay in Ireland, and though it feels like a month, we have been here, it has only been 2 weeks, and at the same time it only feels like an Instant, and boy, how time is a whirl wind of noth'N but wind and dust.  Lovely, really, truly, tis-iS!
We did lots of paint of the Lizard today, and he is looking quiteee jazzy! He has some really sweet tribal patterns on his legs and head, and i hope soon, we will have photos to share.
Christine came home yesterday, and we missed her quite a bit, and it was so nice, to see her joyous face again!  She was on a retreat learning about biodynamic dance, and it sounds sooo interesting and wild, she learned all types of things, including the magical world of Felt!!

For lunch, Christine brought us a basket of fresh picked goodness from the poly-tunnel, which included, fennel, lettuce (the most amazing lettuce I've ever had), a zucchini, a cucumber, parsley, and 4 different types of edible flowers!  SO, needless to say, I made a delicious colorful salad for lunch!

Then we went at had Felt time with Christine!  She taught us two different ways of creating felt wonders, one is done with warm wet soapy water, and the other is done dry with needles. With the wet method, you basically just layer strands of wool, which come in these thick dread shapes, that you pull off into tiny strands, and you make a design, layering and grid-ing the "wool-pulls", if you will. Next you ad super hot soapy water over the design, little by little, and massage the bumps out, and make it flat, while working your fingers in tiny circles to spread the layers of fiber to make it stick together.  You do that for a bit, than you roll it up (it is done on bubble wrap, bubble side up) like a sushi roll.  Than you roll it like dough, and allow the bubbles in the bubble wrap to do the massaging.  You do that in both directions of your design, and it begins shrinking up!  Than you take it outside, and squeeze out the liquid and start beating it  and stretching it and playing with it.  Lastly you throw it in the dryer for a few minutes. We both made really radical patches, and though we really had no clue what we were doing, mine turned out looking like an infinity sign, and Chelsey's looks like 3 tall skinny folk, standing on the rolling hills! Go figure, ey! Then we each made tiny, pocket felt buddies, with the needles, where we basically just grab a bunch a felt strands and stuff them in a cookie cutter, and poke around with a needle, and it gathers it into a shape.  I made an Owl, with a real cute face and 3 buttons on it's belly, and he is going to be my very special pocket friend forever. =)  Chelsey made a flower with a cute meditative face and a third-eye point on it!

I am so happy we got to create with a new medium.  I have never worked with fibers before, and it was really fun, and i want to make more!!  The range of things you can make is pretty endless.

I would really like to make a pair of booties for my feet!!

Now we are headed out to dinner with Christine, and this should be super lovely.
Tomorrow is our last full day!! Then we go to work with Anthea and Dave in their garden on Valentia Island!
They have a cafe on their property where they sell their food they grow on it.  I am super excited to see how this exchange works.

The Island is only 6 miles long and has a really sweet looking cemetery on it, that is probably ancient.

Onward, Onward, we shall go!

