drone

 After yesterdays excursion to Regensburg, started to feel quite ill in Landshut. It was no longer possible to work on the wooden statue for fear of doing damage. It was hard to concentrate. Everyone was very pleasant.

A young woman started promoting her  US-American boyfriend as a  good singer to sing in the gatherings that she had seen happening in the studio. She then showed pitiful videos of this person describing his suffering after being the recipient of a covid infection, and his demands that the hospitals restitute his physical health. He shares videos of the treatments that he endures.He is a reminder of the last US-american met during the previous year who had expected everyone to sympathise with his uncontrolled moaning about his condition, and expecting tolerance for his spitting and urinating  in public. Everyone has sympathy for those who suffer illness,  but there is no need to make the rest of the world suffer.  The songs he sings are pop songs from the Elvis Presley era. Upon being told that the musicians are principally Jazz musicians she says that he can sing Sinatra too. Oh well, it is the artists studio, and she has impressed him.

"not my cup of tea"

Stay in bed on this Sunday, take it easy.

Think of the singers last night, singing a long single tone to a drone.

But things are better now.

late

 The day was spent recovering from the night before. Until eleven, went out to buy cat food and forgot it and bought other things. Too bad and too tired.Had a cup

of coffee, the an askeds how the son was getting. The usual stories were told.

Now it is past midnight.

Spent time with rhe gallery crowd, but they were no fun today. Met the young woman who had the issues. She has lost weight.

Spend the rest of the day resting, until it is ti

e to go to Regensburg. 

The Regensburg concert was four singers and ten in the audience, all in a tiny room.

It wa interesting 

yesterday

 yesterdays post

there was nothing to say, the book arrived and it was gar better than expected.

Spent time at home packing a few copies to send to people in Ireland and now know that the rules are different. A book may not be sent as letter pist any more.

Spent the time in the studio erecting the sculpture, a spontaneous party started when some young people came in looking for entertainment.

There was one young woman who could play the piano really well

waiting for food

 The phone rings after the second sleep of the day, the cat having put an end to the main sleep of the night at six in the morning. Made coffee, made breakfast, back to bed.

The phone rings, a friend from nearly fifty years ago is on the line. He is in Landshut, he would like to meet up.

Do the washing up and a very little bit of cleaning and then go to the station on foot. It is half an hours walk. It is a hot day already. The friend recognises his colleague, he is surprised that there is no recognition in return. But then it does not matter, half a century will change everybody's appearance.

He presents a book of photographs from the eighties, they are pictures of Munich people. They capture the aura of the time well

We chat for an hour, he has to meet up with his employer at the station. We talk for an hour, much about common acquaintances at the photo school in Munich.

Return home with the book.

The cat is there, waiting for food.

Perhaps there will be more to write about this evening

degraded

 It is evening, the neighbourhood priest has filled out the form identifying this recipient of a pension to the Irish Social Services and confirming that said recipient has signed the form. This proves that the recipient is not yet deceased so that they will need to continue paying their pension. The document is now safely in an envelope and will be placed in a postbox later today.

The weather is now hot, it is late spring and global warming may have hit. Print out yet another picture and then walk over to the studio via the small bridge over the river. The first sunbathers are on the small pebble strand by the  river.

Before leaving the house order two cheap jackets online. Having visited the shops in Landshut realise that they only seem to cater for short fat people at the most. They probably only stock those sizes in frequent demand. 

At the studio the old writer is blowing into his saxophone playing arhythmic versions of popular melodies for the instrument. He hits the notes well, but the sense of rhythm is not what it should be. 

In the studio start to arrange the things so that it will be possible to take pictures of the remaining wooden sculptures. The landlord next door kindly provides a cup of coffee. Finish off the work done yesterday on the wooden things for the artist. There is less interest in the carpentry work now, it is wasting time. 

During the day there is an unpleasant email exchange with a local bandleader. He does not wish to pay the agreed price any more, and what was a normal business relationship has degraded into something else. This is just to bad.

domestic

 At three in the morning the cat start a fuss. There does not appear to be any reason for it, other than that the heavy little animal wants some more food. Get up and put her into the passageway and close both doors.

Sleep until six, there are some strange noises then, and go back to sleep. Perhaps the three glasses of beer yesterday were simply two glasses too many. Last night was a strange episode at the studio, somehow the artist had bad luck and cracked his piece twice. Spent quite some time repairing these cracks. Accidents will happen.

