Mikael Fernstrom

>The sun is shining most of the time and it isn’t raining, but the storm clouds are still chasing across the country. We walked all the beaches. Dear Charlie insisted on swimming, as often as possible. Can you imagine a soaking wet dog that just can’t wait to get back into the water? I bought oysters and plaice for dinner.

Lots of phone calls during the day, trying to sort out Bruce’s thesis and the comments from his External Examiner.

When back at Lisheen House, Charlie just went to bed, exhausted after his aqueous adventures. The oysters were great, just barely out of the sea. I went down to the Long Dock to read Clare Champion and for a chat and had some nice interaction with the locals. After a couple of hours, back to the house and cooked dinner – fried plaice with chips, remoulade and salad.

>All morning they’ve been talking on the radio about risks flooding and storm damage. It’s believed that it’ll hit the south coast first and hardest. Here, in the mid-west, it’s greyed over and windier than yesterday but not too bad.

In the afternoon we went down to Carrigaholt beach for a walk, but the wind had picked up and the tide was coming in so it was a very short walk. I got soaked to my skin. Later, I went up to Kilkee for some shopping and on the way back I stopped at the Long Dock for a quiet pint. I had a great chat with some of the local gentlemen.

This evening I cooked chowder with cod, crabmeat and mussels. Also, added plenty of onions, garlic, parsnip, bell peppers, potatoes and a bottle of white wine.

The storm is roaring outside. It’ll be a bad night. We played Scrabble (Mona won).

>First, in the morning, bright sunshine over the river Shannon. Now, it’s overcast and some rain. The wind is picking up and the weather forecast is storm by the evening. As I’ve said many times before – there’s no bad weather, only the wrong equipment – so a few drops of rain and some wind won’t stop us.

I went down to Lyon’s to buy fresh fish. A whole cod (just a few hours out of the sea), a bag of mussels and some crab meat, all absolutely fresh. It’s a hell of a difference to the stuff you get in supermarkets and shops. You can smell the difference and touching the skin of the fish you can feel the difference in freshness.

After buying fish, I went to get petrol at the local coop. There, I also bought a pair of gloves as I had forgotten to bring my gloves from home. I got a pair of bright yellow work gloves for two euro. All gloves in the coop store were bright glowing colours – perhaps so that they can see you waving your hands if you fall into the sea ;-).

Dog-walk on Carrigaholt beach, including excessive throwing of sticks.

Shopping in Kilkee, including running up and down the main street between Nolan’s and Mace, not finding what I was looking for. Best advice from local shop keeper: go to Kilrush if you want that.

Toasted crab sandwiches

4 slices wholemeal bread

8 tbsp crab meat

3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 crushed cloves of garlic

8 tbsp grated mature cheddar cheese

2 avocados in thin slices

course ground black pepper and salt to taste

Mix the crab meat with the mayonnaise and garlic. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Spread the crab and mayo mix on the slices of bread.

Divide the avocado slices between the sandwiches.

Top with the grated cheddar.

Toast in oven, on grill setting, for about 5 minutes.

Serve (possibly with a green salad and cherry tomatoes) and enjoy!

>Both yesterday and today, we woke up with the sun blazing over the river Shannon. While having breakfast, we saw the showers come and go. It’s so fresh our here – the air is as clean as can be, you can walk for miles without seeing a single discarded Lucozade bottle or Tayto crisp packet in the ditch. I can only think of two possible explanations. Either, people out here care more about their environment, or, it’s so windy that the rubbish blows away.

It’s Bank Holiday (silly concept) Monday, hence Lyon’s won’t be open today. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to restock the fridge.

Out here, it’s the ultimate sensorial quality. You might think that when John Cage spent some time in an anechoic chamber, he experienced silence. In fact, he did not, which he also wrote – that there is no silence. Cage thought he heard his own blood stream and nervous system (I’d say, his own tinnitus!). Here, in West Clare, you can have real high quality silence. This silence is not quiet. You can hear the structure of nature surrounding you – sea, wind and possibly some rain. You start to notice the sounds of your own footsteps, your own breath, your dog’s movements, etc. Out here, you could navigate by sound. In a noisy city, you can’t, or, it’s very difficult.

