I met Mary many years ago, when I was still living in Ireland. I came over to Glen’s place for a cuppa tea one day and there she was in his garden, helping him to plant some onions. I fell in love with Mary straight away. Her hands and shoes were covered in mud, and her chestnut hair was held up with pins in the most beautifully wild way. Her woolen swather was well worn and it’s threads intertwined with strands of dried grass, revealing how common spending time in a garden was for her. She contained within her the earthiness of her people which I loved and enjoyed during my time living in Ireland. [Read More]

Back in 2010, when I had just made a transition from living in Ireland to renting an apartment in Manhattan, I attended a concert held at a cafe/art gallery called Zora space in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I was invited by my friend Jake Clemons, who was performing as one of the acts, and I accepted his invitation with a fair amount of excitement, having made a conscious decision at the time to embrace the more social life of New York City in comparison to my “out in the country” life in Ireland. I took the F train to Smith and 9th street and walked to the cafe a few blocks away. [Read More]