My sincerest apologies!
A belated second newsletter; summer had to be prioritised.
No doubt you have been frantically searching your inbox for my second newsletter which was promised on the 1st August. Please forgive my tardiness, summer has been a lot! Mental reminder to myself to attempt very little in terms of writing next summer because my children apparently need constant activities, outings, new stuff, it’s relentless.
How and ever, I have managed to keep up with the writing a little. In case you missed it, here is my most recent Irishwoman in Sweden article for Irish Times:
Irish Times Irishwoman in Sweden
I have also posted it to my own website with some extra images here:
Blog Post Grace O'Malley Writes
Summer Holidays
We spent a gorgeous week in Donegal staying at Lough Eske and then in Bundoran for two nights. I was stunned by Donegal, the people, the nature, the craic, it was all mighty. Having never been there before I was expecting something similar to Galway but it felt more like an island where you can drive for miles and find the most incredible beaches like little treasures protected by the cowering cliffs and green hills that almost seem to move in the wind.
On one white sandy little cove, Tra Ban, my Swedish husband Philip was particularly amused to find a little nun in a little shed of a shop selling ice creams.
I for one would rather be saying my prayers from this window anyway. It mustn’t be too difficult to find God staring out at that view.
We also spent time in beautiful Marstrand on the West Coast of Sweden, an island not far from Gothenburg where I have enjoyed some of the best swims of my life. This is where I became a full fledged naked swimmer and am so grateful to the Swedes for releasing me from my prudish Irishness of knicker tricks behind towels. No more I say! Swimsuit off, in she goes and it is magic! I wonder how that would go down in Seapoint?
Men’s Naked Swimming and Ladies Naked Swimming, such a treat! I would highly recommend you give it a go if you ever get the opportunity, you wouldn’t believe how different it feels.
Books
As for reading, well it’s been quite tricky to find the time. However, I did manage to read Sweet Sorrow by David Nichols, a wonderfully nostalgic summer romance that follows two teenagers as they fall in love with each other and Shakespeare at the same time.
Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary started in a predictable enough manner but then blew me away in Part 2. This story about love and friendship between two outsiders that need each other in the very bones of themselves really moved me.
After talking with Conor Buckley, founder of We Are Human Collective, about how the greatest way to bring communities together and spread equality, I believe, is to encourage people to read more. To read other people’s stories as much as you possibly can. Conor told me to read What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri and I did and I was mind blown. In the busy days of summer when I thought a research driven book reminiscent of my sociology degree days would be the last thing I would crave, my brain delighted in it. Probably due to the chats with three little ones being fairly mundane, not so much literature discussed would you believe? It opened windows of light inside of my brain that had felt were in total darkness. I will share more about this read on my instagram page graceomalleyreads.
Well that’s it from me for now. It’s feeling rather autumnal here in Stockholm today, we’ve been preparing for back to school and picking the plums for jams and crumbles. Are fridge is quite the keeper of all things tarty at the moment!
I will leave you with a quote from Emma Dabiri’s book in the hopes you might be intrigued. It’s only 150 pages long and is a hopeful manifesto of change for the better.
“On the most basic level we have to see our struggles as interconnected because they are and because we are.”
What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri.
Ever onwards,
Grace x