-mimi

10km=6 mile walk of/to bliss

It never gets Old, this view out the window! The sun really does it's thing on these hills! Lit up like a movie set. Our night last night was pretty close to a movie set.
It all began by waking up, a little later than normal, for it twas sunday funday so we technically had off, but were goddamn workaholic farmers daughters, HAH. But really we just had to work on our friend laZee the lizard on the side of the house since we are leaving in 2 days now! We did a good amount of work and decided to grab some ciders out the fridge and take a bike ride to a scenic hill and have ourselves a nice drank. I excitedly went charging up the driveway to retrieve my (Thomas') bike while Mimi got hers (Stiofan's). As I was trucking it up the hill to get out of the barking dogs' sight, I hear Meem call out "It's FLAT"- BUMMER! So I go, lipstick and all, knocking on Stiofan's door for a bike pump. He gave me a funny smile and thought about it, but it turns out he didn't have one. But nothing could stop our drive for exploration so Mimi suggests both riding the one bike. It was a hilarious set of attempts, a couple different ways, but no success. We were just too floppy. We then decide to just take a walk. We head down to the forest, but are quickly reminded that it is mitch land, which is noooo bueno for hanging out, so we end up on the grand old "Glandree National School"  stone ledge about 20 steps from the driveway! We drank our ciders on the ledge overlooking the gl0rious hilltops and discussed our life purposes and our direction in finding them. It was a lovely, refreshing talk, that was shortly accompanied by a nice buzz, that got us feeling really motivated. So motivated in fact, that we decided to embark on a 10km walking journey to Tulla at 7:30pm, right around the time the Ireland Euro Cup game was beginning.We were on a serious mission for some more cider and a couple smokes. Even though it was Sunday we figure we could imagine a pub with cider and an old cigarette machine. So we began manifesting.
Before we got too far up the driveway, we hear Stiofan call out "will you be back before dark?" and without waiting for an answer he says "you better take some reflective vests". I think the lipstick gave us away completely. And so we took our vests and headed towards the pub. The walk was absolutely stunning! Everything here is so pristine and untouched. Just miles and miles of greennnnn! We tried hitching for the first bit and couple people stopped but they were either going some place else, or one guy even stopped to say sorry but he didn't have any room on account of his two dogs-oh Ireland! But no matter because the walk was super beautiful and we were into the exercise. Shortly into the journey we came across a pack of dogs in the near distance, which was highly expected since there are "wild" farm dogs everywhere. As we approached, while they began approaching us, we noticed there were about 4 of them, and they were big. We noticed there were people outside the property where they were from and that comforted my nerves. So the dogs surrounded us, 3 boxers and a lassie and we remained calm. It was quite the test! We walk up to see 4 small children standing, staring and wondering at us on the side of the road, out front of their property. They looked like we looked like storybook characters and we saw one little girl standing with a baby goat. As soon as we acknowledged it she grabbed it tight and her sister told us how their mom found it on a mountain...
We continue our walk, down this one longggg road, few people passing, many a stone walls further and 2 hours later our shaking, tired legs finally reach TULLA. Oh my. At first glance, its almost as desolate as Feakle, which was laughable. Then we walk past a couple bumping pubs and within about 5 minutes we walk the entire length of the town and decided to pick the most full pub we could find. I ask a guy outside if they had what we were looking for and he says yes! We order our ciders from the bar and even see the cigarette machine in the corner! We almost put it to use, but didn't have enough coins so we just bought a pack of benson and hedges from the bar. Everyone in the pub could tell we were some strange travelers, but other than some funny looks, no one seemed to mind too much. We happily went outside to enjoy our well-deserved cider and smoke! SUCCESS!
This night was full of intense bliss and gratitude. We met Shavonne who was very loud and excited herself and she really "fuckin' love"d our hat. We got an amazing photo displaying all 3 of our huge smiles and silly faces. She really liked us a lot and especially loved kissing Mimi's face, HA! We also met a rad drunk mom and her sweet kids who told us some cool places to visit. And last but not least Matt, who was quite the character. As we were getting our third cider to split, he offered to buy us one, but apparently didn't have the funds to back it up because the bartender did no such thing. Then he came over and talked with us for a while, saying our backpack gave us away, but personally, I do not believe that was the only thing. He offered a stay on his farm, and we took his info. On our way out he offered a ride, but he seemed a little too drunk and strange so we declined thankfully.
So with headlamp and vests on, we started our trek home. Almost immediately, I fell in a ditch as a car passed which was hilarious but it was looking like a miracle if we made it home that night. We then realized we probably weren't getting a ride home since it was dark and late. So with this realization, we had to come to terms with the fact that we had a great night and now had to walk 2 hours home in the dark, and that that was okay because it was part of the gig. Just as we came to terms, literally, one, two minutes max, a miracle happened. We saw headlights and I stuck out my thumb to the side. The car zoomed past us, but then quickly stopped up ahead! I raced up and saw a young boy in the drivers seat. He asked where we were headed and I told him Upper Glendree with an enthusiastic smile. He told us he could take us part of the way. As we started cruising down the long road, we realized we were practically neighbors, he knew the house we were staying (as have most people we've talked to, which we find ridiculously awesome) and said he could drop us off after he checked on his chickens at his house. He was super sweet and funny and a completely night saver! What would have been atleast a 2 hour drive turned into no more then a 10-15 minute drive and we were dropped off directly in front of our driveway. We said a million thanks, got his info for later hang outs and sprinted past the barky dogs and in our door!
ULTIMATE EPIC SUCCESS! Making dreams come true one day at a time!

Today was great too. Simple and laid back. We painted a lot on the lizard and he has legs and quite a bit of detail finally!  I made funny grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and Mimi made an awesome spicy spaghetti aioli for din. Beautiful skies filled the day and the translucent blues and thick setting sun clouds in the distance made our hearts warm, almost as warm as the sauna :)
Blessed we are, and eternally gratefully!

-Chelsey

mr. blue sky came back!

And what a joy it was, to awake to the shiny blue sky!
Actually, awoke at about 4 AM, which i have been doing nightly, to pee, and peeked out and saw the Half Moony, shineing her face off!

So yesterday, was a bit of a drear, but the sun Did come out just as it was setting, and this made for a very beautiful, purple, blue and pink sunset.

The Blue sky here is different from any other i have seen.  It is almost translucent, and yet it seems like there is just more deep blue behind it.  Even when there is only clouds, if I look deep enough, i feel like I can see Blue behind the clouds.

It is magical, to say the least.

All we did yesterday, was pulled some weeds in the tunnel, and Chelsey began an outline of a Sweeeeeet Lizard for the side of their house (which gets a beam of light, when the sun sets) and built fires.
   It was cold yesterday!  Cold and rainy!  We had a talk, and felt what it feels like to feel, and then as the moment went on, the sun peaked its beautiful self out, and release, wa-la, breakthrough, shine On,
who knows, wrote a poem, and passed the time.

 Today however, was full of activity...

Chelsey did the body of the Lizard with paint, and he looks radical!!! I asked Stiofan, to pleaseeeeee give me some work, because I really  just wanted to work work work my little ass off, for rEAL!  And he did! =)
He asked if i was OK with working with machines, and I told him absolutely, and he gave me a Big ass Lawn mower and told me to get goin' on his 6 acres.

ha!  just kidding, but I did mow three fields, and got quite a work out!  Then we made some felafel and had a nice lunch in the Sun!

