On Sunday morning, I had a light breakfast at the Corby Pantry and Tearoom, where I was pleased to see some nice art on the wall. I gathered my luggage and waited at the bus stop for my Uber, which had been confirmed the night before. It canceled at the pick-up time. So the answer to “does Uber works in rural Donegal” is “don’t count on it.” It may work other spots – who knows. We had the same issue in Cornwall when my sister, friend, and I went there in 2024. It wasn’t a big deal since a bus was coming along soon anyway. However, Geraldine, the owner of Diamond House, offered to drive me to Killybegs, about 10-15 minutes away. She would not take any money. She also offered to pick me up in Carrick the following day and take me to Donegal Town. What a kind woman she was!
When I got to Killybegs, I had time to eat lunch at the Marina Cafe, which was excellent. A goat cheese and beetroot salad and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Mmmmm.
Then I headed to the marina and got on a sightseeing boat tour to see the Slieve League Cliffs, some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. I am very interested in geology so I was intrigued with the rock formations and swirls in the cliff faces.
^Muckross Island
That tower on the cliff is from the Napoleonic Wars era. There are several on the coast.
Look at the swoops and wiggles in that igneous rock!
I think these were the highest cliffs behind me.
There were dolphins playing around the boat a couple of times and unfortunately my video was not on – user error.
It was very, very cold on the boat. I was glad that I brought my puffy jacket and I borrowed the cap that I bought for my niece! The children around me had shorts and jackets on and didn’t seem too bothered. Tough kids.
When I got back on shore, I found out that the trad music session in Carrick that I had planned to sit in on with my new friend Margaret had been canceled because of the World Cup final. Margaret offered to pick me up in Carrick and take me to another one in Teelin, not far away. However, our times didn’t work out. I couldn’t get to Carrick by the time she needed to pick me up. So I did a quick pivot, booked a room in Ardara for that night, and took the bus back to Ardara so that Geraldine wouldn’t have to drive to Carrick to pick me up in the morning.
To be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled about the hostel I had booked in Carrick anyway. It may have been just fine, but it was cheap and I didn’t mind losing the money for that night. I was sad to miss the session though.
Once I got back to Ardara, the noise on the street was crazy! It appeared to be a bunch of college age young adults who were excited about the World Cup. They eventually disappeared and I went to the pub on the bottom floor of the Nesbitt Arms Hotel. They sat me down in front of a huge TV screen, where I watched about half of the World Cup while eating mussels and garlic bread.
I think that the next time I visit western Ireland I will rent a car.
I left Glencombcille on the bus early in the morning, expecting to have breakfast in Killybegs while I waited for my connection, but I passed a smaller private bus where I heard the driver say Ardara, so I hopped on and got there in 10 minutes or so.
The view from Diamond House
When I got there, I gave Geraldine, the owner of Diamond House, a call, and she immediately came over and let me into my room and showed me the common area and kitchen, and offered me a bottle of wine. The room was really comfortable and I had a nice rest before heading out for lunch.
Note: “Diamond” in this area refers to a central plaza. Kind of how a “high” street refers to the main commercial street in the rest of the UK, most of the businesses and restaurants radiate around the diamond.
Anyway, I decided to try the most famous pub there, Nancy’s Bar, for lunch: a salmon and seafood chowder. How good was it? I went there again that night and the next night for dinner!
One of several small rooms in this traditional pub
One of the reasons I chose to come to Ardara was its weaving heritage. Close to Nancy’s Bar was Eddie Doherty’s shop, a renowned weaver getting up in years. He had a large fly shuttle loom in the back room where he demonstrated weaving the woolen twill fabric he sells. I wish I had taken a video, but I was too enthralled with talking to him. I think he was impressed that I knew enough about weaving that my questions were different from what he was used to. He lit up as we talked about the mechanics of his loom. Super nice guy, and he had cones of leftover wool for sale at incredibly low prices. I knew I needed to be frugal about space in my luggage, but I bought two cones and wound them into balls that would take up less room that night. Then the next day I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t buy the rest so I went back and got the rest.
Mr. Doherty’s loomWinding off the cones into balls while sitting by the river
Then I had the idea of doing a quick weaving using the book I had bought for a frame loom, but I needed a needle. I found a little boutique that had a tiny sewing/knitting corner and bought scissors and a pack of needles. They came in handy later but I never got around to weaving. The owner of the boutique actually looked in her own sewing kit to see if she had a large darning needle to give me. As I’ve said, the people here go out of their way to help.
