#Connemara Gaeltacht

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[uritur-infelix]

Níl aon áit cosúil leis na Gaeltachtaí ann

[kevin-ar-tuathal]

Teach Uachtar Reoite

Who Wants Ice-Cream 😋🍦?

Did you know that the Murphy's Ice-Cream on Wicklow St, Dublin, Ireland, has an Irish-language service available to customers who wish to place orders through the language?

Here is a video in preparation for our next trip to an ice-cream parlour 😋���

Foclóir | Vocab

Teach Uachtar Reoite - Ice-Cream Parlour

Blasanna - flavours

Seacláid - Chocolate

Sú Chraobh - Strawberry

Donnóg - Brownie

Imreog - Butterscotch

Saor ó ghlútan / gan ghlútan - Gluten-free

Airgead tirim - cash

Gramadach | Grammar

Scaob Donnóige - a scoop of brownie (flavour)

Scaob Shú Chraobh - a scoop of Strawberry {because 'Craobh' is already in the Ginideach, and 'Sú Chraobh' is one term together, meaning Strawberry, it stays the same, and we only put a séimhiú (+h) on 'Sú' to mean 'of'}

Ag íoc go tirim - "Paying dryly" (meaning paying with cash 😉) - In Irish, adding 'go' before an adjective makes an adverb out of it.

Bainigí taitneamh as - Enjoy (you, plural)!

[redbreastedbird]

Hi! This might sound really random, but I'm irish and i LOVE Nuala sosososososo much and I was wondering, what part of Ireland is Nuala/her dad from? Is her dad from the Gaeltacht/Irish speaking areas? (Connemara in Galway, Gaeltacht Chorca Dhuibhne in Kerry.)

I spent lots of my childhood in the Cape Clear Gaeltacht in Cork, and I am obsessed with the idea of Nuala's dad telling her about the Foróige and Culture and her just being like (0.0 )

Luv ur work so much!!! <3

Hello! Nuala’s dad is from Galway, so he would have grown up around Irish being spoken - but because of the time he was growing up in (he was born at the turn of the century) he’d have had to hide that fact. Irish was discouraged as a language until the 1920s, when Ireland became a free state (obviously you know this better than I do, but just saying it for other people). Part of the reason Nuala is called Nuala is because Frank wanted her to have a very visibly Irish name, one that wouldn’t have been allowed a generation before.

There is a section in the puzzle book where Nuala gives an intro to the Irish language and it made me very happy to be able to put it in!

[kaizey]

Ceol comhaimseartha as Gaeilge (Contemporary irish language music recommends)

Many foriegners looking more into more music as gaeilge following from Unreal Unearth and have been asked afew times about it. So Im gon give afew recommendations

Seo Linn - Folk/Indie/Soft Rock group formed in Conamara and have a good range of sounds ranging from newer covers of our most popular folk songs (Óró sé do bheatha abhaile , Siúil a Rúin and Mo ghile mear are among the best) and are a good intro point

IMLÉ - More of a collection of artists who bring different sound styles together and topics in their lyrics. Honestly, just take the entireity of the self-titled album as a taster

Róisín Seoighe - A great soloist and someone who transfers aspects of Canadh Sean Nós into a newer format. Alot of her work and songs touch on the state of Gaeilge (Níl mé marbh and Sín do lamh).

Kneecap - One of the more well-known, atleast over here. A rap trio from Belfast/Derry, and alot of their lyrics and flow focuses much more on the specific experience of both millenial life and Gaeilgeoirí and An Ghaeilge in the North, and what its actually like trying to engage with society through our language when half of the the governmental institution has contempt for its existence. CEARTA, one of their singles, has still stayed a sort of aintiún (anthem) for language rights up here in the North. Also, heavy heavy anti-colonialism, mar sin craic Mhaith (see their JOE.ie interview). Otherwise, some of ther best works you might like are Cearta, Bouncers agus Gael-Gigolos

TG Lurgan - A sort of summer school/learning scheme that started out of the Connemara Gaeltacht, meant to help irish learners pick up the more natural flow specifically by learning through music. Nearly all of the music is sung by school kids and leading musicians with the majority being covers of pop songs. So you can find the lyrics online easily, and can be a helpful way for people trying to learn how to deal with the lack of real word-for-word translation ó Ghaeilge go Béarla.

