WHAT IS BEAUTY?

 

A series of essays….

TAKEN NEAR STIRLING CASTLE IN SCOTLAND.
I FIND TRUE BEAUTY IN HONORING THE LIVES THAT 
PRECEDED ME AND CONSIDER CEMETERIES 
VERY ENDEARING AND BEAUTIFUL.

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

When I began my Blogging career over ten years ago, I was a bastion for all ideas past, current, and future that related to anything regarding the travel life. I was out of the league of a Samantha Brown, but I held the travel bug deep inside me and called on the beauty of travel to guide me through its inner landscape and feel comfortable sharing my personal experiences with readers like you.

This particular trip to The Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland was our fourth as we continued to work our way north along the coast and the outstanding beauty of Western Ireland. Four years before, traveling with friends, I’d booked a two night stay at Craggy Island B&B in Doolin and Dan and I became friends with the owners, Adrian O’Connor and his extremely kind wife, Bev.

Irish traditional music has been a central part of life in this area of County Clare for many years and Doolin has become known as the traditional music capital of Ireland. Our host was an essential component of this vibrant music scene throughout the year and played various instruments with other local musicians in all three pubs in Doolin. Adrian created and produced his own music and contributed a haunting CD which we gladly purchased to bring back home.

ADRIAN’S LOVE FOR DOOLIN SHINES THROUGH

The enlightening music that he composed and for which he was loved and known for suddenly became a part of us and was instantly embedded in our hearts. We realized that we were being called to his music and willingly traveled the path it had taken us on. As in his music and the poetry within his music, I have always likened this enlightenment to literature and ask, why do we read books? And the most simple and direct answer is always, because that is where the wisdom is. Wisdom and pure emotion is in Adrian’s music.

Since meeting Adrian and Bev and sharing the fullness of their lives, we knew that life itself would never be the same. Life was richer now; so full and complete it was almost exotic, in a sense. 

The Burren, the villages of Lisdoonvarna (home of the Matchmaking Festival each year) and Ballyvaughan, Cliffs of Moher, and Doolin itself, one of the last stops before sailing out to the amazing Aran Islands, County Clare and its people have so much to give and we were the willing recipients of all this area had to offer. By the time we came back to Ireland in 2010 to rent a small cottage north of Galway City, we’d heard that Adrian’s health had been severely compromised. We took a chance and stopped by Craggy Island on our way back to Shannon Airport with the hope of talking with him, once again.

This beautiful man, pounds lighter, more frail, but without having lost any of his innate vibrancy, greeted us with grace and charm and invited us in for coffee. Many of us had asked him to create another CD, more beautiful music, but his illness was too strong to have him comply. He did, however, claim his Irish Uilleann pipes and played us several songs while we sat out soaking up the warm, Irish sunshine.

ADRIAN GETTING READY
TO PLAY HIS UILLEANN PIPES

ADRIAN AND ME AT CRAGGY ISLAND B&B

Bev, a nurse, was at work and Adrian promised to give her hugs from us upon her return home knowing that she would be disappointed having missed us. 

In September of 2018 we had set-up a visit with Adrian and Bev in Doolin. We were traveling with good friends and were delighted to share our Irish friends, the trad music, and the warmth of Gus O’Connor’s Pub with Michael and Marsha. Surreal might be the best way to describe this beautiful evening; the perfect mix of fact and fantasy! The inner landscape of beauty that pulled us in and surrounded all of us with its deep, lasting love can be conjured up each time I think about that night. It will, gladly, stay with me throughout my lifetime.

So, if you should ask me the question, what is beauty?, I would reply, that magical night in Doolin, for certain. I would be quick to add the images of our daughters and grandchildren, new buds on the trees, a rolling Yorkshire landscape, poetry read aloud for all to absorb, our dog named Bree, any and all music that stirs the soul and puts a swing in your step. Beauty is everything you want it to be and even…nothing at all; the blank slate of pure emptiness when we close our eyes and all is silent, all is still.

