Great adventures from the confines of my house

Life can be curious.

The past month or so, I have been rarely outside the door.
Twice to go to hospital appointments, once to the library, and once to Dungarvan, two weeks ago. An hour buzzing around on my scooter through two shops. Sitting in a cafe waiting for my lift to bring me home again, I had a great difficulty to walk from the chair back to my scooter. About six steps?
It had taken many false starts to actually get out the door, so back on my couch at home, I was pleased I had done a 'normal' thing on a normal Saturday.

While in recovery mode, I received a message via Facebook from a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University to invite me to give a talk at a puppet festival in March ...
Sure! Great!
I nearly got up to pack my bags there and then.

The freedom of my mind...

I did wonder if my brain - my mind - is amazing, or deeply flawed ...

Here I was, ill from one hour on my scooter, a total of about two hours outside my house, and yet I did not see any difficulty with the prospect of going to the UK. Or even to Canada next summer. Another invitation to talk about my puppets...

I know I can do it. I know I can go to the UK. It does however require a lot of planning.

I made it to the family reunion in Holland during the summer. Tough on my health, but so worth it.

The journey the puppets are bringing me on, is just to amazing too dismiss.

Puppets, ME, Disability, health, are all part of my story. 

Although I rarely get outside the door, I am reaching people far beyond my wildest dreams. As if the strings of the puppets are bringing me out into the world again.

* There are contacts with some amazing women who, behind the scenes, are making the experience of life with ME in today's Ireland to the people who need to hear it: Politicians, HSE staff. Researchers, Hospital consultants, OT's, Social Welfare, the public who still believes we are just a little tired...

I am in awe of the power of this very small group. 

* Contacts too with other creatives, who encourage me to keep going. Who trust me to share with them the art of making puppets. Or trust in the creative process in general.

 * Contacts with readers of my books. For example an email from a mother of a young woman severely ill with ME.  ... As I try and motivate and stimulate K to use her sore eyes more, we started putting a new picture in her room each day for her to look at and enjoy. ...  we have been using a new nature picture from the Into the Light box each day.  Her favourite so far has been raindrops hanging from red buds. That one has stayed in her room well beyond its allotted day as she loves it so much... 

* Contacts with puppeteers from around the globe.

* Being supported by friends and family in all sorts of kind ways. Touching each other's lives. Learning from our varied stories.

* And being invited for a radio interview with Bernadette and Stan Phillips on their World in View program. Exactly a year since the interview during the Dis ability ... This Ability Exhibition, which perhaps was one of those pivotal steps in my own adventures of stepping out of the disability/illness box with the help of my puppets...

Listen to the interview here 

(about 15 minutes long)

And in the next few weeks there are more adventures, for which I do not have to leave my house.

• I have a meeting with Senator Grace O'Sullivan to talk about ME, Disability and Puppets. Grace gave a very passionate talk at the Dis ability ... This Ability Exhibition exhibition last year.
• On Friday 1st December Cora Fitzgerald's Cocoon Life Website will go live. And I have the honour to be their first guest with a (pre-recorded) podcast.  'Cocoon life is a website about inspiring Journeys, Life lived With Purpose'.

• 

  image /text for the Cocoon Life podcast recording
  

• Also on Friday 1st December, the special version of the Life Outside the Box will be screened on Irish National television. RTE 1 6 pm, during the People's Angelus.
• On the 8th December our puppet film will be shown during the Together! Festival in London.
• I will be going out to meet prospective new readers during the Villierstown Craft fair Sunday 26th November!

Phew.

So, although life can be hugely challenging at times, it is also amazingly rewarding. And curious.

Thank you ALL for coming along on my adventures through life.

I could not have done it without you.

Don't forget the sale which is on at the moment on my website and at my studio. 

And during the Villierstown Craft fair Sunday 26th November.

20% discount on books and prints during November, 10% during first two weeks in December.

 

Puppetry, as a reflecting on life with illness/disability

The Two Dancer Puppets for the "Reflection" project are on the go since 2013, but I restarted working on them about two months ago. Read more about that HERE.

Puppet making has many, many steps. In terms of the creative process, but also emotionally....

If I like it or not!

'Hanging out'

Making

Sculpting the heads, the hands, the feet/shoes. Assembling the bodies. And for this project, of course there is two of everything. Herself, and her reflection... (A disabled puppet sees her dancing reflection in the mirror)

Broken bodies

Seeing these bodies side by side. In all their nakedness, a friend commented on how this also represents my story. The story of illness, of disability, of fragility, of a broken body in a way.