This is just a handful of artists, and the first handful rarely scrape over 2000 streams a month. Modern irish music is still very much a niche in its own way, miserably so even on our island. Theres no shortage of music you can find being made by newer artists though, even if ceol as gaeilge only makes up some of their work

Tá súil agam go bhfaighidh tú roinnt a mbaineann tú taitneamh astu, agus má tá tú ag foghlaim, go gcabhraíonn sé leat

[abreathingrock]

Hi it's me, the third (?) of three rtc fans with any knowledge of Irish hahah

I'm so interested in ur rtc oc so would u drop the lore?? I love seeing Irish people involved in the same fandoms as me bc let's face it most of us are bastards so it's kind of unusual

WOWOWOW HIII!! It so cool to see rtc fans with Irish knowledge, especially when they take interest in my oc (I love her so much)

Strap in, I have a lot

Grew up in a gaeltacht region in galway (like Connemara type) so shes fluent(ish) in irish (i literally wish so bad)

Her parents were STINKY and were super mean, like, abusive and shit, it wasnt great for my girl

Went to a #catholicallgirlschool so naturally was bullied asf so she REALLY wasnt having fun

Had one friend who is yet to be named and they hung out together all the time, did a bunch of stuff like pierced eachothers ears, got

tatoos, burned shit, mostly illegal stuff (this is how she got arrested)

Sam and her friend would always talk about running away to Canada, it was their dream, but before they could her friend had to move away to a bording school in Dublin

This affected Sam BAD and caused her to go into a horrible space mental health wise and ultimately caused her to run away

When she got to Canada, she had stolen and exchanged a bunch of her parents money (cus she doesnt care about them and hates them) and bought the absolute cheapest place she could. A two room (kitchen/living/bedroom + sperate bathroom) apartment in Uranium City

She enrolled herself in the local school in a very illegal and fake fashion and took a uniform from lost and found cus ofc she did

She stayed low mostly in school until she met a certain Ukrainian "bad boy", Mischa Bachinski and they became the besties ever

They did most of the stuff she did with her old friend, but this time she was having more fun and felt more free due to not living with her parents and not being in that stupid ass school

Her and Mischa bonded over missing their countries (despite the horribleness Sam faced there, she still misses Ireland a whole heap) and she is the only person who believed Talia is real

Sam ends up in choir because she helped Mischa steal the wine and they sit in the back on Mischa's phone playing games, texting Talia (when they could, yk, timezones), taking dumbass selfies, etc

Mischa helped her become herself a lot more and she loves him like a brother and will kill anyone who speaks against him or hurts him. They both agreed if they ever met eachothers parents it would be on fucking sight

Ocean fucking hates Sam. Cant stand her. She thinks its insane how little she cares about school and is dumbfounded by her punk ideologies (she cant wrap her around head it, shes a little silly <3) She rants to Constance about how she needs to care more and Constance just nods and pretends to listen meanwhile she's in awe of her bravery to be herself and get away from her home.

Noel ends up taking a liking to her because he talks to Mischa sometimes but they dont really interact.

Mischa thinks shes "madwickedawesome" and "the dopest person ever, yo!!" He is the only person who knows about her old friend and the fact she had bad parents, but barely knows the half of it. He encourages her to be who she is and Sam loves him so much, theyre so bestie I cant

Ricky wishes he could talk to her because he also thinks shes pretty cool, but obvously he cant :(( She talks to him sometimes, which he appreciates, but its mostly just complaining about Ocean being annoying in choir when she tells her to get off Mischa's phone

On the day of the accident, her and mischa wander off most of the time, going on some of the rides, but staying off somewhere else most of the time. They come back to ride the cyclone because everyone else is and they both agree rollercoasters are fun.

In the afterlife, she stays talking to Mischa mostly, but begins to talk to Noel and Ricky too.

Her and Ricky end up bonding over cats cus theh both love them, and she hypes him up like crazy after SABM with Mischa

She is infatuated with Jane Doe and thinks shes cool as fuck, even if shes also pretty creepy, and tries to talk to her sometimes

Her song is...something. it starts off with her refusing to sing and Karnak being like "you have to" and begins to force a song onto her. Its chaotic and not at all how Sam wants, being a bit like TSIA.

Sam eventually is like "fine, I'll sing, but Im doing it my way you fucking bitchass machine" and her song is about being conflicted with herself, loving being open about being punk and doing all her illegal stuff, but she loves writing and poetry, something shes never told anyone even Mischa. She sings about feeling like she's always been doomed to be unhappy, always be unsatisfied with her life and missing Ireland despite her horrible life there.