BEV AND ME CATCHING UP WITH LIFE

 BEV, ADRIAN AND ME AT GUS O’CONNOR’S 
PUB IN DOOLIN IN 2018

MINE WERE TEARS OF JOY WHILE TALKING
WITH MY FRIEND AND HERO, ADRIAN O’CONNOR

The late Irish philosopher, poet, and author, John O’Donohue, writes about beauty from every aspect in his book of the same name and asserts that beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken and celebrates it as a homecoming of the human spirit. Beauty is the hope we should never relinquish. O’Donohue opens our eyes, hearts, and minds to the wonder of our own relationship with beauty by exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth. He reveals how beauty’s invisible embrace invites us toward new heights of passion and creativity even in these uncertain times of global conflict and crisis.

The word glamour does not apply here. Its superficial and exciting attractiveness is usually associated with striking physical beauty, luxury, or celebrity. Love, kindness, hopefulness, joy, and contentment define much deeper forms of beauty and personal satisfaction.

In early September of last year, we met a couple while having a drink in a hotel bar in Burford, a beautiful village in The Cotswolds Hills of England. They popped over from Chipping Camden, just up the road, to enjoy dinner and a night out.

We talked about travel, life experiences, and everything that made us truly happy. I told of our friendship with Adrian O’Connor in Ireland. Dan, phone at the ready, looked Adrian up to show them who he was and relay his ties to trad music considering our new acquaintances were in the music business, as well.

Sadly, we discovered that Adrian had recently passed away from the cancer that ultimately consumed him. Had beauty failed us, lost forever by the absence of this man, our friend? Tears arrived later that evening as Dan and I reminisced about the many years we shared Adrian with the world. Instinctively, we knew that the beauty he represented within our lives had actually expanded, released into the entire world for all to cling to, rejoice in, and immortalize for all of eternity.

Adrian’s death was a call to be awakened. We knew we must celebrate his passing as a homecoming of the human spirit. His life, his story, would offer all who knew him the comfort and hope required to carry on and pass the beauty we knew in this world on to everyone else. Your kindness, Adrian, will be remembered and passed down through your spirit to all who knew you and all who find solace in good people who care about others and set positive examples for us to follow.

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photos Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes 

All rights reserved

SNOW ON THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS

 

A series of essays….

             THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE CHANGES ON OUR FRUIT CROPS                       

                   John L. Russell from the A.P.

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The world calendar hosts a leap year in February adding one more day to a short month, but giving so many born on February 29th a full day to celebrate. A despicable, disgraced, and twice impeached ex-president demeans a young, talented, female pop star for encouraging everyone to register to vote. Punxsutawney Phil has spoken and predicts an early spring this year. Really? I guess there’s ‘no shadow’ for our particular ground hog this winter’s day.

What a crazy and mixed-up world we all live in. But, the most difficult thing I’ve observed lately are all of the budded-out trees that would, seemingly, predict an early spring even without seeing their own shadow. To see buds on the trees in the depth of winter should have all of us asking so many questions; keep us charged-up and fully attuned to the changing weather patterns.

The 2012 tart cherry crop was viewed as a disaster after freezing temperatures hit blooming trees in Michigan during April of that year. Almost every fruit crop in Michigan was frozen out when cold temperatures followed some eighty degree days in March. The cycle had been broken and all of us, but especially the farmers, were the sad recipients of this unwanted phenomena. 

Driving down to spend our week on Sanibel Island, Florida, with our two young daughters gave us such joy and delight as we could, literally, cross the border from Georgia and know we were in the Sunshine State by seeing the row upon row of orange trees standing at attention. The orchards consumed the landscape and we loved the sight of their strength in numbers lining I-75 as if escorting us to our final destination.

Today, finding orange groves north of Orlando or even within the Orange County area is a distinct impossibility. Where beautiful groves once thrived, nurtured by the latest generation of farmers whose fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers (and for generations before them), depended on this juicy, prolific fruit for the livelihood of their families.