How true.

'But', I said'. 'They will be dressed, of course!'

'Of course.'

But isn't that a story in itself. 

The assembling of the bodies, the painting, dressing up and all, covers up the reality of a fragile body. A puppet body which can not function without support. Support of strings, and glue, and wires and a cross to manipulate movement. My body, which can not fully function without the support of mobility aids, of society, of friendships...

Putting it all together

Last week I started painting the heads, hands and shoes.

A process which is divided up in four stages. Two different undercoats. One 'wash' with watercolour paint, and finishing off with varnish. Before being attached to the body for good.

box of painted body parts, paint, brushes etc

The puppets became little beings.

I just love this photo of the puppet (its reflection) showing off the new socks.

I think there is a sense of fragility in it. But also a huge sense of pride.

I think this is one of my favourite images.
Fragility.
And pride.

In the last few days I have started to work on the clothing.

Clothing cut, and yet to be sewn and fitted

Oh, how I wish I could just stay in the studio, and finish the clothing. And not be in tears from the pain if stay any longer than 15 minutes behind/near the sewing machine... 

I am re-learning how to find the best posture, use the most appropriate chair, and most of all, to set my alarm.

So, all in good time, one day at the time, one small step at the time, the girls are getting dressed.

trousers fitting

Holding herself upright with her walking sticks

Saturday's session: first shirt in the making

And while I work away on the puppets, Dominic Fee is working on creating the movement of the puppets. I love collaborating with an artist of such calibre.

 Jimmy: "At last I made it onto a stage!"

Jimmy, my at least 25-year-old puppet, has travelled to Cork to be a 'stand-in' for the 'girls'. And how proud he looks! 

The 'stage' is Dominic's art: "DLV (DIMENSIONS, LOCATION VARIABLE) is a modular, interactive, open-ended artwork, made in 2013, consisting of several hundred wooden components which can be assembled together in many different ways." 

Jimmy with Dominic Fee's DLV artwork

The DLV artwork proved to be an incredible platform to facilitate the movement of the puppets. Dominic first trial had Jimmy move his arms, with the help of a small motor, and strings leading from the puppets via the DLV structure.

Incredible stuff.

Watch this space for updates!

Art and reality 

Over the years I have come to realise that my art reflects the stages of my life (with illness). Usually after a work has been completed. Sometimes I see this only years later... Reflections of growth, of hopes, challenges, and desires.

As this puppet project had a four year lead in period, in which my health took many a challenge, I can only hope that the movement, the stepping out, shown here, will in some way reflect my own present personal reality: the wish, and ability to dance. 

At least let me trust the reflection in the mirror - the movements which are possible in my mind's eye. 

Miracle, miracle, she can get out of her wheelchair

Yesterday I wrote about the wheelchair in my life. This sparked some interesting conversations, and thoughts on furthering our independence by using a mobility scooter. 

"In a wheelchair or On a scooter..."

The wheelchair:

'stuck' against a tree in Brugge- Belgium'

Acceptance from others living with ME/CFS:
"It was so challenging because I thought I was "giving in" to this disease."

I can fully appreciate this as it is a huge step to accept the need for mobility aids. It can be seen as giving in, but in truth it is a way to maximize our ability, not disability...


Acceptance from a mother's perspective:
"There were so many lows when Anna was ill [with ME] but for me One of the most heartbreaking was the day she asked me if she could get a wheelchair. I remember going into my bedroom and crying my heart out. It felt like the end, it felt like she was telling me that she was never going to get well. I just could not accept it, and I'm the end she did not get one. I still sometimes think of that day and wonder if it would have given her more freedom and whether it would have been the right thing to do..."

Anna turned her life around in the most remarkable way. I will write about her soon. 

The feeling of 'guilt:
"When I have been out and about I feel a mixture of guilt and fear ( If we get stuck on a step I get out of the wheelchair and walk over it - will people think I am a fake or like this character in "Little Britain" !?) 

This brought back a memory of one of my early trips around town in my wheelchair.
Heike, the friend who brought me on that very first trip outside my house, brought me for a walk towards Lismore Cathedral. The path is very rocky. The step up into the graveyard (well worth a visit) was just that little bit too high to mount. I stepped out of my chair and Heike roared:

" MIRACLE, MIRACLE" 

This memory still makes me chuckle! 