She opens up about her shit parents and her old friend and after her song Mischa gives her a big hug and its cute asf :c

She, after the song, becomes more like her true self and the other choir members are all like "dam shes fucking deep" which she enjoys quite a bit

She bullies tf outta Ocean the whole time, but during its not a game she holds her hand and smiles at her for like the first time ever

Sam also talks to Connie in the afterlife and tells her to drop Ocean etc

Her and Ocean are like siblings, Sam fucking hates Ocean but if someone is rude to her the next day that person shows up with a mysterious black eye

sorry I went on a bit lol

[celtic-cd-releases]

https://www.siledenvir.com/

https://www.facebook.com/siledenvirmusic

https://siledenvir.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/album/39Bq9HWV1DtmWB6X7XqGnp

[sporesnmore]

[luxebeat]

Gaeltacht getaways offer a true taste of Ireland

Gaeltacht getaways offer a true taste of Ireland

Head to the Gaeltacht – the Irish-speaking parts of Ireland – for an immersive experience of a totally unique way of life. The Irish language runs through everything on the island of Ireland, from music and literature, to festivals, events, place names and even in the rhythm of the way English is spoken. But the native tongue is strongest in the Gaeltacht, the generic term for a group of cultural…

[atlasaura]

Connemara, a beautiful region of the Gaeltacht in Western Ireland.

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[klmo-photos]

* T H E • S K Y • I S • T H E • L I M I T * * Nach einem anfangs verregneten Tag mit Sofa und Kamin ging es am Nachmittag doch nochmal on Tour... es sollte aufreissen und tatsächlich... dieser Ausblick auf der Sky Road bei Clifden entschädigt für den Regen... Diese Straße ist ein Muss für jeden der nach Clifden kommt... schmal, gewunden - toll zu fahren! * * #skyroad #skyroam #art #connemara #clifden #galway #ireland #irland #eire #gaeltacht #photography #photographer #landscape #landscapephotography #landschaft #landschaftsfotografie #breathtaking #atemberaubend #ausblick #travel #reisen #urlaub #holiday (hier: Sky Road)

[duine-aiteach]

Does the current curriculum for Irish fail the language?

On the 2016 census 1.7 million people indicated they could speak Irish, which was a 13,000 decrease from the 2011 census. 420,000 said they never spoke Irish and 587,000 said they spoke it only in education. A mere 200,000 indicated they spoke it weekly or daily, and I fear that that number is only going to fall. The number of fluent Irish speakers has declined since The Famine despite various attempts to revive it, and current opinions towards the language aren’t helping it recover. There has to be a change in the way it is implemented.

 The current examination system for Irish at Leaving Certificate level has an oral examination, an aural examination and a written examination. The results of these are then averaged out to get a final grade. This may seem like a good idea as the students can play to their strengths. However, the level of Irish required to take this exam is generally higher than students can manage. The teachers knew we didn’t have enough Irish to answer the questions on our own, so we were given essays and pages of notes to learn off. By forcing us to take exams at a much higher level than we could speak, most people who had any bit of interest lost it. If the way Irish is taught, and subsequently examined, isn’t changed the language will die.

Stringing a language along that not many people want to speak just to preserve it is ridiculous and ultimately a waste of time. Forcing the language on people does no good. At the moment we have a country full of teenagers who loathe the subject. We can’t actually speak it but can somehow answer an in-depth question on the themes of a poem?

 My proposition is to begin at the root – education – and split Irish into two separate subjects – Irish (native speaker) and Irish (learner). The first will be aimed mainly at Gaeltacht areas and Gaelscoils and rarely be taken outside of them, whereas the latter is aimed at people who don’t often use Irish outside of school.

Irish (native speaker) can stay pretty much the same as the current Irish curriculum since it’s aimed at people who can speak Irish the way most of us do English. Whereas Irish (learner) would be set up more like the foreign languages – French, German, Spanish etc – that are taught in schools already.

Currently, people who have only learnt simple introductions and past tense verbs are coming into secondary school expected to be able to write essays by themselves, and as time goes on it gets harder and harder. We are treated as if we should know things about Irish that we have never been taught. That needs to be changed. We need to be taught what things mean and why we use them more than just “because we do.” In primary school we were made to learn lists of Irish words off – liom, leat, leis, lei, linn, libh, leo; orm, ort, air, uirthi, orainn, oraibh, orthu etc – but it wasn’t until Leaving Cert. that I learned they had different meanings and you didn’t just alternate based off your gut feeling. I only learned that because of an offhand comment my teacher made that we as a class then asked about. He grew up in Connemara and seemed very surprised that we didn’t know the difference.