So, there were many exciting things I could have done around Ardara. It’s known as a central spot where you can take side trips to the nearby mountains, beaches, caves, waterfalls, and more. I did not. I rested, and listened to music in the pub across the street, and ate very, very well. I regret not walking down to the beach. Hindsight is 50/50 now while I write this in August, but I know I needed the rest then. It gives me a reason to go back.
Outside of Nancy’s BarFriendly folks at Nancy’s Bar
I returned that night to Nancy’s Bar for fresh raw oysters. I sat at one of the bars next to Mr. McHugh, an older gentleman in a wheelchair who I came to understand had several relatives on the staff…and was most likely the owner or former owner. Nancy’s Bar has been owned by the same family for seven generations! The oysters were amazing, in part because they were served with sauces I had never heard of and secondly because they had arrived from about “six miles down the road” that afternoon. There was a couple from New Jersey on the other side of Mr. McHugh and we all laughed and talked and asked him questions. I tried a couple of local brews and told him the story of the Dingle bartender who bullshitted me about Budweiser being made by Guinness here. He shocked me by telling me that the bartender was correct. Guess I won’t tell that tale any more!
It was getting time for the music singalong to begin at the Corner House, so I headed over there and snagged a bar stool. The pub began to fill as the sun began to set. It wasn’t trad music, but they covered John Denver and the Eagles and such so I enjoyed singing along. I stayed sober by drinking water between drinks and was a good girl, went home early.
The next day I ate a light lunch at the Courthouse Restaurant, then I wound more yarn in the park, then once the Corner House opened, I moved to the back covered beer garden to get out of the rain.
Lager and yarn winding in solitude at the Corner House
An excellent gallery I visited was Donegal Designer Makers – a beautiful variety of fine craft and art. I also stopped by the little pharmacy to get some meds for nausea, anticipating my needs for the boat tour to the Slieve League Cliffs the next day. (Turns out that my acupressure wristbands worked well for motion sickness and I didn’t need the medicine: highly recommend!)
That’s right, I went back to Nancy’s for dinner. Prawns with a garlic cream sauce over linguini. I was seated at an old sewing machine table next to a few antique books. Perfect. Said hello and goodbye to Mr. McHugh and turned in for an early night.
Sign in Nancy’s: “Welcome All of Our Guest Bring Happiness Some by Coming & Some by Going”
At the end of a long workday for her, Margaret (bless her heart in the sweetest meaning of this Southern phrase) drove me up the Wild Atlantic Way to Malin Beg, where I chose NOT to descend the 170+ steps down to that beach, and stopped along the way to let me take photos. The main destination, however, was the Cloghanmore Megalithic Tomb, which was in a pasture covered with rushes. They are weeds here, just as there are many other beautiful and useful invasive plant species in western Ireland.
^Margaret showed me how to make a St. Brigid’s cross with fresh rushes picked on the spot. Forgive the unedited video – I have so much to write about and so many photos I don’t have the patience to edit it. The biting midges ran us out of there – I would suggest bug spray if you go there!
On the way there and back, there were stunning views of Glen Head and the ancient ring fort on top.
I think I would have enjoyed driving here. If I ever go back, I’m going to rent a car.
Margaret dropped me off in the village and and I had dinner and a drink at John Eionin’s, where I was staying upstairs after I walked around a bit. It was a magical time of day. And you know I can’t resist a kitty, and this cat was grudgingly willing to pose but that was it.
I should have booked another night here, but I’d be heading to the bus stop early in the morning to experience Ardara for the weekend. Then again, I felt that way about everywhere I stayed, really.
I headed to Glen Head Bay beach across the street from the Glencolmcille Folk Village, took in the view, removed my hiking boots and slipped on my flip flops, descended the stairs, and enjoyed the cool cool waters of the tidal pools at low tide.
Children and adults were crossing to the furthest sand bar to swim in the ocean, so I followed them. The wavy hard sand of the beach and tidal pools made for difficult walking, and may have contributed to my physical troubles later, but man, it was worth it.
Always I think of tapestry when I see these natural forms. You can see them in limestone at the Burren in Ireland, another favorite place of mine.
Made it to the waves! I couldn’t see anything I was trying to photograph, and I needed to rest, or I might have stayed out there until the tide turned.Ah, finally a shady spot to rest, hydrate, and eat a scone from Kelly’s Corner.SO HAPPY
Limpets, barnacles, and snails (periwinkles?) were everywhere on the rocks. I’m also thinking of designing a tapestry based on a close-up of those barnacles. I learned to check the snail shells that I collected for signs of life.
