oh yes, friend Jane. Visiting Ireland utterly surprised me. I have a deep visceral love of this land where I was born, and yet I felt the same for Ireland.
How could I not, David? Today doesn’t mean much to me, to be honest. St Patrick’s Day was so different when I was a child growing up in England, almost a clandestine affair. It’s thinking about family, almost all dead now, that makes me feel such a pang.
What a lovely piece capturing the history and landscape. Something maybe seen more clearly from the distance of not living here all the time. Thanks for honouring us with your words!
I cannot do it justice. Ireland is far more than its past - the many griefs or the joys. I adored the life and the vibrancy wherever we went, and the sense of humour.
Still hoping to return, towards the end of this year.
This is lovely. Meg's art and your journal are beautiful. I love that you captured the feeling of familiarity to the land. That precious feeling sometime slips through our fingers. I am curious. Do you bring a journal with you during most of your travels or your daily life? Maybe you have already answered this in previous posts. But curious I am, and so I ask:)
We always have a travel diary of some kind when we travel - though the degree to which we use it varies, depending on how busy we are.
I have tended to keep a notebook/journal close for most of my adult life. I don't keep a "diary" as such - but I use it to collect ideas and impressions and descriptions, and sometimes an account of events. Some of those journal entries now live on Substack, pretty much directly copied from my notebooks. There are long periods when I have written nothing - so it's something a bit cyclical for me.
I see. I have had little opportunity to travel. But the next time I do, I would love to have a travel diary with me.
A collection of ideas and descriptions. I have started doing keeping these kinds of collections more often. I usually spend an hour to capture what I learned, saw and felt in Sumi-e class on the weekends. I also keep a diary. I was curious if you do something similar. It seemed like some of your writing felt on the spot, sometimes not using a digital device. It felt like a journal. So it is nice to know.
Life is always changing so I understand journaling can be cyclical. It has been so with me, too. But it is a place we can go back to.
Yes - there is great value in capturing things "on the spot" as they seem to you in that moment - especially when yo0u are travelling.
The thing about travel is - you see new things, new places, maybe cultures and landscapes that are unfamiliar. Those immediate impressions are fleeting. If you wait till later, some of that vibrancy and uniqueness is lost...
Also - even though my handwriting is very poor, and I have no skill at drawing - there is something very tactile and "real" about writing with a pen, in a book....
Wow, this was wonderful to read! The pictures and words complement each other so well that they capture an experience so beautiful. Thank you for sharing, David.🫶🏾
This is really touching, especially the way you stepped in and chose to go together—it says a lot about partnership. It feels like more than just a trip, almost like something deeper was waiting there. What made it so revelatory for you?
Well, it was the unexpected sense of connection - and the fact that I didn't expect it. My years living and working in First Nation communities had taught me a lot about connection to land and deep history - but I had not thought of that in terms of my own ancestry. I really was visiting Ireland just so that M felt able to go there....
I loved visiting Ireland...it was cold and damp and green and misty and absolutely lovely. You took me back to 2015!!!! And the sketches are so good!!!!
This is a delight to read Dave, and it was equally if not more delightful to have a peek in the journal, Megs beautiful art and both your words capturing the immediacy of your response, your connection to the land and the people and a sense of warmth in a homecoming.
The journal entries are unpolished and "as is." Often they end up as source material for something I later publish - but for us they are a wonderful private record to enjoy...
Thank you dear Marjorie! Our journal entries are for our own enjoyment at the time, and memory later, but some are fun to share. I’m sure most writers carry a notebook around … do you?
I doodle in the car while my hubby is driving, adds an interesting line quality ☺️ I sometimes text myself, or add to notes. Phone pics become a catalyst or shorthand for poems
Thank you for the encouragement! My people drawing skills are just above stick figures, it is more about the message. My self challenge has morphed, ok if I don’t draw them… it is about drawing conclusions, observations, or pointing out the obvious. Peace would fix the many problems at hand.
hey Dave, all is well, everything is fine with me... I wasn't posting because my Substack page doesn't have a toolbar anymore (my fault) and I can't get to my photo gallery, the poems wouldn't have a picture, just my bio pic...so I will be changing my bio pic every few posts now, which is fine.