After lunch, we decided to take the bikes out for a bike ride, on the nameless road, we are living on!  This was a really nice ride, as we zoomed down the hills with the stunning view of rolling hills in our peripheral.
My bike was a rusted ol' single speed and Chelsey was riding an old mountain bike which she was afraid to change gears on for the thought that maybe it would fall apart, so she stayed on the gear where you're feet move super fast.  Quite a view!  We decided to make a right out of the drive-way and head for Feakle, which is the closest Village to us, at 6km away.  It took us about 20 minutes, since we were mostly down hill, and came across a pack of loose dogs, which made us pedal Extra fast, and zoom past the pups.

When we arrived in Feakle, we thought we may have been in the Twilight Zone, but then I assured, we were just in Feakle, Ireland, population 122.  There was a small street with no one but 2 old men outside, and about 5 dogs roaming around, one with a cast on it's front paw.  There was one "food mart" which was the size of a closet and sold 30 different types of biscuits, and since i am a cookie monster i got this kind called Snacks by Cadbury, which is chocolate covered cookies!  The man had eyes that looked in two different directions, and this seemed, right.

We decided to head back to the beginning of this one road, Village, to see if this pub (one of 4) was open.  It was attached to another miniature food store, and Chelsey went in to check it out.  Turns out it WAS, and so we went in to get ourselves 2 pints of Beamish!  The young girl at the bar told us to go outside, since it was nice, and we took her up on it.

As we sat on the sidewalk sipping our pints, we watched a group of teenage boys walk by, 3 cars pass, 2 of which stopped in the food store next to us, and than one funny looking bus/car which pulled over just a bit passed us.  An older man got out, and began to talk to us.  He made us laugh quite a bit, talking about the Europe cup, parties, chelsey clinton, and how he sells Irish flags to bars, and a giant green Teddy Bear, for a raffle.

Next, he said he had something for our bikes.  He proceeded to take out 2 Irish flags and some heavy duty duck Tape, and came back to fasten our new Pride Flags, to our Bikes.  He put one on the back of Chelsey's and since i didn't have a spot on the back, he taped it right to the handle bars, so it could blow in my face while i rode ,which Chelsey informed him I would not mind at all. ha!

Next another man came out of the bar, and asked us where we were off to, and after about 2 words of describing the place with no name road where we are staying, he asked if it was the house with the grass roofs and to our surprise, we said yes.  He said, "ooooh, yeahh." in a really sweet, heavy Irish accent, and he made us laugh a lot to.  He was born in Feakle, and his accent was about as thick as the heat in Philadelphia.

So he wished us a happy walk with our bikes back up the hill, and we finished our pints and began the trek.  We made it just about to the top, before we had to walk.  Riding with our flags, was quite the sight, and had me laughing pretty hard, Ireland flag, flopping in my face, all the while.

When we got back, we reclined on the bench in the Sun for a bit, absorbing it as much as possible.

Quinoa and beets for dinner, because that is all for now.

We listened to some really wild poetry and now my eyes are straining to stay open as today was full of Adventure, which is just what our thriving brains need.

So here is to a journey that will blossom every ounce of wonder within us.

Namaste!
-mimi

the fire just sTruck!

What it takes to feel groovy with 3 straight days of rain!

I started the lizard (wizard?) painting on the house today! This should be an interesting process :)

"the light in me honors the light in you"
tryin'a keep it reAllllllll!

the sun revealed only as it seT

how having answers will lead us
no-where but behind our selves.
looking into the back of our minds,
and forgetting why or how we got there.
And how believing in what we want, will
bring us what we may
or may not
see accordingly,
Some way, this will become clear,
some how, it will make sense,
IF we so decide, to fit the pieces
in our mind, so appropriately,
and How we must be, brave
and act confidently,
as IF we had a clue,
or an answer
or a day to stay a way
from everything that distracts us
and only our Cells to entertain us.
Oh Joy, formidable,
my smile evades my utmost,
truth of knowing nothing,
but what is good for Eye.
I believe in Wholeness,
and living independently of a
Substance's caress.
Wondering wizards, can reveal
and open what the last man lost,
and yet the reasons to live
are infinite, in the reckon,
or momentum within a hope, so dear,
Gratitude and Trust, are holes
in a fabric so clear,
time and distance, are Nothin',
compared to this depth of Intuition!
Lovely afterthoughts,
from a intimate discussion,
of dis-ease, and underlying
unknown, theories,
which usually prevail through
the colors we throw on to paper,
Yes YEs YES
indeed i will call out to the
faeries in the trees,
and the water lilly's which listen to me,
because my ears remain holy, to the wind
arousing about this present Moment,
wrapped up and put on display,
like a bible or a torah,
some story which made the rest fall
down with no personal allegory,
What a whimper, of tales and lizards,
which usually portray the invincible,
the abominable, and absolute, for this,
Laughable and worthy of compassion,
we all are,
after all,
if the world,
overflowed with empathy,
we may all be twisted into one another,
but at least we would,
Understand,
and maybe point less fingers,
and feel what lingers,
inside, underneath our utmost Fears,
and beneath the flesh hovering over our bones,
we might just know,
what it is like,
to have a sensE,
of self,
love,
and purposE.

