by shannonchance

Dramatic Smithfield

Mix-use complex built during the economic boom known as the Celtic Tiger.

An impressive canyon-like space within a mix-use complex that was built during the economic boom (known as the Celtic Tiger).

Smithfield is home to some dramatic public spaces.  Most notably, there’s Europe’s largest cobblestone-paved plaza. Bordering this are circular spaces that make Swiss cheese of the Jameson Distillery (where the courtyards are even painted yellow) and the dramatic canyon opposite the plaza from it (see photo).

A lot of development happened in Smithfield during the economic boom known as the Celtic Tiger.  Today the apartments of Smithfield appear t be filled with residents — but many of the cultural, retail, and office spaces of Smithfield are vacant or under used.

Nevertheless, there are enough restaurants, attractions, businesses, and services here to keep the place feeling alive enough.

I haven’t yet been to many of the highlights (such as the Lighthouse Cinema, the Smithfield Art Tunnel, the Generator Hostel, or the Maldron Hotel). But I have enjoyed my time at a number of the eateries as well as the Jameson Distillery, the Cobblestone, the Elbowroom (which is one of Smithfield’s many guys), and the Fresh Market.

Smithfield really doesn’t deserve the bad wrap it gets.  But as long as people have the perception that there might be something scary here, the rents will stay reasonable. And that part is fine by me!

The old smokestack of the Jameson Distillery.

The old smokestack of the Jameson Distillery.

by shannonchance

Kevin and Jerry — On Air

Remember when I helped Jerry Crilly (my pal from the Cobblestone pub) find his ole pal Kevin Donleavy?  Kevin lives in Virginia, which is why Jerry (a Dublin resident) requested my help.  Well, Kevin has written to me several times since.  He’s going to be featuring some of the music Jerry sent him on his WTJU radio show tomorrow!  I hope you’ll tune in to learn something about traditional Irish music!  See how, below:
———————
A chairde and pals,

Kevin Donleavy. (Photo by Josh Meltzer, The Roanoke Times)

Kevin Donleavy. (Photo by Josh Meltzer, The Roanoke Times)

Just a reminder to switch on your radio this Saturday for another on-line program of Irish trad music. It’s the ATLANTIC WEEKLY PART TWO show, and the date is Dec. 1.  As always, the broadcast time is 10 am till 12 noon, eastern US time (or 3 to 5 pm in Ireland).  If you live near the Charlottesville, Virginia area,  you can listen on WTJU, at 91.1 on the FM dial.
This week there will be whistle playing from both Enda Seery and Kathleen Conneely off their newish CDs.  Among the younger  groups you can hear are Realta from Belfast,  Ioscaid from all over the Wee Six counties, and Flashback from Texas.  Among the individual singers this week are Tadgh Maher and Jerry Reilly,  Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Mairin Fahy,  Jerry Crilly and Lenny Duff.  There’s plenty to entertain even the most sophisticated and jaded ears !  Reels agus jigs galore !
Here are the easy steps to listen in on your computer. First, visit http://wtju.net.  Next, select Listen Live on the right side bar. Then,  choose between Ogg and MP3.
Hope that you can tune in this Saturday, wet the tea, and roll back the carpet.
Kevin
by shannonchance

Dave’s Handiwork

Our new porch floor!

Dave has made a lot of progress installing a new floor for our porch back home.  What a wonderful gift it will be to return to this at Christmas!

This is the most recent phase in our very extended porch renovation project.

Previously, Dave installed a new foundation and then hired bricklayers to install an entirely new brick foundation and new brick pillars.  He placed new limestone steps and limestone caps for the piers.  Then he framed in a new structural system for the porch floor, and primed, painted, and installed the tongue-and-groove floorboards.

Much earlier in the renovation process, we replaced the dilapidated front door with one we bought at Caravati’s Architectural Salvage in Richmond. It got a new limestone threshold. And someday, we may actually install a window in the transom opening.

The green wood siding and the yellow wood columns are original. At this point, they need quite a bit of scraping and painting.  I was in charge of the scraping the first time and I did much of the painting as well.  This go around should be much easier.  The last time we had 100 years worth of paint to remove!

Under the porch roof, we found a piece of lumber signed by the builder and dated 1896.  That’s quite old for a house in the USA.

 

by shannonchance

Cubism under a Chilly Sky

I noticed this cubist-inspired building facade this morning, while walking down Liffey Street in Dublin.

