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Girls in Front of Boats

Memories… Larne – Stranraer


 

Caledonia


In the summer months when I was a child, we would often take the ferry to Stranraer from Larne and visit my sister who lived with her Scottish husband in ‘bonny’ Scotland. The boats were enormous animals and I recall being terrified of the noise of the fog-horn on deck… Here my sister and I are dressed identically. My mother had knitted us both aran cardigans to go with our red corduroy dresses which she had also made herself. The boat is like a wall behind us and we seem very vulnerable standing up against the bulk of its filthy side. The song Caledonia comes to mind too when I look at this painting; one of my favourite home-sick songs – Dolores Keane’s plaintive voice will always do the trick and force one to immediately book a trip back to Ireland…

 

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