There is a visit from the customer who bought the print last week. He is returning the packing material, that is thoughtful of him. Many people do not have the time to do this. Packing materials are a nuisance, they are expensive to buy, and a nuisance to store in larger quantities.

Take the photographic gear to the studio, and check up on last nights work. The glue appears to have set well.

Go to the building suppliers and get a few screws and bolts. Forget what the original purpose of the trip. Go to the grocery store there, it has a completely different character to the one in town.

Then go home and start to clean up the yard. Bit by bit things are getting better.

It is a lovely hot day, leave the windows open, and take the windows out of the front door and replace them with wire gratings. This allows the air to circulate inside the whole house.

six lines

 Woke up to a silent town, there was no noise, no traffic sounds, coming in through the window. It is that holy Monday, Whitsun or something. Pfingsten in German.

Stay at home all day, sleep a lot.

The bad news yesterday supplied much for consideration.

The cat was fed, is now a fat cat.

In the evening go to the studio, there are things to be tidied there.

tragic

Starting this Sunday in a lazy way, walk about the house for a while and then take a walk through the town. Meet an old acquaintance by chance, and stay for a chat. Together in a café he talks in a flood about his plans, his family and his hobby. A short suggestion starts another flood, whether it is morals or anything else.

Two cups of coffee later say goodbye, there is a chance to meet up later in the week.

Go home and lie down for a while, after feeding the cat.

Awaken in the afternoon, and start to cook a small amount of food for the evening meal. There is a telephone call, it is the brother. He speaks of his successes, he is a master of gardening and garden design. He now has work for the European Commission.

Start to make an evening meal.

There is another phone call, a call from an old friend. She has a story to tell, a tragedy. Her parents both together decided that their life had run and used medical products to end their lives. This telephone call was long. It was not long ago that  both parents seemed alive and cheerful. Now they are gone, and their daughter and their grandchild are alone. It is hard to understand this. It is not clear as to whether this was a brave decision or not

Finish cooking, perhaps a visit to the studio will be in order today. A glass of beer and a bit of late night work would be good.

camera stand,, what next?

 Awoke at six and felt good, got up and showered. Made breakfast and turned off the seven o'clock alarm and then went to the car. It was a lovely clear morning.. Traffic was very light as far as Munich, and then it simply got worse. Carried on driving slowly and steadily, saving nerves and saving petrol.

Arrived in Stuttgart absolutely dead on time after a journey of roughly three and a quarter hours. The city seemed a strange place, not really ever having been there before may be the cause of this assessment. It seems to be inward looking, with a great attention paid to privacy. Standing at the door to the flat be confronted with a touch screen. Touch it and a list of names appears. Touch the desired name and a picture of a telephone appears, Touch the telephone and a computer voice (female) says that the door is now unlocked. Push the door open, look up onto the first landing, and there is a man with a studio camera stand.

Pay the desired amount.

Pay him, and take the stands to the car with his assistance.

Then say goodbye. The business is done.

Traffic home is much heavier. The automatic navigation system suggests that time will be saved by taking a different route. Stop at a motorway café and have a ridiculously expensive coffee. Then follow the systems instructions.

The result is a very long drive through an interminable string of villages.

Arrive in Landshut quite exhausted, this was nearly eight hours on the road.

With the help of a few people in the pub by the studio unload the cast aluminium camera stand. The item is in very good condition.

Leave the stand in the studio and then drive the car to the parking spot  near home. Reconfigure the seating of the car for the sake of appearances and then go home.

It is strange how tense and wound up the old body is. There is no way to sleep, everything feels cold even though it is actually hot outside. Make a cup of coffee and cannot drink it. Feed the cat, and she gets sick on the floor. She has already been fed upstairs, and the extra food downstairs was too much. A greedy animal. Wipe the floor and dispose of the paper kitchen towels used to clear the mess up.

Lie down, and after a while doze off.

Now it is five past eight in the evening, drink the cold coffee and wonder what needs to be done next.

early

 Spent time in the morning tidying things and making a proper breakfast. Upon waking realised that the watch had stopped. This may be a sign of a deep and immobile sleep. Certainly today was strange, for when sleep stopped the tiredness was gone too. For the last many months it has always been so that the tiredness remains and comes back with full force later.

