Peace begins....

..........................with you and me!

Many years ago.....back in the dark ages......well 1989.....there was a badge going for a Peace Project...and I am a sucker for a Brownie badge!

In our leaders magazine there was a Children's Peace Treaty, and this gave me an idea.

So I got all of my Brownies to draw a picture of something either related to Brownies or to Ireland, just a pencil outline drawing. They came up with some great pictures. I cut them out and made a collage of them around the treaty on a large sheet of paper A3 size..that's about 11.5in by 16in.

 The following week they all signed the treaty, and yet another week later they were all given several photocopies of the sheet to colour.

These things are always long drawn out when you only meet once a week.

This is my coloured copy to just show you how it comes to life.

So we come to the crunch

What were we going to do with our poster????

My idea was to send off as many copies as possible all over the world, to Brownies Guide/Brownie Girl Scouts. Known also by many other names in the different countries.....but all in the age group of 7 to 11 years.

Remember that in those days.....21 years ago we didn't have personal scanners or the internet at home.

Snail mail ruled.

The pack to be sent out contained our treaty and a blank one which we asked them to decorate, sign and send back to us, as well as information about Brownies in Ireland and about our own pack and local area....and anything else we could think of!!

 

My daughter who is a great illustrator had a big part to play in the finished products. She also had lots of penfriends all over the world, some in Guiding, who were sent a copy...with a request to pass it on to a Brownie pack.

Friends, relatives, Brownies all came up with names. Then there were  places we had visited and Brownie packs and Guide shops that we had worked with and visited,  and when all else failed...I just sent them to the Guide HQ in  the capital city of a country, and the 4 World Guiding Centers and hoped for a response.

Altogether I sent out to 25 countries.....Australia, Brazil, Canada, Republic of China, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, UK, USA, and Zimbabwe.

In 1990 there were 112 member countries, not sure how many there are now.

The red ticks are where I sent to and  the green ticks are ones that sent a poster back...tho' some did write but my poster never did get  a response from a Brownie Pack.

We marked them in on a map...great way to learn some geography!

For me this project goes down in history as one of the best things that I ever did.

21 years later.

  These children are now in their late 20's or early 30's that's a whole generation ago!

And we still don't have peace!

You will not know this but the uniform that our Brownies wear has changed considerably in  21 years.

 In the 1980's I was doing a  doll making badge ....no not a Brownie badge!!

I had to make 3 dolls and one had to be a character doll, made of felt with a moulded face...and it had to be able to stand. So this was my character doll. The uniform is authentic even to the actual material.

She has all her badges and the scratchy wool hat that the brownies used to hate. She stands courtesy of copper rivets in her shoes!!

Now they wear a yellow sweatshirt, navy trackpants, navy neckerchief and navy badge sash and NO hat. Much more child friendly but no where near as smart.

The nearest I can do to show you is my Brownie TatBead from Jane Eb's TatBead family, look under TatBead family and friends in her people section.

OK! well that's the the required tatting element .

So now you are wondering why I said that you might be able to help.

Well I showed my Book Of Peace with all this in it and more, to the latest leaders of the pack and they were so taken by it that they want to repeat it for Thinking Day February 22nd, this year. For those who don't know Thinking day is a special day for all members of the Guide and Scout Associations all over the World.

21 years later now I have so many internet friends, and folks who have email, and so do the other leaders. The Brownies have cousins all over the world...and their mums have email.

 Some of you must have girls of Brownie age, others must be able to find out about a Brownie Guide/Girl Scout/ etc group near you.

Please go out there and find names and addresses that I can send my packs to and lets make the 2010 project a humdinger!!

If you send me your contact info  in a comment, I will not publish it......but you will have to send a second comment that I can publish! Do please leave a comment if you think this is a good idea and may be able to help,

leave a comment PLEASE.

Go, Go, Go!!

Next time I will show you some of the replies that I got.

A tranquil place to visit.

Over on my other blog..which now has all the Kool Tatting stuff...I told you about Grandbaby's first birthday and his Birthday outing.

Lots of you wanted to know more about the garden.
While you can read all about the garden here I decided to share with you some more pictures of my visits there....last year in September for my 65th Birthday and this October for Grandbaby's first birthday.

The garden is a not-for-profit organisation and is a registered charity. Entry fees go purely to maintain the garden.

