Botanicals

The colours are changing and Autumn feels in full swing - gorse and heathers mingling on the hillsides.
I dont know what happened yesterday but there was no blip. I did go out in the evening to the final event in the Ellen Hutchins' Festival. It's wall to wall festivals here at the moment and this one celebrates one of Ireland's very early female botanists. A fascinating story - she was one of 20 children, suffered from ill health throughout her life and was left to look after her sick mother and an ailing brother. To escape she went down to the sea and onto the hills and became an expert in botany- drawing, recording and collecting a myriad of seaweeds, sponges, mosses and other plants. Very unusually for the time, she was alive at the same time as Jane Austen, her work was recognised and many plants are named after her. She died aged 29. The evening, MCd by my friend Finola, was a series of readings of her correspondence interwoven with reading by Gráinne Lyons from her book Wild Atlantic Women, which features Ellen. Very enjoyable and interesting.