If this was the street where you lived, you would call Ballinrobe in Co Mayo home. You would be very near to Tacu` Family Resource Center which has just moved into a new building with white walls and a wooden staircase going up the center of the space. If you go out the front door of Tacu` and down the street to the shoe shop, you will meet a woman who works there who went to college about one mile from my house in St. Louis MO...
Main street....small world.
Day One at this FRC and the view from the brand new art space was amazing views of mountains and weather and a slightly wanky roofline [designed and originally occupied by an architect]. The kids who came on the first day worked with pogo portraits and pass-around drawings. They are a cheeky-but-cute crew who insisted on calling me Mary once they found out it is my first name. They completed reflections like: I am...I have...I wish....
This one [whose name escapes me] was very clear that she did not like to share her drawings and made it clear with bog red X's when it finally got back to her...what a face! She is especially fond of fairies and princesses and made a drawing for me to take away with me.....
That first evening in Mayo, I got up closer to Croagh Patrick...the climbing of which is associated with rites of passage and rituals like climbing in your bare feet! Yikes!!! Lovely, misty, mysterious.....not to be outdone by Ashford Castle in Westport......authentically restored as a hotel and resort.
So....The mapping continued with a group of senior women and one brave man who told stories, executed mind mapping, and agreed to come back the next day to see if there was any overlap in the maps of the older kids that were scheduled. They drew a map of the town, placed things past and present, and shared time and memory. They gave this visitor a deeper appreciation of culture and context and common history.
Stories written by three of the women follow...they appreciated each other even more than I did!
What Is My Map?
The map in my head at the moment is a beautiful mountain standing out inthe distance. At one time it's darekand glomy with rain approaching and in a while it is absolutely beautiful with the sun reflecting all the shades....with heather and streams rushing down. I can rest and have that lovely picture in my mind and relax.
The Map of Myself...
...is very up and down. My early days were full fo life and happy, plenty of work on a smll farm. They were happy days. I grew up and got married and started a family. It is a roller coaster ever since
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I was born in a thatched cottage in a country village in South Mayo. All the houses...were thaached. I was second in the family of four, two boys, two girls. My father was a small farmer, and we lived mostly off the land, produced all the vegetables we ate, all the bread was home baked on the open fire, no gas or electricity, no running water, no washing machines, no bathrooms, produced our own eggs, sold the surplus to buy groceries, fed a pig to kill to supply meat for the year, reared chickens to kill, also ducks, geese, and turkeys.
Left school at 14 and worked at home...married at 22 into another farm and worked inside and outside, started a family, almost a child every year until I had 13.
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