Planet Ruby Starrs

I cant let the EU vote go unmentioned... We sat up until well past 3.00 watching the results come in - it will effect us all in some way or another especially our young people who will reap the long term consequences... however... Lets not get too depressed by the result - what ever your preferences are it was at least a democratic vote... I, sadly, feel we are moving into an increasingly right wing culture - but I'm not prepared to believe that everyone who voted leave is a racist or bigoted - there was alot of misinformation broadcast and alot of manipulation and economics with the truth... but at the end of the very long day it was a democratic process.  For me its not a matter of celebrating but it is what it is and we need to accept it and motivate future generations to rise up and find ways of keeping the world peaceful and safe... difficult as we slide into a potentially unwelcoming right wing direction.... At least it wasn't a landslide victory for the leave campaigners...

Last week I had a trip to the resource centre at the Discovery museum.  It was a college arranged trip to see the vast eclectic collection of artifacts archived in the cellars below the museum - many of them moved from the Hancock Museum when it was refurbished some years ago.   I was taken downstairs into the bowels of the museum where there is a little - well quite large actually - world of some long forgotten , some dusty and some incredible items all stored in secure big rooms with temperature and light gauges and they only see the light when visitors arrive form time to time. It was a fantastic photography opportunity and there was some fab inspiration for potential future design and work... I was able to explore - but not touch some of the more colourful and rarer items the museum has responsibility for documenting and maintaining. The collection is varied and covers everything from stuffed birds used for research eg a puffin on a sick... no legs.. no finesse needed ...

a naked unpainted Great Snow dog Our PGSE student - now employed by the college inspired some of us students to get involved and submit a design for the great north snowdog -  http://www. greatnorthsnowdogs.co.uk/  .  This initiative is one of a long line of similar events that have been done all over the country by a company called Wild in Art.    http://www.wildinart.co.uk    This Newcastle initiative supports St Oswalds Hospice and artists from anywhere can submit a design and be part of the experience.  Our tutor and mentor put the final design together from work we submitted and last week we got the news that the design had been accepted and it had been selected by a sponsor.  Today we went to meet the sponsors - an engineering firm NBS based in the Old Post Office opposite the cathedral.  the company are quite large and employ a large number of local people and they did explain what they did - I'm a bit hopeless, ...

Well an almost productive weekend... depending on how you measure personal production rates.. we had a lovely wander around Alnmouth Arts Festival.  This is my third year of going to this local eclectic event.  Each year it brings something new and inspirational and its a really enjoyabe experience.  23 different venues showing an exceptional range of very varied art, everything from children's mosaics to top class professional artists and lots in between.  I bought a fab book written and beautifully illustrated by David Hall about the life cycle of puffins, I.ve seen his work at previous festivals and around various shops  and galleries and always admired it. Its a really nice way to explore Alnmouth village as well, many of the venues taking  you down snickets and back streets which are obviously historical and often very pretty.  Tea and cakes at Riverbank House is a welcome break and the opportunity to share the wonderful views fro...

Flaming June is proving to be a tad disappointing... we have lit a fire nearly every evening and Dr Fred mooches round the house dressed for winter decked out with fleece and woolly hat... We had one nice day to tease us.  I used it wisely and spent the day in the garden doing much needed weeding and tidying - tedious but essential. The rest of the week has been about exploring a local tradition - 'proggy rugs'.  I inherited two rather sorry specimens when my parents died.. many years ago, and I loved them first because they were allegedly made by my mum but also because they had a certain rustic charm.. they eventually just dropped to bits. My friend had been to a proggy rug workshop and we had an industrious afternoon sharing skills - her showing me proggy rug techniques and me giving her a quick hand piecing patchwork class... now I wonder if she is as taken with patchwork as I am with proggy rugs... I never throw any fabric away - even the tiniest scraps.....

Finally home safe and dryish..  I can't believe this cold June weather.. after such a dose of sunshine its hard to be dressed for winter and lighting a fire every night in mid June!!! We've sorted the van, started the washing, had a wander to discover beach huts in Amble! And now I'm just looking through the written log we keep in the van and am just going summarise Ireland to fill in the bits I didn't get to get in the blog while we were away. We had a really enjoyable time - the first week we had excellent company as our wagon train headed from Dublin down the east coast and round right up to Kilkerny at the end of the stunning drive round the Ring of Kerry.  There was a slight hiccup on day two when every campsite we aimed for seemed to have been shut for 12 years, 20 years, didnt take tourers or closed due to water posioning... it was raining and things were looking grim but we found somewhere and saw the night through.. a little fraught but survived!!!  this id...

Finally we headed home...  three weeks of glorious sunshine and scenary but a pulled shoulder joint and lack of clean clothes plus the weather felt like it was turning made us homesick... we had a great day wandering around Portrush and then the following day we walked around the Giants Causeway - a first for me - it was very busy but I suppose that's to be expected - Another total lack of reliability which is disappointingly what we have come to expect on this trip... extensive research led us to believe the best option for visiting the causeway was to drive and park in the little railway station near the hotel and then walk the rest of of the the way - not far only an extra 5 mins then if we parked at the visitors centre and paid the exorbitant fees - The Giants Causeway is free to wander around but the visitors centre suggests it cost £9.00 per person  which allows you to park and walk though the money souvenir making machine before arriving at the same point of entry the c...

