greetings form glengarriff, west cork, ireland! this is where we went camping on the first night i arrived at kinsale. it was lovely, to say the least. never seen mountains so up close, nor eucalyptus trees. the weather was beautiful with only a slight, refreshing drizzle somewhere in between...
we had locals to guide us, the parents of one of the permaculture students i was camping with, and they showed us all kinds of nice things, like this small fern which is only a cell thick. with a magnifying glass the individual cells could also be seen.
there was also a pretty little flower called st. patrick's cabbage, possibly because the leaves are edible, they looked delicious anyway... i was too busy munching conifer shoots to have a taste.
the views were breathtakingly beautiful, and somewhere in the distance the first cuckoo of the year was calling. on the way back to the camp we rested a while under an old oak, where the scent of daffodils lingered in the air and it started to feel like hundreds of years might have passed and the tents and cars would be long gone by the time we emerged from under its canopy.
i waded through the river, which was surprisingly refreshing. some crazy irishpeople had taken the plunge in the morning but i didn't even think about it, only washed my face. it was cold enough. mint grew by the banks and we had that for tea.
 |
| an awesome tripod made from horseshoes |
the afternoon could have lasted eternally for all i cared. once the sun got out if felt like a summer heat, but all in all it was warm and mellow. irish music live, others playing with hurling hurls in the background, smoke from the fireplace steeping into my hair and sweater. no one else wanted to leave either, but eventually we had to head back to kinsale. on the way we stopped to have a look at the biggest eucalyptus tree in europe on the back yard of some hotel, and at a chipper in some small town whose name i keep forgetting. next time i have chips i'll try the mushy peas for dipping... looked tasty.
so that's the first two days of may. i've already had many other amazing days, but more of those later. now i'll just put my feet up in the sunroom (while the sun isn't quite shining, though) and enjoy some herbal tea from the back yard. a blackbird is whistling nearby and everything is just lovely. this is one of the best places in the world, and here's the best dog:
not the smallest pup in the world but she slept on my lap by the fire like a cat...