Thank you dear Aaliya. My wonderful woman is such a delight to travel with (and to live with). I see the world in new ways when I watch her [ainting and drawing…
The travel diary is always fun for us. I adore watching M drawing in it - and I try to add words to match. Meg also writes well, and adds some entries. Occasionally, I scribble an absolutely dreadful sketch!!
They're lovely I always find travel so inspiring, it changes you but sometimes you don't always realise until you look back on the records you keep. Thank you both for sharing!
Some places are always home; some people are born with an in-built nostalgia button. They don't know it's there until they leave.
Ahhh!!! Yes!!!
oh yes, friend Jane. Visiting Ireland utterly surprised me. I have a deep visceral love of this land where I was born, and yet I felt the same for Ireland.
I am still amazed...
D :)
PS Thank you for the restack too, dear Jane.
How could I not, David? Today doesn’t mean much to me, to be honest. St Patrick’s Day was so different when I was a child growing up in England, almost a clandestine affair. It’s thinking about family, almost all dead now, that makes me feel such a pang.
Ohh...
Family members are on my mind too, Jane.
We hold memory of others - not just nostalgia, but a melding of their life with our own. The pang is the truth of that... or so it seems to me.
You were loved, so you love,,
Best Wishes - Dave
And you xx
Happy St Patrick's Day David!
What a lovely piece capturing the history and landscape. Something maybe seen more clearly from the distance of not living here all the time. Thanks for honouring us with your words!
Oh, dear Síodhna....
I cannot do it justice. Ireland is far more than its past - the many griefs or the joys. I adored the life and the vibrancy wherever we went, and the sense of humour.
Still hoping to return, towards the end of this year.
D :)
This is lovely. Meg's art and your journal are beautiful. I love that you captured the feeling of familiarity to the land. That precious feeling sometime slips through our fingers. I am curious. Do you bring a journal with you during most of your travels or your daily life? Maybe you have already answered this in previous posts. But curious I am, and so I ask:)
Hi dear Mai
Thank you, my friend!
We always have a travel diary of some kind when we travel - though the degree to which we use it varies, depending on how busy we are.
I have tended to keep a notebook/journal close for most of my adult life. I don't keep a "diary" as such - but I use it to collect ideas and impressions and descriptions, and sometimes an account of events. Some of those journal entries now live on Substack, pretty much directly copied from my notebooks. There are long periods when I have written nothing - so it's something a bit cyclical for me.
Best Wishes - Dave :)
Hi, Dave. Thank you for your reply.
I see. I have had little opportunity to travel. But the next time I do, I would love to have a travel diary with me.
A collection of ideas and descriptions. I have started doing keeping these kinds of collections more often. I usually spend an hour to capture what I learned, saw and felt in Sumi-e class on the weekends. I also keep a diary. I was curious if you do something similar. It seemed like some of your writing felt on the spot, sometimes not using a digital device. It felt like a journal. So it is nice to know.
Life is always changing so I understand journaling can be cyclical. It has been so with me, too. But it is a place we can go back to.
Once again, thank you:)
Best wishes to you too,
Mai
Hey my friend
Yes - there is great value in capturing things "on the spot" as they seem to you in that moment - especially when yo0u are travelling.
The thing about travel is - you see new things, new places, maybe cultures and landscapes that are unfamiliar. Those immediate impressions are fleeting. If you wait till later, some of that vibrancy and uniqueness is lost...
Also - even though my handwriting is very poor, and I have no skill at drawing - there is something very tactile and "real" about writing with a pen, in a book....
D :)
Wow, this was wonderful to read! The pictures and words complement each other so well that they capture an experience so beautiful. Thank you for sharing, David.🫶🏾
Thank you, dear Pleasant - and thanks all for the restack
D :)
Always :)
This is really touching, especially the way you stepped in and chose to go together—it says a lot about partnership. It feels like more than just a trip, almost like something deeper was waiting there. What made it so revelatory for you?