I'm writing these short posts as we go and then posting them on block whenever we get internet access.... yes I know spelling ...punctuation.etc leave much to be desired but its all done on my mobile and I've no idea how it looks on the blog for real but just wanting to share some of the vibe and photos... We are in Portrush now... my children have a history of family ancestors here so its good to see the place... unfortunately a sea fret has just rolled in so theres nothing to be seen beyond the next telegraph pole... hopefuly  I can add photos tomorrow.

An amazing night on Malin Head experiencing incredible thunderstorms... thunder and lightening right on top of the van and torrential rain hammering down.   I was snug as bug in my van 'nest' wrapped up in the duvet... Dr Fred wasn't quite so lucky. The rain was so bad it penetrated the seal on the hatchback of the van and slowly dripped on his head!  He was able to wear one of the six hats he brought... hasn't found a use for the five pairs of gloves yet... As we travelled to the nonexistant no longer running ferry advertised everywhere as every ten minutes all year round to then have to go back and drive right round the estuary...we encountered more rain and more wild thunder and lightening.... maybe this is the weather changing... maybe those gloves will come in handy....

Just watched a thunderstorm over the sea at Mallin head the most northerly point of Ireland.  Its been a busy day Dr Fred  got up early and climbed mount Erigal before I even got dressed and then we had a relaxing hour on another gorgeous beach in sweltering sun and finally we've ended up at Mallin Head where the cloud came in and made amazing dramatic skies and now is clearing again promising a lovely clear evening....

I've been sketching all the way round this trip... usual rocks and sea scapes - some interesting grottos, ruins, including Dr Fred eating rich tea biscuits laid out in the van..... crabs are featuring quite a bit and also I'm using a bit of collage to vary the medium... I couldnt do the hedgerows justice with the paints so tried instead to capture the vibrancy using Ireland National Park information leaflets for collage colour...

We kipped in a quiet spot near a nature reserve the other night... we set outselves up for badger spotting but had no joy only a lone fox looking a bit curious.  The next day a nice walk on a beach where the tide was way out.  there were lots of granite rocks strewn with empty crab shells of every colour..shades of yellow, dusky pinks, vivid purples, blue and some quite translucent.  The sea was at least a mile from the shore line and we wandered back with it slowly following us as the tide came in.

Except so far it is.... although we averted a mini disaster this morning.. a few days ago the fridge battery connecter broke and we were lucky enough to get a new one and wire it up and all seemed well until this morning.  when we set of we plugged fridge into the leisure battery to power up as we went along as we always do.... nasty smell followed by alarming sparks and then ominous black smoke and melted conecter!!!!! So now we go around Ireland without a fridge... unlike Tony Hawkes.... we.ve stopped at a fairly nasty campsite near Sligo so we can get organised have some electric to charge things and do the laundry... every holiday has its down days....but this is yesterdays vista on Achill Island when we found the best wild camping spot ever... stayed there two nights peace..waves.. sunsets..wonderful and added bonus no midges!!!  Oh and there was a camel.. think it might have belonged to the circus that was in town..

A quick visit to the National Famine Monument.. a striking piece of sculpture representing the coffin ships so many people died on when trying escape the famine.. the sails are made from skeletons.. eerie and evocative and very striking.

The weather here on the west coast of Ireland is fantastic... everyone we meet is in shock but delighted about the sun...but there are drawbacks - every morning so far we have had our breakfast al fresco.... until today... last night we had to flee the midges much earlier then usual and in the morning when we awoke - we looked out of the van and it was a potential Hitchcock movie..... swarms of midges surrounding the van -  millions of the little blighters - there was not a breath of a breeze and we were trapped...I think its a combination of bogland mountains and a yellow beryl..aggghhhh.... We fled as quickly as we could get organised feeling a bit out out... but the morning was salvaged as we stopped 45 mins later for breakfast next to the sea and to our delight an otter swam up caught a fish dragged it out and sat not 20 yards away eating it and then it rolled about in the seaweed playing!! What a treat...

Beryl the van has brightening up quite a few peoples holidays...I came back from a walk to find some German people photographing the dashboard farm... lots of people comment - its a good conversation starter.  The flowers are blooming on the roof meadow as well... in my idle holiday moments I crochet a few more and when we have electric I glue them up.

We are  so lucky with the weather... couldnt really ask for more. I think this is possibly the best time to visit the west coast of Ireland as the landscapes and scenary are stunning. Today we drove round a headland in Connemarra - Cashel to Clifden and the hedgerows are amazing fuĺl of wild fuschias. Gorse, buttercups, foxgloves, ivies, pink and blue unidentified flowers, hawthorn and giant wild rhodedendrons - all this against verdant green leaves and a cloudless blue sky reflected in a turquiose sea...