wild geese in Strangford

It was lovely to see the third wild geese festival completed in Strangford at the weekend, but note to self dont go swimming outside even in a heated pool. I did it earlier in the week and caught a chill. Recovered from it then it all came back again but on a good note February is a short month. My snow drop is still living even though it is surrounded by snow and the freezing fog has lifted a bit.

But back to Strangford it's always good to go for a visit and nice to see the wild geese festival gaining in strength. I went to the song writing workshop with Joan McEldowney not sure why it just popped out at me when i arrived I wasn't sure as I was a bit late and it was freezing in the room and I already had a cold. But it was nice to do a workshop by a lit fire. Joan has a lovely natural emotional way of singing and we were all discussing different ways of putting words to music and I suppose what I got out of it was like art everyone has their own process. There only way of getting into the zone of creativity. Something popped into my head when we were doing the workshop, feelings about something that happened to me in the past as I jotted them down it sparked something off in Joan from a song she had written previously we fiddled about with them a bit and came up with really quite an emotional start to a song. It was a strange experience to achieve in a short time and I was left quite spooked by the experience. When it was sung back to the larger group later a combination of the flu now creeping up on me and hearing Joan singing it felt like quite an emotional experience. I wanted to work on it more.

I enjoyed the other readers and we all went around to the small church in old court for the evenings performance. (after Ireland beat France ). It's a private church and if you have never been there quite magical lit up with candles beside the sea at night. The evenings performance was of word and song and there was something very particular about being there huddled in the cold for an evenings entertainment. Joan McEldowneys voice has become more emotional in the year since I heard her last sing, quite emotional.

So congratulations once more to the organisers of the wild geese festival 3 years and counting. I was struck once again by the amount of creativity there is in N. Ireland and how important it is to nuture and support, those who nuture and support it.................................funders take note.

Only now I've really got the flu........remember note to self dont swim in an outdoor pool in Feb even if its heated..it must have been the joy of seeing a snowdrop that did it.