Snowy Road

This is where I would have liked to have been…

Irish Protest Nov 2010

This is why I would like to have been in Dublin today…

Irish Economic Crisis Explained (short wee you-tube piece, well worth watching!)

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Carbery Housing Association was set up ten years ago by local West Cork residents, who could see that local people and new arrivals were unable to find affordable housing to rent in West Cork. As a result they were obliged to emigrate, or to live in unacceptable conditions, dependent on state Rent Allowance. Because of this CHA has made several attempts to progress sustainable housing projects, notably in Bantry (Kinaith-Fineen and Slip) but on all occasions our proposals have been rejected by Cork County and Town Councils.

Today the housing situation nationally is in shambles. A recent University College of Dublin study has found that there are around 345,000 empty homes in Ireland that are standing empty and unused. Some are in need of repair, but the majority would be immediately habitable. At the same time Local Authority housing lists have grown to over 80,000 households.
In view of this, CHA has decided to concentrate on trying to bring empty properties into use. The Government has recently introduced a new scheme to lease private empty properties, where the DEHLG will pay up to 80% of the market rent to the property owner, on the basis of a 10 to2 0 year lease. The tenant pays the equivalent of a Council rent, to cover the management and maintenance of the property.

CHA is now actively looking for privately-owned properties that can be used under this Scheme. So far we are following up the use of 2 properties in West Cork, but we aim to secure many more properties for rent to persons on our housing list in the coming months.

We would like to invite you to join CHA. We need your help to keep looking for homes, and to help raise funds. We currently receive no grants of any kind. We need to carry out surveys of properties we are offered, we need to carry out essential repairs, we need to administer and publicise the Scheme. We want to get as many property owners as possible to understand that letting their houses to us for use by people who cannot afford to buy or rent is a win-win situation.

We are also currently looking for Volunteers, who can help out for one day in the forthcoming West Cork Music Festival, to be held in Skibbereen on July 31st. We need Volunteers to act as Stewards on the day, and for each Volunteer, the Festival organisers will contribute € 100 to CHA for every Steward found.

If you are willing to help out in this, or in helping to identify empty houses and their owners, then please contact me, on 028 21890 or 086 8224429, or by e-mail at jose@carberyhousing.eu
Many thanks,
Yours sincerely

Jose Ospina
Secretary.

My blog posts have always been written using renewable energy  because that’s the energy I have – we use a home made wind turbine and a photovoltaic array to provide our electricity.

I was always keen to have this blog hosted on a server that also uses renewable energy however it was not easy to find a solution that I was happy with – until now…

The sun was shining and there was still snow on the tops of the  hills and mountains, mountain waterfalls were glistening in the distance and the lakes were like mirrors.

Lough Melvin

The Boardwalk

The Picnic Table

Although by many calendars today, February 2nd is Imbolc and for many that includes the olden goddess Bridget, in my local community and for many in Ireland, February 1st is considered St Bridget’s day.

In one of my local towns – and even as I say that I realise it sounds strange however there are a few towns around here that feel like local towns to me now because of where I shop or go to night classes – now where was I? In Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, there is a shrine to Bridget which is above the town and beside the graveyard. It is always well cared for and has candles lighting there regularly and sometimes little momentoes or even coins left there for special intention.

I would say that most people who spend reflective time there may be addressing their intentions towards St Bridget, for me there is simply Bridget and I love that connection between the older pagan type spirituality and the newer christian spirituality, that they can often exist side by side, chose which ever you wish.

Bridgets Day is still held as a pattern day in Ballinamore. A pattern day is a very old custom in Ireland and thankfully is respected still in many rural areas, when the local people gather and pray at a shrine or  holy-well or even at holy rocks. There is a pattern to the praying, a certain ritual to be followed whether it be walking sun-wise (clockwise) around the shrine for a set number of times reciting a certain prayer or group of prayers such as a rosary.