Feelings of relief:
"... relief that people finally understand that I am physically ill even if nobody can see this otherwise." 

Yes, indeed. Living with this at times 'invisibile illness' is hard. People judge us by what they see, not by what they know or by what we tell them. 
Using a mobility aid can break that barrier. Walking out of a public house, I can be seen for a drunk (drunk on chamomile tea or orange juice...). Using my walking sticks, my unsteady gait is seen as a result of illness.

Positive responses from other:
"...Great that you've come to flip viewing the chair as a symbol of what you don't have to being your means of getting about and communicating with the world."

The mobility scooter 

On Youghal beach with my scooter. Happy!

To really is that many of us who live with ME/CFS do not have the strength to push our manual wheelchairs, so this still means a level of dependency on others to leave our homes.

A mobility scooter is the way to combat this.

My scooter enables me to go into town on my own, do my shopping. Further afield I do need someone to put it, and me in their car, but as this (Rio 3 lite) portable scooter can be totally dismantled it fits into the back of even the smallest car. The battery lifts out, the seat comes off, the handle folds down. 

I have brought my scooter on trips to Holland, and on holidays in Ireland. It is not suppose to be used on rocky, sandy paths, but it is always worth a try! I have trailed the paths around Dzogchen Beara and the beach in Youghal.

Just be sure to bring your mobile phone in case you get stuck!!

Links, and further reading:

• Although the battery of this small scooter is airline friendly, I was refused to board on Aer Areann flight in 2009. I fought this case in an equality tribunal. If you like to read about this, here is the story 
• more scooter and wheelchair stories and reflections in my books 
• Small Scooter:As for some reason the scooter is much more expensive in Ireland than in the UK I aksed this company to price match in Euro, which they did! They are also available second hand on various sites.

Flying out on Little Wings

Flying on Little Wings

At the end of this eventful year, personally and in the world, I find myself setting off on my next flight on Little Wings with the thought: "I don’t want to rip the skies wide open, I just want my song to be heard.."

The recent meetings with some amazing people like Carolann Copland at the CAP Awards for Indie Writers in Dublin,  Grace O'Sullivan at the launch of Dis-ability ... This Ability exhibition,  Bernadette and Stan Phillips who invited me to chat on their World in View radio program, and Mags Durand - social media mentor-   have collectively set me up for my next flight on 'Little Wings'.   But of course it is not just this select group of people, but all of you who have supported me throughout this year of discovery, of challenges, beauty, pain, gratitude, puppets, creativity, and new friendships - in real life and in cyberspace.

Thank you, from the deepest space in my heart

for being part of my journey - part of my life.

Wishing you all a peaceful year ahead.

As this past week brought me back to the wise words of singer Kris Delmhorst, who years ago gave me permission to use her song Little Wings in the Flight Path documentary about the making of my book Hatched, I will leave you with the lyrics of her song, which you can also listen to  here . 

Little wings by Kris Delmhorst

today I went flying in my favorite patch of sky
I circled and I circled above the world so high
and I thought to myself, what a lovely lovely thing
to be up here with the clouds, to be flying right out loud on little wings

then I met a 747, then he knocked me right out of the sky
he landed down beside me, he looked me in the eye and said
I don’t know why you even bother, I don’t know why you even try
I don’t know where you hope to get to, I don’t know how you hope to fly on those little wings
little wings
little wings
little wings

now I don’t want to be a jet airliner, I just want to be a little bird
I don’t want to rip the skies wide open, I just want my song to be heard
and I don’t want to be state of the art, I don’t want to get there overnight
I just want to be part of all this beauty, want to be part of all this flight on little wings

I’ll never be a flea in your circus, I’ll never be a prop up on your stage,
I’ll never be one more little songbird you can try to keep inside your cage,
you’re never gonna tell me where to fly, you’re never gonna tell me what to sing
and if I end up lost and all alone at least I know I got there on my own two little wings

I guess that you reap what you sow
I guess it gets lonely at the top
I guess it gets harder and harder

to ever really know just when to stop

Podcast and Talk related to This Ability Exhibition

Two links related to the recent Dis-ability This Ability exhibition on the one page:

Talk by Grace O'Sullivan at the launch of the exhibition, and the Podcast of my interview by Bernadette and Stan Phillips on Tramore Community Radio.