Spent a small amount of time in the café in the Peter and Paul area of Landshut reading. Reading gives pleasure again, it did not for such a long time. Rereading the books stored on the Kindle app is pleasurable again. Perhaps the concentration has improved.

The walk today went better than the walk yesterday, perhaps a few more times taking the short stretch and then it will be possible to do the longer walk. Today breath was no longer quite as short as yesterday.

At home, the cat is demanding all the time. The mildly overweight animal requires constant feeding. 

Tend the plants, water them, and take those that are upstairs out onto the balcony. Clear up the tiny back yard and make things a little bit more orderly in appearance.

Tomorrow there will be a long car journey, it will be as well to go to bed early.

strange relationship

 Got up late and took a longer walk. There was nothing for breakfast in the larder, so a walk seemed in order. It was pleasant and hot in the park.

During the walk, decided to try and buy the big combo tripod in Stuttgart. The price was reasonable, it was worth getting. It will greatly simplify the photographic work in the studio.

Have a roll and a cup of coffee in the café on the edge of town. There are problems there with their card terminal. Just pay old school, using cash.

Walk along the river to the shops, and buy some butter and apples. Also buy some tomatoes and some cat food.

 Go home and send an inquiry for the tripod.

The answer to the inquiry arrives later in the day. A date is speedily worked out, there will be a journey to Stuttgart on Saturday, a round trip of around six hours.

The wife announces that she will be away as of the twelfth of June. Talk about all kinds of things. But not the son, just taxes.

It is a strange relationship.

Or else, perhaps just go back to bed.

 A quiet day, did not venture forth. Last night spent time in the artists studio, his atelier as people call it here. That is French for workshop. His wooden statue of the android is nearing completion.

It was late last night, and it could not be early this morning.

Spent the day easy, washed clothes and boiled potatoes.  A short walk through town was pleasant. But much did not happen. There was a really pleasant conversation with the son, he is getting involved in political things in the frankonia part of Bavaria.

But during the whole day there was no other conversation but that long telephone conversation.

Listened to music on the web, and fell asleep. The internet failed after that, it was off for some hours. Then it returned. Took a long shower, that was pleasant.

Now it is evening, and perhaps it will be possible to go to the studio again. Or else, perhaps just go back to bed.

yesterday's pictures

 It is a quarter to five in the evening. The day started with a visit to the post office to collect the errant package. The post office informed that the package had been deposited at an address over a mile away. This is irritating. Took the short walk back home and double checked their data online. Then took the walk to the other post office.

Wearing a warm jacket over a hoodie proved to be a mistake. The day is warm, and walking generates its own warmth. It is a long straight wide road. Pass the sons old school.

The small post office was a busy place, with pallets full of packages everywhere. They received the yellow note and asked for an identification document. The parcel was there and that is the end of that saga. 

It is now a warm day, the jacket and the hoodie over the shirt are just too much.

Pass by the grocery store, and buy some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine. On the rest of the walk home receive a phone call, a man will be coming by to buy a print. That is nice, except for the fact that he managed to reduce the price to the point where custom like his would leave a business man broke.

His visit later on is pleasant enough, print out his poster and then allow an invitation to a cup of coffee in the chocolate bar around the corner. Chat with him and his wife.

Then go home, and all is done.

Finish the little book about the exhibition in Dublin, and send the files off to the printers. It is fascinating how things work online nowadays. So fast and easy.

Now it will be time to load yesterday's pictures into the computer.

to end the day

 The cat made a morning fuss as is usual. Got up and showered. Returned downstairs and saw the place under the chair in the corner where the cat had been sick last night. The sound of the cat vomiting had not been a nightmare after all.

Made coffee and drank the pot dry. It was nine o'clock, so there was time to go to the post office and to collect the package. Took the yellow slip and went to the post office, luckily only ten minutes away. The friendly woman at the counter said that it had been returned to the delivery service. Went back home, and used some paper towels to wipe up the cats leavings. Used a scrubbing brush and some floor cleaner to finish the job.

Used the vacuum cleaner on a part of the bedroom floor, there were cat hairs and bits and pieces and crumbs and things. All gone now, sucked up by Mr. Miele.

Packed the camera and went to the bus stop. Took the first bus to the railway station. Had a roll and a cup of coffee waiting for the train.

Read a book on the mobile phone whilst driving in to Munich. It was relaxing to read a novel again. The book was "Armadillo" by William Boyd. It was a pleasant read.

Used the underground rail system in Munich to get to the house of the photographer friend.

Sat down there and had a glass of water and chatted. It was his birthday. the present would be a few pictures of his party.

The day was spent in his garden, a garden party, socialising and talking to his friends

His three daughters were a centre of attraction, he is very proud of them.

In the evening he left his friend at the railway station.

It is now twenty to midnight, the train journey is over, these notes have been made and a glass or two of wine has been drunk to end the day.

quiet

 short post, it is late. The day was spent trying to make a book of photographs. It almost succeeded. There was a short walk this morning , to the cafe for a cup pf coffee and a roll. The artist came by on a visit, he now has a bandage over the wound on his forehead. But he will recover to drink again another day.

The cat is persistent and insatiable.

And now, in the night, go to the pub for a drink, solitary.  The pub is pleasantly quiet.

It is all just too bad.

 Strange things happened this morning.The party after the reading went on until two, when it turned out that there was a key to the studio missing. Agreed to stay on until the end to lock up the studio.

A small flock of young people came into the studio, they played guitars and some smoked dope. Hash is legal now in small quantities.

At two thirty it was time to go home. Turned off all of the lights and locked the doors.

On the way to the bridge the artist wheeled his bicycle. He seemed to be having motor difficulties coupled with an unusual lack of stability. At the point by the river where separate ways were usually taken, saw that he was in considerable difficulties. Took his bicycle and walked with him to the traffic junction at the bridge. He took his bike and fell over it. Suggested forcefully that he was barely able to walk and simply not able to ride a bike. Offered to wheel the bike and keep him company to the bridge by the power plant.

He agreed.

Once there he took his bike and somehow entangled himself in it and both of them fell down. Pointed out to him that if this had been a wrestling match then the bike would now have won. A passer by asked if help was needed, but thanked him and said no. At this point it was clear that he would have to use his feet to go home and allow his bicycle to be wheeled. Just before the main road he lost his balance and in a sort of staggering run ran out to the middle of the road and sprawled there with his face on the tarmac surface. His glasses were on the road. Picked up the  glasses and then realised that the man was unconscious and snoring loudly. This was in the middle of major road, incredibly busy during the day. There is no traffic there at three in the morning. This is lucky. Two young male persons come by and ask whether or not the man is drunk. Say that he is. They look doubtful and then move on.

He returns to consciousness and help him stand. He asks where he is. Tell him that he is nearly home. He agrees, and we go there.

His friend answers the doorbell. She is worried and really quite annoyed. Lock up his bicycle in front of his doorway.

On the way home realise that his glasses are still in the coat pocket. Return with the glasses, give them to his friend, and then walk home to arrive at half past three.

Get up at ten and dress, go to the post office to collect the package. Upon arrival see that there is a note on the heavy metal roller blind. It says that the post office is closed today.

It is all just too bad.

spent indoors

Now it is the morning of the fifteenth and this evening there will be a reading by the author in the front part of the artists studio.The writer, the author,  is the man who practises on the saxophone there every day. He and his wife are so nervous that they set the room up the day before yesterday. This means that the room has been completely blocked for the last two days, and it will take them another two before they have the things cleared out again.

Oh well, not having to pay for the space there is nothing for this person to complain about. It is just irritating, that is all.

This morning awakening was early, and a few jobs around the flat were done. A few more pictures have been edited. that is fine as well. 

It is ten now, and the wife has just gone off to work or something else. She does not talk much, in fact she does not talk to her husband at all.

Perhaps a short walk is in order, to avoid a repeat of yesterday. Yesterday was so bad, all day was spent indoors. 

be healthier

 The cat was awake and insistent early, felt fine so got up and fed her, made breakfast and started work on the pictures for the book on the show in Dublin. And then before ten, collapsed back into bed and slept until midday. There is no real reason as to why this happened, perhaps last night was too late.

Spent much of the rest of  the day reading, and playing a game on the computer. It was impossible to concentrate on anything really.

In the evening went to the studio and worked for the artist for a few hours. A young woman paid a visit, that was pleasant. She posed her hand so that the artist could model it. As the piece he is working on is a depiction of a female humanoid his own hands were to rough and muscular .

Went hoe early, perhaps things could just be healthier.

the dreariness of the day

 It is late again. In the late morning a short walk was taken to the studio to tidy things up a bit. The saxophone player was there, playing his instrument. He is an old man. We say hello, exchange some small talk. 

The artist must have been working last night. He has succeeded in breaking the thumb off his statue yet again. This means that it will have to be stuck on again. That is something to do later, perhaps this evening.

Tidying does not take long, and keep up the walk to the railway station. Sit there and have a cup of Yorma's infamous Togo coffee. Hot and with a note of cardboard.

Watch the goods trains shunting through the station. For some reason there appear to be more goods trains than usual. Perhaps it has something to do with the dry weather,  the traffic on the Rhine and the Danube and the other rivers and canals is all having problems.

Walk on through town, walk through an area seldom visited. There are many houses there from the thirties, and very ugly buildings from the fifties and sixties. Finally go to the supermarket and do some shopping.

Return home, and feed the insatiable cat.

Then rearrange the computers so that both of them are in the warm room. Settle down to arrange the pictures taken in Ireland. The calculations for the pages of the projected book are tricky.

Now it is half past nine in the evening, and it will be good to go to the studio soon. A small bit of amateur woodwork, that will do  change the dreariness of the day.

cold weather warm room

 Worked all day on problems with the pictures from Ireland. It is also a difficulty with the cold weather which just makes it difficult to sit down in a cold room and concentrate on working .

It is not comfortable.

The men who fixed the electrical connection for the neighbours house went away yesterday, and today the repair crew came to replace the stones on the pavement. It took some hours, and was very noisy, but the result is perfect. Let us hope that the water people do not tear it all up again next week.

It would be marvellous if the weather just picked up again, and became warmer. 

The cat is not happy either, she does not know what to do or where to go to. The situation in the house is just unpleasant, and the animal is concerned,

The wife has left the house this evening, and the cat is howling in the passageway.

Let her in, and she goes directly to her food bowl.

Give her some food, and she purrs whilst eating.

Perhaps the computer will have to temporarily come into the warm room tomorrow.

be active

 Fed the cat and took a walk

The feeling of the cold will not go away even as it is getting warmer. It is strange, but this feeling was not there during the stay in Dublin.

The pictures are all edited and spotten. The electricity was turned off and now it is turned back on.

And a small afternoon nap was held. Now the house is vibrating in time to the crew outside repairing the road after the electricity people had opened it.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to go to the studio and sharpen a few chisels. This would be just to be active.

to bed early

 After finding the correct cable to connect the mobile 'phone to the car's cigarette lighter drive the vehicle to the Munich photographers home. Upon arrival the man says that he would rather drive the rest of the journey himself. This is fine, it is no problem.

After a cup of coffee and some small white boiled Munich sausages be driven to the home of a photographer who now lives near the Ammersee. She has a piece of equipment to give away.

Upon arrival there and once introductions are made help the elderly people in dismantling the photographic enlarger. Stow it in the car. It is a beautiful piece of equipment.

Spend the rest of the hot afternoon in a cafe' with the people. The munich photographer talks incessantly. He is a chatterbox.

Eventually be driven back to Munich. Reassemble the enlarger in the man's basement.

Then have an evening meal of coffee and cake. It is all very nice.

Drive home slowly, there is no hurry and there is no point in wasting petrol.

Go to bed early.

Awaken after a late night.

 The cat woke the human, she was hungry. The cat called insistently from the next room, probably expecting the tins to spontaneously jump of the shelving and to provide her with food.

Get up, and the cat hears these sounds. She comes in to the room carefully and makes her demands in much the same tone.

Get up and provide her with food. Then go upstairs and have a shower.

Upon the return realise that the cat has finished her food and would like some more. Give her another spoonful, she shuts up whilst she is eating.

Make breakfast, poached eggs on toast. Two eggs, this is probably more than the healthy people recommend. But their recommendations are mostly based on assumptions founded on shaky understanding. It does not necessarily mean that they are wrong. Abbot Mendel had a good and obedient gardner.

Lie down for another hour. Then get up, the cat hears this and enters carefully, She does not want to be petted. She wants more food.

Put on the day clothes and feed the cat. yet again.

Make another pot of coffee.

Tidy up the work table, and finish tidying the remainder of the holiday in Ireland.

It is midday, and time to go to the photographic gallery for a cup of coffee.

the morning of the ninth

 It is late and tiredness has set in.

There were men from the electricity works outside the door digging a hole. Five men lookuing into a hole in the footpath, one driving a digger and another in the hole with a shovel,

They say there is a fault in the electricity system and that there will be no electricity on Monday morning.

Edit the pictureres all day. There is dust on the sensor, that is a mater that will need to be attended to.

In the afternoon the artists friend comes and invites for coffee in a café.

That was pleasant. Edit the pictures for the rest of the day.

In the evening the artist and his friend come by. Drive to the studio and work on the figure. There is a lot to be done, the artist has been busy. The friend of the artist practices her saxophone. She is good , her playing sounds good.

  

And by the time it is all over, it is half pat one in the morning of the ninth.

Quietly

 The first day at home after an Irish stay, recover from a German rail delay. They had blocked the steps to the railway lines in the airport, there were some maintenance jobs to be done. There were no trains.

A bus drove to Freising, then nearly an hours wait, and a train rolled to Landshut. Then a twenty minute wait and the bus home. The journey from the airport to the house took as long as the flight from Dublin to Munich airport.

Awoke in the morning and took a long long rest, the travelling and the talking of the last few days had taken their toll.

The cat hears the movements and comes in to make demands for food. She receives some, and wants more.

Go out to shop for things and forget to buy cat food.

It is a soft day. Put the clothes into the washing machine, and wash the white shirts separately. Use a soap to clean the sweat from the collars before putting them into the machine.

Start to edit the pictures made in Dublin with a view to making a book.

The day ends as it began

Quietly

In the evening start to read the book given by the  woman who saw the accident in Belmullet, fifty years ago. 

Belmullet seems a nice place

wait

 This is the door to the garden. and this is the hardrn shed. That is the greenhouse in whose cistern the sister drowned sixty-six years ago. The big formal garden is beautiful now and it was beautiful then.

Despite all of the horrors, coming back as the time lengthens.

Sitting

on the steps of the grand old house with a huge black dog. It is a real dog, a huge Newfoundland. It pants all the time, it is built for cooler climates. But it remains there, watching over the stranger sitting on the steps.

The flight will leave in four hours. time to get to the airport.

To pass a securitycheck.

The passports.

take the dog for a walk

 The sound of the alarm, and up at nine. Put on clothes for the day, and forget to  put one accumulator into the camera bag. The matter with the accumulator will be noticed later. Go into the  kitchen and make a cup of coffee. This is the day before last of this stay in Ireland, a stay that may well be the last one.

Drive up to the  brothers and the sister in laws nursery as a passenger in the bus driven by the sister in law. The bus is wide, and it is unpleasant to drive. The job today is to take care of the exhibition .

There are few visitors to the nursery on this Tuesday. It is almost afternoon before a few people come in to look at the exhibits. Some are talkative and some have enquiries. Answer questions and chat.

The day goes by gently and quietly.

In the evening there is a peaceful time alone with the exhibits. The brother returns, and go for a walk to inspect his ram pump. It is working, Scramble up the hill to see the water coming out in bursts.

Lock up the nursery building together with the brother after doing a few small jobs. Carry a small compressor down to the storeroom at the exit to the complex. On the way step on a hosepipe and slip.

That is the way accidents happen, But nothing did happen, apart from lying on the back looking at the high tension wires passing by overhead.

Finish the day by going out and taking the dog for a walk. The face is burning with sunburn all day, it is worse in the evening,

oh dreary me

 The day started in the high room, an easy awakening into the long Irish summer day.

Went downstairs, and then upstairs. The sister in law was in a hurry to go, she left for work.

Alone in the large flat took a shower and felt better. Made a coup of coffee and drank it slowly and happily. Went on up to the nursery, a walk up the narrow roads with high hedges and walls on either side. There is traffic, and take care not to obstruct the cars.

The curator and his architect friend stop and give a lift, this is a coincidence. It saves one hundred yards of walking.

There is not much to do today, except to talk to people. There are people from the West of Ireland who have questions, and want to see the exhibition. There is the local art photographer, a man who is most successful. He makes pictures that are easy to hang on the wall.

There are so many people, and the names are all forgotten. The day is warm and sunny.

