Cirrus Chronicles- Landing in Ballynelligan, is a fairy-story-with-a-difference. The story was conceived during my short walks along Lady Louisa's Walk in December 2008.
Every time I went for my (fifteen minute) walk, I thought about this story: what Cloud Fairy Cirrus would see, who he would meet, what they might do. I took many photographs along the way which also inspired the story, and many of which became illustrations in the book.
Thinking about the story, and having my camera with me, made me less aware of the struggle I had with walking. It made it fun.
The Robin, who is the first 'person' Cirrus met, accompanied me on many of these walks.
Quite extraordinary.
I also made a small sculpture of Cirrus which I then superimposed into the photographs.
Cirrus Chronicles is a story of a Cloud Fairy Cirrus Kalani when he accidentally lands in a field in Ballynelligan (a real location). There he meets Sarah Robin, Wally Wood mouse, Robert Cat, a song trush, partying Christmas Tree Fairies and a wooden Zebra.
Following is an abstract from this small book. To set the scene: Cirrus took part in an event on Cloud Nine: Cloud Hole Jumping. This is what happened.
...
Cirrus made
himself as tall as he could, all five inches of him, and walked towards the
starting line of the track. Taking a deep breath, he started on his run.
Counting eleven small steps, Cirrus slowly increased his speed. Then three long
steps, all the while concentrating on his posture. However, what he could not
calculate, were the many marshmallows bumping up against each other, in the
litres of lemonade in his belly. Just before the last and most important jump,
he slipped, and tumbled through the Cloud-Hole.
Sliding with great
speed down the rainbow below him, legs in the air.
(next chapter)
Wet Trousers
“Get out of my
bath!” Cirrus looked up, and saw a bird, smaller than himself, sticking out its
red breast. “Get out of my bath! Can’t you hear me?”
Cirrus was a
little scared. He had never been away from home before.
To be honest, he
felt pretty embarrassed too, sitting with his bottom in a puddle of water.
“I am so sorry,”
he said in a shaky voice, “it happened by accident.”
“Well, you just
make sure it doesn’t happen again,” was the reply. “This is MY field and MY
bath!” The bird flew off in disgust.
Cirrus ran towards
the edge of the field, water sloshing in his yellow boots, and sat down on a
moss-covered rock.
The sweet smelling
grasses surrounding his hiding spot, were tall enough to reach the rooftop of
his parents’ house. To see the tops of the enormous trees in their winter
outfits, he had to lie on his back.
Taking off his
boots and wet stripy socks, he asked a little shaken, “where am I, and how on
cloud do I get home again?”
Hanging his
trousers out to dry on a low branch, he looked out over the field. Through a
gap in the trees he could make out a river. On the other side there were trees
that looked like huge wet feathers.
“Look at those
mountains, they are so green,” he said in awe, “and so BIG!”
“Well, what do you
expect?” the red-breasted bird called out from a nearby tree. “You are looking
at the Knockmealdown Mountains. What you see there are only the hills. You
should see the REAL mountains!” the bird boasted.
“The ‘what me
down’ mountains?”
“The Knockmealdown
mountains, with the famous Vee Gap. ARHG, what would you know about mountains!”
“We have mountains
too you know,” Cirrus said in his defence. He was feeling rather self
conscious, sitting in his knickers, legs covered in goose bumps.
“So, where did YOU
come from?” the bird asked.
“From up there,”
pointing his skinny finger at the sky. To his horror
Cirrus could not
make out Cloud Nine, Cloud Nimbo, or any other
Cloud for that
matter. The rainbow too, had long since disappeared.
Taking a deep
breath, he continued, “and if you would be so kind as to tell me, where am I
now?”
“In Ireland, you
ejit. Don’t you know anything?” The bird stuck out its breast again, ruffled
its feathers, holding its head up high, tail resting on the branch. “You are in
County Waterford, near the town of Lismore. To be more precise, you are in the
townland of Ballynelligan, in the field owned by me and the Scanlon’s.”
“Enough,” said
Cirrus. “One more thing though, who are you?”
“I am Sarah Robin,
registered resident of this glorious field!”
“My name is Cirrus
Kalani, and I live on Cloud Nine.”
“Cirrus? Never
heard THAT name before!”
“I am named after
those feathery clouds, you see high up in the sky,” he explained, “and if you
like to know, my granny told me that Kalani means ‘the sky’.”
There are many adventures. The overall goal is to get Cirrus home again... 'Santa Man' will make an appearence too...
Links:
To buy a copy of Cirrus Chronicles- Landing in Ballynelligan, click HERE
With EVERY book order I will also post a copy to Barnardos, a children's charity in Ireland.