 Irish isn’t spoken widely anymore outside of Gaeltacht areas and the vast majority of Irish people who can “speak” Irish haven’t spoken it since leaving school. Most of what they do know is due to learning by heart and not actually learning to speak the language. The problem isn’t a lack of interest, it’s mainly the curriculum which forces the teachers to not actually teach the language properly because that isn’t important to get us through our exams.

I struggled with Irish greatly in secondary school and I believe most of that is down to being pushed into an exam I wasn’t able for. I was discouraged from taking ordinary level because as long as I passed, I would get more points in higher level. I put myself under a lot of stress that I think could have been avoided if I had had the choice to study Irish as a language I was learning, rather than one I seemed to be expected to know.

 If it was taught differently more people would want to and would enjoy learning the language. The only way Irish will properly survive is if they actually start teaching us how to speak the language not just acting like we are already fluent in it. I have heard a vast amount of people say that they can speak French or German better than a language they’ve been “taught” since they were four years of age. The language you’ve been around since early childhood should be much easier to speak than one you’ve been learning for three or four years.

 Although every Irish person’s first language used to be Irish it has to be understood now that that isn’t the case and the way of promoting and encouraging Irish needs to be changed to reflect that. A hundred years ago testing students on analysing a poem in Irish would work since the person spoke the language fluently, but now we do not and without a serious change in teaching we never will be. There must be a change to increase proficiency of the language in the general Republic or it will die out. 

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 142

Chapter Summary - Danielle's cousin Siobhan and her boyfriend come to London sparking Tom to realise he never knew something about Danielle.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

Copyright for the photo is the owners, not mine. All image rights belong to their owners

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1 @black-ninja-blade

In certain areas of Ireland, Irish is still the first spoken language, not English, including parts of Connemara, Kerry, Cork and Donegal, amongst others. Kids actually do not speak English in the home with their family, it is not their first tongue.

The amount of times I have physically grimaced in the face of Americans and British people who try to tell me how our names are pronounced and spelt because they have had someone in their family 5 generations go that was Irish, so of course, they know more than someone raised in Irish, is growing by the day.

Right, here is a fun fact. Irish is not a phonetic language. The names are Siobhan - Shiv-awn Dáithí - Dah-hee Caoilfhionn - Kee-lin Aoife - Ee-fa

'Guess who?’ A pair of hands came over Danielle’s eyes.

‘How many Irish people do you expect me to know in the one station at the time you are arriving in?’ She laughed as she turned around to hug her cousin. ‘How was your journey?’

‘Confusing, Heathrow is mad.’

‘You get used to it.’ She looked at the guy that was next to her cousin. ‘And you must be Dáithí.’ She smiled, leaning forward and giving him a hug. ‘I believe it’s your first time to these parts.’

‘Tis, alright.’

‘Ah, a Waterford man. Speak slowly for them here, if you don’t they’ll be easily confused.’ The pair laughed. So, this is where we need to go to get the Northern Line.’ She instructed, taking them to the correct area of the station to get to their destination. ‘Tom and I are taking you two out for dinner and we will drop you at your hotel afterwards, alright?’

‘What, no Danielle, don’t worry yourself.’

‘I am not worrying myself, I mean it, we want to do this for you. Nothing fancy, just lovely Indian we always use, and this is not your local takeaway place; if it says spicy, it fucking means it.’

‘How are you with a privately educated Brit, you are too normal.’

‘Tom is not averse to swearing, I assure you.’ Danielle laughed as they got to the platform. ‘Four minutes.’ She stated, looking at the time for the next train, a man close to them seeing the sign and swearing at it as he did. ‘One thing about these parts, four minutes may as well be five hours, the way some people act.’

‘They’d die in Ireland.’

‘Yes, so don’t get too bothered when they start huffing and puffing like they want to blow down a house of straw in a few minutes.’ Danielle stated as she watched the time to the next train come down. When they got to the correct station, she ordered them off and walked them to the right house.

‘Wait, you live here?’

‘Yes.’ Danielle laughed at her cousin. ‘What were you expecting?’

‘It’s just so you.’

‘Well, it’s Toms, actually, not mine, but yes. I love it.’ She put the key in the door just as she heard Siobhan fawning. ‘I hope you like dogs, Dáithí.’

‘We have three at my Mam’s.’

‘Grand so.’ She opened the door, the dogs immediately rushing over. ‘Bed.’ Mac looked as though he had been struck, disheartened, he trotted to his bed, groaning as he did, Bobby looking between his big brother and the new humans to sniff before finally sensing Danielle’s body language was stern and trotting there sadly.

