Category: HOMEBIRD

A post a day keeps the doctor away…

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…or something along those lines. I’ve been a pretty irregular blogger up until now so I thought I would set myself a wee challenge to post every day for a week. I’ll kick it off with a video I stumbled upon about a week ago.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have family in the Faroe Islands. My grandmother was born and grew up there. During the war she met my grandfather who tempted her with his Belfast brogue to cross over the ocean and set up home in Northern Ireland. She’s lived here ever since but she’s never forgotten her home. A few years ago we discovered she has dementia and it’s slowly eaten away at her memories as time has progressed. But one place she never forgets is the Faroes.

This video features the grandmother of a man named Heiðrik á Heygum. He directed the True Love video I posted a couple of weeks ago. Following the birth of her daughter, Runa, Maria felt herself becoming very weak. I think nowadays she’d probably be diagnosed with post partum depression but back then these things didn’t exist. Or rather they did but weren’t diagnosed. Maria’s husband recommended she swim in the ocean to try and heal herself. She did and she’s been swimming in the Atlantic ocean daily ever since.

When I first saw this video I was filled with admiration for Maria but I also felt a pang of sadness. My nanny used to love the ocean. When she was still able to go out in the car her favourite thing to do was enjoy an ice cream or a bun and watch the boats sail across the Lough. I remember her telling me stories of how she used to row from Torshavn to Nolsoy as a young girl and how she loved the freedom of moving through the open water. How she and her friends were scolded by angry fishermen for rowing in rough tides. She still remembers some of those stories in her more lucid moments but those are fewer and farther between each day.

I hope you enjoy the video. It’s in Faroese but has English subtitles. It’s under ten minutes long, give it a watch. It might just uplift you like it did me. If you fancy watching more of Heiðrik’s work check out his vimeo channel. My particular favourite is a short film called Sigarett. It’s pretty brilliant. Enjoy.

Welcome Autumn

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Hurrah – Autumn is finally here! Bracing winds on sunny days and a rainbow of colours on leaves that dance with the wind signals my favourite time of year. Autumn is definitely the season in which to get things done. As the leaves fall from the trees, it’s time for us to shake off our old selves and prioritise ahead of Winter. We often assume that Spring is the time for new beginnings but I’m pretty sure Autumn is the catalyst – well, it is for me anyway!

It helps that my favourite season got off to a good start with the return of pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks – (I know, I really shouldn’t support them but the lure of that sickly sweet cinnamon spice is just too hard to resist. I’ve had one a week since I discovered they were back on the menu and it’s a trend that’s likely to continue right through until Winter.)

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Culture in the city

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You might have noticed that Belfast has had a bit of bad press over the last few months but that’s not what this post is about. Now I am preparing to leave her behind I feel more connected to Belfast than I ever have before and Culture Night – the city’s biggest, annual, free, arts event – plays its part in this.

One Friday in September Belfast is transformed into an in-your-face riot of colour and culture, where the streets are packed with artists and performers along with those who have come to appreciate the art they have to offer. Culture Night is, in my humble opinion, the jewel in the city’s cultural crown. Every performance is free of charge and it offers visitors and locals alike a terrific opportunity to road test the arts without having to part with their cash. This year saw over 250 acts come from all over the province – maybe even beyond – and the thousands of people who flocked to the city for the event were certainly entertained.

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Home is where the heart is

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beforeAfternoon!  The sun is blazing high here in my little part of the world and everyone is definitely making the most of the great weather.  It’s days like this that I realise how fortunate I am to live in such a green and beautiful place and makes me question why I am preparing to leave the wide open spaces for the smog and bustle of cramped city living.  

Home to me is more about the memories I make with my loved ones and friends and I can take them with me, wherever I go in the world.  I’m lucky to know I’ll always be welcomed back and it’s a comforting thought that I am sure I’ll draw some strength from during testing times.

But I’m not away yet.  I just finished up working for a conservation charity and during my time there I got a real sense of how important it is for everyone to play their small part in protecting the planet.  Even the weakest mathematician knows that reduction in resources doesn’t equate to a positive result.

They’ve just launched a campaign called Giving Nature a Home with loads of ideas on how to easily create wildlife friendly habitats.  My mum recently celebrated her birthday and seeing as I’m now living on a shoestring I decided to take part in the campaign and give her a present I know will bring her a lot of joy far beyond her birthday.

I had my eyes opened when it comes to weeding!  Having asked me to weed the garden for the past two decades I finally relented and made a bit of use of my limbs and got cracking – just shows how a mother’s persistence will eventually pay off!   I could not believe that such a small area could take so long to clear – or have such a knackering effect on my entire body! – but I have to admit I felt a real sense of pride once I had completed it.

Then the exciting part: the planting!  Now I’m not much of a gardener but by the time I was finished I felt I could pose a legitimate threat to Alan Titchmarsh.  I sought advice from local garden centres and green-fingered gurus and picked up some terrific plants guaranteed to attract bees, ladybirds and butterflies to our garden.  I didn’t have to wait very long for them to appear – before I reached the far end of the rockery before bees were congregating around the primulas for a feed.

I’m really excited to see the garden flourish and become a hub for wildlife but beyond that I know that the garden will bring so much joy to my family in years to come allowing them a front row seat to a daily nature show.

Mum was delighted with her present so now it’s a case of fingers crossed the plants thrive!  Must dig out that watering can just to be on the safe side…

…Ta-dah!after