Celtic Ways Tales

A group leader from a group that toured with us this summer forwarded to me a wonderful set of advice. After reading I was not sure if this was advice for dogs or for folks who travel on our tours, especially during warm sunny days.  I’ll let you judge for yourself…… Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy. Take naps. Stretch before rising. Run, romp, and play daily. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body. No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout...run right back and make friends. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.  Stop when you have had enough. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're n

The Harp: “it keeps you humble and keeps you at home. You can't run around with a harp. Having one is like living with an elderly parent in very poor health: it's hard to get them in and out of cars, and it's hard to keep them happy. It takes fourteen hours to tune a harp, which remains in tune for about twenty minutes, or until somebody opens the door.” This is part of one of many many humourous yet outstandingly perceptive writings by Garrison Keillor. The above is a very short snippet from his “A Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra", that deserves much more attention to read than the casual read of a blog. More From Garrison  For many people Garrison Keillor is a household name and it may seem to be surprising, even strange, to spend a moment reminding people about his work. Possibly his familiarity has spread like Brigid’s Cloak through his voice overs on Honda car tv commercials. Some of you may have even wondered who that eccentric is who wrote and spoke those

This Friday, September 28 th , heart warming singer harpist Claire Roche, from Ireland, is performing at the unique Duck’s Crossing at Eleebana, near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. This is a date on Claire’s current Australian concert and recording tour  . Duck’s Crossing was born in the beautiful surrounds of Lake Macquarie. Lake Macquarie has been one of the Hunter Valley's best kept secrets. It has over the past ten years or so become one of the best food and wine areas of the Hunter. The name was naturally inspired by the many beautiful wood ducks that freely walk across the roads and the rural grasslands of this property. As an Eco Tourism concept, the cosy cabins that quietly nestle in the inviting landscape are furnished with spas and a decor of yesteryear when the ladies wore white crinoline and the gentlemen strutted in fine dinner jackets depicting an era of elegance and definitely worth re-visiting. The freshness of the crisp linen being so inviting that you may

Photographed published by the Irish Independent . I am laying on towards the bottom right of the second A in the word TARA. You might see the black dot to the left of where I am laying as that is my video camera case. Quotes from the Irish Independent report from the morning of Monday September 24th “Over 3,000 people posed for an unprecedented aerial shot at the ancient site in protest at plans to site the M3 motorway nearby.” (I would say it was more like 1000 people) “Townsend had a guiding hand in the proceedings and even brought in a pal to snap the spectacular formation from a helicopter, (referring to Stuart Townshend).” “They were in for another A-list surprise when the not unpleasant shape of actor and Hugo Boss 'face' Jonathan Rhys Meyers also appeared on the sacred ground. The actor, who has more recently been travelling through time to the era of the Tudors for a TV series, was able to put the authoritarian skills he developed as Henry VIII to good use

An experience to last a lifetime An experience that those there will not forget through there lives. 1:00 pm the people arrived on Tara Hill and issued with white all body suits with hoods. One size to fit all from children to giants to all dimensions of bodies that volunteered. We were each given tickets that explained where we were to be in this adventurous but exciting demonstration. The plot was to form a human harp form and the words “Save Tara” beside this. The position selected for me was near the bottom of the right of the second A in TARA. It took about 16 to 20 people lying down from foot to lap to form a letter. Our positions had been marked out by “precision” surveyed white string. The demonstration site was within the large outer court henge between the Royal Court and Loaghaire’s henge to the south. By about 2:30 pm about 1000 people had turned up and our rehearsals were well under way. The sight of 1000 people all in white hooded suits on Tara Hill was a very surre

A perfect event A perfect beautiful warm sunny day and 30 harpers performed to plea to save the heritage of Tara Hill from the ravages of the development of the M3 motorway that has already destroyed nearby sacred sites. The gathering was a side road adjoining Kildare Street and facing into the entrance of the Dail, Ireland’s seat of Government today. Madeleine Doherty was the first to arrive, just before 2:30 and set up with her unique beautiful blue concert harp.  Though advertised as a 3:00 pm start 20 harpers had arrived, quickly tuned up and into a beautiful collective performance of Brian Boru’s March by about 2:50. The pa sound system and mixing was perfect. All kinds of harpers All kinds of harps and harper personalities turned up ranging from colourful towering concert harps played with evening gowned angels to small rustic harps of ancient folk tradition performed by country folks. There were senior life service performers and enthusiastic young students. There were

On TV I just watched English children being interviewed who did not know where cabbages, and carrots came from. These children had no awareness of farms and gardens. It was quite a shock to me that any culture could become this totally detached from connection to nature, to be in a situation of life in a space capsule. One-in-five have never visited the countryside A further 17% have only been to the countryside "once or twice", meaning a third of children have little, if any, experience of the rural world One-in-five children say they have never picked and then eaten fruit - one of the staples of traditional outdoors life This study was linked to Britain’s Prince Charles launching a campaign, from his Highgrove home, that aims to reconnect children with the countryside, especially children living in towns and cities. Part of the Prince’s campaign is to invite schools to his Highgrove organic gardens, meet with him and show them around his farm. He intends to do this campaig

I’m going to do something I have been meaning to do for a few years now, a live blog as I travel through the day. I have a free day without a touring group in the Connemara region of Co. Galway and have decided to explore some of the many sacred and holy wells on the islands and peninsulas along its south coast. The weather in the morning is dry, cloudy, hazy, some sun breaks, and quite warm for September, about 65 degrees F. Chadhain Well, nr. Costelloe, OS 45 L 966 284 Beside busy main road, R336 Costelloe to Maam road, about 1km north of Costelloe. opposite Lough ui Chadhain, look for small waterfall from rocks on right as you travel from Costelloe. natural well, no human construction surrounding it, not signposted, water quite discoloured by peat but always fresh, but I did not drink it, positioned in a very rough stony and boggy field, with stepping stones to get to the well, access from the road is by very loose barbed wire with stones placed as stepping stones each side, park o

I’m at Dowardstown House, near Tara Hill, resident with a group of travellers from Germany that I am a guide for. In their library I picked up a book by Anthony de Mello called “The Song Of The Bird”, a very old book published in India. One tale amused me, yet how true it is. While the devil was walking with a friend they saw a man ahead of them stoop down and pick up something from the road. “What did you find”, asked the devil’s friend “A piece of truth”, replied the stranger Continuing their walk the friend said to the devil, “Doesn’t that disturb you?” “No it does not,” said the devil, “because I shall allow him to create a religious belief out of it”.