A THRIVING FLORIDA ORANGE TREE

According to Florida Memory, citrus trees arrived with European explorers in the 16th century and quickly took root in Florida. It wasn’t until the 1830’s that Florida developed a monopoly over cultivating citrus fruits. A devastating freeze in 1835 destroyed citrus growing efforts in the Carolinas and Georgia, beginning a permanent southward migration of the industry into Florida.

Little did we know, arriving in Florida ourselves in 1997 to reside there for over twenty-three years, that we would be seeing the demise of long established orange groves and a particular way of life in Florida—the very groves that ushered our small family into the State for so many memorable family trips from the late 1970’s and through most of the 1990’s! 

Understanding that history often repeats itself, I can’t help but look up at the newly budded trees here in Western Michigan in late January and not feel the shiver moving up my spine for what once was and what is to be. I ask myself why it takes a near disaster before humans even attempt to divert it. It would be like playing the game of ‘chicken’ with billions of lives at stake, not to mention the animal and plant life, as well.

So, when you gift the one you love with a box of heart shaped chocolates this week and tell them how much they mean to you, keep in mind that their health and well-being should be included in your gift of love. Refresh the idea about just how much our warming temperatures influence nature and a natural way of life for all of us. Together, plan on the best way to make the necessary changes in habits and lifestyle in order to protect our precious resources.

I firmly hope that Michigan’s cherry and fruit crops do not fall to the wayside as did many of Florida’s orange groves these past couple of decades. Looking at the early tree buds and young sprouting daffodils in late January, early February, here in Michigan, concerns me a great deal. Let’s learn how to make good changes in order to protect a world that offers us sustainability, comfort, and an abundance of joy. Let’s strive to make a positive difference for the benefit of everyone, today and into the future.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED A
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

ODE TO EN PLEIN AIR ARTISTS AND THE WEST COAST OF IRELAND

 

A series of essays….

THE RING OF KERRY - STOPPING ALONG THE
NARROW ROAD TO CAPTURE THIS STUNNING PHOTO

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

On my birthday for the past several years, Bettina and Sue (great friends), Dan, and I travel north of Grand Rapids to the home of a Michigan En Plein Air artist where we ogle (in a good way) hundreds of Kathleen’s paintings. Savoring the natural beauty that surrounds us in Michigan, as well as the man made kind such as barns, chicken coops, stone cottages, we always say this time we’re only going to look, but find ourselves carrying our purchases out to our car several hours later while imagining where they will be proudly displayed in our homes.

En plein air is a style of painting produced out of doors in natural light. This style of painting is certainly bewitching in the sense that what the artist brings to the canvas includes all of the nuances of what all of us might see while walking down a country road on a sunny, summer afternoon. It’s as though we’d pulled out our iPhone and snapped that perfect picture. The artist does the same thing with paint, patience, and by following her mind’s eye as the light, shadows, and colors shift before her very eyes.

On our last visit to Kathleen’s home exhibit in early November Dan, Kathleen, and I carried on an in-depth discussion about Ireland. You see, she and her husband along with their two adult children, are planning to travel along the Wild Atlantic Way for a week or more this autumn and Dan and I could not stop gushing about our own love of Ireland and its rugged and amazing western coastline. 

THE FIRST PAINTING BY KATHLEEN
WE PROCURED IN 2021

I could only envision the paintings she would produce given this time in Ireland and shamelessly encouraged their visit while offering to provide any and all options for accommodations, eateries, and places to visit while there based upon our own experiences.

Fortunately, Kathleen contacted us via email in December. I was so excited! I knew that this endeavor would have us walking and driving around Ireland, once again, reminiscing, tasting, and thinking about the multitude of experiences offered us via this magical and beautiful place.

And, it most certainly did.

So, I sectioned our visits out in order to provide Kathleen with itinerary options based on the amount of time and in-depth concentration they would choose to afford any given area. Spreading yourself out too thin is never a good travel plan. Rather, to concentrate on one of these areas while gleaning the most out of it—and then planning on a return visit would be the wisest thing to do.

I tried to keep it simple and give them information about each area that I knew we would return to in future visits. This information might include the positive and the negatives we encountered along the way or, this boat trip over that boat trip given the fact that they will be traveling with grown children.