We’ve been to two of the beaches today, Carrigaholt and Rinnevalla. Now, we have the tides right. Charlie, our dog, is totally exhausted after retrieving a stick hundreds of times from the sea. Normally, he has tonnes of energy left over each evening but here, he goes into the bedroom and sleeps when he gets back to the house.

http://www.idc.ul.ie/mikael/images/rinnevalla.mov

When we got back to Lisheen House, it was time for hot cocoa and sandwiches (although I have to confess that I grabbed a can of Guinness instead of the cocoa ;-). Mona discovered that they were showing the first Star Wars film on TV, and we enjoyed our late lunch (or as some would call it, tea) while watching the old movie (and listening to an extremely quirky old sound design. When C3PO kicks R2D2, or, when R2D2 falls over, apparently the Foley guys had a great time with a metal trash can). At this time, I can’t help Mel Brook’s version to interleave my perception of the film, and I think it is partly because the telly here is about 14” (which adds to the cartoon feel) while at home it’s 28”, and the film was designed to be seen in overwhelming wide-screen format, with surround sound.

>We went to Carrigaholt beach twice. We drove out to Loop Head and went for a walk there as well. Then back for some shopping in Kilkee.

We had the times for the tides wrong. I had printed off last week’s tides from the web. The Palm Pilot application I found doesn’t do this longitude and latitude, so we have to make do with the closest approximation. On the other hand, after a couple of days out here one tends to start to synchronise, subconsciously, with the rhythm of the sea.

This evening, after dinner and watching Killinascully on TV, we tuned in to Lyric FM. Heard John Kelly talking about the ICO and they played

Coisir an tSionnan! Phoned Sean, phoned my mother. It feels somehow very good to sit out here, in a small cottage almost as west as you can go in Europe and hear the music we worked so much on two years ago.

>I’m back after a great week at Design Sonore. Together with Eoin B and Stephen S, I went to present our latest discoveries on pseudo-haptics, and to enjoy discussion and interaction with numerous sound designers from all over the planet. It was an excellent and intensive program with many different views on sound design, ranging from film to products to interaction design to architecture and art.

We met up with Laurence one evening and another evening we dined together with Davide R and Stephen B. French food is excellent, including the many sushi restaurants 😉

>Yesterday, I had my car serviced. Then, I went to town to get new front tyres. Driving home, it was beautiful. Just as a new car. This afternoon, after work, I drove away from the UL car park to find one of my rear tyres FLAT. So, in the afternoon rain, get the jack out, put on the spare, etc. Then back to town, get new tyres on the rear of the car. I had hoped for a nice few hours reading postgrad a thesis or two, but now I’m stuck in the normal rot.

When things are looking great, life is just waiting to kick you in the arse!

>The autumn is here! This is probably my favourite season. It’s fresh, not too warm. Despite the fact that I really love green, which we have plenty of all year in Ireland, the autumn brings out all colours of the spectrum, including some gorgeous rainbows. You get plenty of soft days 😉 Put yer wellies on and get out there!

http://www.idc.ul.ie/mikael/images/autumnpanorama.mov

>We’ve had a problem with our septic tank for a while. I phoned this guy to empty it and to check what’s the problem. He turned up today with his tractor and tank. He emptied our septic tank. Then he went INTO IT. He checked the percolation outlets, etc…. Yuk. He was standing in it! When he was finishing up, we were talking. He gave me a lecture about the best ham sandwiches he ever had. So, after this it’ll be a long time before I can have a ham sandwich again.

>I’ve neglected my blog. Sorry.

Mona is back home but still unwell, or rather, convalescent.

We’ve examined and graded this year’s Interactive Media and Music Tech students.

Now, it’s back to normal term time again with teaching and supervision as normal.

I’m hoping to have a break, around Halloween, in West Clare. I need it. We’ve rented a lovely cottage. The first thing on my packing list, apart from digital camera, was my Sushi-making kit. In Carrigaholt, you can get really fresh fish.