Other recent podcasts and talks related to my work:

• World in View 2018

• Podcast of life with M.E. on Cocoon Life 2017

• World in View with Bernadette and Stan Phillips 2016

• WLR FM Geoff Harris about Life Outside the Box 2016

• Michael Harding launch of Into the Light at Dzogchen Beara 2015

• Sister Stan's talk at the celebration of Into the Light and my work at the Sanctuary in Dublin 2016

• Talk with  Pádraig Naugthon, (Arts and Disability Ireland) on his Arts & Disability Radio program on Near FM (7.45 minutes into the program) 2015

• Interview with Sean O'Rourke, RTE Radio 1,  2015

Hope: Finding courage within the weakness

Quote from
Into the Light by Corina Duyn

Keeping the thoughts on Hope. And Trust. And finding the space in one's head for the beautiful and the challenging...

It always takes me a while to be brave enough to listen back to my own words spoken during an interview or talk ... But today I finally found this courage and the head-space to listen to podcast of the interview, or more precisely, a leisurely talk, recorded on the 24th November with Bernadette and Stan Philips on 'World in View' -Tramore Community Radio.
See MixCloud link at bottom of page.

The chat was a beautiful exchange of thoughts about art, life, illness, disability, nature, (Zen) poetry, ability, boxes and getting out of them, eggs, presence, puppets, the importance of Fun, strength, transition into disability, new beginnings, and changing attitudes...

The chat flowed freely and I think we could have chatted for a lot longer, given the time. The view of the sea from this radio station made it all the more special.

Towards the end Bernadette read out a quote from my Into the Light  book-  about finding yourself in those moments where you know what you are doing is exactly right for you... and thoughts about Hope. (see quote in image).
... Hope with the capital H, where one sees the bigger picture of one's role in life - I was told, and I can see it now, that yes, I have found that place of Trust - of knowing my role in this world of illness and disability, and being an advocate about Ability.

The experience of the Dis-ability ... This Ability exhibition has - for me personally- been an experience of growth. Thank you Grace O'Sullivan for your words at the opening talk, and Bernadette and Stan for the amazing and easy chat, for helping me to Trust. 
I will endeavour to remind myself of this in times when I am a bit 'rattled' by circumstances, and unsure on how to handle them.

One such challenge came a week after the radio chat.

...  a display in disarray.

When I arrived at the Cultural centre to pack up the exhibition on the 1st December I was rather shocked (to say it mildly) by the state of the show. The exhibition had changed from an exhibit of 'stories' to what looked like a badly organised store-room.

I became aware that the puppets and tables with our books had been moved to accommodate a gig on Friday 25th.
Which is fine...
But...
Although the puppets were returned to their previous location, they seemed to have been handled in an unkindly and thoughtless manner. They were thrown into, or on, their boxes.  The tables with books, prints etc were left in the back of the gallery. Open boxes with plastic wrapping flowing out of them on the floor where our book displays had been.

Seeing our exhibition in this way made me so incredibly sad. And I am embarrassed that people who came to see the exhibition, which had received such great publicity and kindness, would have seen a place in disarray.

For the past week I have tried hard to make sense of it all. To not let this strange event blithe the overall beautiful, positive and empowering experience.
To keep seeing the Bigger Picture.
To Trust.
Trust that all is well.
To still see the Hope with the Capital H. To find my courage within this weakness. Or perhaps also seeing someone else's weakness in their inability to see that, for the last 5 days of the exhibition, that there was something seriously wrong with the display...

After writing to the art centre, I have received an apology, and am assured that this will never happen again, and that they can learn from the experience.


I suppose the most challenging to get my head around was (is) that the whole point of the exhibition was  about Ability - about stepping out of boxes - and yet this exhibition ending had a visual aspect of being thrown in the boxes again.
I know this was not a deliberate act, but an unfortunate result.

To finish on a lighter note... two of the puppets - my own: The Reporter, and Miriam's Monk had their string completely entangled. An interesting side effect.

Reporting and Mindfulness all tangled up.

Seeing the bigger picture.

Trust and Hope.
Finding Courage within the weakness.



Thank you to all of you who have visited the exhibition, who have encouraged me through social media, through email, messages and phonecalls. For practical support and for believing in the thoughts behind this exhibition. My deepest gratitude.