Thanks Jonathan
Well, it was the unexpected sense of connection - and the fact that I didn't expect it. My years living and working in First Nation communities had taught me a lot about connection to land and deep history - but I had not thought of that in terms of my own ancestry. I really was visiting Ireland just so that M felt able to go there....
D
I loved visiting Ireland...it was cold and damp and green and misty and absolutely lovely. You took me back to 2015!!!! And the sketches are so good!!!!
Thank you dear Rajani!
You just made Meg very happy :)
D
:)
This is a delight to read Dave, and it was equally if not more delightful to have a peek in the journal, Megs beautiful art and both your words capturing the immediacy of your response, your connection to the land and the people and a sense of warmth in a homecoming.
Thank you, dear Jillian.
The journal entries are unpolished and "as is." Often they end up as source material for something I later publish - but for us they are a wonderful private record to enjoy...
Best Wishes - Dave :)
I absolutely loved seeing your journal entries 🌊☘️🎨
I was able to visit this magical place a while ago. This land has stayed with me, created beautiful memories. Happy Paddy’s Day!!!
🌈☘️☘️☘️
Thank you dear Marjorie! Our journal entries are for our own enjoyment at the time, and memory later, but some are fun to share. I’m sure most writers carry a notebook around … do you?
Best Wishes - Dave :)
I doodle in the car while my hubby is driving, adds an interesting line quality ☺️ I sometimes text myself, or add to notes. Phone pics become a catalyst or shorthand for poems
I love your doodles! I wish I could do that - but my artistic skill is limited to poorly drawn stick figures....
Lol
D :)
Thank you for the encouragement! My people drawing skills are just above stick figures, it is more about the message. My self challenge has morphed, ok if I don’t draw them… it is about drawing conclusions, observations, or pointing out the obvious. Peace would fix the many problems at hand.
hey Dave, all is well, everything is fine with me... I wasn't posting because my Substack page doesn't have a toolbar anymore (my fault) and I can't get to my photo gallery, the poems wouldn't have a picture, just my bio pic...so I will be changing my bio pic every few posts now, which is fine.
Hey Rob. I’m glad (about the well bit, not the tech bit).
Technology is a pain, seriously. I love a lot of it, I hate that there is so much of it….
Keep writing mate.
Best Wishes - Dave :)
Yes I'm pretty bad when it comes to keeping up with tech I just know enough to barely get by
lovely, David!
Thank you, Ryder. May your own day be a delight!
Best Wishes - Dave :)
Your words paint a vivid picture of Éire’s enchanting landscape and spirit.
Loving the illustrations ♥️
Thank you dear Aaliya. My wonderful woman is such a delight to travel with (and to live with). I see the world in new ways when I watch her [ainting and drawing…
Best Wishes - Dave :)
What a treasure, a shared travel diary. Happy days, beautiful art and poetry 😊🙏💖
Hi dear Simone
The travel diary is always fun for us. I adore watching M drawing in it - and I try to add words to match. Meg also writes well, and adds some entries. Occasionally, I scribble an absolutely dreadful sketch!!
D :)
💖
I love the picture in the journal and the poem is just gorgeous!
Thank you dear Sylvie,
Our travel diaries are for fun and for love and for life.
Afterwards, we can distill them down into something for others, but they also something we are happy to share unrevised and original.
We are who we are...
as you are yourself too.
It is a pleasure to meet you here.
Best Wishes - Dave :) (and Meg too!)
They're lovely I always find travel so inspiring, it changes you but sometimes you don't always realise until you look back on the records you keep. Thank you both for sharing!
very precise my friend, you didn't waste a word!
Rob, mate! Good to see you back!!!
This is weird - just this morning I saw someone else here on Substack asking where you are.
I hope you are well, Rob - and looking forward to some warmer weather.
Hey - I meant to ask you - you have been to CGBG?
Man.... legendary!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave :)