an intresting tidbit

Make Up Your Own Mind, Canadians. I certainly have! - August 12, 2008
Without the arts, our image grows dim abroad

SIMON HOUPT
The Globe and Mail
August 11, 2008

Last month, for the first time in almost a decade, Central Park was eerily quiet on Canada Day.

Every year since 1999, the federal government has sponsored a New York City satellite of its July 1 party on Parliament Hill, importing a handful of Canadian bands as part of the park's free SummerStage concert series. There have been delicate tribute shows to Joni Mitchell, fuse-blowing rock from the Tragically Hip, a resplendent Rufus Wainwright, rain-soaked sets from the Cowboy Junkies and Natalie MacMaster, and musicians making in-jokes about hockey and the CBC that the expats in the audience would then politely explain to the locals.

And at the end of every show, the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan would suddenly blossom with thousands of tiny Canadian flags worn in the hair or thrust into the back pockets or temporarily tattooed onto the sun-kissed arms of concertgoers, most of whom were merely honorary Canucks for a day.

No more. This year the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) killed the concerts. When I asked a spokesperson in Ottawa last month for an explanation, she refused to comment. Last Friday, it all became depressingly clear when DFAIT announced it was cutting all ties to culture by axing its PromArt program, a $4.7-million annual fund that sent artists into the world to speak for Canada.

The program's death notice was revealed in exquisitely cynical fashion. On Thursday, a government official leaked the story to a reporter by explaining the program had funded mainly political radicals and others it deemed naughty: the former CBC pundit and current Al-Jazeera contributor Avi Lewis, the journalist Gwynne Dyer, and a Toronto rock band known as Holy Fuck. Talk radio and conservative bloggers lapped up the talking points like so much cream, outraged that millions of dollars of tax money had been used to support speech with which they disagreed.

Did they care that they'd been spun? In fact, the vast majority of the funds sent abroad artists and companies that Stephen Harper would enjoy with his wife and kids: $8,000 to send Newfoundland's Duo Concertante dance company to China; $30,000 for the acclaimed experimental circus troupe Les 7 doigts de la main to give 42 performances in Mexico and Germany; $15,000 to The Nickle Arts Museum of Alberta to present an exhibition for six months in Poland.

There are the dozens of $500, $750 and $1,000 grants that paid the airfare for award-winning authors to go forth as independent representatives of Canada. Last year, more than 300 grants were awarded.

The program was not, as its critics are barking, a wasteful socialist/Liberal boondoggle. Its greatest champion was in fact Joe Clark, who as the secretary of state for External Affairs (now DFAIT) from 1984-91 oversaw a major expansion in the cultural diplomacy budget because he recognized the importance of increasing Canada's presence abroad as the country embraced free trade with the U.S. and made its way in a globalized world.

And killing PromArt was never really about silencing radicals; that was just a red herring that paid political dividends. Late on Friday, while attention was focused on the DFAIT cut, the government quietly said it was also ending Trade Routes, a $9-million program run by Heritage Canada to help artists take their work abroad.

It's hard to overstate how low a profile Canada has abroad. If that's the way the government wants it, that's their decision. But if we want our voice to have influence in the rest of the world, to be the moral beacon we believe it is, that requires marketing Brand Canada. Sending artists and writers abroad is an integral part of that marketing that happens to be extremely cost-effective.

A little while ago Pamela Wallin told me that when she served within DFAIT as the consul-general of New York, culture was an indispensable tool to create a broader understanding of Canada within the United States. "It's all about presence; it's all about being top of mind. The more stages we continue to take ourselves off of, the more difficult the overall mission becomes," she said.

"In order to be more than the Great White North, or more than just a trading partner like others, I think we have to show how interwoven the connections are, and how broad that cultural mix really is."

She noted that the consulate also often used Canadian artists visiting New York to soften potential trading partners.

"It's an entrée point, it's a way to deal with people other than at the office, nine-to-five, about economic matters."

That's why it was smart foreign policy to have Feist headline the Canada Day show in Central Park back in 2006, shortly before she became the iPod girl and a four-time Grammy nominee.

Even the United States, which invented the globalized free market in culture, has a long tradition of spending government money on so-called cultural diplomacy. During the Cold War, the U.S. State Department sent jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and others to the Middle East, Asia and Europe to spread American values. The U.S. is spending more than half a billion dollars a year on TV and radio broadcasts that bring American music, comedy, and drama to the Arab world and other territories.

This is lost on DFAIT, where PromArt and its antecedent programs were never really understood. One long-time bureaucrat in the department told me recently: "Anyone caught doing culture, it was a career killer."

DFAIT, being stocked with diplomats used to reading scripts written at head office, was always uncomfortable with the voices of artists who weren't direct government employees.

This might, in fact, be the core reason the feds have just cut a small but effective program that didn't really mean much to the overall budget. Since taking office, Stephen Harper has tightened communications coming out of Ottawa, putting choke collars on his cabinet ministers and spokespeople. He wants to be the only one who speaks for Canada abroad, too. From the government's perspective, artists especially are suspect: they don't tend to stay on message; sometimes, they even voice independent thoughts. Worst of all, they're more interesting to listen to than a droning politician. Maybe Harper is jealous.

I'm only half kidding.

home again

HI everyone
ive been home for nearly 3 months now and i hate i! dont get me worng im happy to see everyone but it is not my home anymore .. i feel like a stranger in my parents house .

Ive put my traveling days away again but am going to get going again in few years. I need to get a better job and settled life for now . ive decided to move to victoria bc as i love the coast and ocean . i going to be attending school in the fall at camosun college .

it is funny im currently in my room on a thursday at 2pm and thinking most of my travel buddies are home now too . we all had the same plan go to ireland work for year and see what happens . Some of us did find work others well like me we just bummed around the country and looked but never found any work. i have to say it was a wonderful winter and five months away but real life calls me back to my native soil ..
I came home to lots of changes five firends of mine had babies . three im not so close to but two i am . they have not changed one bit except the little tiny baby that is there . few firends got engaged to be married . it is strange how they have a life i want .. i dont want at the same time cause id would have never backpacked the uk and ireland twice . so ive hung up my bag for another year and ill go again this time to italy .. in few years down the road when i have money . so thanks everyone for reading my blog and ill update with the rest later on .. if you want to see images that i have online go to flickr

scotland the brave

Hey everyone \
So i went to Scotland for week last week and had a wonderful time . for the first time in long time i finally felt at home . i spent hours wondering around Edinburgh for the time in five years i was content to just wonder and not worry about time or money .

Highlights were
Stirling castle
This castle was destroyed when Robert the Bruce was in power after he got the crown of Scotland. This was after William Wallace was killed and the Scots won their freedom in 1314. Robert the Bruce believed that if there were not castles for people to take then he would be safe . it was said that if someone got Stirling castle then they had Scotland . so he demolished all the castles in the area there are only about two original buildings left from when he demolished the entire castle at Stirling . this castel holds alot of history .. i was there in 2004 and was in aw of the entire thing as i love looking at all the history of mary queen of scots . the thing was all closed up the last time i was there in 2004 they said it would be open again in five years .. they had since discovered that the work was gioing to take another 5 years after that so it won’t be reopened till 2011. This really sucks cause ill have to make another trip over when I’m 32 to see it in full spender lol.

Mary spent the first 6 years of her life there and then was sent to France for the reminder till she returned and gave birth to her son James the first. This castles has so much history as there are buildings from every person that has lived there. The one king build an entire new place for his wife that came from France in the French style . Mary queen of Scots son built a brand new chapel to have his son christened in when he was born. the dining hall has no nails in the wood beam ceiling it is all done to the period of the time with wood nails .
I pretty much killed the digital tour guide thingy by trying to get it to give me all the information on the castle ..


The next day i went to the Wallace monument. it is up on abbey craig hill were William Wallace attacked the English army . He wanted to get Stirling and he did. They won the battle. The monument itself is about ten million storeys high. Well it seemed that way when you climb up to the top. it is fun to climb the stairs as you have to move to one side if someone comes up or down the stairs . You walk up to the first level and you see the sword of Wallace and get some information on him and the attack he executed at abbey Craig hill . you then have to climb up the stairs to a new level which gives you more information lots of stuff on the time period at the end i got bored of trying to read it all and keep up with the audio guide so i just 86ed the audio guide and read all the information . I had been to the Wallace monument a few years back when i was last in Scotland and only went up to the mounutment and did not go in so i went in this time . it was fun

scotland

as all of you might have guessed I'm in love with Scotland .. ha ha you all know that already .. I've been here for almost a week and I'm going to be sad to go ..

so here is the post about a bit of it
i came for the Beltane 2009 festival I've always been one to love the arts. i want to thank my parents i think they have raied all three of us with very open minds ..OK and some of it is the long summers up on hornby that make you open to things in life . this festival has been happening for about 35 years here in Scotland on Carlton hill click on it to find out more about the place .

Beltane is the welcoming of spring and summer it involves well allot of nude dancing and is a interesting display of the arts and pagan in one .. i have to say I've been wanting to see one of these things for most of my life and now have done it

it starts with the fire being lite on the roman arch and then goes around in a circle for all the different points . i was going to fallow the actors around but then thought it might be useless considering that you are in a crowd of 20000 people and trying to get some good photos is hard without a telephoto lens .. also a great flash too .. ha ha so i listened to some of the Scots and stayed at one point and waited well it was worth it as i saw lots of what i wanted to see the great marriage and the rebirth of the green man it was great to see it ....
so i also have a confession i think I'm a am more of who i am meant to be .. so on with the show.. i should really just link to the website so you can see more of the better pics ..

highlights were
getting swashed by a rude polish girl who thought i was a nice seat
met Judy cabbages and a nice few Scots read code for that one ..
so here are the pics linked from the website for you all to see here

here is the link to the website for beltane 09

two days in yohal

i have been hanging out in cork for a good few weeks and have been exploring the area around it and in cork ..

i spent two wonderful day in a small fishing town called yohal.. this place is one of the nicest places i have been so far in Ireland . i asked the guy at the front desks what Nice place with miles of beaches he sent me there ..

the first day i was there i found a few small beaches and asked alot of questions of what i want in life and started to realize alot about my life and what was going on .. i well post the pics later on when i have time ..

when i was on this roll i found a lab came up to me and said hi i went over to the owner and found out that it was his grand lab and he had been taking care of it for the last few weeks for his kids .. he then told me about the history of yahol ..

what he said was it was one of the largest shipping ports in Ireland and in the UK it was really neat to hear all about the history of the place ill find a link for you all to see . he was nice man to talk to and find out what places were good to see and not to see in the town .. i had to return to the hostel to meet nick online for a chat date so i thought ill come back .. sometimes in life you say that and never do it well i did go back a week later

i went up to the church and was surprised to find it was totally empty no one in sight those are the moments i love when i explore is to have the place to your self and see what thoughts come out of your head . you all know I'm not a Christan anymore i have really and fully become a pagan now after being here for so long in the old lands .. i was in the church and Alyssa came to my head i seem to think of her now when i walking a church she is still with everyone i suspect in some form or way .
i was greatly surprised to find out that the place had viking graves and old graves dating back a few thousand years .. it was a great idea to go up to the Church and look around i found it was worth my money again to go ..

i also found a long beach and go lost in thought and music for a good two hours or so and had very cold feet at the end of my time on the beach .. i really feel centered more then what i was when i left five months ago or is it six i have no idea really .. Ive lost track i don't remember that life i had .. so that is the last two weeks in a nut shell i really laze around the hostel after i had made my way out for rejection of cover letters omega .. it was great i tell you ..pictures later for you to see sorry this is so boring with out the pics

the ditching at the ........

so on the next weekend i decided that i wanted to go to the cliffs of moher .. i booked with paddy wagon tours i dont recommend them at all you will see why when you read down more . i was on the tour to limerick and was having a great time with the tour guide and the girls that were there as well . we stopped in limerick and had nice time at the castel . then we had to change buses to join another tour for the day . that is the time when the trouble began .. when we reached the cliffs of moher after being divered around a bunch of construction that the tour could have planed ahead for . so we did not get to see alot of the burren and he would not stop for any pictures cause we were behind time .. so we got to the cliffs and that was the ending point for me ever paying for a paddy wagon tour again . i had wonderful time with a nice english lad talking about life and which way we were going to go in life . i he had to leave 25 mins before me .. i went on to the gift shop and looked at my watch to see what time it was ironically it was 247 so i had tons of time . or so i thought it was 252 when i went outside to see .....


the tour bus was pulling out of the car park leaving me there i ran as fast as i could but no effort to catch it .. so here is kim left on the cliffs of moher all alone and no way of getting back to cork in anytime ... so my brain kicked into hornby mode what would you do if you had no way of what way to walk or go back to limerick to meet your other bus driver .. you hitchhike . thats what i did up the road three mins to get picked up by a nice irish guy named raymond odonell.. that was the start of things going good .he drove about five mins up the road and relized that we would never catch the tour bus so he dorve back to the cliffs to ring the company . we found out that the driver had left two other girls at the cliffs too and the dirver would be back in few mins to get us .. so i got out and thanked the kindness of yet another irish person .. i went back to the cliffs to find out that the tour guide would take an hour to get back it was not a nice hour the two other girls whined about the dirver and how crappy it was . they were americans and not really well traveled i just sat there and thought what a story for this blog ..


after the tour guide came back it was a real unventful trip back to town and kilany house . i called and bugged the tour company to get my money back they would not refund the money .. i got free tour to belfast for the day two times as much as what the other one costed nice if you ask me ...

easter weekend

hey everyone here is some long awaited posts
so for easter weekend i went to killarney for what idea i had no clue at the time i just went . i was staying at the kilany house in cork for the three nights cause i had just arrived from england . I got to killarney on the firday and stayed till the mon. the frist night was really just spent trying to even remember the place which was not easy when you have a dim memory of the place .. the last time i was in killarney ti was five years ago in a crazy bus tour .. i have no idea what the hell i was thinking when i was there during the last time . i spent the sat on a tour with a great woman who was a doctor and had a nice canon lens we ened up spending the day on the tour talk ing all day . she is happy non married traveler still stay in hostels at the age of 43 or something . she was happy to tell me all about her past travels around the world . i went to the day tour of the ring of kerry it was ok but the tour dirver spoke too fast and he was hard to understand sometimes i have to say i enjoyed it none the less the ring is amazing and one of those to see things in ireland ..


easter sunday i was dead set on doing what i do every easter weekend if im around the ocean .. i go to the ocean .. so i decied that i would go to dingle and get some great shots of something and hang out on the miles of beaches for the day well i was really .......

this is the sad part of the story after i had found out what the time of the bus was by miss reading the bus times right so i took a three hour jounrney for 20 euro and found out ......that the bus does not take you to the ocean .. so i ended up thinking oh that is ok .. so i ended up taking a two hour walk in pissing rain to see the dophine that i find out has been living in the pay of dingle for the last few years .. i felt really bad for the guy cause he is chased by boats all day long .. i saw him a few times off the coast.. might i add that it was pissing rain and i had no shoes that where covered over and had on lulu lemon pants that were wet at that point . so on easter sunday i was in pissing rain and had fun beacuase after i wondered up to the place it was through the farmers feild and cows following you all over in a line .. this my firends was one of the moments on this trip i was laughing my head off ..

this is the life

i have never met this person but she has the way of life i think i want move all the time you never know what you well run into in this world click on the world to find her life ...

sad times and happy

hello

When you travel you come aross things that make you sad and some happy . i had been to england few weeks ago as you all know . i saw my great anut and uncle . they are by far two of the sweetest people i have met in my life . marg gives and asks for nothing in return as does her husband brian . I had the great pleasure of staying with them for two nights . they treated me like one of thier kids . they gathered the famliy to see me as many as they could get for ths short time i was there .

i got to do many things with them i enjoyed every minute of my time with them. as these word fall on to this blog screen there is a sad part to this story ...

i know in my heart that this maybe one of the last time i see these people as they are getting on in age. it makes me sad to even think that but it is the truth . i love them like any of my other famliy . i was crying when i left them as they are my famliy far from distance but care a great deal for me even thought i have seen them three times in my life ... so to the english side of me you are wonderful people and thank you again for your kindness

kimberly

My bday to st pats day

For my 29th bday my cousin Travis flew in to Dublin to meet me. I had talked to him the night before about where to go and what to do when he got to Dublin. We had arranged this almost a few months before . I remember when we were sixteen we were going to drink in foreign country and live it up . we met at the barnacles temple bar in Dublin .

We started on the Saturday my bday going to about three different pubs . I thought Travis might enjoy going to the oldest pub in Dublin . the brazen head was built in 1195 and claims to be the oldest pub in Ireland . we had one drink there and moved on to temple bar . lets just say the rest of the night was a big haze for me cause i was so drunk i don’t remember much other than finding some aussies and yes Irena I did find them lol .. Irena said I would find some aussies on my birthday I always manage to find them in the outreaches of the world. We ended the night at I have no idea time ..





