Thank you 2013, Welcome 2014

A big thank you to everyone I contacted, shared with and worked with through 2013 to make it another wonderful year for myself, good times for Claire and I hoped helped your year along too.

It was a very home and tree hugging year, very little travel, but I live in a beautiful place and great to be here through this mainly good weather year in Ireland.

Our Sunday afternoon Bards In The Woods and Picnics had far less support this year than last year, except for the politically motivated Walk In The Woods Day on 9th June ... Alas, after this we seem to rarely find many people in the forests. A bit disappointing, really, but we did venture into a lot more forests, some very ancient, and that excited me.

click here for the Bards In The Woods pages

It was lovely to see the great constant support in Louth forests with Lisa Watters. I hope that spirit inspires others to spread nationwide through 2014.

I did get into a bit of street protesting in Dublin, once against the sell off of Public Forests and another against Monsanto, GMO etc. A good experience but have decided my time is best spent on one to one coaching encouragement of more people to enjoy the forests and suggesting local and natural food choices demonstrated a bit though our woodland picnics. Explaining more is a full article ... maybe a book.

Being Gathering Year we saw a lot more people visiting where I live so it was great to show off the Keash Caves, Carrowkeel Cairns, Foxes Den, Kingstone Well, our Tree Labyrinth and performances by the Carrowcrory Cottage thatched cottage hearth with Claire Roche with songs and harps and a bit of myself too.

Thank you especially to groups brought to us by Mara Freeman, Amantha Murphy twice, Tonja Reichley, Kathleen Verigen, Amy Lewinski, Cabinteely Active Retirement and others.

Many thanks for the incredible pampered hospitality in Burg Ludwigstein castle near Witzenhausen, Germany in September. Wonderful event headed by Hildegard Fuhrberg and her team, Renate, Sabine, Ina and many more I should mention. Strange but lovely to be presenting Apple Wisdom in the heart of Germany's Apple growing and cider making country. Seeing Kila live there was very special too.

Super special was meeting Regina Roman and her mother who's family home is nearby Burg Ludwigstein and she was there the same time as we were. We have not met up for several years.

Many thanks for Susan Rudd and friends from Australia who twisted my arm to join them on a Finding Brighid tour around the West and North West of Ireland. This showed me and reminded me how special and stunning a sacred pilrimage tour around Ireland can really be and in October too.

click here to read about Finding Brighid

None of the festival visits this year like last year, except some great wee time with friends at and none of the road trip tours of other years. The time I was at Eigse Spiriod in August near Newtown Mountkennedy was fun. Luke Eastwood does a grand job with that.

Many, many loving thanks, of course, to Claire Roche though we could not do as much together this year as we usually do. She is in great form but has had a lot of other things to attend to, but still gifts incredible support with what I do when she can.

Labyrinth maintenance, building and veggie growing was awfully limited this year due to other lovely activities taking over. Must do better with Labyrinth care and more building through 2014.

This has been a terrific writing and composing year for me through 2013, though little has been shared with people yet. I have quite a wad of new songs, tunes and poems to make into things.

Ogma's Tale of The Trees should have been released as book and music audio but should be among you, at last, in early 2014 with half done Bathing In The Fae's Breath very close behind. A lot of the material for this is online here, though.

2014 also kicks off with Claire and I dabbling with Online Broadcasts, first through Concert Window at Woodford House. Check out the dates listed so far, more soon to come.

Click here for Claire's next Concert Window concert on Weds January 8th

Click here if you are a performer as Concert Window could be great for you.

I will send some more news just about this in a few day's time.

I think through 2014 there will be quite a strong focus on media making and live media from both Claire and myself and others who will be working with us.

Claire wants to get travelling again as soon as possible. There are places and events she wants to get to but it looks like a shared tour of California, Oregon, Washington state and probably Idaho will be happening late September early October.

So its on with 2014 with lots to prepare over the coming 8 weeks when time in the forests and labyrinth will be abundant again.

Wishing you all a blessed, well guided, inspired and fruitful 2014