Sheep grazed in pastures all along the sides of the bay.
As I ascended the hill back to my room, a family in a camper van offered me a ride. They must have noticed me struggling! One of several acts of kindness I experienced. I turned them down, though, since I planned to stop at an event happening at Oideas Gael, hoping to find some ice cream. What I found was that the cafes along there were closed, but there was a used book sale and a lovely wee book shop. Of course I dug into the used books and found a battered textbook used by many high school students in their Irish language classes. I was thrilled! It would be great to take a course in Irish here.
Sheep were everywhere, really. I didn’t see any on the road while I was in this area, though.I never made it over to this church across the river going into the bay.Maybe next time!
I took a rest before I headed back down the hill to meet Margaret, who kindly and generously offered to drive me over to Malin Beg and show me some places I wanted to see but were too far to walk to.
After breakfast at Kelly’s Corner, I shouldered my daypack, put on my sunscreen, and headed downhill to Glencolmcille Folk Village, where I met fellow tapestry weaver and new friend Margaret Rose Cunningham, who manages it. What a well done museum complex! There were reproductions of typical cottages from 1700, 1850, and 1900, as well as a grocery/pub, a schoolhouse, and a one-room fisherman’s cottage. Also a very nice gift shop and teahouse.
A small trail behind the complex took you up to a reproduction of a standing stone in the area with a great view over Glen Head Bay, as well as other small structures that would have been in the village, such as a secret altar and a sweat house.
Here is a slideshow of photos from that visit. Note how the fireplaces change through time, and how small the beds are. Large families lived in these small cottages. The fanciest one in the photos here belonged to the priest. He had a bedroom, kitchen, and parlor.
After taking a photo of this mosaic made of stones from each county in Ireland, I crossed over to the stairs leading down to the beach at low tide.
The first day was a tough one. I can never sleep more than a minute here and there on a plane, and as soon as I stepped off the plane early that morning, I went dashing to the bus stop with my backpacks and shoulder bag, just to find that the bus was arriving a bit late and there had been no reason to try to run. I say “try” because my days of dashing are absolutely over.
The next five hours were spent heading to my destination for the week, the southwest area of Donegal. When Sandy and I did the O’Neill Megalithic Tour 2012, we skirted this area with a brief stop in Letterkenny on our way to Buncrana and the peninsula of Inishowen in the far north of Ireland, and I always had to urge to return to explore more of Donegal. I chose this area after seeing the photos and videos of a new Facebook friend, Margaret Cunningham, a tapestry weaver from Carrick who manages a historic site in Glencolmcille on the coast.
I did not have many photo opportunities on the way there, but I did see many small towns that I would have loved to explore. The bus made a stop long enough in Cavan for me to take a couple of photos. I wanted to do this because my great-great grandfather was from the country near Cavan. Maybe I can explore central Ireland the next time.
CavanCavanBelturbet
Once I got off the bus in Glencombcille, I was thoroughly exhausted and had sweat through my clothes. I could not check into my hotel (which was over a pub/restaurant and modern) until 4:00 and they meant it. Ireland was going through a heat wave of highs in the low 80s and sunny, beautiful weather which would have been a refreshing day here in North Carolina, but these days I have particular problems with tolerating any heat at all. Of course, there is no air conditioning here.
by the road through GlencolmcilleBeautiful flowers were everywhere in GlencolmcilleBy the main road through Glencolmcille
After walking around a bit, I went to Roarty’s, the pub next door, and had a pint of Smithwick’s and gabbed with the owner and a couple of locals. Beautiful little pub.
Roarty’sExhausted and sweaty, but thirsty no more in Roarty’s
Once John Eoinín’s opened, the bartender of its pub let me into my room, which had a small fan. I took a cold shower, washed out my clothes in the shower, and hung them up to dry in the sunny window. I laid down wet in the hot room and took a nap, and when I got up I saw that my recently dyed hair had left green marks on the pillowcase.
Kelly’s Corner was the only restaurant in walking distance to eat and I got there just before they closed. It was a good, friendly place to eat, and I had a chicken and cheese wrap with a sweet chili sauce and chips. I would go back the following morning for breakfast. As for this night, I took a photo of the sunset from my second floor window, collapsed in front of the fan, the darkness not descending until long after I closed my eyes.
Sunset over the Wild Atlantic Way in Glencolmcille
An introduction to a two week trip to the place I love more than any other.
