Iron Mountain Movies is an Irish web site that has film shorts made by Ronan Gallagher. He is a photographer and filmmaker in western Ireland. The short film below, called ‘Spirit’ is an example of some of his work. A number of them focus on the beautiful Irish landscape. Another is a short thriller, another a film about remembering an Irish writer, John McGahern, who I do not know but intend to check out.

This is a quote from the beginning of the movie….

‘…I think we’re talking here about feelings of belonging, feelings of being a part of something, feelings of having our own ground under our feet. Ground on which we can stand, and be.’

In this film and in the one about John McGahern, there are a number of pictures and comments about the lanes. That reminded me of when I was growing up in White Rock. Also, I have recently been in contact with one of the girls I went to school with, from grade 2 through to high school graduation. We saw each other once again at our 20th high school reunion in 1989, and had not been in touch since then. So it was a great surprise to hear from K. She is in touch with three others from our class, one of whom I had known since we were about 3 years old. K reminded me of how we used to play in the woods behind the house where I and another classmate lived. As children we roamed those woods and walked the roads and lanes unhindered. As I said to K, it all seems to incredibly old-fashioned now. We walked everywhere, not having cars available. Our dads had the only car to take to work. Even as teenagers, very few of the kids had a car, mostly the ‘fast’ boys. I can’t even remember is any of the girls had their own car. I don’t think so; a few could drive their parent’s car on the weekend. I didn’t learn to drive until I was past my university years, as there was no point, or money.

The talk about the landscape, and lanes and walking in the countryside in the films sent me back to those long ago days of trails in the woods, trees overhead, wildflowers (I remember finding trilliums), berries, ferns. That kind of landscape still resonates for me, and it seems to me that is why I felt so at home in Montaigut, which had lanes and trails galore. We walked a lane every night to supper. There were little side roads and fields and trees everywhere much like when I was growing up. It also made sense as to why the prairie landscape, although beautiful in many respects, is not ‘my’ landscape. The spirit is not here for me. Whenever I go back to BC, and when I was in France both times, I feel a calmness and a settling that just does not happen here. It is very interesting to reflect on this.

This may also be why I have not been able to paint any prairie landscapes, that is, the grassland landscapes, although I have tried. There are trees here where I live, but they have all been planted in the urban landscape. Originally there were tall grasslands here. A tiny bit still exists just north of here. So no, this is not my landscape, and I won’t feel badly about not being able to capture it. My spirit just doesn’t connect with it, and that is okay.

I wonder sometimes about going to Ireland. My grandfather’s family (Dad’s side) came from there originally. I once had a woman, who was from Ireland, say to me – if you went there, you would find  many people that look like you. I thought that was such an interestingand intriguing comment. I have always thought of myself as a bit odd looking, so it would be fun to see if that is where I originate. I also wonder if there would be a strong attachment. When I went to France, I was going to a purpose, to learn about painting and art, and the place was incidental. Once there, I developed a strong attachment which surprised me as that was totally unexpected. The idea of spirit in the landscape, and landscape as spirit makes sense of it though, and I can understand it better. The Celts did come from there too, particularly around the area where we stayed, so maybe some ancient spirits were hanging about too. I don’t usually think about this much, but as the decades go by, I wonder about where I feel right and why, and conversely, where it isn’t quite right, and why.

Also, I find I can write about these sorts of thoughts, but I rarely can talk about them, not being a great talker anyway. Live too much in my head I guess, but that is the habit of most of my life and a difficult one to overcome. I have seen another book I want to read, called ‘The Book of Silence” by Sarah Maitland. The library doesn’t have it so will have to see if I can track it down. Amazon likely.

Well, have rambled on too much. I have been distracted of late, by a variety of things, and find my thoughts drifting all over.