Dear Nan,

I’m laying on the floor, on my Turkish towel, in “my” Irish art studio, trying to catch a sunbeam, which wavers and hasn’t held long enough to give me any warmth-

I’m drinking a hot tea, so hopefully that will help the chill.

Nana, I feel wimpy.

Like I want to cry, or go back to bed…even tho I feel like I only just got up. I couldn’t fall asleep until after 3am, and I didn’t fully wake up until noon.

I showered then plucked my facial hair, clipped my toenails, got dressed…

I heated some leftover pizza on the stove, but took it out of the pan too soon + ate it half cold in the shared living room of the flat… {which is a jumbled mess, I counted 3 vacuum cleaners amongst the furniture}

Drawings compliments of my dear friend & terrific artist < Mary Naylor

The kitchen is not ideal either- gross old sponge, a few drops of dishsoap, a tub full of dirty dishwater in the sink…

All of it will feel better when I get a clean sponge and dishsoap…I have to get comfortable cooking in there- I can’t afford to eat out much and—-

Well, that being said, I left the studio and am now having coffee in a warm cafe, an Americano + an orange almond muffin-type baked good…I figured a walk around would do me good, but god I can barely sit upright, my body is collapsing- I’m exhausted and need to rest.

There’s so much I want to do here…and so many things I am behind on posting about…

I can’t share everything- I just can’t, it’s too much.

Why the compulsive need to share? I think I had it before social media, that’s just added a new layer—

I’ve tried so many times to Travelogue…but each time, I fall behind, then am overwhelmed, can barely keep up with the demands of traveling, and it drives me nuts to not tell every detail, so I just give up…and figure I’ll tell the story someday….

~~

I’m back in bed, finally, it’s almost midnight and I hope to fall asleep soon—

I feel good now, today was tough, but I pulled through!

After coffee, I did take a walk, found the water of which the town is named {Ballydehob in Gaelic is Béal Átha an Dá Chab, meaning “mouth of the ford of the two river mouths”}, and the 12-arch railway bridge {built in the 1880’s} which is a signature feature of the village.

I saw lots of moss, lichens + ferns, some sweet little pink + purple flowers…it was a nice walk, just enough. On the way, I took a photo of a flier in the window of a shop advertising a seaside and hedgerow foraging event I’d like to attend!

I stopped at the petrol station, got a new sponge, big bottle of Fairy dish soap, some local cheese, a courgette (zucchini), green olives and stopped at the healthy market for Finn crisps.

Went back to the flat, scrubbed the sink area, replaced the filthy sponge, and made a cute snack tray to bring next door to the studio…

When I got there, my studio neighbors asked me to go for a pint, and we went to Levis’ (pronounced Levisses) which is stinkin’ adorable inside, crammed with knickknacks + feels very homey. We sat and talked about art residencies and shared a bit about our respective art practices. After one pint, they went home and I went back to the studio.

My desk is cute and covered in art-making supplies…looking at it cheered me immensely. I even danced to some loud music and got excited to fill my space with life!