This journey began in my mind last fall, when I decided to make it happen. My worry was that if I continued to wait, it might never happen, and it was up to me to fix that. The universe stepped in and provided a remote job from January to June, albeit one with work that I did not enjoy, but gave me the income that I could pay for this without financial strain, as long as I was relatively frugal. Granted, there were a few challenges in the months before I left, but those made it even more important to move forward.
How many times did I change my itinerary? I’ve lost count. The core of it was the week long mixed media workshop with Sandra Duran Wilson at the fabulous Essence of Mulranny studios in Mulranny, Mayo. I knew that since I was most likely going to travel solo, it was my chance to go and do exactly as I pleased, so I planned a week before the workshop on my own to the west coast, first flying to Shannon and drifting northwest to Achill Island for a few days, then taking the opportunity to change my flight to Dublin and immediately head to southwest Donegal.
It was the experience of a lifetime, and one of the best gifts I have ever given myself.
I begin my story with the first day on the ground in Dublin, and end it with the last full day in Dublin. I’ll do a post for each day and date it on that day. There may be multiple posts for a day. That’s how full this trip was. I am writing these posts in mid-August.
Note: in Ireland, there are multiple ways to spell place names – in English, Irish, and and unknown origin. I usually picked the spelling that I saw most often.
(Life Update Update: I wrote this nearly a month ago and never posted it. Thought I’d get back to it with some photos and forgot about it. So it goes this season. I’m taking a day off and decided to write a little, and this popped up, so I’m posting it with the addition of those photos.)
April is almost getting away from me. I was so busy this month! Mainly with my remote job, which takes a while even though it is only a minimum of twenty hours a week. I have to take lots of breaks due to eye strain and losing focus after reading dozens of essays on the same prompt. I like it better than I used to, though, especially the fact that it is paying for my Ireland trip and Edwina’s fiber art retreat at Wildacres in September. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned that I was awarded a week-long artist residency to do tapestry design at Wildacres, which did my sorry ego a world of good. It is the week before Edwina’s retreat, so I’ll be there two full weeks!
As usual, when I wait too long to write these posts, there’s too much for one post. So I’ll try to get part of the stuff here and do a separate post for the event that I just left.
I worked HARD on the garden in breaks between scoring papers. For the most part, the weather has been beautiful but very dry. However, I have suffered from some of the worse allergies ever, especially in my eyes. A lot of eye drops have been applied in the last two months! Once I realized that I am not going to get those metal raised beds filled and ready for spring/summer, I turned my attention to the one raised bed I filled with the Costco soil, weeding out the “womb” garden, planting containers, and making fencing wire cages to go around them. Because yes, of course there is a fat groundhog living under the studio again. I do hope she isn’t pregnant. Raccoons are back, as well.
The cages have seemed to do the trick as far as protection, but I really want to plant field peas (Pat Bush’s “beautiful beans”) and butterbeans. Those critters will eat them to the ground if I don’t make some kind of fencing. I may have to save that for the metal raised beds next year. I can put metal hoops over them and cover them with wire fencing. I think that will do the trick. As for the womb garden, I don’t know. A farmer I met in Burnsville said that I needed to put hardware cloth 18 inches on the ground and 18 inches up the fencing. Ay yi yi. Not sure that’s gonna happen.
Most of my tomato and sweet banana peppers are doing well, despite a cold snap and the drought. The lettuce and basil were the only seeds that survived the experimental winter sowing jugs. I’ve had one big salad already and I planted some radish seeds among the lettuce and carrots. Sadly, the green peas died. There is a grey surface fungus on that raised bed, which I suspect originated in the raised bed soil (Miracle Gro Organic with Compost). I won’t be buying that again, but I hope to get my compost bed going again this year. I treated the fungus with an organic copper fungicide which seemed to work and then the peas died suddenly overnight a couple of weeks later.
The seedling tray inside is what was the big success, and I have butterfly blue tea peas, artichokes, scarlet bee balm, dyer’s chamomile, and borage all planted in the front garden bed. The tomato seedlings were getting so big I had to plant them. Some did not make it, but I had plenty. I was happy that keeping the electric heat on in the studio where I had it did not raise my bill too much.
Bad news is that I did something to my knee and I’m going to have to lighten up on it for a while. Just as I was getting my stamina up! I hope that I don’t have to see a doctor.
