In Springtime, planting teeny bulbs and seeds is one of my favourite things to do; you pat everything down amongst dark earth - bursting with potential energy - and wait as things grow beyond your sight. Today I was at home pretty much throughout the day, and happily witnessed two impossibly blue irises unfurl into flower.
Ah, the little iris, which takes its name from the Greek Goddess of the rainbow (and is sometimes translated as 'eye of heaven'). In floral-speak, it symbolizes eloquence. In medieval times it had associations with kingship, with its three petals representing faith, wisdom and valour, and obviously the fleur-de-lys is based on its purdy unfurling of petals.
They are such strangely beautiful things :-)
Represent eloquence, eh? Here's hoping for some productive writing time this weekend!
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 :-)
So, the O'Driscoll Clan Gathering is about to commence. Granted, the concept may be unfamiliar; it certainly was to me in my pre-Baltimore days, when every family name seemed to branch out from myriad roots, with competing seats and claims to chieftain-hood.
Not so the O'Driscolls. The theory goes that if you're an O'Driscoll, no matter where in the world, you're originally from Baltimore. (Although technically - and this clearly is not the time to labour the point - they used to live in other parts of the country.) Anyhoo, the O'Driscolls were driven here in the 13th century (by... ahem... the O'Sullivans), and Baltimore + Environs became their family seat, which they peppered with castles and forts and all kinds of stronghold-ey type dwellings. Short version: they thrived for centuries (thanks in part to some pirate-ey antics), were suppressed yet again, spread across the world, and now return to raise a glass to themselves once a year.
I'm guessing by Monday I'll know more. They arrive this evening.
