My community is like a seagull playing with the wind
My community is like waves crashing on the rocks
My community is like a kayak in the swell
My community is like picking juicy sweet blackberries
My community is like getting scratched by the thorns

My home is like a harbour, sometimes with red and green stormlights
My home is like music and singing
My home is like laptops and strange languages
My home is like the smell of frying onions and garlic
My home is like kneading the dough and waiting patiently

and what about me?
I am like the wobble-dolly that always stands up again
I am like the joker that makes people laugh
I am like a sensor asking "how are you?"
I am sometimes peaceful like a hot chocolate in the evening
I am sometimes clumsy and again forgot the butter knives
I am sometimes fast and efficient like a humming hoover
I am sometimes flying with the seagulls when I sit on the cliffs
and play the whistle
I am happy to live the life I chose for.......

-tonnie-

As stormy winter showers rattle against my window I sit and reflect on all that happened in the last year. And I am amazed, or rather overwhelmed by the richness and fullnes of our Camphill life. Apart from all the birthday parties and goodbye parties (which, divided over the year would give us nearly a party a week!!) there were all these special moments, festivals, highlights that can wake us up for the beauty and joy of community life in the very west of Ireland.... There was Imbolc and Candlemas, when we try to help nature to bring light into the earth, there was the Saint Patrick's day Parade, which our community joined for the first time. There were fundraising events throughout the year, from tractor-race to guess-my-pumpkin's-weight, volunteers joined us (welcome Vanessa and Phill and Terry and Mick and Helen!). In March diggers and lorries appeared on our land: the long wished-for farmhouse was going to be built! Completely funded by donations, it seems to me a miracle when I look at the proud beautiful building. In May Ernst and Phill from Botton Village started pulling up the walls, one evening joined by Dominic and his three brothers. A few days later Quentin,a french woofer stood on our doorstep and asked if we had work for 5 days for him. These five days became three months of perfect teamwork with Rob, Dominic and Atilla, and the farm grew and grew. So apart from the money, a LOT of time an work was donated and made it all possible. Thank you everybody for making us and the cows happy!! On the 1st of May a lovely group of big round bumblebees with african drums got all the spectators of the Bealtaine-parade enthusiastic and dancing. What an achievement to make music together, whilst walking through town and thousands of people cheering and applauding, and never miss a beat!.... In May Tom and John arrived and stole our hearts straight away. However, the poor lads had to wait till December before they got a roof above their heads. New coworkers? No, our twin donkeys!.... The beginning of June saw a good friend, Irene, leaving. Irene had joined Camphill Dingle right at the start and moved mountains in the four years she lived with us.Thank you Irene!! The end of June saw a person joining us, who by now proofs to be a good friend: Annmarie. Always sunny and ready for some craic, she has brought a fresh wind into our community. Welcome Annmarie! In summer, as every year, there is the big move of coworkers leaving and coming, weeks of shortage of people and weeks of shortage of beds...And poor Betsie broke her leg in Scotland and was seen driving around and negotiating corridor-bends in a wheelchair. All through the summer we had, on Saturdays, the Open House Cafe in Tigheen, where people could feast on cakes, home-made ice-cream, coffee, tea and cordials after visiting Doonsheane beach...Bad luck it was always rainy and cold on every single saturday. But we did have some happy customers and we'll try again next summer. So, if you don't know what to do on another rainy saturday afternoon in July..... Our 5th Camphill anniversary, on Michaelmas day, was celebrated in the new farmbuilding, a wonderful sight with the big harvesting altar and the beautifully decorated supper tables. We were blessed with sunny weather in October, so that we could get ready for the music week. “Ceol agus Craic” was a great experience who took part in it or who came to the final concert of our “70 strong orchestra”. And now we are heading towards Christmas; Advent seems to be too short this year, rehearsing the Shepherd's Play, baking cokies and stollen, singing songs. We all wish our friends and relatives a warm and cosy Christmastide! What will next year bring us? I reckon as intensive a lifestyle as we had this last year; maybe the building start of our first house? Everything is planned and ready to start, only the money is still missing! So we are grateful for every penny that is fundraised for us, it will all go straight into the building account! Thank you everyone for all your good thoughts and good deeds that make us feel welcome and supported in Dingle!