In Ballinamore the pattern includes walking around the shrine and through a small part of the graveyard – I need to ask more about this locally. Last year I took part and did what I saw others doing. There is a lovely feeling in taking part of an ancient outdoor ritual with people from the local community, even though I only knew a few faces.

I loved the fact that this pattern is considered such a regular part of life here. There were people young and old, walking alone as I was or with family, neighbours or friends. Some pray aloud, some pray quietly, moving their lips and many were simply reflective or praying to themselves, rosary beads swaying as they walked slowly and reverently in the footsteps of so many before them.

There were many cars parked at the roadside in which some people, many quite old and stiffened with age and life, had travelled to the shrine. Most local people had walked the distance from town as people had done in years gone past, for many the walk from town is part of the pattern and they pray as they walk. Even the younger ones who walked with friends were keeping a respectful atmosphere, chatting very quietly with each other. Others, like myself, had maybe travelled from the surrounding countryside to be there.

This year as I took a few moments of quiet at the shrine lighting a votive candle I noticed that there were a lot people setting off down the wee side road that runs alongside the graveyard after they had finished their rounds of the graveyard. They were all wearing wellies (rubber boots), some were carrying little empty water bottles and they were all keeping the silence of pray-full space with them.

Always up for an adventure, especially a spiritual adventure, I followed off down the road too. This was great fun and unexpected, to be heading off down a road I never walked before, not knowing where I was heading, how long it would take or even if I would get there as everyone else was obviously dressed for all sorts or terrain with their waterproof boots and big coats.

I was wearing bright summer sandals on my feet because I had only gone to town to post some packages and had forgotten that it was pattern day until I saw all the activity. I did notice that some of the people coming back the road were amused and dismayed in equal amounts by my choice of footwear. I, however, was gladdened to know that people were coming back! Now at least I knew that this was a “there and back” journey, not a tramp across endless terrain towards who knew what! I am exaggerating here a little, I think!

People nodded towards each other, and me, when they met on the road but other than that a silence pervaded which was very peaceful. After some time we turned off the road and into a field, however it looked to be fairly dry so I followed along.

I decided that if the going got very wet I could then decide to either turn back or get very wet feet, as it happened I didn’t have to make that decision because the ground, although very soft in places, had a well worn track and I was able to keep my socks dry.

We were some distance now from any roads and it was so lovely to be following along in quiet procession, just walking. I had no destination in mind because I had no idea where we going. It was obvious to me now that we were to eventually come to a well because of the empty bottles so many people were carrying and those coming back had full bottles, beyond that I was in blissful ignorance.

It was a beautiful day, cold and clear, with a slight threat of rain to the west. The fields were silent other than the occasional bird song and the sometimes tick of an electric fence hidden behind briers to one side of us as we walked.

Then I could see a turnstile in the hedge at the far end of the field that we were in and realised that was our destination. Leitrim farmers are not in the habit of erecting turnstiles in their hedgerows. Once through there I found myself in a little garden with a statue of St. Bridget and a path which I dutifully followed until I came to a well.

I decided that in honour of the triple goddess I would walk sun-wise three times around the well before drinking a beautiful mug-full of deliciously cold water from the well, using the mug placed there for that purpose. I stayed there for a wee while, drinking in the scene after drinking the water. There were lots of daffodil bulbs, bravely sticking out their first greenery, dotted around alongside the path, under the trees. It will be a lovely place to visit once the daffodils are in bloom.

The rain finally started to fall softly as I neared the graveyard on the return journey. There were still as many people heading towards the well and a fresh bundle of Bridget’s crosses was being left at the shrine by a local woman. The crosses are made locally and left at the shrine on Bridget’s day with a sign asking for donations which this year are going towards a hospice.

I got into my van and headed for home, passing many people still walking out from town, ready for their spirit adventure.

Come and Swap

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

This post has been prompted by a comment on the previous post. Thanks Sean for getting me to put my thoughts down in words.