The next day me and Travis rented a car and drove to Kilkenny . We toured around the town
I said that we should see the castle Travis was a bit sckeptical about it all but in the end did go in . The tour was amazing it had so much history and many people had lived in the place over the years meaning many hundreds . the one thing that got me was the dining hall it was a recreation of a Nordic long house and had many celtic paintings all over it . i was in aw the whole time i was in there . this room also served as a place for the family to hang portraits that had been painted over the many years .. the whole thing was amazing . i got a nice comment from travis good call kimmer on the castle ..

On the day before st pats day me and Travis toured the Guinness store house in Dublin. I have to say after five years it is still worth it to pay the 15 euros to get in. I thought it was a good tour all and all much of the part about wheat reminded me of my grandfather. I have a memoire of a picture of him holding wheat and looking at it was taken by some professional photographer many years ago but my grandmother still has it. Irena well know what I’m talking about in the next comment I had the grandfathers hands song going through my head the entire time.


St paddies day was great. the Irish love it cause it is like xmas day to them . st paddies day is also another reason for them to get pissed up on the drink . me and Travis woke up in time to get prime seats for the parade that happens every year in Dublin . i have to say hands down one of the best ones I’ve seen in my life . Travis said they have some pretty good ones down in Louisiana during carnival. I got about 340 pics of the whole day and it was great. in the afternoon we wondered up to Merion square and i laid down in the grass for while and slept Travis just sat there . After about 20 mins he got restless and wanted to go back to the hostel and check in so he could sleep. I was content to stay were i wanted to but came back with him to the hostel to check in. After we got back to the hostel and sorted Travis wanted to sleep cause he was up partying the night before with some Norway dudes and Spanish girl . Me i was not sleepy and got a txt from the American girl I had met a few days before that we should go for drink . Travis at that point was a zombie so i thought why not . I ended staying the night out with the American and her German friend in great little pub in the heart of Dublin were all the Irish go we had a great time talking with local guys and learning bad phrases in Irish . All in all I had a great time with Travis in Ireland and hope that I can visit him in Norway. He left the next Moring to Norway and has called casue he left his camera behind in the hostel .

im a big geek at heart

i thought i would bore you all to death with one of the things I'm so passaite about .. that is history i love it to bits .. i was in cork at one point a few weeks and got in a big discussion about Elizabeth the first with two Americans about how she ruled and who her mother was they thought her mother was Mary Boleyn .. OK so i spent one of my free days in London in the guess ....

British museum ...
i love it to bits so much so the guard was throwing me out again yes i was in aw of the history that is in the place ..
i did my usual tour of the Egypt part and loved it so much i took 200 pictures in the area to prove my love of it .. i took movies that i well upload one day when i have good connection hard to come by if you are not in gal way .. i was able to hold a coin that was minted in the time of Markus Anthony .. then i went nuts when i was looking at some roman writing and saw the vindalonda letters . you guys are like what the hell is she talking about . i was almost late for work one day because of a documentary that was on discovery in the afternoon about vinlonda . it is a roman settlement in the north of Britain that some letters where found at in the early times .... you can find the info here .. i walked around through the past of many civilisations lost and loved every minute of it .. so now Ive admitted to it . by the way Shawna i wish i had my book with me that you gave me for Xmas it would have been a big help ..

OK and so now you get to see some photos I'm a big geek ha ha
some of the vindalonda letters




ok now some artifacts with me in front lol



egytpain coin compared to a lonney for the fun



ok and one more tourist pic for you all to see

quick update

hey everyone sorry it has been so long .. so I'm done my time in England now till who knows when . i had a wonderful time in hush hush ville . ill tell you all at Xmas that is all I'm going to say . i went on to oxford from there . the one day i was there the harry potter dinning hall was closed for a book convention dam you book convention .. i went to the Alice in wonderland store it was great to see my fave movie in a store . speak of which i think some of you well be getting something in the mail soon .. after oxford i went back to london . in london i got really sick again like Dublin sick five years ago maddening i tell you ... so i was fever ridden and coughing a nightmare but had to see the portrait of Elizabeth the first in the national gallery . when i got there it was taken down due to the frame needing to be restored .. so i had to see it on a computer screen . they have an inter sting way of putting her pictures up in the room . she is at the top of the wall and then she is on the side right beside the only man that she ever loved . her eyes are off to the side as are his like the pictures were meant to be together forever .

i hung out in Trafalgar square and walked again were my mother had so many years ago on her Europe trip in 69 .. i saw every person from around the world gathered there it was like peace had finally come to the world for few moments in that spot .

i walked up to the castle to see were the queen lived .. on the way up i had a memory of my first 3 hours in London and started to laugh about it cause i was so young . you still have to pay to pee and sit in this country the only thing that has changed is that you have to pay more ! this sums up my short post for now ill add the pics tonight at the hostel so you can see them #

ok a roman britain sheild and boudica




can you guess who that is

sorry for all the delays

hi everyone
Ive been meaning to upload all the stuff I've got on the lappy . I'm just not having allot of luck with getting free Internet.. I'm in London now for few days then off to another place i cant say cause it is sorta hush hush .. then to oxford and gravesend to see some things i wanted to see . then i don't have to come back to England for while till......
five years ago i traveled here alone and was freaked out of my mind . the first night i cryed for many hours and said to my self what have i done . at that point in time i had no idea how much i would changed and what i would gain . i am now back here five years later and now remember why i never really felt at home in the country of my grandmother. i came off the plane and looked around at the place and people talk diff rent and sound strange to me . i listen to someone talk about something in a accent i have heard before. then in crowd an familiar accent comes out and makes me smile . i walk up and ask him where he is from in Scotland he tells me Glasgow and then proceeds to help me find the tube station I'm looking for . i get hands waved at me from the people who don't want to help me find a hostel . i find a Japanese woman standing with her dog . she helps me find my way and smiles when i talk to her in Japanese for a few minutes i connect with someone in this sea of strangers. this place feels like a sea of unknown faces that don't want to see me .
so here i am now going to the place i have wanted to see for five years because i live in the books when it is cold and harsh in the winter at the place that seems so much like a life time ago .
more updates later