Sandy and I went to Oak Island with friends at the end of March. It was lovely as usual, but my allergies were bad enough and it was chilly enough that I didn’t get out on the beach much. I love the deck on that house which looks out over the salt marsh around the Intercoastal Waterway. There had been dredging and people were digging at the little sand bluff on the beach that the high tides had made. They were pulling out amazing shells – thousands and thousands of olives but also scotch bonnets and nutmegs, which you rarely see.
Two weeks later, I drove down to Lake Waccamaw with my Baby Wolf loom warped and folded and loaded into the back of the Volvo wagon. I dressed (incorrectly, but I tried to stop obsessing over that ) in 18th century clothes that I had donated from my reenactment days to a historical house society that was having a living history event. I did not stay long – had too much to do here at home – but I did get to spend a little time with my sister and niece and of course Miss Sissy Girl, my feline niece.
Still weaving the weather tapestry diary, which I so enjoy! And I was in a group show at the Artery Gallery for a month, in which I entered the two framed tapestries that I had in Preston’s Christmas show. I apparently sent in an application that was not ready to the Marshall Muse Gallery, so at some point I will revise that and make an appointment with them.
Reading: I finished the Hyperion series, and Dan Simmons just died, so I guess there won’t be any more. “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray completely captivated me and pissed me off. I read a sweet, lovely illustrated novella starring Bast of Patrick Rothfuss’ “Kingkiller Chronicle” series called “The Narrow Road Between Desires.” “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro was a surprising slim read. I never saw the movie but I imagined Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson throughout. Loved “Writers and Lovers” by Lily King and I will find more of her work to read. Now I’m supposedly reading “The Hunter” by Tana French, the second of the Cal Hooper books, which I was eager to get in Libby but it might expire before I read it. I sent “The Likeness” back without finishing it. It creeped me out and I’m not sure why. I may take it back up at a different time. Along the way I’ve been reading “The Age of Homespun” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and “Tapestry with Pulled Warp” by Susan Iverson.
In late April, I attended my second “Mountains Are Calling” fiber retreat, hosted at Big Lynn Lodge, just across the road from the Blue Ridge Parkway in Little Switzerland, North Carolina. This was basically an excuse for fiber artists of all persuasions to get together in a beautiful setting, and it happens three times a year. I’ve made some friends in this group, who are mainly knitters, and this time I took my friend Susan with me. We mainly relaxed and did some exploring of the area, but while we were at the lodge, we stitched.
Here are some photos taken at the Lodge. I plan to make some tapestry designs of the flowers. This is an event that I intend to make a habit of attending, since moving to the area is out of the question (for the near future).
Sign on Blue Ridge Parkway says: “Lynn Gap Elev 3100 ft Crest of the Blue Ridge.”
^^^This is just a few feet across the road in front of my room at Big Lynn Lodge. You can’t get to it easily with your car, though!
Near sunset outside the dinner bell at the lodge.
Clouds, not smoke. Although there were wildfires nearby. We were re-routed around one near Spruce Pine on the way up here. Extreme drought means that this rain was needed.
I need to identify this. Rhododendron or azalea variant?
I’m pretty sure you’ll see this one here in tapestry form eventually.
Today will be a studio day, but I might be taking it outside. It will be beautiful, then we’ll be back to a couple of cold days.
I’m excited about the redesign of my “Chaos!” tapestry. I researched the Eye of Horus and that led me to the Eye of Ra (or Re), so they will be overlooking the craziness below them. I have a lot of thoughts about this – are they protecting us or the pharaohs? I think that they are protecting the pharaohs in real life, but I’d like to think that they are watching out for us. You know, those ancient gods have their own motives that we cannot understand.
Also, I’m still cleaning up that huge pile of fig branches so that I can set up the metal raised beds that I bought. Seed-starting: seeing dyer’s chamomile and butterfly blue peas coming up inside! It’s worth the effort just to see those sprouts emerging for the first time.
The yard work is slow – Sandy can’t help much, and after an hour of not very hard work I end up on the heating pad for shoulder and neck pain. It is frustrating because this also affects my ability to weave, and I never want to quit when I do, but I am trying to listen to my body as well as push it a bit. It’s a fine line.
Reading: I was at the very f-in CLIMAX of the fourth book of the Hyperion series, “The Rise of Endymion,” when Libby shut it down and sent it to the next person. AUURGH!!! So I’ll have to wait three weeks to finish it. In the meantime, I’ll read “The Likeness” by Tana French. I also have three Sharon Kay Penman books, largely about Richard I, on tap in print.
