I completely forgot as usual, and Beloved Husband didn’t. As usual. 

Flowers, cards and a sleep-in by myself for an extra hour (don’t children make you appreciate the simplest of things?!) 

As it happened, we were going to Fanore in Co. Clare with some good friends for the night. So as it progressively got wetter and wetter, off we went, packed with our dinner marinading, fresh scones, jam and wetsuits (we knew it would be irrelevant to our children as to whether there were storms, freezing temperature or pouring rain. If we are beside the sea, they will get in for a swim)

And there we were, deep in the Burren with purple-y hills stepping down to the sea, enjoying some great conversation washed down with pots of tea and nice things…

Then we walked down to the empty beach when the rain stopped for a bit and while all the children threw themselves into the sea with excited abandon, I photographed these extraordinary skies and wild sea…

…and then back for more buckets of tea and scones and jam in the camper van while five children watched a dvd on my laptop “upstairs”!

The next day, in the pouring rain, all my boys went swimming in a (warm) sea (I wilted in the camper van hence the lack of photos) and then spent some glorious few hours talking more crochet and crafts and all the new delights we are adding to our Nest in the coming weeks… (I got a sneak preview as we were holidaying with one of our new “makers”, and boy, am I excited!!)

…before we travelled home to our little yappy dog, four thousand cats*, one hen, three chicks, two ducks and a rather handsome rooster. We brought some of the sea with us, though, and that night we feasted on freshly caught mackeral and potatoes from the garden…

Ahhh yes, I think we are slowly perfecting the perfect holiday formula  

(*perhaps a slight exaggeration…)

well… 

I’m somewhat slow therefore to even start telling you about the weekend we had…

On this warm June weekend we travelled to Co. Clare to indulge our inner feral selves, and to take part in a Bushcraft weekend- (woodland survival skills)- facilitated by  Chris Holland from Wholeland.  

The sun shone all weekend as Chris patiently showed us how to carve spears,

spoons, (we have been carving spoons, sporks (spoon/fork) and other delights ever since)

light fires

and forage for food (I will happily be stranded in a woods for ever more)…

Chris told stories that had everyone enthralled, even the smallest ones were completely absorbed; he played digeridoo

(and some other funny instrument)

and interspersed games incorporating everything that we had learned throughout the weekend (plenty of throwing spears through hoops and squirting water at people- needless to say our boys had a ball).

In the evening as the sun set, we had stories and a bonfire,

and barbequed bananas with chocolate- yum-cious!!

The whole weekend was deliciously relaxed, with children running wild in between times, and there were plenty of tea ceremonies to be had…

at every available opportunity…!

On the last day, we made clay sculptures and did a little environmental art…

We came home armed to the teeth with the spears, knives, sticks of various sizes, drawings, and Chris’ own book “I Love My World”,

which is simply fantastic (we are implementing time slots so that everyone can have a read!!)

The book is available here, and would make a fantastic present for… well, anyone really!

We are now at peace with our untamed garden, verdant and lush with buttercups, dock leaves, wild orchids and nettles- ‘cos, hey, we can eat most of it!!!!

Thank you Chris~ for a truly memorable weekend!

(One note on fairy cakes- these are old fashioned “buns”, not cupcakes. I’ve decided that I don’t actually like cupcakes: the frosting is waaaaaay too sweet!! These are perfect, sweet little morsels, completely delicious with a pot of tea (or coffee!))

 Recipe for : Very Easy Fairy Cakes and Apple cake

250g of butter (preferably unsalted)

350g caster sugar

350g self raising flour

4 eggs

small amount of milk

Simply blitz the whole lot in a mixer, moistening the mixture with enough milk until it is like softly mashed potato.

I use teaspoons to put a heaped dollop in each bun-case, and get 24.

While these are baking, I add:

1-2 sweet apples, peeled and chopped to the remaining mixture,

and put it into a 9” cake tin, lined with greaseproof paper.

Bake all at 180’ C for approx 15-20 mins.

 Deeeelicious!!!!!

 And some more artworks that I’ve almost completed.

I have an exhibition next Wednesday, the 24th of March as part of the East Galway Library Art Trail in Ballinasloe library.

We were greeted by this fantastic sculpture at the gate- from the road it didn’t look that big, but when we stopped we were dwarfed beside it! Our boys (and wee girl) climbed (helped) up onto the stone horseback and the large woven baskets were much admired by all us basket-making fanatics.

There is a lovely visitor centre with a huge atrium space that houses the cafe (didn’t get a chance to do a taste-test this time) and we went through, out to the gardens,

 and up to the house where we wandered around (there were no tours at that time)

The views were breathtaking- and there was plenty to do and see, with playgrounds, forest paths,

 a fairy garden

and a walled garden

(isn’t the glasshouse just gorgeous?)

After meeting Leanne from HipBaby (check out her website that has really gorgeous organic cotton clothing and accessories for babies and children) we had tea and sandwiches in the car before continuing our journey. 

We will definitely be back for a full day out soon!

My dear friend Tara came over yesterday and we had a lovely lunch and chat.

A little present of a gorgeous magazine for my cup of tea in the afternoon….

And some artworks… (I need to balance my brain after all the Homeopathy case work…) these ones are mixed media, paint and collage, not finished yet, have to and have a think where to go next with these

This is collage, a bit strange I know, more work to do…

“The Forgetting and the Remembering”

This is mixed media also: paint, collage, hand dyed vintage laces and buttons

And a few tags, they are ATC size, double the delight!!!