| Tipperary was a beauty. A young grandmother played Native American flutes tuned to 432 frequency this morning for me as the sun shined upon my face and her bare feet sticking out of her homely camper van. Last night flurelady told me that the Gardai threatened to take her van the other day when she was allegedly outside her 5k limit. The Garda did not seem to appreciate the idea that the van was her home which meant she was definitely within any 5k limitations. How could any human make such a threat to an adorable grandmother, especially one who swore an oath to God to protect. Oaths or no oaths, she now uses the backroads because, in her own words, ‘sure they’d leave you on the street’. She did not like being threatened with homelessness and she does not like being afraid. She likes flutes. Tipperary is the name of this county and I only went through 3 checkpoints to get here from Sherkin island but luckily no one threatened to take my car or home away from me. I would like got say I don’t give a flute about checkpoints but I do, each time I felt fear just beneath my belly button when they approach me. Flutelady also shared with me her fears about not being able to see her grandchild anymore because her daughter thinks that her unvaccinated, unmasked lifestyle of travelling and connecting with other humans is dangerous. She does not like masks, vaccines, or being separated from seeing her grandchild. She likes flutes. I like her very much and appreciate her soft voice, gentle manner and words of wisdom. When she played music, all the fears faded and there was nothing left within or without, but peace. After she played music for me and went to the house, I put a neatly folded twenty euro note in her van under the seat as I was too shy to give her the money in exchange for her tune. I knew she would find it later and I didn’t need her to know it was from me. The gig last night was in an artist’s home, a weaver lady and so much more. I am facing a colourful mandala on the wall, where many would have put a TV so instead of listening to a box spouting our how many cases and programming me with fear, I have wall of beauty silently spouting out colour and joy. There is art all over this house and garden, everything my eyes set upon is beautiful – the wonderful weaver woman weaves sticks with such grace and elegance as she does with humans and animals who come to her home. She and her 6 dogs and 6 humans took me to the standing stone before the gig, but her 5 horses remained, chilling in the fields. I heard words, barking, then silence in between the notes of a flute. I called upon the strength of our ancestors with my hands upon ancient rocks and wondered why they put them there. Just because they could, shits and giggles or because they were completely in tune with nature and the stars.. Who knows for sure? Probably flute lady but she was busy restoring peace to the world with a tune. A man who has knowledge in his head and a joint in his fingers talked of ancient civilisations on the island. He compared the ancient language Ogham to Sanskrit and told me that the Romans referred to Ireland as sacred. I called upon the sacredness too. We chopped wood for the fire and rounded up the dogs before returning to the heavenly art home where 15 ish humans made a make shift theatre in front of a blazing fire. They brought apple pie and food and warm genuine hugs as gifts.. A keg of local beer called Gypsey Rose which uses unflouridated well water was ordered. It was drank. Apparently a 17 year old girl in England got offended by the name, ‘White Gypsey’, even though the brew is not sold in England so they are changing the name to ‘White Field’. By the time she is legally allowed to drink a pint of White Field, she will have successfully brought down the name of a small locally run beer company. I wonder shall the beer taste as good with the knowledge that it bowed down to tyrannical suppression of an offended teenager. Hmmm. For now, it tastes delicious. At the end of the show the man with the knowledge and joints spoke after my show and made a toast. ‘It is beautiful to have humans come together and laugh in synchronicity…. Cheers.’ It truly is. This is why I do it. How many cases and deaths were reported on the 9pm news? Is a question none of us knew the answer to. How many pints were drank from the keg? Loads. Before I said my goodbyes and left to perform at a mass rock in county Clare, flute lady came up, put out her hand out, and said ’22’. Pardon I said in my poshest Southside Dublin voice. ’22 is a good number’ and she handed me 22 euros as a gift for my show. I tried to say no and hand it back but she insisted, ‘go on, it’s for you, I am good for money.’ I saw it was the same neatly folded note I had put in her van and smiled at the love and generosity in the world. And that is how you make 10% on your investment in a few hours. |
