The John Hewitt Int'l Summer School

http://www.ulstertatler.com/2013/07/26th-john-hewitt-international-summer-school-kicks-off/

The ultimate in some circles is to appear in the Ulster Tatler.  It is the magazine that you find in upscale dental offices.  Huge glossy format with lots of photos of people dressed up and having fun.  Marda made it to their website and remains to be seen whether she will make it in print.

Ward and Jon attended the whole Summer School. Ward read his poem "Traveler" on the last day and got good feedback from many.  Marda ran around Armagh pursuing genealogy and discovered a Tom Stothers, a man who had done lots of work on the family tree had died last March.  We thought he lived in England but he was nearby in Loughgall.

One nice happenstance was Marda went into the First Presbyterian church in Armagh to find a near copy of Townsend Street Presbyterian designed by Young and McKensie and built the year following 1878.  The minister, Rev Tony Davidson, is also a poet and published his poetry as a fundraiser for the church.  This provides a nice encouragement that there is some precedent for publishing poems and prayers.  There are no Stothers in their 1840-1850 records.

Nose to the grindstone.  Lets get the manuscript put together.  

The Fourth of July came and went

Some ask us if we celebrate the fourth of July.  I don't know if they know what the fourth of July means and I don't know if they consider themselves the British that we won our independence from.  Some think they too are still fighting the British occupation.  Americans who fought were former British too.

The weather is BBQ weather!  This photo is from our week in Donegal.

The 12th of July also came and went.  Unfortunately with riots this year.  Just up about six blocks above us they were so they were.   Nonsense even to the local folks.  We hope they will resume dialogue soon.  One step forward and often two steps back.  We keep hoping.

Long Days of Summer

As we leave the longest day we appreciate every bit of sunshine.  We don't get it often.  Despite the cloudy weather and sometimes rain it is daylight for quite a while from 4:45 am until 10 pm with light in the sky before and after this sunrise and sunset.

We celebrate the success of Ward's good friend Bill McKnight's book Loud Silence with a final slot in a reading of 13 writers at the MAC.  He was brilliant, as they say here, and the writer in residence who pulled the reading together was very complimentary to Bill.  Congrats.  To buy his book go to Amazon or www.loudsilence2012.wordpress.com

Bill McKnight reading at the MAC

Bill has a video!

Take a look at this video which was made of Bill McKnight, Ward's good friend here in Belfast.

http://youtu.be/UdgWx0nmMbM

More About April

Our trip home to Berkeley to renew our Visas coincided with Marda's nephew Daniel and Julie's wedding.  The wedding was planned to take place at the Faculty Club on the UC Berkeley campus.  Coincidentally the 40th Anniversary Celebration Symposium was also being held at the UC Berkeley campus at Wurster Hall, the School for Environmental Design. 

This is a photo of the book table hosted by the OWA Book Club.  My good friend Wendy Bertrand, on the left, published her memoir Enamored With Place to add to the growing collection of books about women architects. 

The Symposium was planned by another good friend, retired lecturer Mui Ho, and featured several women academics discussing topics around the theme, "Gender Matters."  Gender certainly matters in regards the practice of architecture where perspective is everything.

April Came and Went

Suffice to say the weather was terrific in California and we were very busy.  I'll post a photo soon to keep this Blog going.  We are back in Belfast and have overcome our jet lag.
Take a look at Jon Kennedy's Blog which he has faithfully updated some of which is our news too.
Jon Kennedy, C.S. Lewis Writer-in-Residence, The Loom

Paper Shamrock

We went to a party at the end of the day on March 17th.  The party host asked us to bring something to share in regards St Patrick's Day.  Kate McAllister, Marda's roommate from the last China trip, whipped out a wooden box.  Inside she had strips of green paper and glue sticks and she taught us all how to make these shamrocks.  We are happy to be living in the land of Saints and Scholars.  We are happy to be returning home to Berkeley for a wee while and hope the weather in Northern Ireland thaws before we return.