The day wears on and a trip is made to the graveyard. The curator looks at the mother's and the sister's grave and asks what D.V.A.S means. The brothers and sons do not know. It was written there by the father, he is dead now too. Drive on to the food store, and buy some sandwiches. Then go on and buy petrol. And then return. Everybody eats the terrible sandwiches, and the Pink Lady apples.

The day is warm and sunny, but as the evening gets longer the air cools and it is chilly

In the evening, help the brother to load some trees onto the a trailer. They are large saplings with big masses of earths around their roots wrapped in sacking.

After the work is done, return to the house

Sleep in the room with the view, put the camera's battery on charge. It is just one hour's sleep, then get up and write these notes, make a quick meal in the kitchen.

The sister in law says that she will be going to work early, and if a lift to the nursery is required it will be necessary to rise earlier.

no way on the third of May

 3rd of May wasa quiet day with a noisy ending.

The first part of  the day was spent in the big house, drank a cup of coffee and was given a lift up to the garden centre by the brothers wife. There was a small amount of work to be done there, setting up a pump, a pump driven by water to raise a small amount of water to a great height. Help the brother with the dragging of pipes and the connections to be made from one pipe to the next. First a pipe was laid as a feed for the pump, and then one was put up the steep slope to the tanks resting there. After a while the pump seemed to work, with water coming out of the pipe in small bursts. The pump was due to work night and day, so that the amount of water would possibly be sufficient.

In the garden centre talk to people and friends from long ago.  Many have come up to see the mothers work on the walls  and on the pedestals of the exhibition space.

In the evening the woman who witnessed the tragedy in Belmullet visited. It was a strange conversation, and a long one. It was possible to part on good terms, she was given a book, a catalogue of the exhibition. In return, received a brochure of the area of Belmullet, in the West of Ireland.

In the evening was driven by a man called  Arthur to a gathering of art people in Laragh in county Wicklow. It was a most international crowd , and it was a fantastic dinner. There was one American woman who promised all kinds of things and an artist who made items made of resin. 

The party went on until midnight, and was driven back to Ballyboden over the Sallygab by a woman who was off to Paris in the coming week.

Walked up the hill to the old house from the gate lodge, and fell asleep in the bed in the high room-

There was no way that this post could be written yesterday so that this late entry will have to do.

small jobs

 The day started in the same room, the so called high room in the old mansion. The room is carefully and tastefully appointed.

Go  a downstairs to the loo, it is two flights down. Return, and put on day clothes. Realise that one of the packed shirts is simply too small. It is short and tight. Change it for a larger one.

Go downstairs again, then go up to the brothers flat. All the young people are up there, all slightly the worse for wear after the night on the town. Have two cups of coffee, and then accept a lift up to the exhibition in the garden centre. Take a few photographs there and speak with the curator. Help the brother with the water flowse water tanks, fetching and carrying pipe fittings.

It is a warm and sunny day.

Eventually, the water flows.

Continue with small jobs in the garden, editing pictures and so forth. Be introduced to people whose names are forgotten instantly.

In the late afternoon join the brother and the architect on their walk up to the tanks.

On the return the architect comments that the other brothers motorbike is parked in the middle of the footpath. Point out that this is one of the methods the other brother uses to assert his presence.

Finish the day in the local pub cum restaurant.

It is very loud with Irish canned music and a hen party in full swing.

50 years ago

 Awaken in the smart room at the top of the house. It is lovely and civilised, and it is comfortable.

It is nine in the morning 

The day is warm, it is hotter hear than in Germany. This is Ireland, it should be raining.

Yesterday evenings opening of the exhibition was a very nice event, the brothers were all there. Many people were there from the childhood long ago, they had all come to see the mothers work. It is fifty years ago now that she died. The exhibition gleans admiration and praise.

People talk who are unknown and not remembered, few are easily recognised.

There are serious cases of panic, and the dead sister is remembered. That was now over sixty-six years ago.

Slept after driving home following a man on an electrical scooter. For fear of knocking him down it was not possible to pass him.

The day was spent minding the exhibition in the nursery. It was a hot and pleasant day.

The water for the garden dried up because of a broken pump. Later in the evening it was repaired.

The plants could be watered.

In the show six pictures were sold.

And a letter was written to the woman who sam the mother drown, fifty years ago.