by Vivienne Nichols | Feb 5, 2020 | Vivienne Nichols, Aran Islands Blog, Blog Travel
We all remember, in vivid detail, defining moments of life. Those times, tragically and joyfully, when circumstance has evoked our deepest emotions. We recall where we were and how we felt. I distinctly remember the day, decades ago, when Aran came to me. A Spring...
by Vivienne Nichols | Feb 14, 2020 | Vivienne Nichols, Aran Islands Blog, Blog Spiritual Aran, Blog Travel
I first heard these words, hearth-side, in a small Aran cottage. They charmed my ears and drew me deeper in to the storyteller’s narrative. The “uncorrupted heart of Ireland” she explained, was a phrase popular with Gaelic Revivalists of the late nineteenth...
by Vivienne Nichols | Feb 20, 2020 | Vivienne Nichols, Aran Islands Blog, Blog Travel
I’d never heard this phrase until the day after Valentine’s when a florist in my town advertised a DOG-HOUSE DOZEN SALE-or a bouquet of roses for those who had been relegated to the proverbial doghouse for failure to deliver on Valentine’s Day! If YOU’VE...
by Vivienne Nichols | Mar 1, 2020 | Vivienne Nichols, Aran Islands Blog, Blog Travel
When John Millington Synge, premier playwright and Aran archivists, wrote in his book, THE ARAN ISLANDS, that “no two trips to Aran are the same,” he spoke greatly for me.Anticipating each journey, I’ve wondered “Have I not seen it all? “How can last summer be...
by Vivienne Nichols | Mar 6, 2020 | Vivienne Nichols, Blog Local Aran, Uncategorized
The Aran Islands hold stories. Stories told as only the Irish people can tell them. But they don’t stop there. If we are open, even the sand and stones will speak to us. It’s true, the Irish make a ceremony of a sentence. And lucky are the rest of us when we sit with...