Monday Monday

Gorgeous sunshiney day here. Have family travelling en route today, two of whom are celebrating their birthdays, so life has been about general prep & the procurement of treaty things :-)

The last few days have been a whirlwind: apart from the usual weekend festivities, I went to the medieval fair (should that be fayre?) over in Barryscourt Castle. Although getting to play with armour & weapons was cool, my highlight was the falconry area, featuring kestrels and owls and all manner of gorgeous talon-ed creatures. (I deliberately shunned the memory of Updike's Gertrude and Claudius, with its description of how birds of prey were trained in the old days. Shudder shudder.)

But before Barryscourt, there was Dublin, which was also whirlwind-ey and filled with highlights. Thursday night's reading at the Irish Writers' Centre went well: throroughly enjoyable evening, with a great turn-out, and a lovely mix of styles, subjects, deliveries. [Note to self: must track down that fab love poem that Richard W. Halperin tangented off to share with us. A gem.] Thanks to the Stinging Fly team for their organisation and gracious hosting.

Gracious host... not a term to be applied to Darth Vader, as beautifully imagined by Eddie Izzard, and represented through the medium of lego :-)