Well June is here, with blinding sunlight and sprinkler heads desperately working to salvage the fading green of suburban lawns. My street is rarely disturbed by cars. It is sweltering and silent, patterned only by sunlight, sycamore leaves, and occasionally bicycle spokes. I dismantled the Berkeley room and reassembled it here in Calistoga, but somehow the space still feels like highschool. Been sad lately thinking how very few pictures I have of the rooms and houses I have lived in for the past couple years. So I took some of this room.
I really missed this desk. But now I miss the roommate who gave me this mug.
A still life I set up with some roses I picked.
I already posted most of the drawings I did last semester, but one project managed to escape. I thought i'd put up a photo of it. It is a still life, which is really not my strongpoint, but I tried to stay true to the reference. I drew the shelf from my room in Stebbins. Re-looking at this piece mad me miss my old room and prompted the documentation of my current room. So that's that.
Germany was a whirlwind seen primarily through grimy bus windows, subway windows, and train windows. Berlin ( the bit I saw in 24 hours) was grey and industrial, beautiful but bleak. The kebap was sublime, as was the hanging mist. Hamburg was a Christmas market at night, and Pretty Woman played by a youth accordion orchestra, in other words brilliant. Heidenau was cozy, with family, and songs, and endless dinner, and a puppy dog. Bremen was like a postcard, tinged with sleep deprivation. Picturesque and old, old, old. Here are some photos.
Prague was icy, and gilt and sunlit. There were blackened statues on the Charles bridge crossing the Vlatva, and the sky was violet, our hands freezing. Sausages and steaming pastry browned over the fire at the Christmas market. A woman walking a pig down the street in the afternoon. Red candles lit for sorrow and remembrance, and Kafka's name on walls and street corners.
After dear ol' Glasgow Uni let out we packed up our bags and boarded a night sleeper bus to London. It was madness. Bleary eyed we walked to the hostel as the sun came up. After drinking all of the English breakfast tea to be found we tubed to Camden. Unfortunately there were no Noel Fielding sightings. Then on to Abbey Road, Portobello market and dinner before falling to sleep in a room of many bunks.
yeah, it's backwards. But we look like $$$$ and fame anyway.
The next day it was a speed sightseeing. We saw the changing of the guard, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar square, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Harrods and Piccadilly circus. We slept for a few hours before we were walking arm in arm with exhaustion to the bus stop in the frozen darkness. Despite the extreme haste with which it was experienced London was lovely.
It takes only a half hour to cross the grey and windy sea in a little plane that shakes and rattles and land safe and sound on the Emerald Isle. A born and raised Dubliner cabbied us from the airport to Elise's sumptuous flat, where we slept on beds made of clouds. Saturday after a breakfast of crumpets, jam and tea we visited the national museum and saw an incredible exhibit of Celtic High Crosses. They were very tall and very old. We headed to city centre, crossed the river Liffey, and took a peek at Trinity College. There we saw the book of Kells, which was wondrous and spooky. We also saw the old college library built in 1712, immaculately preserved and stacked floor to ceiling with old books that smelled delightfully musty. Then we strolled St. Stephen's Green, looking at the ducks, and redheads. On the way to Whitefriar's church we stopped in a bookshop called Hodges Figgis where I purchased a wee book of W.B. Yeats poems. At Whitefriar's we saw St. Valentine's remains after which we headed out for a dinner of fish and chips (in my case chips and curry) in Temple Bar.
Downtown Dubbly.
Trinity grounds.
Bicycles and branches on campus.
The perfect Ireland photo. It was also an accident.
Elise and Eden by the duckpond in St. Stephen's Green.
Swanlings.
All the birds.
Fountain time.
Me and ole' James.
They don't mess around in Ireland.
Nighttime in Temple Bar.
Night lights on the Liffey. It was really beautiful.
We three. Elise, Eden and I.
Sunday we walked past the Guinness factory and breakfasted at Queen of Tarts where we had some tasty Bailey's cheesecake. Then we took the train to the village of Howth, on the way passing some local kids burning office furniture in a park. It was well gritty. Howth was beautiful and bleak. We saw the Sunday market, ships, the seaside and even a selkie before a downpour forced us from the quays. We sought shelter and dinner and ended up eating bangers and mash while we watched the rain. Back in Dublin we headed to a pub, where we had a chat while eaves dropping on the fellow next to me who asked the person on the other end of the phone that "the staff have dinner ready at 8." and also " is her ladyship is coming?". All the while this was happening some old guys at the bar, arms round each others shoulders, sang sad folk songs including a prettily slurred rendition of Dirty Old Town.
View of rolling hills from Elise's penthouse.
A very candid shot of me and my cheesecake.
One of many incredible cathedrals.
Ruins of a cathedral by the sea in Howth.
A sign in Gaelic.
Elise and I looking windswept.
The seaside. This doesn't nearly do it justice.
So many boats.
Down by the Quays.
Another boat.
Monday we saw Kilmainhom Gaol, which housed many of the leaders of the Irish rebellions, and even saw some of them executed. It was an interesting and sobering experience. Then we watched a bit of a marathon that was happening, and took a drenching walk downtown where we devoured some savory crepes before catching the bus back to the airport.
Run run run.
Scary snakes above the gaol door.
The flag in the gaol-yard where the executions took place.
"Ah, faeries, dancing under the moon/ A druid land, a druid tune!" -W.B. Yeats from To Ireland in the Coming Times.
Morgan family Christmastime standard. "If there's a drink the the house would it make itself known?" The Chieftains have got so much win.
The Pogues. Shane Macgowan is a beaut no matter what anyone says. I can't even pick my favorite song this one was just highly applicable.