help ex silgo

hi everyone long-time no talk
sorry I have been so long in updating just have not had the go to do it in the last few weeks .
a few weeks ago i went on a home stay to Sligo . I hooked on to this website called help exchange were you work in exchange for meals and accommodation . It is ok if you have something to do if you don’t you get bored really fast when you are out in the middle of nowhere. I contact bar and ger lets call them that for the sake of this blog. I got a call back from bar saying that they had an opening at their house in Sligo so I went out to see what it was all about . Bar and ger are two of the nicest people that i have met on my journey so far . They opened up their home to me and let me eat and stay not asking anything in return . I spent many hours talking with them finding out that they had come back from the usa four years earlier. ber and ger had met in NYC and got married and stayed there for many years until four years ago when ger felt she had to come home for some reason ! They had since been working and living in Sligo . i stayed only for four nights with them cause they ended up going away that weekend on a whim . i had a wonderful visit doing nothing for four days well almost nothing i formatted some stuff for ger for her reflexology course and helped ber with the dogs they had . ber and ger are two wonderful people who can say without a doubt are kind caring and open to anyone that that they meet . i went into Sligo few days later to site see and found that most other the stuff was closed due to it being winter but i did enjoy myself there for the day i was in Sligo ...

galway markets

There are few things that i have come to love here in galway .
the fact that im two steps from the ocean. the weekly market i go to i love walking around and looking at all the stuff and taking pictures of people . ill let you all see the images of the market here

Connemara region

Hello everyone long time no read eh? So I’m back in Galway after four days in Sligo in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been neglecting this for week or 2 because I have really not been wanting to take the time out to write a long entry.


I’ll start with the wonderful tour that, I went on Sunday last week of the Connemara region. I have been to the Connemara region before it is one of the things I remember from my last trip to Ireland five years ago . i remember we stayed in this town with a fountain in the middle and thinking i could stay here for good .


So we departed Galway at 10 am for the Connemara region. From the start of the tour the guide named Michael talked about history of Ireland and all the folklore which made the tour all that more interesting our first stop was this abbey out in the middle of nowhere it was so nice. The abbey itself was the home of st Patrick for few years before he moved on to climb some mountain and banished some snakes from Ireland. This abbey was built on to few times and had some big graves in it as you can see from the pictures. I will add more info about the abbey later on if you want to read about it. Here is the info on ST. Patrick here

The next stop on the tour was the little Cong Village & Abbey we were stopped there for lunch time. I really liked the village of cong. I had a lot of fun just taking pictures of all the ruins that I ran into at the abbey. When we got there me and the German girls walked up to this massive castle that is only for the rich and famous to stay at. it was a nice place to get up to the walk was through a bunch trees and a nice path . Me and the German girls had devised a plan if we were to get caught. I would shut up and they would start talking German so that then it would look like they did not understand the signs or something. here is were you can read about cong abbey and village


Cong abbey is really neat too see it has all these arch ways and such great photography opportunity’s


I’ll let you look at the pics too see what I mean. The German girls and I wondered around for a good hour looking at the abbey and the graves. They went to eat lunch and I went to see what I could see of this monks fishing house and came on this gate to a wood that reminded me of a book i use to read called the outlander. It almost felt like it was a gate way to the past worlds that have gone by. Here is the photo if you want to see.



After we had drove though the Connemara region and seeing all the turf and the lochs . We came to Kylemore Abbey. Now before i get into this abbey I have story to tell about this place. It all happened back when I was in Edmonton for the year going to NAIT. So my one reader who fondly refers to him as robot norm (mom he does not read this so it won’t matter) . At nait we had Photoshop classes that we had to edit certain photos for different purposes. Norm would lead us through a photo and say do this and this. He happened to open up a photo of Kylemore Abbey I said I’ve been there he said oh . so i walked up to him after class and said that is in Ireland and it is school for girls run by nuns he said oh you have not been there so I said I can prove it . I Went home to lethbridge for the weekend and came back with a photo of Kylemore Abbey for him to see and well he did not believe me . You know now it does not surprise me that norm did not believe me. He had a hard time with me entirely and I think was glad that I was out of his hair at the end of the year .

Here you are people is the proof for robot norm to see ME IN FRONT OF THE ABBEY, so take that robot norm!

Ok so now on the abbey you can read the history here I this place is similar to bolt castle in Canada a husband built it for his wife and she up and died on him. This one differs though cause he buried her on the grounds and put a statue of her at the top of the hill. I liked walking the path to the church i ran into a sheep a lost baby to me that is Mother Nature coming out and saying hi to me. It was a cute baby sheep. When I got to the church it looked like one of those 1900 copies nothing special or that great to look at it was the same as most things you see back home. I know I should like it but I’ve seen so many like it.
Anyway after the abbey we packed it in and went back to Galway I fell asleep on the bus I was so tired from the night before with jeska and the girl I don’t remember her name at the bar.

refections of time to come and time to go by

wrote in October of 2008 a refection of what i thought was coming here in Ireland
in actual fact nothing goes as it seems to ever . who cares i have so many wonderful people in my life i don't really care because whatever i do and wherever i end up all of them are with me .

i was on Claire island walking up a road and i started to shed tears not because i was sad because i was thankful for all the supportive family and friends i have .
smiles .