After the dazzling sunrise Thursday morning, a covering of clouds had rolled in.  This cover suspended the melting process, extending the pre-dawn frost into the morning.

I was scurrying along en route to an all-day seminar.  The topics being covered (leadership and change) are central to the paper I’m writing at the moment.  So I’d signed up to attend this event hosted by DIT’s Learning, Teaching, and Technology Centre to see how Irish folks talk about the topic and frame the issues.

On this particular morning the sidewalks — which the Irish refer to as footpaths — were still slick.  A thin layer of frozen mist remained.

This distracted me from capturing images for the first few blocks of my walk.

It wasn’t too long, however, before a facade that I’d never-before noticed captured my gaze.  I dug around for my camera and started to compose.  I was eager to show you this built example of cubism.

The Cublist Museum in Prague, a built example of cubist. Photo downloaded from Portal of Prague.

The Cublist Museum in Prague, a built example of cubist. The building is known as the House of the Black Madonna. Photo downloaded from Radio Prague website.

Unlike most styles of art, cubism never really flourished in architecture.  It’s rare to find built expressions of cubism most anywhere but Prague.  Portal of Prague explains, “Prague is the Mecca of Cubism lovers. This is not only because some of the Prague pre war art collectors were in favour of this style but mainly due to the fact that Prague is the only city with so many cubist buildings. The worlds unique buildings were build within four years from 1911 until the beginning of the First World War.”

I speak from experience when I say that the sky in Prague is often chilly.  I visited with a group of Hampton University students one chilly week in March several years ago.

Here in Dublin on this particular morning, the lights on this facade brought the building to life.  The cubist facade glowed warmly against the steel-grey sky.

The chilly sky actually helped me to see something I’d overlooked many times before.

Juxtaposed buildings.

Reflection of skyline in the Liffey River.

by shannonchance

Dublin Sunrise

Here’s a photo of this morning’s amazing Dublin sky.

The best part?

The sky is this beautiful nearly every day!

Dublin sunrise reflection

by shannonchance

Brushes with Great Museums

Meeting with Brian Bowe and Gavin Duffy at the Beatty Library’s cafe.

The cafe at the Chester Beatty Library serves up a fine selection of Middle Eastern, North African, Mediterranean, and vegetarian entrees and gluten-free desserts.  We met there for lunch Tuesday since it’s halfway between Gavin’s base on Kevin Street and ours on Bolton Street.

Mom and her neighbors (Tim and Mary) spoke highly of this “Silk Road Cafe.”  The Dean had heard its praises sung as well.  Unfortunately, he was called to a more urgent meeting and couldn’t join us after all.

The Beatty Library’s sun-filled, glass-covered courtyard was a lovely setting for our discussion of student-centered learning, research, and publication strategy.

Shockingly, neither of my colleague had ever been to this incredible museum before!  Yet it houses one of the world’s most astounding collections of religious artifacts.  It represents all the world’s major religions and was donated by the American collector Chester Beatty.  And, amazingly, admission is completely free! (Lunch, however, is not.)

Although I didn’t get Gavin and Brian into the actual exhibit halls, at least they got to experience the covered courtyard and the stunning “Castle garden.” It’s surrounded by a high wall and feels very much like a secret garden. During my childhood, I dearly loved the book The Secret Garden.

Castel Garden, behind Dublin Castle. (Photo borrowed from W&L travel log.)

A few hours after our lunch, I had another brush with great museums when Seán Rainbird lectured at the DIT School of Architecture.  He’s the new director of the National Gallery of Ireland. He has also worked at the Tate in London and the Stattsgallerie in Stuttgart (designed by James Stirling’s office).

Seán Rainbird talked about Joseph Beuys’ fascination with all things Celtic when he spoke at the DIT School of Architecture.

Can you imaging that I delivered a lecture in the same “Schools of Thought” lecture series with such an accomplished person?  Wow!

Seán talked about Joseph Beuys and the Celtic World, the topic of a book he wrote.  He said he had just three weeks to write it!  Can you imagine being so knowledgeable about a topic that you could produce a press-worthy document in just three weeks?  Truly amazing.

