Wonderful article. Dian, I really enjoyed reading this.. and others. About 8-9 months ago I began writing a short story for my grand-daughter who lives in Cincinnati when she told me wanted to come to Scotland and see the Fairy Pools on Skye (tbh they're not that impressive). What was meant to be 1,000 words on Faeries, of whom I know very little, the story has grown to 100,000 words and that is only to the end of part one. It is probably a bit too dark now for a nine year-old.
All that aside, in order to try and make my storyline and characters plausible I wanted to include Irish and Scots Gaelic names and places. I know only a few words of these and was considering giving up when I met Manchán Mangan doing his wonderful talk and performance, "Arán & Im" at the Sabhal Mor on Skye. I had no idea what I was going to see that evening and could not believe that, right.at that very moment, I wandered into that show. What were the odds?
I had a chat afterwards with Manchán, who is a lovely and interesting man, and bought a couple of his books through which I have since fallen in love with my old heritage language and have begun to learn it, albeit slowly. It is a beautiful language. It is through Manchán that I found SubStack.
My story is likely a pile of doo-doo and I have probably got a lot of stuff wrong, but I had so much fun writing it and especially enjoyed working to include little bits of Irish in speech, names and places; I also had to research a little on plants for my ancient society's health and healing. So, that is why, he says, finally, I really enjoy your articles.
tá sin iontach ar fad! Thank you for reading, ensuring your story. As you probably noticed, I am a big fan of Manchán and I was lucky to see the same show in Dublin.
Dian, I really enjoyed this piece. I don't speak Irish at all, but I was able to recognise some of the words, like the name for foxglove. Just wonderful stuff that you share here! And that screening and Q&A sound fascinating too. I spend much of my free time in the Mourne Mountains and it is the smell of gorse on a summer's evening that tethers me to this place like nothing else.
GRMA Kelly! Yes, I also love Gorse—both to see it and smell it. For me, gorse is the summer aroma of Ireland and turf the winter aroma. :) Thanks so much for reading, sharing, and letting me know that you appreciate my work!
It's so heartening to read of this project to recognize and, hopefully, preserve the natural scents that connect us to home. I was in our garden this morning, and the lilac bush's perfume took me back to my childhood home's back yard. Memories can be tricky -- they can morph with time and circumstance -- but associations with scents are immediate and pure.
Wonderful article. Dian, I really enjoyed reading this.. and others. About 8-9 months ago I began writing a short story for my grand-daughter who lives in Cincinnati when she told me wanted to come to Scotland and see the Fairy Pools on Skye (tbh they're not that impressive). What was meant to be 1,000 words on Faeries, of whom I know very little, the story has grown to 100,000 words and that is only to the end of part one. It is probably a bit too dark now for a nine year-old.
All that aside, in order to try and make my storyline and characters plausible I wanted to include Irish and Scots Gaelic names and places. I know only a few words of these and was considering giving up when I met Manchán Mangan doing his wonderful talk and performance, "Arán & Im" at the Sabhal Mor on Skye. I had no idea what I was going to see that evening and could not believe that, right.at that very moment, I wandered into that show. What were the odds?
I had a chat afterwards with Manchán, who is a lovely and interesting man, and bought a couple of his books through which I have since fallen in love with my old heritage language and have begun to learn it, albeit slowly. It is a beautiful language. It is through Manchán that I found SubStack.
My story is likely a pile of doo-doo and I have probably got a lot of stuff wrong, but I had so much fun writing it and especially enjoyed working to include little bits of Irish in speech, names and places; I also had to research a little on plants for my ancient society's health and healing. So, that is why, he says, finally, I really enjoy your articles.
tá sin iontach ar fad! Thank you for reading, ensuring your story. As you probably noticed, I am a big fan of Manchán and I was lucky to see the same show in Dublin.
Dian, I really enjoyed this piece. I don't speak Irish at all, but I was able to recognise some of the words, like the name for foxglove. Just wonderful stuff that you share here! And that screening and Q&A sound fascinating too. I spend much of my free time in the Mourne Mountains and it is the smell of gorse on a summer's evening that tethers me to this place like nothing else.
GRMA Kelly! Yes, I also love Gorse—both to see it and smell it. For me, gorse is the summer aroma of Ireland and turf the winter aroma. :) Thanks so much for reading, sharing, and letting me know that you appreciate my work!
It's so heartening to read of this project to recognize and, hopefully, preserve the natural scents that connect us to home. I was in our garden this morning, and the lilac bush's perfume took me back to my childhood home's back yard. Memories can be tricky -- they can morph with time and circumstance -- but associations with scents are immediate and pure.
Yes! So true!! Thanks for sharing