This is what the garden's founder says...
'Developing Brigit's Garden has been a wonderful process of seeing a dream come into reality. I hope many people will come here and enjoy the beauty of the place and the sense of closeness to nature. I feel that if we are going to sort out our relationship with the planet then we have to engage our hearts and spirits as well as our minds, and I hope Brigit's Garden will play its own small part in this process. We look forward to welcoming you to the garden.'
Jenny Beale

This is a map of the garden....



....let's take a closer look at the area at the bottom of the map...



These four gardens represent the Celtic festivals.
This is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en)The Winter Garden, probably my favourite.



If you click on the picture you should be able to read the sign.



The bronze figure is so tranquil.



Next comes Imbolc Spring Garden (pronounced Im-ulk).



The carved spiral represents the 3 faces of Brigit.



This leads on to a glade with basketwork swings.



Bealtaine Summer Garden (pronounced Belt-an-a) must look stunning inn the summer. The theme is of the mythical lovers Diarmuid and Grainne. We see their grassy bed surrounded by wildflowers in the summer.



A processional way leads between tall stones to a fire circle and a throne of bog oak and yew. It is a must to sit on the throne and claim your personal power and sit as King or Queen.




and the Bealtaine garden features Diarmuid and Grainne's bed, a grassy hollow facing the sun and surrounded by simple wildflowers. The lovers theme is carried through to the Flame Figures sculpture. A processional way between tall stones has copper flames set into the path and leads to a fire circle, backed by a throne in bog oak and yew. Here, the young adult can claim their personal power and sit as King or Queen in their own life.



Of course our little Prince was crowned King..



Finally there is Lughnasa Autumn Garden (pronounced Loo-na-sa).



This is laid out as a place for feasting and dancing.



That's just one area of the garden, the rest is very extensive with woodland walks etc.
The roundhouse in the center of the celtic gardens is where the Halloween storytelling will take place. It has windows looking out to each of the 4 gardens. It is used for art and music, meditation, meetings or just relaxing, and often for most interesting classes.



Here is the Crannog that you asked about...





No garden visit would be complete with out some plants!!









One little boy thought these were the best treat ever..



Lots more to see but you will have to go there yourself!!!

Another year another Queen!

I can't believe that it has been over a year since the old Queen left us to go to another life...and now a new Queen came to town today.

You can't believe my excitement at waiting to see this new boat...I think I must be addicted to liners!

I wanted to see how much she would differ from the previous flagship. She is described as being a liner rather than a cruise ship! She was to be an Ocean Liner for the 21st century, and she went into service on Oct 20th 2004.

Yesterday was her fifth birthday. You can read more about her here.

This time we went to see if we could spot her before she entered the harbour.



Finally she emerged from the mist. It is a wild and windy day.



Then we had to race round to our favourite vantage point to see her enter the harbour. I wanted to take the same views as last time to compare her.

Here she comes, no blue sky today!



Look at last years picture of the old Queen.



The new one was built to have speed and stabilty..a difficult thing to achieve in modern Cruise liners with so much super structure. She certainly has more of the look of a modern cruise liner with large cabin windows.



compare... she is bigger and broader and was the largest ocean going passenger liner in the world at the time of her launch.
The original two Queens were 65,000tons, the retiring Queen was 80,000tons and this current one is 148,000tons.



Does she still have the old fashioned elegance tho'!

She looks so small again within the large harbour.



We were back down in the village with the oldest yacht club in the world in time to see her sail deeper into the harbour.



We didn't go to see her in dock this time, believe that she is going to get a great Irish birthday party send off with band and all when she leaves at 6pm this evening.

The sun has finally come out and the sky is blue, I hope that the passengers have wonderful afternoon.

Hope that she comes again.

The day the Queen came to town to say 'Goodbye'.

Yesterday was the kind of day that I wished that I could bottle!

So that sometime in the future when I couldn't quite remember it, I could slip into the bottle and I would be there again. Maybe that is what cameras and blogs are all about.

It didn't actually start yesterday, but a long time ago...the excitement.

Sit back with a cup of tea and travel with me.

She holds a special fondness for us as way back in 1949/50 hubby and his family went to America and back on her predecessor. Years later having made so many good friends in the States his parents traveled to America again on this current Queen E.

I first saw her in 1989, I think that was when she first came to town, maybe earlier. But she couldn't get into the port to dock. Like every other liner she had to wait outside the harbour and her passengers had to be ferried to and fro by tender because we didn't have a channel deep enough.

