Tag: art

Posted in Bealtaine Cottage, Books, care for the earth, Earth, Eco-Living, Ecology, Permaculture, photography

Morning

Posted on by Colette O'Neill

The first week of July and there’s a feint scent of Autumn in the air this morning.

The morning brings a quiet and gentle beginning to the day, untouched by the continuing perplexities of man.

IMG_2384IMG_2385“Man has drawn artificial lines on the chest of the Mother Earth, which have no significance, except for the sake of war and clashes between countries. The soil seems to be the same, the trees the same, the grass the same, and the fragrance of the air, the smell of the earth the same.”
~ Girdhar Joshi

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Yes it is…all the same…at most times hard to believe when one watches the circus of life on MSM.

IMG_2388Bread and circuses, but we all know and recognise real life.

IMG_2417It has a colour and fragrance all of its own.

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“The earth is a mosaic, and most fail to notice the gossamer tesserae floating down from the realm of the mind that form its images of beauty and horror.”
~ Lawren Leo

IMG_2423If you would like to support the work of Bealtaine Cottage, completely dependent on people who value what I do, here’s how…
The Book… https://bealtainecottage.com/a-cottage-and-three-acres-the-bealtaine-story/

 
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Bealtaine Cottage
Ballyfermoyle
Keadue
Boyle
County Roscommon
Ireland
Posted in Bealtaine Cottage, Inspiration, Ireland, Permaculture, Sustainable Living, Thrift

The Art of Seduction

Posted on by Colette O'Neill

cropped-www-bealtainecottage-com-0341.jpgRain falls softly as I type.

The day has given way to evening and the sun sets in the west behind the trees.

Autumn 2013 at Bealtaine Cottage 024There is a chill in the air; I have lit the stove.

Birds swoop low over the roof of the lodge; so low, I can hear the sound of their wings.

cropped-www-bealtainecottage-com-0024.jpgOver recent weeks there has been much clearing out of sheds, cupboards and closets, as the energy of approaching Midsummer holds sway.

Through all of this, I have been mindful of need; keeping up a steady flow of goods to charity shops.

Autumn 2013 at Bealtaine Cottage 019
Ever mindful of human need, my mind turns to scarcity.

What does it mean and how does it affect us?

Autumn 2013 at Bealtaine Cottage 020Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfil all human wants and needs.

The art of seduction in society has led to a feeling of scarcity in the mindset of many people.

Solstice morning at Bealtaine Cottage 2013Media and advertisements seduce many into a perpetual state of want; and when not getting what they desire, into a state of perceived deprivation.

The standing stone at Bealtaine Cottage February 2013This is what creates and maintains consumers.

table on the verandaLiving in a corporate society means being a consumer.

cropped-060.jpg It has suited successive governments to align their economic policy with that of corporations, turning us all into little more than consumers.

Autumn 2013 at Bealtaine Cottage 002Every aspect of our lives is heavily weighted in favour of consumption, yet not even the corporate junk food fills us up!

cropped-www-bealtainecottage-com-0141.jpgIn the process of this debasement we have lost our sense of community and dignity.

We have been systematically seduced into a continual state of perceived scarcity…the cause of a deepening unhappiness. 

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Posted in Animals, Art, Autumn, Cats, Cottage, Country Living, Ireland, photography, Trees, Uncategorized

A Life in the Country ~ Today at Bealtaine Cottage

Posted on by Colette O'Neill

Missy. Staring wisely through her beautiful cat’s eyes. Such wisdom in that little head…  

Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most
inconvenience.  ~Pam Brown   (Indeed…sitting in my seat, I do believe)!

A catless writer is almost inconceivable.  It’s a perverse taste, really, since
it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one
cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the
typewriter keys.  ~Barbara Holland

I bought this painting recently, having been drawn towards it and virtually hypnotised into the purchase…it is old and evokes a sense of 1950’s rural Ireland…and one of my favourite authors wrote expansively about this time…Edna O’Brien.

 Every
artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his
pictures.  ~Henry Ward Beecher

Jack looks over at Missy the cat…yes, Jack, keep watching…don’t take your eyes off her! 

There has never been a cat
Who couldn’t calm me down
By walking
slowly
Past my chair.
~Rod McKuen

History is a cyclic poem written by Time upon the memories of man.  ~Percy
Bysshe Shelley

Today I went for a lovely, long walk, down in the old park around what was an ancient house by Lough Key. This is the old stable block as seen through the portcullis…

If one could make alive again for other people some cobwebbed skein of old dead
intrigues and breathe breath and character into dead names and stiff portraits. 
That is history to me!  ~George Macaulay Trevelyan

This is the old family church near where the old house once stood…the roof has gone and the shell of the beautiful old building stands alone…