‘You’re so mean.’ Siobhan commented. ‘He’s only a puppy.’

‘Yep, he is.’ Danielle nodded, saying nothing more.

‘You are going to be the Mom that every other child in the school fears, you know that, right?’

‘Probably.’ Danielle acknowledged. ‘But then, my kids wouldn’t be the little shits running around the shop making a mess and back answering teachers.’

‘Yeah, that’s true actually.’ Siobhan conceded. ‘Is Tom here?’

‘Yes, he is working on something in his office, he’ll be down when he realises we’re here. Put your bags over there and we’ll get tea. I have Barry’s.’

‘What does Tom think of it?’

‘Tom maintains it’s fine, nothing special about it….but seems to find himself going for the box of that over the box of PG Tips.’ Danielle smiled, causing the other two to laugh. A moment later, the dogs’ ears shot up. ‘Here he is.’ When the sound of footfalls on the stairs became apparent, Danielle made another cup of tea.

A moment later, Tom walked into the room, an empty cup in his hand. ‘Hello.’ He smiled, before putting down the cup and walking over to Siobhan. ‘Great to see you again, did you have a good flight?’ He gave her a hug.

‘Hello, yes, it was fine, it’s so short you are hardly in the air when you are coming down again.’ She joked. ‘Tom, this is Dáithí, Dáithí, this is clearly Tom, Danielle’s….what do you call it?’

‘Long-suffering fool.’ Danielle jested as both men shook hands; when they were done, she walked over to Tom. ‘I’ll trade.’ She held out the fresh cup of tea and took the coffee mug off him.

‘That’s a good trade.’ Tom grinned. ‘What have I missed?’

‘Just that Danielle is going to be that mother that if she says “Sit Down” in a restaurant, her kids, all other kids, four husbands and a waiter will obey out of sheer fear alone.’ Siobhan recapped. ‘Ooh, did I show you the pictures of Laura’s baby?’

‘No, show me now.’ Danielle rushed over. ‘Oh my God, she looks so like her and you.’

‘I know. She is the cutest thing. I steal her any time I see her.’ Siobhan moved through the pictures.

‘How did Bernie take it?’

‘Oh, she’s the doting grandmother now.’

‘Of course, she is.’ Danielle rolled her eyes, having known her aunt’s reaction to the pregnancy. ‘Oh, before I forget, stay here, I have two outfits I got for her that I want you to bring back.’ Danielle left the room and went up the stairs to retrieve the bag with the little outfits she had purchased on hearing of the safe arrival of her cousin’s daughter. When she went back into the kitchen, Tom looked utterly baffled. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Say Laura’s baby’s name.’ Siobhan laughed.

‘Why?’

‘Just say it.’ she encouraged.

‘Caoilfhionn Aoife McNamara.’ Danielle looked at them all.

‘See.’ Siobhan beamed.

‘What’s going on?’ Danielle asked.

‘Tom saw how Caoilfhionn is spelt.’ Dáithí explained.

‘Ah, right.’ Danielle, realising there was no actual problem, went over to Siobhan with the bag. ‘You had me worried.’

‘Worried...how the fuck is that word pronounced like that?’ Tom exclaimed.

‘Because it is.’ Danielle shrugged. ‘That’s Irish, it’s not even in the same branch of languages as English, it is very close to Scottish Gael though, your dad might have known speakers of that growing up.’

‘There’s an “f” in it.’

‘Yes, I know. I know how to spell it.’ Danielle stated.

‘You do know Danielle was raised in Connemara. Her parents didn’t speak to her in English all her life, right?’ Siobhan pointed out.

Tom stared at Danielle. ‘What?’

‘Connemara is a Gaeltacht, the first language in those regions is Irish, not English.’ She shrugged. ‘Everyone there speaks Irish as their first language.’

‘But your mother was not from there?’

‘No, she was from Beara in Cork, the Cork Gaeltacht.’ She explained. ‘I learnt English in school when I was five.’

‘Really?’

‘Did I not tell you this?’

‘No.’

‘Whoops.’ She gave the bag to Siobhan. ‘Look at the little yellow one.’

‘So...you only spoke English in school?’ Tom reiterated.

‘In English lessons, yes, the rest of the time, we were taught in as Gaeilge so unless I went to Galway for the day with my parents, I could go a couple of days without speaking or hearing a single word of English.’ She looked at his shocked face. ‘You saw how Aoife is spelt too, right?’ He shook his head. ‘How would you spell it.’

