{"id":353,"date":"2020-07-04T09:44:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T13:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wanderofwanders.com\/?p=353"},"modified":"2020-07-04T09:49:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-04T13:49:09","slug":"living-in-patchwork-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderofwanders.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/04\/living-in-patchwork-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Living in patchwork green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Walkin’ down a country road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

              Tom Neilan is a spry 88 years old,\nwith truly a twinkle in his eyes and a ready smile on a craggy farmer\u2019s face.\nWearing a worn workshirt and a cap soft with age, he seems to me as much a part\nof the land he owns and works as the sheep and cattle there. His farm, some 100\nacres in all, surrounds the thatched-roof cottage where I have been living in\nquarantine since arriving in Ireland June 22. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first met Tom on the one-lane road down the way, driving\nhis ancient, rumbling tractor that I could easily have out-walked. I soon\nlearned that he is a musician, well known in these parts and beyond for his\ntalent on the melodeon and the bodhran. This part of western Ireland, he says,\nis known to have some of the finest musicians in the country, and he knows them\nall. His house was often the setting for evening ceilidhs, house concerts\nessentially, where a dozen or more musicians gathered. The ceilidhs have been\nput on hold because of COVID-19, but he looks forward to the day when he can\ninvite his friends back in to play music. He tells me he\u2019ll let me know when\nthat day arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShall I play for you?\u201d he asks me one day. We sit in his\ntractor shed, six feet apart of course, and he opens a large bag he\u2019s brought\nwith him. He takes out a well-used melodeon, closes his eyes, and plays three\nshort tunes for me. One starts with \u201cOn Top of Old Smokey,\u201d a song he says he\nplayed so often as a boy learning the instrument that his mother shooed him out\nthe door in exasperation. Next came the bodhran, its surface blackened from\nplay. He flips it to the back and proudly shows me the place where it was\nsigned by the great Irish singer and musician Christy Moore. Moore has played\nthat bodhran, \u201cand if you put your face to it, you can smell his sweat,\u201d he\nsaid with an impish laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am transported. How lucky am I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Welcome to my world right now of\nchance encounters, long walks, small towns, mercurial weather and vibrant,\nearthy countryside. I am nearing my second week of quarantine here in County\nGalway, eight miles from the town of Gort, population 3,000. This is a place of\none-lane roads that rise and fall, twist and turn, leading tantalizingly to those\nthat look more like well-worn cow paths. It is a place where horse-drawn\ntransport is not uncommon, a place of thick, vine-covered verge and field upon\nfield of grazing cows, horses, donkeys, sheep. In your mind\u2019s eye, when you\nthink of Ireland you no doubt imagine a patchwork quilt of greens set apart by\nstone walls. This is where I am living right now \u2013 right in the middle of those\nwildly improbable shades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This area of Ireland is called the Beagh, or birchwood, and\ngray and white birches are everywhere in profusion here. It is located in the\nlowlands of The Burren, coming from the Irish word Boireann, or rocky place.\nThis is an apt description for an enormous outcrop of more than 97 square miles\nof predominately limestone. You can see it in the distance from here, gray\nhills rising from the green plains. According to local sources, 70 percent of\nall flowers in Ireland can be found there, and Arctic\/Alpine and Mediterranean\nbasin plants live side by side. I will be spending quite some time in the\nBurren and will report back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              I would be remiss if I did not\ntalk about the weather. \u201cWeather\u201d doesn\u2019t quite get to it. This climate seems\nalmost a living, breathing thing, leaving me with moments of frustrated\nincredulity as well as near wonderment. In my home state of Maine, there is a\nsaying. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like the weather, wait a minute.\u201d This part of western\nIreland raises that to an art form. You need not wait a minute; a second or two\nwill do. Start with a lowering sky, as a rule, a clean ash gray. Sometimes that\nwill suffice. Other times, the clouds wring out rain that is nearly always\nsoft, rarely lashing, but often present. Moments later, you feel a shift, an\nimperceptible lightening, as the sun tries rather desperately to penetrate.\nSometimes it succeeds. Then patches of blue \u2013 can it be true? \u2013 will appear. To\nbe fair, there have been two or three predominately sunny days, predominately\nbeing the key word. Still, one feels the whim of an ancient god or fairy at\nwork. I feel as if I must make, if not friends, then more than a passing\nacquaintance with this force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have made the decision to truly quarantine as the Irish\ngovernment requests, and so I have no car. This would not be perhaps everyone\u2019s\ncup of tea, but it has afforded me a unique and welcomed opportunity to see\nthis part of Ireland on foot and bike alone. And so I close the door on my\nlittle cottage almost every day (weather permitting!) and take off for two,\nsometimes three hours, just wandering. I make myself small meals \u2013 soda bread\ntoast and jam, chicken sourced from the farmer, local strawberries, Irish\ncheddar on crackers \u2013 and feel contented. And at night, for the first time in\nyears, I sleep soundly and deeply and wake refreshed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Speaking of quarantine leads me to\nspeak of COVID-19, if only for a moment. Ireland has one of the most exemplary\nrecords for containing the virus in the world. In a country of 6 million, as of\nearly July, there have been 25,500 cases reported, and 1,738 deaths. According\nto the World Health Organization, on July 2 it was one of only 38 countries in\nthe world reporting fewer than 100 new cases in the past seven days. It\u2019s\ndisingenuous to compare a tiny country with the US; however, the recent deluge\nof new cases \u2013 a reported 90 percent increase nationwide in the past two weeks\n— does provide pause for thought. On July 20, the Irish government is expected\nto announce a \u201cgreen list\u201d of countries doing as well as or better than Ireland\nin containing the virus, where travel reciprocity will be allowed. I predict the\nUnited States is not going to be on that list. I am a member of a Facebook\ngroup comprised of Americans living in Ireland, and so many are disheartened. A\nlong-planned visit from mom will have to be canceled. A trip home is being\nreconsidered, because if someone is able to enter the US on a US passport, will\nthey be allowed back in Ireland? It is discouraging for so many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              But I leave you on a happier note.\nMy friend Apache the horse is munching happily on his evening meal in the field.\nThe ash sky that today leaked a gentle rain seems to lighten a bit, perhaps a\nharbinger that the gods will look kindly on me tomorrow. And I remain sure that\nI have made the right choice in my life. Happy July 4 from the Emerald Isle!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tips for wandering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n