I finally booked my flights back to the land that i fell in love with 4.5 years ago last week ! !! Ive been trying to find a way to get back there since i left all those years ago . i remember i was in the airport in c town I looked back and smiled and thought i well go back someday sometime and im doing it .. it well be hard for me but if i can do this i can do anything . i need to go alone and do some crazy stuff and be myself .. i need to do this before i get tied down with a job and a life im not sure i want yet . i want all those things but not yet not yet later on in my life maybe in 3 or 2 years ! i had the dream of norma's kitchen again with some tall dark stranger with his arms around me and us talking with whomever . we were laughing about something funny that was said i had wine in on hand and the other was around the strangers arm that was around my shoulders and neck ! i want to see listovana on the coast of Ireland . Grannie grave on Claire island ! i just want to live a crazy year of new things a different job new people places new things love a place so much that i wont want to leave it and be sad to leave it when i have to ! this time i have a plan and nothing will stop it !

the farm

Thought I would give you the rundown of the farm when I was still there I wrote this for blogger but now it seems that it is just a document for my sake to keep a record of my time there .
I’m currently sitting in a nice house in Ireland on Claire island. I arrived here in Tuesday and it is now Thursday . Claire is the home of grace O’Malley. Grace was a pirate queen in the times of Elizabeth the first. She basically gave Lizzie a run for her money. I really never thought I would be working on organic farm learning about natural ways to plant plants and I would be up my knees in mud. There is a general clam that has come over me.

I’m living in house with an aussie girl named Paula we have our own rooms an a very nice two story house without internet thus the reason for not posting this on the Thursday and now on the Friday lol !
I have to go to a bench to post these updates so I think in the next week there is not going to be much updating if you get me . Cause well it is outside and I really don’t want to be dropping this computer in the mud . so this land is owned by a family . They have 240 acres of land . Yes mom you can drink the water they have a natural spring and there is no water conservation here. It is really neat what we hear for lunch and supper we are left to our own devices. Paula said I can cook I can get a signed statement if you don’t believe me mom! We are eating all organic and natural it has made a big difference on my body i feel so much more awake and alive by eating so healthy.
Let’s give you all a rundown of the day we are up at 830 am and working by 930 am and off at half five . it is hard work . today me and Paula hauled bags of brecan all over the fields and up and down the road so they can put it on the plants .. I well sign off now cause my body is sick with soreness from all the work I have done

grace omalleys grave

Hey everyone

So I’ve been back in Galway for a few days. I was working on a farm on Claire Island but it did not work out for reasons I’m still confused about. I was given the afternoon off on Friday to go see grace O’Malley grave. it was a long walk up to the abbey but I did get there . I was on my way and had a little friend his name was bran. He followed me all the way to an abbey and all the way back. The owners of the farm where a bit mad that bran had gone with me and said I should have told them he was with me.

I have been reading about grace O’Malley for a number of years now. she was a pirate queen in the time of Elizabeth the first . it is said that she died in the same year as the queen . it is not sure certain when she died . I’m going to link a movie so that you call can watch about grace O’Malley and the usual wiki information for you all. When I got to the abbey i was told to go find a guy named Bernie winters. I looked around to find this man but was not having much luck so on my way down to the store to see where he was i found him by mistake .


He was a really nice old man that also takes people in for woofing in the spring. He lives in the oldest house on Claire Island. He is the friendliest person I met on Claire Island. We walked up to the old abbey and he was pointing out all the O’Malley that were in fact related to the great grace O’Malley. When we got into the abbey I had a dead rock star feeling come over me i was standing in the place were the most powerful Irish women of her time was buried . if you all know me you know that i read lots about warrior women and have tons of books in my stash on them . this abbey was very tiny and did not have much space in it . When we got in Bernie told me that they have xmas eve mass in this church every year . They have since built in lights and put a new roof on the abbey. He told me that it was left open to the elements for almost 80 years till someone in 1952 decided to raise money to restore and save the abbey. There are many frescos on the walls in the part were grace is buried. Bernie told me that they have not had anyone come in and restore the ceiling because of cost and they can’t pay for it.


Though out the hour that I was in the abbey Bernie told me all of the graves that were in the floor and also about grace and translated lots of the Irish writing for me . I really think that Bernie should become a tour guide. graces grave has a coat of arms of the O’Malley family beside her grave which Bernie translated to “powerful O’Malley on sea and land “ gives you an idea of how powerful she was . It was also said that grace gave birth to one of her sons on a ship in the middle of a battle that she was leading against the English. Now that is guts for you eh. I really felt connected to grace in away. Ok now the good part Lucy Lawless (xena warrior princess) had stood in the spot of graces grave for a documentary that I watched a few years back on discovery channel. Bernie said that she had the most captivating eyes he had ever seen.

Now i must talk about Bernie. He is a Claire island farmer who does everything the old way. He uses no machinery to help him do anything at all with the farming. I imagine he is between 65 and 80. He is nice and loves to talk to strangers that come through to see graces grave, Bernie is the keeper of the key for the abbey on Claire Island . so i need to ask anyone out there have a picture of some hay bails that you could loan my mom to photocopy so she could mail it to Bernie on Claire island . The funny thing that got me about Bernie was as soon as I told him were in Canada i was from he piped up and said Gordon Lightfoot Alberta Bound. Do we all remember the family gathering in Cochrane were we sang that song for the time we were there? In 1997 or 1998? Susan can correct this date if I’m wrong or grams smith well . So now I leave you with a movie that is 10 mins in the end of a movie about grace O’Malley . Just let it load and then watch the end of it you can see the abbey and Bernie’s dog shep in the end when lucy is at Claire island here is a pic of the abbey and the walls and celiing of the abbey for you all to see and last but not least graces grave .






OK so that grace post was long so i edited it down to the web Addy so you can go there and read about her. here

roving gypsy boy

I feel like a nomad right now. I have no home all I care about is camera and iPod and computer my only lifeblood’s. Ok fine my camera is the lifeblood I care about. I almost bought a new lens for it today I was so tempted to get another one to futz around with.

I spoke to a friend today for the first time since emailing her every day for the last week. She is someone that is close to me in life and knows who I am. She told me that I sound different maybe I do. Do we all change and grow in different places? I know that in the coming months two of my closest friends are going to have babies and life will never be the same. I met this girl in a pub after she had stole my gay man hat . she talked of life and lovers that she had lost and what she had gained from everyone of them . she seemed to have a real grip on what she wanted in life . I am the one in my family that has chosen the nomadic life style for now. I say Amy and Nicole chose mortgages and bf I choose to be free for now. I am starting to take this traveling thing as it comes and not to get flipped out over small things .ok I don’t get the job on some farm oh well not a biggie there are 184 more to email and find out if i can work there. I’m going to miss the little normality’s of Galway when I leave but i have to keep moving till i find what I’m looking for whatever that maybe ?



ill leave you with the lyrics of jimmy rankin beacause that is how i feel right now !

Roving Gypsy Boy"
By Jimmy Rankin

Autumn leaves are falling
The eagle takes to flight
The open road is a'calling
As day breaks slowly from the night
Day breaks slowly from the night

At the breaking of dawn he stepped to the road
In the soft early morn he stepped lightly
Humming a song to himself surely ode
And all through the day he stepped highly
All through the day he stepped highly

They call him the roving gypsy boy
He'll never choose to stay
They call him the roving gypsy boy
A rambler in his day (x2)

Ten thousand miles away from home
Ten thousand miles or more
Ten thousand miles he chose to roam
Like an eagle he did soar
Coast to coast and shore to shore

He rose up in the east and he set for the west
Travelling the whole world all over
Searching for something that he loved the best
Like a free living gypsy wild rover
A free living gypsy wild rover

They call him the roving gypsy boy
He'll never choose to stay
They call him the roving gypsy boy
A rambler in his day (x2)

He left the high road to live on the low
And all different kinds he met there
Plenty were the good folk
Many were the foe
But they all were his friends when he left there

There's a lot more to gain from this living than wealth
There's a lesson to learn with devotion
Be kind to all others as well as yourself
Or you'll drift like a boat out on the ocean
Drifting like a boat out on the ocean

They call him the roving gypsy boy
He'll never choose to stay
They call him the roving gypsy boy
A rambler in his day (x2)

They call him the roving gypsy boy
He'll never choose to stay
They call him the roving gypsy boy
A rambler in his day
A rambler in his day....

famliys found and lost and created

Hey everyone
So I’ve been here in Galway for just over two weeks. I have come to love this place! I think I well return here when I come back from the yoga center! I know you all must be a little peeved I moved the blog . I had to move it due to a person here that I did not want to have it enough said there ! so Galway is great the people here are wonderful and friendly . I’ve made a few friends one of which made me feel so good yesterday . She works at the market in a flower stall and she walked up to me and said happy V-day Kimberly and hugged me .
There is also a girl who works at the hostel she is so nice and she took me out for coffee one day with her friends. I feel so at home here it is not even funny . i have been lucky enough to have met friendly people here and had wonderful memories .
There is a group of us at the hostel who have come to be a temp family .I have never really had one of these in my travels yet but have been lucky to have found it this time. There is Jamie from aus, rafa from brazil , bee from Quebec and Shane from Ireland . We have gone out a few nights in the last few weeks to the pub or watched movies in the common room together. It is funny how you can make a temp family in strange ways we well keep in touch or lose one another over time . as life goes on they are memories that are kept in my mind forever .


There is welsh guy in the pub who i have seen five times how and just ran into this Moring in the square when going to get 2 euro pasta that was on sale . There is the flower seller name jean who smiles at me and says hi and tells me to keep fighting to work in Galway. She was happy that i got a temp job for a few weeks on the island so that is good. Now when you meet someone in a bar and they want to keep in touch it is are you on face book lol!


I’m getting really excited to go to Claire Island as it the base of grace O’Malley the pirate queen of Ireland who gave Elizabeth the first a run for her money . i well try to update this in the next two weeks if i cant you well have a lot of reading to do in few weeks
Wish me luck and all be seeing you all in few weeks

Galway is the place

Hello everyone
It has been a while has it not! so I’m going to update you all on Galway Ireland . i have been here for just over a week and i think I’m staying here ! Hopefully I’ll get a job here soon had one interview for a nanny job but it won’t work out so on to new things i guess! I’ve found that i really like wondering around this city to see things and people watch. I have really grown to like this market on Saturday’s very near the hostel that I’m staying at! This market sells food so cheap and it is healthy food. I had sushi for 3 euro and some vegan curry for 2 Euros. I have to post the pics later on tonight. so on Monday i met this interesting aussie guy in the kitchen i ended up going out till 1am with this guy and talking for 6 hours about whatever we could think of he then asked me out again the next night .


So I met him the next night. We met up with one of his friends in a random pub and ended up bar hopping for the rest of the night to all these different pubs and drinking. Me I had 1 pint and water and tea ! at the last pub we met these Irish girls and started talking with them about what I forget they were so nice and invited me out for Thursday night I did not go cause I was so worn out ! I’ve met some interesting people here in the hostel. There are these two girls who have been living here for few weeks and have been some entertainment for everyone in the hostel. lets just say i don’t miss days of our lives that’s how interesting they are .

there was a Magdalene Asylum here in Galway and there is a statue to it there is info below to anyone that wants to read it . I’m also still on my grace O’Malley quest to find her grave. If anyone is interested I think grandma has my book or it is in the cupboard with all my books in my room you are welcome to borrow it is Kathy’s story about her time in the laundries .