‘E.F.A.’ She shook her head. ‘E.E.F.A.?’

Again Danielle shook her head. ‘I’ll give you a hint. The “A” is at the start and the “E” is at the end.’

‘Fuck off. No, you’re just joking now.’

‘A.O.I.F.E.’ She spelt.

‘I…’ Tom sighed. ‘I give up.’

‘Siobhan has a “B”. And Dáithí has a “T”.’ She stated.

‘Why is it so complicated?’

‘Because it is older than English and we like to confuse you.’

‘So that incomprehensible mumbling you do when calculating things is not just gibberish?’

‘Moda means plus, Luda means minus and the rest is usually numbers, all in Irish, all force of habit.’ She explained with a smile.

*

The evening was pleasant, with Tom and Danielle bringing the younger pair to dinner. When that was done, Danielle drove them to the Travelodge that they were staying at, with a plan to meet them a day or two later to do some sightseeing with them before saying their farewells.

While tidying the house for the evening, Tom found himself looking at Danielle a lot.

‘Dare I ask?’

‘So in all respects, this is your second language, English?’

‘Are you still bothered by that?’ She asked curiously.

‘I just never thought…’

‘When the Plantations occurred, and the Cromwellian situation after, most of the Irish were hunted to Connacht, where the land was wet and as a result, the language never waned as it did in other areas, famine, war, none of it took the language there. Sure, look at the Welsh, their language all but died and was revived, now it is a popular language in some parts of there again.’

‘I know, I just...Do you think in Irish or in English?’

‘It varies from moment to moment.’ She smirked, using his line, causing him to smile. ‘When I am at home here, tidying and what not, more often, in Irish I suppose. I speak Irish to the dogs some days or listen to Radio na Gaeltachta online or something. I get worried I will lose it sometimes. I love my language.’

‘I never even considered it.’ He confessed. ‘How come I never hear it on?’

‘I rarely have the radio on when you are home.’

‘Well, from now on, if you want to listen and I am here, please do.’

‘You won’t understand three words.’

‘No, I won’t, but it matter to you, and so long as it is not secretly trying to plan some form of attack on my home, I don’t particularly mind.’ He put his arms around her.

‘Damn, you’re onto them.’ She smiled, leaning up and kissing him.

Tom chuckled for a moment. ‘So, if we decide to have kids, would you speak Irish to them?’

‘Definitely.’

‘I will have to learn it so.’ He kissed her again. ‘Elle?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Please never consider calling one a word I could never hope to spell.’

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

TG Lurgan - Bohemian Rhapsody i nGaeilge - liricí

TG Lurgan is a musical project launched by Coláiste Lurgan, an independent summer school based in Connemara, a Gaeltacht, where the Irish language is the predominant spoken language.  TG Lurgan releases interpretations as covers of many popular tunes with new lyrics in the Irish language.

[littlelonghairedoutlawllho]

For the record, I do in fact have Thoughts about E/C retiring to Connemara. Most of these have been formed in the last two days.

It’s a little thatched cottage just in off the coast. White-washed walls, an open fire where they burn turf and wood.

Erik goes for daily walks with his violin. He sits and looks out across the wide Atlantic and plays and incorporates the music of the birds into his pieces. On wet days he finds sheltered places to sit. The wind whipping through cracks in the stone walls stirs something unfathomable deep in his blood.

Christine cycles and sometimes she joins him on his walks but mostly she goes on her own walks, sketchbooks and charcoal. She sketches the waves and the rocks and Erik and the birds and rabbits and wildflowers. She sketches the graveyards and half-closes her eyes and sees how it all might have been once.

Erik picks wildflowers for her every day, and winds them into her hair.

They don’t have a television, only a crackly radio that mostly picks up the Irish-language channels. It’s a Gaeltacht. Erik has never spoken Irish in his life but he’s learning it now.

They have a battered old wind-up record player and when the winter storms come they play jazz music and soft piano pieces and dance slowly together as the wind howls outside and the rain beats down and it feels like they are the first people, the only people.

They love each other quietly and gently.

Erik’s past is a thousand worlds away. He does not wear a mask.

They have a small collection of books, mostly poetry, some gentle biographies and pieces of fiction that have touched their hearts. They read by the fire, sometimes in silence, sometimes to each other, and Erik will lie with his head in her lap as she cards her fingers through his thick hair.

She cycles into the village when they want groceries, and sometimes to buy a newspaper.

They often lose track of the days.

There is always fresh baking, those times when Nadir comes to call.