Two-for!

"No hard rock" she says!

(For June 6th!)
We woke up! That's always a good start! We began by sorting the rocks and sticks and long roots out of the dirt from the forest that's piled outside out cabin. There was quite a bit to go through but it was simple enough. As we were finishing Thomas, a friend of Christine and Stiofan's that works on their land a couple days a week came up to chat for a bit. He is a really sweet guy from Belgium, I believe and told us about a lot of cool history and neat places we could visit in Ireland. He told us about St. Brennan who sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland in a small leather ship with only a few other guys. That's pretty flippin; bizarre. Thomas departed and Stiofan came up to see how we were doing. We talked a bit about the bees that were possibly moving into the beehive he recently built. He's been going to beekeeping seminars and learning a lot about the whole process. We talked a lot about the complexities of their social system and it truly is amazing that such small insects can sustain life on this planet and work so hard as unit. Thanks bees!
Next we needed to get some limestone so we could level the pH of the acidic forest soil. Stiofan brought out the TRACTOR! We decided the best and safest option would be to sit on each side of the seat, the part above the massive wheels! We also held massive smiles the entire ride over to the neighboring farm! It was a really sweet place. Babies of all kinds- chickens, ducks, goats and a new born foal! We walked up to the top of the hill to take a peak. We walked up to a very regal, proud mother standing over a small and tired baby boy horse! We approached slowly and cautiously, so as not to startle her. She allowed us to come pretty close and we all stood in wonder of how sweet the little babe was sleepin'. After praising her good work we departed to get the limestone. Mimi and Stiofan shoveled some into the back and we rode even faster back home. The view of Ireland from the side of a tractor is priceless. Stiofan backed it up the hill (after we jumped off) so we could spread it across the soil. We both got a bit carried away with the limestone flinging and subsequently have a few knots in our shoulders, but no matter because the soil is leveling out as we speak!

We went in to eat an awesome lunch, potato and beet salad with lots of goods mixed in with love. After lunch we did some weeding and waited for the rain to clear a bit. Stiofan came out to the poly tunnel to ask if we'd like to go on a walk with him and the 6 dogs. As we walk up, all the dogs are tightly snugged in the back of the van. They looked a little on edge and some were barking quite a bit. I got in the front seat and Nico, the older dog was sitting right next to me, looking pretty stressed. I tried to put my hand down next to me, in an effort to appear calm, as I was doing this he snapped at me and caught my thumb. Given my previous fear of dogs, this did not go over well with me. Even though he only slightly bruised my thumbnail, I felt a huge rush of emotions and immediately exited the car. I started crying like a little sis and walked up the hill. I felt like a doof and Stiofan felt bad. Now I feel a little weary with the dogs but am working slowly back up to fearlessness. But with the negative, always come the positive! Mimi finally got to put on the long awaited bee suit for a bee check up on the hive! Unfortunately, Stiofan thinks the bees aren't swarming after all, but perhaps just stealing honey! Either way, Mimi was just happy to have the chance to take a look and get up close and personal with the bees.

We closed the day out by calling Clio, a lady we will be staying with in Portugal, over Skype. She sounded like a real sweetheart, with a rad English accent. Mimi sounded real professional while talking to her and we hung up feeling really excited about staying there.

Today, June 7th was pretty cold, wet and moody. Not much happened except a lot of hard work-and hilarity of course- while moving wood under a tarp in pouring rain. It was very physical and slightly ridiculous. After 2 hours of that, we went to pull more weeds. Afterwards, we both lost our minds a little. I forgot how to paint and Mimi decided to make cookies with "1 cup of everything". We realized we just needed to take a walk and did so. It was nice and refreshing to get out, and luckily the rain slowed for only the amount of time we were outside. On the way back to the house I had to face my fear when a dog came charging up to us as we were passing by its house. I did pretty good but I really do need some advice on how to handle these protective farm dogs! When we got back we watched some amazing Ted Talks which were very grounding and interesting. Mimi made some really tasty potato and beet pancakes! That pretty much brings it up to right now where I am getting very sleepy from the Valerian root tea I just drank. More wild, intricate dreams to dream!
In the meantime, check this:
 Symbiosis dance on Ted talk

-Chelsey

Epic Jams for Epic Times!

FLEET FOXES- helplessness blues

word vomit by mimi

purpose and the need for everything

some how we all ways end up back here
or there or any where we wonder and
wonder until the blind dissolve into the deaf
and spent how do we get here, and all ways
questions for more what IS IT about the questions
which cease to have an end
 is it the cycle which must surpass or the InfinitE
 which constantly encases us?
The birth of language,
 enabled us to process aloud and the birth
of theory allowed us to choose a path for me and a path for you,
 like a Ferris-wheel that never goes around
 more than once
 the paths just kept diverging, our circle kept evolving,
the natural cycle for a daydream of the ripe and ready ones,
 like a fruit and nut, which grow for their Own good
 and for benefit of All,
we can say, thank you for this pristine,
beauty enveloping our madness within,
call it what you MAY, this chaos is only one of Many.
A rapid growth of individualism collides with Earth's ability to Provide,
and so we all ways needed more than enough
 and now, we have more than we could ever need,
and some starve, while others, overflow,
and the balance of this and that, tipped over, years ago,
centuries and decades.. so, surely, some-day soon,
 we will reach the finish line, of this theory of drawing lines,
 and boxes, around, every possibility of probability
 and fact-izing every theory, the mix and match of dream and fact,
oh how the matrix has run amok,
and offered that, in its Own, way,
 it provides what it needs, to conquer and create.
The ability to think bigger than our Selves,
 is alive and well,
i think we will have a garden, and some animals,
the way we choose will be up to the truth
which transcends the Mes and Yous.

