Photography
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Ireland – May 2026 – Hill of Uisneach – Bealtaine Festival
My birthday present in May 2026 was a visit to my father’s ancestral home in Westmeath, Ireland, timed for the fire festival on the Hill of Uisneach. After a tough year, Jim’s cancer treatments weighed heavily. We questioned whether we could climb the hill together, but hoped the journey would restore us. Locals claim the Bealtaine fire festival on this hill is the oldest in Ireland. Fires are ignited on sacred hills, creating a single “fire eye” over the island, symbolising the country’s emergence from the cold darkness of winter into the light. On Bealtaine eve, every household fire across Ireland was extinguished, and people waited in the dark for…
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Easter 2026 São Brás – Torch Flower Festival
The Resurrection Procession in the eastern Algarve town of São Brás de Alportel is a deeply felt, singular expression of local faith and community connection. Yesterday, Sunday 5th April 2026, we visited the vivid, communal, and welcoming celebration of renewal that invites everyone to share in São Brás’s traditions. The procession route usually winds from the Igreja Matriz through the historic centre, pausing at small chapels and squares. Each Easter Sunday the town transforms, residents carpet the streets with intricate mats of purple, white, orange flowers and greenery. Locals don their best clothes, and men from associations, the council and community groups lift flower torches high as a procession moves…
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Reflections: Visiting Birmingham
Jim and I travelled in May and June (for nearly seven weeks) to the UK, Greece and Ireland. We are now back in Portugal. This latest post is some reflections on Birmingham, UK, our first stop. I may share more from my journal about Bloomsbury and then Ireland in other posts. The last time we lived in the UK was 15 years ago. We have not visited for the last five. On Tuesday, 7 May, we landed in Birmingham and stayed a few nights in this modern changing City. I was born and grew up in South Brum, so I know it well. Some of my memories could be clearer,…
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Cachopo, the windmill, wild flowers, the earthstar and the stones
Some days I just want to bottle moments of joy. That not being possible, on International Women’s Day 2024, I decided to start recording the events of a magical day from earlier in the week. Four women had a mission, an electric car, which I drove and the sun on our backs. You could call our mission one of spirit – that is we wanted to find ancient stones. We are women who meet together to meditate and create art. We feel connected to each other and the earth, so for me our exploration was about deepening our relationship with nature. But also the opportunity for a “jolly out” together.…
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We headed towards Nepenthe.
Leaving San Francisco, we stopped off in Berkeley, or to be precise, we went onto the University campus. I half hoped to see Barbra Streisand or at least a few students demonstrating, calling out lies, declaring a strike, or asking for signatures for a petition. I love that part in the film ‘The Way We Were,’ when a young student played by Babs makes a speech on the Campus. So much passion and belief. It was Fresher’s week, so no one was carrying banners. Do they even do that at Berkeley now? From looking at the Society stalls, there was not much about campaigns to make the world a better…
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California 2019 – Maybe our last long trip?
In 2017, Jim and I started talking about a trip to California. My ageing hippy consciousness kept telling me to go and visit the places I grew up in films and books. I also now have a couple of dear American friends, one of whom lived in California and helped with ideas for the trip. I don’t know why I didn’t write much as the journey progressed. Somewhat saturated, I guess it has taken time to reflect on the colours and stories. We visited friends along the way, a couple I only know from Facebook and a kind ex-Jehovah’s Witness who invited us into their home in Tucson. The visit…
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Cambodia: the circus and plastic – Eco-tourism
I have fallen in love with Cambodia. We have been here for just over two weeks, and I feel rejuvenated in a way that I find difficult to understand or articulate. I am trying to work out why Cambodia has enlivened my spirit. The intense oranges and greens of the landscape and the solid temples, mixed with a touch of French colonial culture, have captured my heart. Old art, drawings, and paintings sit on Cafe walls as a silent testament to an age before the Khmer Rouge. It feels like being dropped into a warm, soapy bath that smells of jasmine, but it is not like that at all. Our…
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La mer and all that jazz in the farthest part of Europe
There are moments when you are glad you sat in the right chair. Yesterday afternoon at Sao Bras Jazz Club was one of those goosebump moments. The Hot Manouche Trio that turned out to be a quartet, played Django Rheinhart and other jazz greats. They are playing again in Cafe Cantaloupe on June 28, 2016. Well worth a night out. Yesterday’s setting in the courtyard of the Museum of Work meant the band played between old agricultural implements and wagons. Overhanging vines framed them as Betty M sang and zipped her violin. The tree that provided us shade was heavy with intoxicating yellow blossom. (Must look up what it is). The…
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G is for Gertrude and Gardening
“There comes a day towards the end of March when there is little wind…..The sun has gained much power so that it is pleasant to sit out in the garden or better still in some sunny nook…….” Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll’s appreciation of colour within her flowering schemes is renowned. She knew what to do and when to do it. Further south from her England, there is what could be termed an expat gardener’s lament. It goes something like this; “I know what to do in England, (Holland, Germany, fill in the country), but here it is so different. When do I plant? When should I sow? How often should…
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Photos – the colour of Flipside