Now, please make yourself a cup of tea and join us for a chat!

My interview proper starts at about 9.30 minutes in, but if you have the time, please listen to the whole program as it is all related and interesting.

Links:

My books mentioned in the interview.

Talk by Grace O'Sullivan

Radio and Blog as communication tools

What a week it has been ...
A week of learning and accepting, of beauty and annoyance, of extreme tiredness, pure joy and big smiles. 
A week in which I was told - again-  to not give up on the path I am on, and that I Rock :-)

It started off with art student Phyllis coming for work experience. A sharing of skills and knowledge: I have support to do some experimental work on my animation project, in turn I give guidance with the sculptural work for her course.

After the interview on TCRfm
with Bernadette and Stan Phillips.
image from facebook page

On Tuesday I received a phone call from Bernadette Phillips, while she was visiting the Dis-ability ... This Ability exhibition.  Bernadette persuaded me to travel to Tramore on Thursday to be interviewed on their 'World in View'  program on Tramore Community Radio.
I was honoured to be asked, but also concerned about travelling two days in a row as unfortunately I had a hospital appointment on Wednesday which made me yet again experience the wasteful-workings-of-the-HSE ... I will write about that later, as it would spoil the beauty of the other happenings this week!

I am SO glad that Bernadette did not settle for having an interview conducted over the phone...
Yes it was a challenge to get up on Thursday morning while feeling quite ill with tiredness, even though I had been in bed and on the couch for almost twenty hours. Painkillers, a shower, meditation and a conviction that this was an opportunity not to be missed, I was driven to Tramore. Yet again the weather played its part and granted me with stunning views of mountains and the sea. 
Even the studio has a view over the beach and sea!

The connection that was made with Bernadette during our initial phonecall certainly continued when we met. The energy of Bernadette and husband Stan, who run the radio program together, is just simply beautiful.  They are people who are absolutely grounded in spirituality, in nature, in love of life, in understanding of life. What a privilege to be in their company, to talk with them about my journey through life and illness. About art and writing, disability and the exhibition. To received encouragement, or maybe their 'push' to not deviate from the path I am currently on: to share with 'the world' the Ability of people with dis-abilities. To share my story. Bernadette- like Grace O'Sullivan at the opening talk looked me straight into my eyes when saying this... Thank you! Thank you also to the listeners who commented with such positivity on the interview.

The half hour interview is available as podcast . My interview starts at about 9.30 minutes in, although the whole program is interesting!

For me personally, there is a lot to take in from this interview, the exhibition, the reactions to it all. It does take time to make it mine - to find ways in which I can tell me story in a way that it does not negatively influence my health, by going over my energy limits. 

This BLOG is for now the best communication tool I can use, and over time, maybe I can do more talks, like to ones I did this year at The Sanctaury, at UCC, radio, at exhibitions and book launches... All in good time! If you like to get notifications of my posts, please sign up for "Follow by email" 

Again, Thank YOU, my readers for coming along on my journey of discovery.

Show during Trump protest,
with original quote by Angela Y. Davis 

To finish of for today, I saw this quote recently: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept…” - Angela Y. Davis

A good goal to have!

Links for further reading: 

Grace O'Sullivan's talk, which is included in this post 
Hatched (with poetry and images) now available as e-book 
Talk at the Sanctuary 
My book SHOP
Tramore Community Radio 'World In View'
Bernadette Phillips website

Apparently I 'rock', now that made me smile!
facebook comment

There is no such thing as dis-ability ...

... if you take the dis out of dis-ability. [views expressed are in connection with the group who are part of the exhibition]

Today I visited the Dis-ability… This Ability exhibition in Tramore. I wanted to see it in my own time, to take in the energy around the exhibits; to really look at the work, the location, the story behind it. And to explore my own story within it all.

Ann O'Grady and Karen organising the puppets

It is just about a week ago that I travelled to Tramore with Artist Anna Moore to set up the exhibition. It took us and fellow IWA member Ann O’Grady and her sister Karen over two and a half hours. We divided up the tasks between the hanging of the prints and paper art, the display of the puppets, and the various books, notebooks and postcards. Pleased, but exhausted, we departed to meet again at the launch the following day.                        

I stayed at a hotel that night, I'm so glad I didn't have far to travel! My back felt like it had about 6 twists in it. My legs, in serious pain, were close to being put up for adoption, and I was totally exhausted. But we were all very pleased with what we had achieved! 