A SING SONG FOR YA

weeeee, lissen!

adventures like sun through a hole in the skY

WHAT A DAY!

but-just-yet-
let me cover yesterday first...
so yesterday, we awoke, and before getting out to Stiofan, to see what we would do today, we bought our train tickets from London to Paris, and from Paris to Irun.  Looks like we buy the over-night train from Irun to Lagos, at the station, and go figure- it is the cheapest of them all.  We leave London at 5:40 AM and don't leave  Paris til 12, so, we will have quite some time to explore Paris.

We got outside by 9:15, and Stiofan sent us down to the herb garden to finish our weeding.  At around Noon he showed us how they usually plant their leeks, and then we spent the next 2 hours, planting about 200 leeks in a long bed.  The leeks are SO tiny when you first plant them.  We had to yank out some Kale, that had gone to seed, and were basically like Kale Stalks or mini trees, at that point, in order to continue with the leeks.  We added some fresh horse manure, and punctured holes with our fingers, to plant the tiny leeks.  3 different varieties!  After lunch, we did a bit more planting and finished the weeding, since we were planning on taking off today.

For dinner I made a delicious stir-fry with zucchini from the garden, another crazy purple vegetable from the garden that looks like a giant turnip, kind-of, and the name escapes me, some home-made tofu, that I "pulverized", some couscous, onion, garlic and these great vegetable and chili pastes they have in these tubes here.  The pulverize tofu and couscous blended really sweetly.  Then we watched 3 ninjas, from 1992!

Now today, we head out of the cabin at 20 to 10, to catch a 10:25 bus from Ennis to the Cliffs Of Moher.  Christine took us to the bus, and we got there just in time to get a ticket and hop on.  The ride was so beautiful, and in 50 minutes, we were climbing up the Hill of some GIANT cliffs.

First we followed the rest of the tourists around the stone fenced in areas, and went to the top of castle to take our photos and gawk our eyes out at these massive cliffs.  The Atlantic looked extremely blue where it was slapping against the rocks.   It was a misty rain, but the visibility was still really good.  Then we walked to other others side, where signs read on the end of the trail, that there was No entry and Private Property and one that reoccured which said, "Need to talk? Call a Samaritan" with a number listed.   Yet a very many people were climbing over the small stone to walk the semi-marked path.  So we followed!

We walked through the rain, and mud, on to the cliffs, and screamed our joys outs and bowed to the beauty.  It really felt amazing to be in the solitude of the wildness of these extreme earthly extensions.  I felt very tiny and comforted.  Words can't really describe this experience, but i felt like i was really on quite the wild adventure, climbing these hills to reach these peaks, jutting out over the Atlantic.

After we got soaked, and headed back, we had some lunch at the cafe and tried our best to reach our friend Julia who we used to lived with in Philly, who was also visiting the Cliffs that day.

After 5 hours at the cliffs, and the mist getting really heavy and then lifting and blue sky shining through, we decided to head back!  Instead of taking the bus, we made a sign which said, "Ennis, please!".  We began walking down the long road that the bus lead us on with our sign visible to those heading past us.  Eventually we walked about 3 or 4 km in the beautiful sun and rolling hills of Ireland's country side, and we came across the Rock Shop.  A big store with lots of crystals and rocks and a fountain and small cafe.  We each got a necklace that has a pouch which zippers closed, and has a dream catcher on it, to put our pocket crystals in!  Very necessary =)!

We headed out and continued our epic walk down the road towards Ennis.  Walking in the country was so amazing and really felt rather natural.  Many cars were passing us, either shrugging or nodding at our sign and happy faces.  Eventually we wounded up at one of the bus stops in a very small town, about an hour and half walk from the Cliffs.  We decided to hang around the bus stop with the sign, in case we did not get a ride.  About 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive, 2 ladies stopped and offered us a ride!!   We were very stoked that we didn't have to pay for another bus trip back, and that our long walk paid off!  There was a beagle named, Ralph in the back seat, and he was very kind, as were the lades.  They inquired about WWOOFing and our journeys, and had never heard of the program.

After they dropped us off in Ennis, which is about 25 minutes from Glendree where we are staying, we walked around the village filled with small (and i mean, TINY) shops, looking for a wi-fi signal on my phone so we could call Stiofan, and ask him to come get us.  After about 15 minutes I got a signal from outside a restaurant, and Stiofan said he'd be there in 25.  Chelsey thought we deserved a fresh brew from our successful journey, so we dropped into the tiny  traditional Diamond Bar,  to get 2 pints of Guinness.  We had 15 minutes to gulp down our brews, and get yogurt and wine glasses (to replace the ones we broke) in the Dunnes store (which is like a Target) and get out to the curb to meet Stiofan.