Yes, I agree that the situation with the Green party is sad. A lot of people have given of themselves over the years to create a party which was to have the care and responsibility for a healthy earth as it’s prime motivator.

I have never been a party member however I know many who are or have been very actively involved in the party and I know that many of them are really feeling the disappointment now.

Some of them feel that the compromise that is happening at government level is worth it, others don’t agree.

I am now considering joining the party and encouraging all the alternative minded people that I know to do the same in an effort to reclaim the party from Dublin intellectuals and career politicians.

I do like the fact that party members actually do have a say in what happens. If I do become a party member and if I am unhappy with what is happening then I would have the chance to try and shape new policy. It does require some serious consideration.

I have never been a party person, never had unwavering allegiance to one party, preferring instead to choose individual candidates in my local area. I used to be quite involved in local politics at one time because of the campaigns that I was involved and I saw the local politicians in light that most of the electorate do not.

Most Irish people have never attended a local council meeting in their own area. It is an interesting thing to do because you see the politicians behave in a way which you don’t see when you watch them through the public lens. It is particularly interesting when a really important decision is to be made as sometimes national politicians turn up to oversee from the public gallery and ensure that the locals do as they have been instructed.

I have distanced myself from involvement in politics and campaigning as a thoughtful action, not passively or because of apathy. It does take a certain level of energy to maintain an active and thoughtful interest in both active campaigning and politics and I decided some years ago that enough was enough.

I became tired of trying to change things from the top down and instead I have concentrated on working from the ground up. I now prefer to quietly just get on with my own business, trying my best to live as sustainably as possible. I have always loved the quote – And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

I guess that is what I have been doing for the last few years. Change that comes from the ground up is very rooted. It is well tried and tested by the time that change becomes the norm.  It may seem as though nothing is changing then slowly you may start to notice a change in attitude or habits of people a long way from your sphere of influence – so to speak.

I have some thinking to do on this, whether or not to become more actively involved again.

All input is gratefully received, please comment if you feel moved…

This is where you can find me if you like to twit too -

Yes, I do get the irony, I have just posted on simplifying life and here I go adding complications! Well, sure it might not last, I may get fed up and stop or I may not.

Let’s see what happens…

I imagine that it must have a simple living blog of some sort and I am sure that it was a very good blog if I was reading it

QUESTIONS:
1.Why are you simplifying?
Keep it simple is a piece of good advice that I heard many years ago, you can choose to apply that advice to any aspect of living, I try to apply it to most. Complicated living becomes stressssssfull living – who needs to bring added stress into their lives? I certainly don’t, so I try to keep life as simple as possible, it’s not always easy but it is worth it.
I have never thought of what I am doing as “simplifying”, I am just attempting to keep it simple.

2.What convinced you that you should change how you live?
I am not aware of any sudden change in attitude, I have always had high regard for the environment and was brought up with great respect for nature. My parents both grew up in a time where things were reused whenever possible, recycling had not been invented, it didn’t need to be, people were not well off and made the utmost use of everything, nothing was thrown away. They passed this on to my siblings and myself.

3.What was the first thing major thing you changed?
Moving to a green field site in the countryside gave us the opportunity to live off-grid and learn to build a wind turbine and our own house (on-going project)

4.How do you see yourself changing in the future?
We want to become much more self-sufficient with regard to food and transport. Transport will probably be our biggest challenge living where we do. It is the one major disadvantage to living in an isolated place in Ireland, public transport is very poor still in most parts of rural Ireland.
As we become more independent with regard to food then that will already mean less journeys to town for basic shopping so increasing our food independence may help reduce our reliance on private transport.
I also want to learn more about making use of the woodlands and hedgerows around here and perhaps learn to make rudimentary furniture for our garden.
I would love to have a horse in the future however that would require more land than we have at present so it is not likely to happen anytime soon.
As to more personal changes – I guess that is another post…