I remember the excitement of getting up at dawn with the children to drive to see her, she was surrounded by crafts of all sizes out to see her too.

We have a long long tradition of visiting liners but not for pleasure cruising. Way back in the nineteenth century in the hey day of steam they were regular visitors

They carried so many of our people to the other side of the world. The wealthy traveled first or second or even third class but the bulk of the passengers were crowded into steerage.
We were the last port of call for the Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage and I was later to see the preserved wharf where they all bordered the tender that carried them out of the harbour to the waiting ship.



Queen E the second came to visit quite a few more times and by this time a deep water channel had been dredged so that she could come right into the harbour to dock. We have one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world.

Then she stopped coming maybe 15 years ago and her place was finally taken by a multitude of modern cruise liners getting bigger and bigger as cruising becomes more popular, built like skyscrapers they are with a balcony to every cabin.

A few weeks ago we read that our her majesty now an old lady of over 40 years was to go into retirement. She had three more cruises to do and one was a round tour of the British Isles calling at..yes you guessed it. Her final voyage in November is to Dubai where she will become a floating Hotel.

We could hardly let this pass and so once again we drove to see her come in, on wednesday lunchtime ( amuch more civilised hour!)hoping for clement weather. As we parked at the headland at the mouth of the harbour...the open sea to our right obstructed by an old British Garrison Fort...the sky went a black as night and the rain came sheeting down.

When it stopped we waited in the cold wind until she appeared.




Funnily enough our first though was...isn't she small!!




She was accompanied by Pilot boats guiding her through the channel, and lots of small craft.




This is just a peek at the dimensions of the harbour, photos can never do it justice.




As she turned to go behind the Island the sun lit her up and oh she was beautiful.



She finally docked in the little town that used to be called Queenstown in honour of a visit by Queen Victoria but when we got out independence it reverted to it's original name of cove but now with an Irish spelling.



Can you see the cathedral dominating the town from high on a hill. Remember that!

Now that takes me to where I began... yesterday.

She was in town all day due to sail at 6pm and we decided to go and see her close up.





Did I say she was small!!!





She may be old fashioned by boy has she got class!!

I can't remember the last time I was in this town and the sun was shining, my what a difference it makes.



See the Cathedral, well you could hardly miss it!

The town was in party mood as it is for all the visiting liners but this time was special, we were told to give her a good send off in the traditional way..waving handkerchiefs, I wonder will any other port of call treat her in such a special way or is it just the Irish with their tradition of emmigration and hospitality.

We have such a great love of statuary nowadays, and here in the town park named after an illustrious President of the United States who came to visit we have 'The Navigator' holding a little paper boat, isn't he brilliant?





It's a huge pull up the hill and a lot of steps top the cathedral, but it's worth it for the magnificent views of the harbour.
But look at the gathering rain clouds!!



Can you see the Victorian Bandstand in the park below??



Can you see the arrow on the opposite side showing where we stood the day before to watch her come in??

Down below entertainment was provided in the bandstand, firstly by a Pipe band and then by the Army band. A cup of good coffee and a chocolate brownie from the market stalls and we settled into listen. It was the sort of atmosphere that I wished could last for ever.

At one time the leader of the brass band decide to play a remix of 'Singing in the rain' and hoped that it would not be a bad omen. the sky was already darkening yet again and no sooner had the struck the first chord when the heavens opened and we had to run for shelter again.



They played for an hour by which time it was after 4pm and getting cold.
Climbed another hill to get another view...sorry if you think this is a lot of photos, think yourselves lucky you are not getting the whole 93 that I took!!!..including 9 movies that I do wish I could show, but the best ones were way too big, am still a learner.



and I said she wasn't BIG. She is docked next to the old railway station not a Heritage Center showing emmigration, Titanic and Lusitania.

We managed to move our car up to just in front of the bows of the ship and waited for her to sail. Everyone was taking photos of others in the spirit of camaraderie. Some had sqaures of cotton mounted on sticks to wave.



It took two huge tugs a long long time to pull her out.



Drag her to a wider part of the harbour

a lot of waving by us and the passengers all out to see us too.





and turn her round.



She soon gathered speed...



and steaming off into the gathering dusk



so it was God speed old girl, safe home.......slán abhaile

May your retirement be long and happy.