So, since Guinness takes about 3 minutes just to settle before they serve it to you, we drank our pints as fast as we could, and just as we were about to head out, two of the five people in the pub, these two ancient men, came walking by us and decided to spark up a conversation.  Funny, because just a minute before i mentioned how the two old men at the end of the bar had a good example of an incomprehensible Irish accent.  So they just loved us, and asked us some questions like how we were and if we were sisters, of which I said GREAT and YES.   We did a lot of smiling, laughing and nodding, then they asked where we were from and I said, "well..." and the man thought i said Welsh.  Eventually Chelsey said America, or maybe it was the hard ass sitting behind us, but the guys, said they would just ignore that, and we laughed and said that is fine.  So they walked on and wished us a peaceful journey.  We chugged down our pints and sprinted through the fluorescent lit store to grab some yogurt and wine glasses and make it out to Stiofan.

He was there when we got out side, and I told him I hope he hadn't waited long.  He seemed OK, and we were feeling Just Fine.

So we came home, heated up the amazing lasagna Chelsey made, and reminisced about the really funny music we listened to in middle school.

Now we will rest easy and probably have more vivid, wild dreams, that may or may not make any sense at all.

We left a week ago, today.
Here is to being as   present   as   possible for the next 4 months.

PEACE!
-mimi

Festivities and our friend Mooney!

Another brilliant day in Ireland! We woke up to fresh rolls slipped through the cat door which was lovely. We headed to the festival in Mount Shannon with Christine around 12. We spent around a half hour walking through an old maze which was amazing and had some really interesting statues and "megaliths" i believe they were called. We found our way out of the maze and wondered down to Lough Derg which was a huge beautiful lake filled with a bunch of sweet boats. We met back up with Christine to grab a drink while we waited for the rest of the festival tents to be set up. I got a beer called ginger beard which was like ginger ale with a spicy kick and Mimi picked an awesome organic cider. The art in the restaurant was really strange and beautiful at the same time. We spent a while talking and drinking and decided to get some food at the Waldorf tent which was funny because we were talking about their school system on the drive over. The food was all vegan and amazinggg! We all really enjoyed it sitting on a fence watching the festivities. After lunch we walked around the tents. Christine bought a pomegranate tree and Mimi and I got a sweet pair of genie pants from India. Yes, only we would buy pants from India while in Ireland. We had a great time walking around and talking with different people. We met an awesome Buddhist woman from the States who explained how she was able to stay in Ireland, by working for a charity and basically having all the info we currently have in the infamous  BINDER! (hah). We bought lovely desserts from her which were delicious. 
Once we saw all the tents, had a few good laughs at the clown and floppy puppy, we went to have our first traditional pub experience. Mimi and I of course had to get a Guinness! We sat in a cozy corner and admired the local scene. It was hilarious to me that a little girl was drawing in a coloring book next to us while we were drinking our brews.
After the pub we set out to our last gallery which was the Irish woman's art collection. There were some really amazing pieces that really inspired me to do some life drawing/painting so that was rad. Ireland has some incredible artist energy that just exudes out of its moody skies and lush green landscapes.

When we got home I started making some dinner. LASAGNA! We used about 53454 cheeses and 2 different sauce, with some onions, garlic and broccoli. We went out to the garden and picked a couple different kinds of lettuce and some vibrant edible flowers for a salad! Dinner turned out to be awesome, if I do say so myself! (thanks mom! :) ).
Now I will try to describe events most likely too outlandish to understand...So after dinner I got a bit excited and started tapping on the top of my wine glass with a knife-trying to make a toast (not realizing the proper way is on the stem of the glass) after about 10 taps my glass just breaks all over me and the floor...I was shocked for what reason I'm not sure since what I was doing was clearly ridiculous and stupid. So after we get over that little drama I go over to the computer with another glass of wine. Mimi calls over from the kitchen "be careful with that near the computer" so given the last incident I take her advice and put it on the ground next to the couch, instead of next to the keyboard. She was doing the dishes and I happen to look out the window and the sky had been clearing, but now we see our dear lovely friend MOONY! Anyone who knows us, knows how we love her very much. Modest mouse is playing and Mimi comes running over to greet her and do a victory dance for her arrival. So we're jumping up and down and fist pumping and everything. I look over and Mimi just STOMPED the glass of wine of the floor...with only a sock on! Luckily she did not get any glass in her foot, which is a miracle, since it basically shattered. We start immediately cracking up in disbelief that we shattered 2 wine glasses in a matter of minutes. SO ABSURD.

Then we decide we just need to go outside to deal with the full moon madness head on. I took some photos of the moon and the tower which look absolutely beautiful! We need to get a cord to upload the photos from the camera to the computer! We sat on a stone bridge and shared our gratitude and love with the moon for a bit and came in to drink some peppermint tea. Today was wonderful! And back to "work" tomorrow! Namaste!
-Chelsey

pool partY

13th floor elevators, live footage!

