evenstar42

At the Discworld Jamboree a couple weeks ago I was, apparently, only about 30 miles from Stonehenge, but without our own transport we couldn’t get there. If all goes according to plan, though, I’ll finally get to see it in October :o)

was sitting on the porch of the Key Lime Pie Factory in Key West, which made me very happy. Mmm-yum.

The Village is an eco-friendly development designed to be long-term sustainable and self-sufficient. It’s one of my dreams to live somewhere like that someday, and this is the only one in Ireland of which I’m aware, so I want to visit it to see what it’s like and learn more.

http://www.thevillage.ie

Because one of my favourite 43Thingers lives here :o)

who brought me home from the station last night was from Trinidad. It came up because he was talking about the World Cup, and said he’d watched his country play. He said that although Tobago is the more popular tourist destination, Trinidad is beautiful if you get away from the industrialised areas. Right now, apparently, it’s pouring rain; by September it’ll be extremely hot, and the best time to visit (for someone acclimatised to Irish weather, said he with a grin) is March/April, when the weather is mild and the rainy season hasn’t yet started. Sounds good to me :o)

This is another of the many surprisingly great little places that are tucked away in Co. Wicklow. It’s less than an hour’s drive from Dublin.

We took a lovely walk through the nature areas, including a dragonfly pond (bring insect repellent – dragonflys aren’t the only bugs around), then headed into the Celtic Maze – a whorled celtic design which is a lot harder to navigate than it looks! There’s a little farmyard area too, and since it’s springtime, there were fluffy yellow ducklings and lots of baby lambs. We were startled by a large grey goose who hissed at us ferociously – I was very glad he was on the other side of a fence! Shortly afterwards we met one of the farmers, who explained that the goose was being protective because his female was sitting on eggs which were just about to hatch. The farmer had a tiny lamb in tow, just four weeks old, and we got to pet her – she was so soft and cuddly :o)

We didn’t go into the museums, but for those who are interested in such things there’s one full of old farming implements, and another with old bottles and farmhouse things. There are tea-rooms too, woefully overpriced as these things are wont to be; far better bring a packed lunch and picnic along the nature trail, where there are several picnic benches.

On the way back to the car-park we stopped at the Solstice Maze. This one has no walls, just paths of grass and gravel with standing stones around the edge and at the centre. It’s intended to provide a meditative walk, but there were several groups already there, so we didn’t stay long.

Their website is at http://www.greenanmaze.com with info, opening times and map.

Trinidad & Tobago played in the World Cup yesterday, and realising I had only a vague notion where it was, I read up about it. It sounds like a wonderful mix of cultures and influences, and I’d be really interested to see what it’s like.

Victor’s Way is an amazing art park full of statues created by the owner, who is an Irishman born in Germany and who spent many years as a holy man in India. It’s incredibly peaceful and magical.

I live here!

of staying in a caravan by the beach as a kid. Revisited as an an adult, camped out, and saw the most spectacular shooting stars I’ve ever seen.