Right here is the Magdalene Asylums information i took it from here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_Asylum

Magdalene Asylums were institutions for so-called fallen women, most of them operated by different orders of the Roman Catholic Church. In most asylums, the inmates were required to undertake hard physical labour such as laundry work. In Ireland, such asylums were known as Magdalene Laundries. It has been estimated that 30,000 women were admitted during the 150-year history of these institutions, often against their will. The last Magdalene Asylum in Ireland closed on September 25, 1996.
History
Magdalene Asylums grew out of the rescue movement in Britain and Ireland in the 19th century, which had as its formal goal the rehabilitation of women who had worked as prostitutes. In Ireland, the institutions were named for St. Mary Magdalene, who according to Catholic tradition, repented her sins and became one of Jesus' closest followers.
The Magdalene movement in Ireland was quickly appropriated by the Catholic Church, and the homes, which were initially intended to be merely short-term refuges, increasingly turned into long-term institutions. Penitents were required to work, primarily in laundries.
As the Magdalene movement became increasingly distant from the original ideas of the Rescue Movement, that is, to take prostitutes off the streets who would not find regular employment because of their background, the Asylums took on an increasingly prison-like character. Supervising nuns were instructed to enact strong measures that would discourage women from leaving and instead encourage them into penance. The Congregation of the Sisters of Misericordiae, for example, is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia thus:
In receiving patients no discrimination is made in regard to religion, colour, or nationality. After their convalescence, those who desire to remain in the home are placed under a special sister and are known as "Daughters of St. Margaret". They follow a certain rule of life but contract no religious obligations. Should they desire to remain in the convent, after a period of probation, they are allowed to become Magdalenes and eventually take the vows of the Magdalene order.
Asylum records show that in the early history of the Magdalene movement, many women entered and left the institutions on their own accord, sometimes repeatedly. Lu Ann De Cunzo wrote in her book, Reform, Respite, Ritual: An Archaeology of Institutions; The Magdalene Society of Philadelphia, 1800-1850 (published in Historical Archeology, the journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology), that the women in Philadelphia's Protestant asylum, "sought a refuge and a respite from disease, the prison or almshouse, unhappy family situations, abusive men and dire economic circumstances."
Because of their background as prostitutes, inmates were regarded as "in need of penitence":
"The woman who has never known the pollution of a single wicked thought - the woman whose virgin bosom has never been crossed by the shadow of a thought of sin! - the woman breathing purity, innocence and grace, receives the woman whose breath is the pestilence of hell!" [Catriona Clear, Nuns in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, p.153; cited from Finnegan, p.20]
Inmates were required until the 1970s to address all staff regardless of age, as "mother", and were called "children". As one priest wrote in 1931: "It may be only a white-veiled novice with no vows as yet; and it may be an old white-haired penitent giving back to God but the dregs of a life spent in sin. It matters not. In the Home of the Good Shepherd the one is ever the 'Mother' while the other is always the 'Child'." [Finnegan, p.42]
To enforce order and maintain a monastic atmosphere, the inmates were required to observe strict silence for much of the day. "The Rule of Silence was a major feature of the women's lives and continues well into the second half of the twentieth century." [Finnegan, p. 24] Corporal punishment was common, and passive-aggression was simply ignored:
"A sullen temper, often shown by refusing food, is best dealt with by silence. When a girl wakes up to the fact that no one takes any notice, nor is troubled (apparently at least) by her self-starvation, she gets weary of her self-imposed martyrdom and learns sense." [Arthur J. S. Maddison, Hints on Rescue Work, A Handbook for Missionaries and Superintendants of Homes (1898); cited from Finnegan, p.31]
As the phenomenon became more widespread, it extended beyond prostitution, to unmarried mothers, developmentally-challenged women and abused girls. Even young girls who were considered too promiscuous and flirtatious, or too beautiful, were sent to an asylum. This paralleled the practice in state-run asylums in Britain and Ireland in the same period, where many people with alleged "social dysfunction" were committed to asylums.
The women were typically admitted to these institutions at the request of family members or priests. Without a family member on the outside who would vouch for them, some penitents would stay in the asylums for the rest of their lives, many of them taking religious vows.
Given Ireland's conservative sexual values, Magdalene Asylums were a generally accepted social institution until well into the second half of the 20th century. They disappeared with the changes in sexual mores - or, as Frances Finnegan suggests, as they ceased to be profitable: "Possibly the advent of the washing machine has been as instrumental in closing these laundries as have changing attitudes."
The sending of wayward women to Magdalene Asylums was an example of what many feminists regard as the phenomenon in which even suspected sexual misconduct by women is punished more harshly than sexual misconduct by men.
[edit] Revelation
The existence of the asylums was little thought of until, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, which had been buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed and, except for one body, cremated and reburied in a mass grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. This triggered a public scandal and became local and national news. In 1999 Mary Norris, Josephine McCarthy and Mary-Jo McDonagh, all asylum inmates, gave accounts of their treatment. The 1998 Channel 4 documentary Sex in a Cold Climate interviewed former inmates of Magdalene Asylums who testified to continued sexual, psychological and physical abuse while being isolated from the outside world for an indefinite amount of time. The conditions of the convents and the treatment of the inmates was shown in the acclaimed film The Magdalene Sisters (2002), written and directed by Peter Mullan. However the accuracy of this portrayal has been challenged. In addition, the story of one of the most famous alleged victims of the Magdalen asylums has been charged by relatives and investigators with being largely an invention.[1]
Similar instances of abuse have been reported in Ireland's industrial schools. As a group these institutions were exposed in an RTÉ (Ireland's national broadcaster) series by reporter Mary Raftery in 1999. Despite the Irish government convening of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, attempts to obtain compensation for the victims of the system have proven frustrating. [1] [2] Essentially, to be eligible for compensation, a victim must have been resident in one of a number of specifically listed institutions; no Magdalene Laundries are included on this list