Green Hills of Dreamy Stillness

well hidey-ho, today was a rainy day, which is no surprise, and to Nana's ponder, i AM getting my healthy Irish glow! =) 

Yesterday, was a really pretty day, with a "soft" rain in the morning, followed by holes of blue sky and sunshine in the afternoon. We  began the day by raking the horse poo, seeking the piles and spreading it out, so it could decompose, and allow the grass to grow through again.  We did this on the south side hill, so our view was the expanse of the green hills and it was pretty flippin dandy for rakin' poo!  Then we walked up the hill to the circular herb garden, which has stones for a path around the beds, and pulled some wicked weeds out of the pathway.  There were some amazing rocks to be found in the pebbles on the path!  I found an epic quartz stone and also an agate looking rock!  Little did i know was weeding in a crystal collection!  Then Stiofan and Christine, asked us to assist them in this epic project of weaving willow stalks around these totems of willow wood, to create temporary beds, until they make stone walls out of them.  It was really cool working together to weave these long thin willows around the sticks to make this epic shape of a long lizard!  It is probably about 20 feet altogether!  They grow the willows in one of their fields and then they cut them and soak them in the moat around the shed, and than they  weave them into baskets or beds!  Pretty awesome.  After we weave the willow about 2 feet high, we line the sides with sheeps wool and than, add about a foot and half of mushroom compost, and than top it off with dirt from the forest or where they have removed dirt from around the property.  They put the mushroom compost on the bottom because, if they just planted the plants in the compost, it would be a bit too harsh for them to root, so by putting the more acidic, rocky soil on top, it allows the compost to settle and balance out over time.  

After weaving, we parted ways and I built my first fire by myself in the cabin!  In order to heat the cabin and the sauna, you have to build a fire through this tiny 6 by 6 slot.  We went in the sauna for about 40 mins and i finally dripped sweat, which was quite the accomplishment for me!  Then we danced and laughed and had some lentils and rice and hit the hay. (ha!)

Today, we began by working on the weeding we did yesterday, in the circular herb garden.  This is actually a super meditative process, especially when you have the green hills staring you back into your wondrous eyes!  After weeding, we went back to the weaving of the lizard bed, and we spread lots of mushroom compost and pulled lots of sheeps wool apart to line the inside of the willow.  After lunch, we went to an arts festival in Mount Shannon, to check out this performance art piece.  It was quite the experience!  We were inside this little gallery which had these doors open, facing this really big lake and epic hills.  The performance took place outside with a woman and a pile of dirt and two white boards of wood.  It was somethin' else- i tell ya!  It began by the woman in a black dress facing the pile of dirt, with her back to the giant lake and mountainous hills.  It was raining on her, and after 45 mins of her sliding in and eating and rolling in the dirt, she looked super cold.  She wrote with her dirt ridden tongue on the planks of white wood, "a bushel before i die", about 10 times, until she was writing in red with her bloody tongue, at which point i began to feel a bit weary.  but i realized as she went, that i am totally not a weirdo here, which is totally cool.  or i am! but so is every one else!

It was pretty gnarly, funny, weird, to say the least.  Christine, Chelsey and I surely were entertained by this woman's strong love for eating dirt.

When we came home, Chelsey and I relaxed, I finally finished my book, and we drank some of the Black Current wine, Stiofan made, that Christine slipped through our cat door today.

Another beautiful day in a Beautiful land.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we will go back to check out more of the Art Festival.  I want this to last forever.


-mimi

a cute little story with funny characters

click here to view

and another

of souls and water

Polytunnel, Ennis, and Die Seefahrer von Catan!

So our first real day at Triscle Tower was lovely. It was May 31st and we woke up around 8am to work at 9am (but really started around 9:30 since we were a little jet-laggin'). We spent our morning pulling weeds in the polytunnel, which is absolutely incredible! There are tons of different plants- fruits, veggies, herbs and edible flowers: strawberries, lettuce, asparagus, bok choy, the famous cherry tree of our dreams!, spinach, st. john's wart- which is apparently banned here (lame! but awesome they grow it anyway), calendula, a peach tree...and oh my the list goes on! We did tons of weeding and it was really rewarding to see how clear and beautiful the paths and beds were. I learned-after getting stung about 3 times- to watch out for stinging nettles! They are a really useful herb that grows like a weed but sting when you touch them! OH! and we also learned that ground limestone levels out the acidity of the soil which we found to be exciting information! There are also a massive amount of slugs that unfortunately need to go, or else there wouldn't be any plants left-so we got used to throwing slugs in the bucket of soapy water. We hung out with Christine a little while weeding and got the chance to become personally acquainted a bit. She is an amazingly sweet lady with the most charming laugh! There aren't many people that compete with the volume of my boisterous laughter but she is close! Mimi and I shared our dreams with her and explained why we were drawn to the farm life. It was really nice to share with someone that has a similar perspective.