First of all, we want to thank Kathleen for yet another reason to go back over our pictures and memories of the many travels to this fascinating island. We thank you, Kathleen, for this grand opportunity!

It is now that my imagination goes wild. I sit here in my own little story seeing the artist, canvas upon easel, oil/acrylic paints splashed, smeared, and mixed upon the palette like colorful candies spread out in the midday sun and begging to be applied in some form of creation or another. And, grasping her delicate brush, adorned with its sable plume, dipping into the semi-liquid mixture with the gusto of a child’s inquisitive finger, and applying the purest colors atop the gesso coated canvas—she recreates God’s beauty at its finest.

THE KENMARE STONE CIRCLE

With a drizzle of rain threatening the afternoon activities, the artist, umbrella by her side, captures the serenity of the Kenmare Stone Circle that has been a part of the town’s history for thousands of years. Touching each stone sends a tingle of memories through her as she applies her thoughts towards the thousands of people who stood and worshiped here before her.

South of Kenmare, she captures the ruins of the stone cottage where Molly Gallivan raised her many children alone on her small farm at the foot of the Caha Mountain Range on the Beara Peninsula. So many tears, hardships, and love surround this precious place.

I see the artist climbing up to Healy Pass in the heart of the Caha Mountains, setting up her artist paraphernalia in order to capture the multiple shades of green surrounding her in the valley below. One white farmhouse dots the hills and leaves a profound impression on anyone standing so high up in the clouds looking down.

With Skellig Michael jutting off the coastline of County Kerry, boat rides take her out to this remarkably preserved early Christian monastery and the filming location for two Star Wars movies. Her brush might capture the simple ruggedness of this remote, rocky island.

If the Gap of Dunloe in County Kerry doesn’t capture her attention—nothing else will.  This narrow mountain pass forged between the MacGillycuddy Reeks and Purple Mountain by glacial flows with the river running through the gap is an experience that explodes with Irish mystery, charm, and absolute beauty.

I envision Kathleen standing at the south end of the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, high above the surging cerulean sea that crashes  against the weathered stone far below.

County Clare. So much to experience with so little time. The bright pink, blues, and greens of Doolin with the backdrop of the sea and the Aran Islands; the Traditional Music floating between the ears within Gus O’Connor’s pub and feeling like a local out for a pint; capturing the shadows made by the Poulnabrone monument, the most visited dolmen in Ireland, as the sun is setting over the moonscape of The Burren—Clare has everything you’d hoped for and so much more.

Perhaps it’s further north where she’ll seek the Irish landscape known and loved by locals and visitors alike. Where she will most likely get to listen to the Irish language spoken lovingly by the locals—County Galway and the District of Connemara. Enter via youthful Galway City and be entertained by the local buskers performing in the narrow, cobbled streets, as well as the craic offered in the local pubs. Walk under The Spanish Arch and be introduced to the sleek looking Hookers (sailing boats) that have taken local fisherman out into Galway Bay for hundreds of years. 

CROAGH PATRICK - IRELAND’S HOLY MOUNTAIN

Climb one of the twelve Bens (mountains) and look down upon Kylemore Abbey and over to the sun speckled Atlantic beyond. What a dazzling painting this would be!

She makes her way to the town of Roundstone on the way to Clifton. This renowned artist’s community will always make her feel right at home with its commune of artists, artisans and craftsmen creating their unique pieces.

Step back in time and be dazzled by the beauty of Croagh Patrick, Irelands Holy Mountain and pilgrimage site, with its shades of purples, rustic grays, and multitudes of greens.

None of these treasures should be missed, my friend. It would be nearly impossible to take them all in on this maiden voyage to one of the most endearing countries in the world. And then, surely, you will want to revisit each place all over again because the mind and eyes alone are incapable of capturing each perfect space offered, each subtle nuance provided by color, shape, images, languages, or sounds…Ireland!

Our next visit will take Dan and me back to Sligo and up to Donegal and beyond….! So much more to see and experience as we enjoy a pint or two of Guinness along the way.

kathleenkalinowski.com

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photos Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved