Magic

Magic
Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once,
Charlie found some goblins gold.
Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Susy spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known
I've had to make myself.”
― Shel Silverstein



The forecast was good so we donned our boots and headed off to the the Farranamanagh Loop. You start off in Kilcrohane viilage then wander through the fields down to the sea, then up onto the cliffs and then inland and up onto the mountain before coming back down along green roads. Lots of interesting things on the way: a sweat house, ruins of a bardic school, curious horses, even curiouser cattle, standing stones, little hamlets, the remains of St Crohane's cell, a bouncy dog, waterfalls, tons of bog and I even nabbed me a leprechaun!

Last night's film Finding Vivian Maier was riveting. The story of Vivan Maier - ostensibly a nanny but also an incredible photographer. She literally spent her life taking photos but very few were ever printed. She seems to have been a compulsive hoarder/gatherer of everything from newspapers and receipts to images, moments and sounds. John Maloof, who made the film, bought a box of 100,000 negatives in an auction and was astonished by the quality of what he had found and set out to discover who was behind these images. I thought it a very sympathetic and moving film, one which raises many questions but which has huge respect for its subject and her work- a bold, sly, unflinching, beautiful, unsettling collection.

curious cattle