A walk in the woods and a new sculpture in the park

Hello all
It was lovely to hear from some of you last week and good to get back to having a bit of space in my head again.  

A new metal sculpture in the Narnia wood

For the record, I spent ages leaving comments over a couple of weekends only to find out that my laptop doesn't like to play with Safari :( and kept none of the comments .... So hello to Kate and all the Scavenger Hunt players for the last couple of months - I loved your photos - Kate always puts up some out of the box words to illustrate with a photo and the challenge is a great way of catching up on the month gone by - my drafts folder is full of *nearly* ready to post posts that didn't quite make it ... maybe this month.

Not sure if I like her but she'll not blow away
like the willow figures

Have a great week - hopefully the Autumn isn't in full swing yet and that there's a bit of sunshine left

Beech nuts in profusion this year

Opening the Narnia Trail

"I yearn to see County Down in the snow.  One almost expects to see a march of dwarves dashing past." C.S. Lewis

Well first of all, a belated Happy New Year to you ...  Where has this month gone to!  I can't remember the last time I had so much prep to do for classes and gigs.  Blogging has fallen by the wayside and I'm starting to miss coming here for a chat and reading all your news.  So it's high time to get back into the swing of things ... Hopefully over the next week I'll get reading back on all the blogs I've missed out on.  

Last year I wrote several pieces about the Narnia Trail that was being built here in Rostrevor. ... You can read them here and here ....   The pieces appeared overnight in different parts of the woods and it was very exciting to be among the first to see these lovely works of art.  Kudos to Newry and Mourne Heritage for coming up with the idea.  

The official opening was on Saturday and the sun shone valiantly and huge crowds turned out.   Characters from the Narnia stories were walking around ... I feel very strange taking pictures of children these days, so I've put up a few here that are more atmospheric rather than in full frame.   There's even one very out of focus, but you'll get the idea.  

And the people who had built the willow figures were completing a final piece - an owl - which children could help finish.   Fascinating process - they are attached to a living tree which will eventually outgrow the willow piece.  I really must look closer at the signage to see exactly what each exhibit represents. 

The final willow figure being prepared - an owl to go up in one of the redwoods.

Some images from the earlier blogs about this beautiful exhibition.

The Tree People

The Wardrobe

Where the Pattertwigs live

You have to forgive me sounding like an advert for the Tourist Board - the first time I came to Rostrevor, to record my first CD, from my very first glimpse I fell in love with the place and that love has never diminished.  So you may bear with more of these tributes in future months and years.

You see, tourism is still a bit of a novelty here in the North ... It was only as recently as 2013 when for the first time Northern Ireland had over 1 million visitors in the year.  This area is an area of outstanding natural beauty which was kept well hidden during "the Troubles".   It is simply wonderful seeing people coming to share these fabulous places and exhibitions like this will certainly add to the splendour.  

I think some people here would argue that they're certainly there somewhere! 

I hope your New Year is shaping up well - you know I love to hear from you.

More of Narnia

 We've mostly been house based this week - in the studio every day - working on the recording or setting up videos, or working on the Kickstarter campaign - which goes live on Saturday 1st November.

Plus the weather has turned very Autumnal, although they're saying that this will be the warmest Hallowe'en on record.

I've been finding it very difficult to keep up with the 30 day blogging challenge - I'm now on Day 19 I think.   It's not simply the fact of putting a blog up each day, it's more the fact of having some content to put up without boring you all to death :)  Each day I'm saying, ok that's the last one, but I hate giving up on a challenge ... So 11 more to go.

Giveaway

Please don't forget the Giveaway that I posted on Tuesday by the way.   Click here to check it out. 

The entrance map ... 

Narnia (Part 3)

We went back up to have another look at Narnia - the signage is up and nearly complete, so especially for my friend Jo at her blog Jo on Food, Life and a Scent of Chocolate,  I'm putting some references to the pictures I've already put up here and here.

and the detail of what is written.  It's behind
a glass frame so it's quite hard to photograph

A friend recently suggested that bringing Narnia to earth was like bringing all its tendencies to the planet as well - the first in the 7 parts is the Frozen World - he suggested that our politics, certainly here in Northern Ireland, are totally frozen at the moment.  Hmmm interesting theories.

One of the Tree People

The Tree People are about 8-9 foot tall.   I love the fact that you can only see one of them at a time - even now when nearly all the leaves are gone. 

I hadn't noticed this one's head dress before.

The UnderWorld - His Hair is just brilliant - it's made of ivy.

The four thrones for the four children.

Today we recorded a video for the Kickstarter campaign - Tom's hard at work editing at the minute.

As I mentioned at the top
This blog is Day 19 in Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

What have you been up to this week?
Has the weather been good in your neck of the woods?  

Narnia Part 2

The entrance to Narnia

Well, we managed to get down to the woods again this weekend to see some more of the Narnia surprises.  There were children of all ages exploring the place -  brilliant.

If you haven't read part 1 of this blog, I should tell you that I live in Rostrevor, in Northern Ireland at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, on the shores of Carlingford Lough, with the Cooley Mountains opposite and thousands of years of myths and legends surrounding the whole area.   And C.S. Lewis was so enamoured by it as a child that he told someone that this area was his idea of Narnia.  And our local council have organised a Narnia trail in the woods to honour him.   
It won't be officially opened until 31st October and there is no signage up yet, so I'm guessing at these exhibits.  With each visit new things are appearing and no-one is seen working on the pieces which is adding to the excitement:)   Everyone you meet is talking about it.  

The first place we found was the otters house, I'm guessing - a place for little people at any rate....

Looking up, this is a part of the wood I've walked past on many occasions without paying much attention ...

Some more little people must be living in this part ...  the doors to your imagination for sure..

 and this must be the important person's house ...

I can't wait to get up and see more.  

We're preparing for a concert at the weekend and trying to find time to be in the studio after some family problems and the emotional exhaustion that goes with that.   But these walks in the woods in the Autumn sunshine are a brilliant distraction. 

This is Day 4 of the Sarah Allen's 30 Day blogging challenge.  

Narnia Part 1

Sometimes when you're walking around the woods or the mountains here, I imagine Frodo Baggins on his great quest - and apparently C.S.Lewis felt exactly the same.

“I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.” C.S.Lewis

“That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.” C.S.Lewis

He was born in Belfast in November 1898 and used to come to Rostrevor on his holidays as a child - (so did Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret as children, and before them thousands of Victorians came for the waters - but that's a story for another day.)  

Add caption

To honour this connection our local council, who deserve huge kudos for this, have decided to put a Narnia trail into the forest.   Figures have been appearing overnight for weeks now - apparently it's due to be officially opened in another couple of weeks.

I've only been to see one little part yet, and I'll show you more as I discover them.   So here's a wee glimpse of what's going on in the woods today ... and a bit about the man himself.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. 

Lewis wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. C. S. Lewis's most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics in The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.  (courtesy of the official C.S. Lewis website)  

He was a friend and colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien - they met in 1926.

“I yearn to see County Down in the snow; one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true.” C.S.Lewis

I love the fact that these chairs are growing out of tree stumps.

Five of these beautiful figures in the bluebell wood