Dolphin Address 11 2003
july 9th 2003
Because I noticed to increasingly talk back to my spell-checker, I decided I'd need a day off. And because I like tea, I started with a visit to the 'Tea Gardens' in Ballyvaughn. House and Garden could have walked straight of the palette of Summerset Maugham, with climbing-plants casually overgrowing tiffany. The menu only suggests three teas (but some 20 sorts of homemade fruitcakes) and presents a selection of local history. Thus army chief Ludlow is supposed to have said about the Burren in 1651: '.country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang a man or earth enough to bury a man.'
Then there is the usual sugar bag wisdom ('Praise the young and they will blossom'), but I had to laugh most about my (English) neighbor. When a cook with a cubical cap spattered the last bit of whipped cream from a spray can over his fruitcake, he asked, with a touch of venom: 'Do you really enjoy this?' Tourist Award for that man.
Game hazard
From the water I saw the woman come with her stoplight red boogie board. Within three minutes she lost it. I saw it happen off close: there was a piece of rope dangling from it, which, in some sort of sailors knot, she tied around her beak and away she was. Each attempt of the woman and soon of other swimmers she out swam. Even more, she challenged them by swimming away from it and if someone came close, she came high out of the water, put her beak on it and rushed of.
On a given moment she came to me. We had been cuddling before and I reached out my hand. She went straight 'belly up' and with my other hand I could easily take the boogie board. I took the rope together, swam the thing to the woman, closely followed by Dusty, and gave it back. The moment she laid her hands on it Dusty stormed in and used her beak as a crowbar between the woman and the bb. I laid beside and saw it all. It was over in ten seconds. I have never seen her that assertive. And so literally handy, with her beak. The next hour and a half I watched from the rocks. There were an average of 15 people in the water and all the time she brought the bb close, left it and consequently snatched it away from the approaching swimmer.
Until a lady appeared with a belllllll. On the stroke she forgot everything else and there was only the bell. Nothing above dolphin love.
Miltown Malbay
Each year there is a music festival week in Miltown Malbay. This is a tiny town with one main street of maybe a hundred meter, plus corners. Although some music is played in the street, most of the festival goes on in the by-rooms of cafes, as it should not hinder the sale of beer and cider, but promote it. I counted some fifteen cafes, but also other locations partake. In the Chinese restaurant, for instance, the jigs and reels sound as good. In the course of the years I have built up quite an appreciation for Irish music. This started in Dingle, when, after a night of Guinness and music I marched the hill to the Ballintaggert in time with the melodies that lingered in my head.
So you can walk in anywhere, though sometimes it is pretty crowded. Often there are more musicians than there is audience. The musicians are mostly young, between 10 and 30, something one would not expect in traditional music. Maybe because you really have to be in good shape. Also tradition is , that one can 'sit in'. In one room I counted 4 Bodruns (Irish drum), 5 violins, 2 accordions, a guitar, a mandolin, 2 tin whistles, a transverse flute and of course, stealing the show, the Uilleann pipes. It was against better judgment, but I had secretly hoped to hear Davy Spillane here, the god of my car audio. Thanks to him I can tap directly into this music: as soon as this man sounded the pipes a wonderful shiver went through me and stayed as long as he played. It was the Scotsman Sean Connery who said in 'The longest Day': 'No one can play the pipes like an Irishman.' And he's right.
Jan Ploeg, Fanore beach, July 9th 2003
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