The way Ann and Karen displayed the puppets from the puppet - project  all tell a story: A story of music, fun, and traveling abroad by plane, or on a butterfly. Of life, and being a proud Irish citizen. The story of being a reporter but also of stillness and even flirting!

Biker and Baker from the puppet-project,
by Mark Foley and Sarah Lennon

They show the story of our lives, lived with illness or disability - by stepping out of the Box to share the story of our Ability! The paper art, books, cards, poetry, knitwear and paintings on sale all tell the same story- just through other forms. 

I am so immensely proud of all the work that has been created. Proud of my fellow IWA members - proud how they all jumped into the deep end with me all those months ago to create these puppets, to create a story, to create such amazing works, way beyond anyone's expectations. I am honoured of the trust they endowed me with. The trust that I could guide them through this eight-month period: from handling the first piece of clay to the filming and sharing of our story.

I feel deeply privileged to have had this opportunity. To realize that, with the help of the IWA staff, I could teach again. It had been 17 years since I led my last official workshop - in a group home with teenagers. I still think about that workshop which I had to abandon because of sudden illness. I still want to go back there and finish the puppets with them. But knowing that 17 years has passed, these young lads and lasses probably have kids of their own right now…

Anyway, back to the present.

I had doubts in my physical ability to curate/run this exhibition. After my solo exhibition in July my health was badly challenged. I was concerned this would happen again. But, it has been a week since the exhibition opening, and I am reasonably okay. I was able to sit in a car, to meet a friend at the gallery, and to write! I did have support at the IWA for this exhibition, and I didn’t had to create any new work, other than the notebooks, but a lot of organising and overseeing still came down to me. 

Listening to the speech by Grace O’Sullivan last week  (see youtube link below), and talking to other visitors to the exhibition, I realised how this exhibition is actually a logical step in my own journey:

To bring awareness that we are more than wheelchairs, we are more than our illnesses. We still own our personalities from before illness or disability changed our lives. And even if our personality changed because of an acquired brain injury, we still have our place in the world. Yes, we don’t occupy the same ‘space’ in society as before, but does that make us any less equal?

For those who have a disability from birth, they have as valuable a space in our society as anybody else. Unfortunately, this is not how we are often treated.

People talk over our heads. Decisions are made for us. Not by us. We are at times treated as toddlers. This saddens me beyond words.

Ann and Corina after setting up the exhibition 

In my own case, yes I use a wheelchair, or a mobility scooter, or walking sticks. Sometimes I can walk for a  short distance. I wobble when I walk. Sometimes am I well, sometimes I am not.

But I am still the person who worked as a volunteer in a cultural centre as a teenager; studied and worked as a nurse, as social care worker and as self-employed artist. And who, years after becoming ill, had several solo exhibitions and published four books; as well as completing a year of disability studies, and guiding the Life Outside the Box Puppet Project. All while living with limited energy, dealing with several challenging conditions within my body, use speech-to-text software to write, a brain does not always function as I would like it to be… And that is just the tip of iceberg of living with M.E.

But I am still me!

Last week Grace O’Sullivan said - while looking me straight into my face - that I don’t accept my dis-ability: “You are absolutely motivated and have a strength of character, and are on everyone on case … you are setting the bar high. We as a nation in Ireland, are a bit of ‘cap-in-hand’. You won’t settle for that. Keep pushing the barrier!”

Grace also raised the point about the need to have people with disabilities visible in the community. “Everyone in our community is the richer for it if we can live in harmony with each other … as shown here, there is no such thing as dis-ability.”

So, with this exhibition, with Grace’s talk, with the encouragements from visitors to the exhibition and through social media, to readers of my books and blog, friends new and old, I am catapulted into trusting that I am on the right track within my own development.

That I have to keep on traveling and exploring the road life’s circumstances has brought me on: to share my views about life with illness/disability with the wider public. To speak up for others who might not have this capability. To highlight our Abilities!  For the way I see it, we have many!

Thank you for coming along on my exciting journey.

Now I will rest, and I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to Grace O'Sullivan, and that you will visit or share the exhibition.

Best wishes to you all.

Anna, Ann and Karen pleased to be finished setting up the show.

See Puppet Blog for more images and abstract of talk etc.

See my website for My art and books and SHOP.