After that we ate some lunch and went along with Christine to County Clare's capital- the famous Ennis- or Inis in Gaelic- all the street signs have the first line in traditional Gaelic and the second line is English. Our first stop was Dunnes which we were surprised to see had food, clothing and home merchandise...until Christine reminded us that Walmart has all the same things..HA! But it looked much fancier and high class than Walmart! The entrance of the town Ennis is apparently through this store Dunnes! It spits you out right onto a tiny sidewalk lined with small shops and markets. It was a modest city but bumpin' none the less!
Our first stop was the crystal shop (which reminds me of how when I told Christine we brought stones to Ireland  she CRACKED UP! which made us crack up of course! she found it so funny because Ireland is filled to the brim with rocks. Perhaps I should have said crystals haha) and it had some really sweet stuff. Mimi got Merlinite and I picked Pietersite, both I haven't seen in my regular shops in Philadelphia. We also got some classic postcards and a disposable camera! We wandered into the pet shop-which there were a few of, and there were tons of candy shops! The majority of the little kids-which were infatuated by us- were eating candy and lollypops. We also noticed that all the cool guy teenagers had the same hair style of the front gelled to the side and the back spiked up. We thought it hilarious that the international stores we saw were Claire's, Gamestop and Subway. So random! So after our 2 hours walking around the city we began to start seeing the same people which was quite cute and quaint. We met Christine at the car and went to Lidl, which is a German grocery store-we are told not very popular with the people in Germany but quite useful to Germans in Ireland! On the way home Christine drove on the extra tiny scenic roads and even stopped at a beautiful lake that reflected the greenery brilliantly!

We got back  to the house and were invited to play a board game at 8:30, which we were very excited about. We went into the conservatory and were offered a drink. I chose their own peach wine and Mimi the traditional Beamish stout which is similar to Guinness. There were both awesome! We played the game Die Seefahrer von Catan, which is called the Settlers of Catan in English. It was probably the most entertaining board game I've ever played. It was like a German version Monopoly but instead of money there were resources. It was really intricate at times and challenging in a fun way. We finally finished around 1am! I was only 1 point away from winning but Mimi (traitor!) gave Stiofan a card he needed to win! They were surprised at my luck and said it was a close call and that I would have been the first beginner to beat them! They were also surprised by Mimi's ability to kill mitches with her mind! Mitches are worse than mosquito apparently- super tiny and millions of them at night.
All in all it was an amazing day and night and we look forward to many many more!
hiphiphorray!

-chelsey

Arrival In Ireland

Our plane ride was pretty cool, we got served dinner and breakfast which was a surprise!  Chelsey liked the tortellini and I really liked the roll.  We did get to sleep but it was mighty uncomfortable and we had to ask the girl in the aisle seat to get up about 4 times just so we could walk a bit.  When we landed, everybody clapped and that was cute, they don't seem to do that on flights in the states anymore.  It was just dark when we left NYC, and after 3-4 hours, it was light again!  We got off the plane and followed everyone else through the maze of many staircases, towards the baggage claim.  When we got to customs, the guy asked what we were doing and we said working on a farm for a month, than leaving and coming back in 2 months, as I was preparing to get the BINDER out (filled with every possible proof and outline of the entire trip)  he asked if we were working on an Organic Farm and we said yes.  He stamped both our passports and onward we went.
 HA! that was easy, we thought.  Than we waited for our bags.  They came in a short minute, and than Chelsey realized she forgot her beloved rain coat on the plane!!  We decided to go find Stiofan, and then she would go back in and inquire.  We walked out to the exit, and there was a tall, skinny, very beautiful ("dream boat", as Chelsey says) man standing there, and as I walked to the back of him to look for his braid, we were told he had, he said, "Mimi?"  and i thought so!  He gave us both a warm hug and smile, and than we walked out to his van.  He didn't have shoes on, and this was cool.  So the airline told Chelsey they found no such coat, however now that it is 3 days later, and i have had contact with the lady at the airport, she said she has it and is going to hand-deliver it to the house!   And this, is Ireland!  So we went for an amazing wild drive for about 40 mins, on tiny tiny skinny roads lined with trees and bushes, to the house.  The amount of green was absolutely amazing.  It was actually a blue sky and mixed cloudy day!  We got to the house, and we dropped of our bags and than went to pick up some Mushroom Compost, which is awesome!!  Than we went on a tour of the property and met the 6 dogs, Nico, Elliot, Tilly, Rodge & Paddy, and Shadow.  The 4 horses, Clare and her son, Hector, and Sam and Leroy.  The 7 Sheep, whos names haven't stuck in our heads yet, except Lucy, because she is a SWEETIE!  Then we had lunch with them, and got a tour of their amazing house.  it is the coolest house either of us have ever been in.  It has a 3 story cylindrical tower, and the base of the house is completely rounded, with no straight edges.  It is insulated with sheep's wool!  They have windows all along the South side with a conservatory, and it faces the rolling green hills.  Their roofs are covered with red brush and grass.  Eco-roofs!  Our log cabin we are staying in, came with a stocked fridge and pantry (all organic!).  There are two hammocks in the living room facing floor to ceiling windows which have the view of  rolling hills.  There is a sauna in our cabin also!!  When we went on a tour of the land, we also went into their super long poly-tunnel, filled with the food they are growing, and we got to try two types of delicious edible flowers, and super sweet strawberries.

This place is amazing.


Stiofan and Christine are both incredibly sweet and brilliant.  They have a tree painted in their house with faeires hidden through out it.  They have the Triscle spiral on the center of the ceiling on the 3rd floor of the tower, and when you talk in the center of the circular room, you can hear your voice ricochet around your entire body.  It is WILD!

this experience will be brilliant.
we are eternally grateful.

sorta like this:

-mimi