They say everyone wants to “be like Mike.”  I’d rather “be like Seán” myself!

by shannonchance

“The Ongoing Evolution of Post-Recession Dublin”

The Atlantic Cities posted an interesting article about Dublin written by Richard Conway, a guy who lives in NYC.  Conway provides an interesting take on what’s going on here–though the suggestion that protests break out left and right is downright absurd.  (But then, maybe he hasn’t been to Greece for comparison?)

Thanks, Chris Bonney, for forwarding this article to me.

by shannonchance

Tuesday Nights at the Cobblestone

The dim light of the Cobblestone on a Tuesday night.

I love stopping by the Cobblestone on Tuesday nights after yoga class.  Tom Mulligan (the proprietor), his son Tomas, and some of his nephews play on Tuesdays.  The crowd is small on Tuesdays and the tone of the place is very relaxed.  I alway find a good a seat right in the musicians’ corner.

Irish musicians often play more than one instrument. Here you see Tomas on guitar and his cousin playing flute with a set of uilleann pipes on his lap.

Whenever I come in on Tuesday, Tom’s playing his flute.  When the song ends and he looks up, recognizes me, and exclaims “Shannon!” in the most lovely Kerry accent I’ve ever heard.  That warms my heart!

Of course, dropping in on the way home from yoga leads to some misconceptions as well.  Many people assume that my tall, green bag holds a musical instrument.  The musicians and audience alike ask me to join in.

Unfortunately, it’s been years since I played the oboe. But with six years of that under my belt, I know that playing well takes tremendous time and dedication.  Were I to take up an instrument, it would take years before I’d be ready to play for an audience.

by shannonchance

Echelons of Third Space

The Cobblestone made complimentary mention of an earlier blog on “third spaces,” so I’ve decided it’s time to write the sequel I promised.

A couple of weeks ago, after sequestering myself in my apartment for two days to write, I need a brief respite and some healthy food.  I headed to Third Space–Cafe and Social Space on the nearby Smithfield Plaza.

After placing an order at the counter, I realized I’d forgotten my wallet.  You see, I’d given a new purse a whirl the day before and accidentally left every cent in that handbag rather than the one I now carried.

The young man behind the counter could have easily cancelled the order.  He’d probably not even hit the enter key at that point.  But instead he said, “It’s okay.  You’ve been here before. You can pay later.”

Wow!  I’d been there twice.  Once was with Esther about four days prior.

This guy had rendered excellent service on that outing–and that was one reason I returned again so soon.

Now I’d normally have trouble accepting such an act of kindness, for fear something might go wrong.  But this time I admitted to myself that his was a much better option than trudging home hungry–particularly when I had so much to do.

So I stayed put and enjoyed a tasty slice of quiche with a side of grilled vegetables.

While eating, I devised a plan that required asking for more leeway than the kind cashier had actually offered.  When I got up to leave, I approached him and asked, “Is it okay if I come back to pay tomorrow morning? That way I can get breakfast while I’m here.  Will you be working tomorrow?”

He said yes and indicated the plan was acceptable. And I went on my merry way.

At home, I made sure to set an iPhone reminder.  I wouldn’t run the risk forgetting a responsibility as important as this.

I arrived back at Third Space around 8:30 the next morning.  After greeting the cashiers, I ordered a “mini veg” and asked to pay for both meals. The young woman who was ringing me up thanked me for returning to pay. And the young man was visibly relieved to see me.

“Isn’t it nice that we can trust each other?” he asked.

Yes, it surely is!

The Third Space offers shelves of books and an upper tier where the sign says, “here, it’s okay to talk to strangers.”

I must say, though, that he had to extend much more trust than I, since I know I’ll certainly follow through!  But what let him know I would?

In my mind, there was no way I would ever shake his faith in humanity by not meeting our agreement.  Such breaches have happened to me before, and the scars have left me far less generous to strangers than I’d like to be. But this particular story has a happy ending.

This young man has provided a glorious example of generosity.  He has demonstrated what a true “third space” is all about.

The website of the place he works, the “Third Space–Cafe and Social Space” claims that the founders wanted to provide a comfortable space for all, where people could feel included without having to spend much money.  This example proved to me that they have succeeded.

by shannonchance

From Across the Atlantic

Dave sent me a view of our weekend FaceTime session–as seen from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

This is Christopher Chance, our very energetic three-year-old nephew.  He was quite enthusiastic about talking with me, and I have to say his speaking abilities have developed at warp speed while I’ve been away.

Christopher on FaceTime