Happy St. Patrick’s Day & Live Stream

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dingle will take place around 12:30 GMT, and I’ll stream it live here, using my iPhone. I’ll take it outside for a view of what’s going on, if I’m not too busy in the shop! See below:

Free TV : Ustream
P.S. Streaming worked very well. Will have to do that again!

Dingle Film Festival 2010

The 4th Annual Dingle Film Festival is almost upon us, and the line up looks quite interesting. Cillian Murphy is coming to town for the screening of Perrier’s Bounty, there will be seminars with Tom Johnson, one of the world experts on sounds, as well as a 4K/RED/DCI seminar for those interested in digital. Paddy Breathnach and Rob Walpole will be talking about their Irish film ‘I Went Down,’ and there will be screenings of film for the duration of the festival.

If you’re interested, there’s a schedule here. If this amazing weather holds, however, I’m guessing there might be a few film buffs who just might not be able to bring themselves to stay indoors!

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The Beauty Around Us

The cold snap seems to have finally left us, at least for the moment, but nature really outdid itself over the last weeks. We were lucky enough not to have any flooding or burst pipes, and the roads in Dingle town remained mostly clear of snow and ice.

Reading about the disruption to the rest of the country, and looking at images on the news bore little relation to what I experienced.

We had still, beautiful days, with the water like glass. We had snowy mountains and and an extremely quiet and peaceful Dingle town. We had sunsets more beautiful than I have ever seen, and flocks of birds that descended on us, escaping the cold further North and East.

I don’t know, in the future, how this winter will be remembered. I know there are many who have suffered with the cold, with lack of water, with loss of custom, and with isolation due to closed roads. I, however, luckily protected in this little corner of Ireland and semi-idle this time of year, will remember the stillness, the wet smell of snow, and the amazing sights that came with a different face of nature.

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A Very Special Camphill Christmas Play

We’ve had a Camphill Community here in Dingle for a few years now, and I wouldn’t be the only one who thinks having such a wonderful place for special needs people here in our midst has made Dingle a better place. Yesterday I went along to their Christmas Shepherd’s Play, and it was heart-warming and a perfect way to get into the spirit of Christmas.

I hope you enjoy the photos above.

Happy Christmas and/or a festive and happy holiday season to all!

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Farmer’s Market on the Move?

Peas It looks like there might be a possibility that the Friday morning Dingle Farmer’s Market might move, at least for next summer. It used to be on the Tracks, next to the back of Garvey’s Supermarket, but the traders lost access to the site. For the last few months, it’s been held in Dykegate Lane, in what used to be the old whole foods shop, which has the huge benefit of being inside but is a little quiet, according to some of the traders. Perhaps that’s simply because not enough people know it’s there. Recently, Kerry County Council has taken an interest (due to pressure from the Green Party nationally to facilitate farmer’s markets), and they are suggesting a move to the parking lot on Holyground. I hate to see more parking lost, but here’s hoping we find a solution that makes everyone happy!

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Dingle Just Might Exist Again in Future!

It’s been a long, long road road, but the end might be in sight. Yes, five years after Minister Ó Cuiv announced that Dingle didn’t exist, and almost four years after a plebiscite where the town overwhelmingly voted for Dingle/Daingean uí Chúis, it looks like there is some forward motion on the name, seemingly mostly due to Jackie Healey Rae, who insisted on it as part of joining the government. Mind you, supporters of the Dingle/Daingean uí Chúis name have been hopeful on this before and wont really believe it until it is in law.

Still, the Kerryman has a story that Minister Gormley met with Joe O’Toole and will attach a provision on the name to a bill regarding the Dublin Mayoral election. It should be published by Christmas and signed into law in the Spring.

It would be great to see the back of this issue and get on with things, and it would be a big relief if the will of the people was recognised.

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A Belated Festival Roundup

Foodfest I can only say in my defense, about the delay in writing about last weekend’s Dingle Food and Wine Festival, that it was such a good weekend that it’s taken me this long to recover! Bibliocook was fast off the mark, and of course there have been newspaper articles since, including this one.

Still, as one of the organisers, I have to say it was quite astonishing to watch it all unfold. This is the third year, and it’s grown every year. Recession? Taste tickets sales were up 50% this year. In fact, we have figured that there were 17,000 portions of food sold over the weekend, and that doesn’t include shops or the markets!

Foodfest2My favourite part of the food festival is the taste trails, and there were a huge increase in venues over the last year. From wine tastings to shark grilled on the pier for charity, there is such a variety of nibbles and such good value. If I hadn’t been so busy in the shop, I could have spent the whole days wandering the markets and the taste trail. It was foodie heaven.

I was lucky enough to have a sublime meal as well at Out of the Blue, with excellent company, and walking back from the restaurant, the moon was full, and the night was perfectly clear and still. Pauline Scanlon was singing with Tommy O’Sullivan in the Marina bar, there was a barbecue still in full swing at Murphys Pub, and the street was full of relaxed, happy people. It was one of those magic nights that one wishes would never end, and for me it didn’t end for a long time.

That’s one of the reasons for this belated post. Who cares, though! Well done to everyone who helped make it happen, and there were hundreds. A special thanks to Martin and our own Niamh. Roll on next year!

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