Tag Archives: Bonfire

Mar2

Halloween in Dublin

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31-Oct-2025

Editor’s Note: Ben is busy. Like… We can’t quite describe how busy Ben is, with this whole “Master’s Program” aside from pointing to the lack of updates, hiking, climbing, and even gym time. In short – Thank you, dear readers, for bearing with him while he get’s his world in order.

DID YOU KNOW?

Dublin is the home of Halloween?

Well, yes. You likely do know, dear readers, as I do believe I’ve posted a bit about it in my Rathcrogan, Cave of the Cats, post a while back.

But then… what does an American do, when in Dublin, for Halloween?

Well.

…

Not that much, as it turns out. From what I learned, Halloween here is a bit more of a “tribal” thing? Or at least, a more tightly-knit friend group thing. For Ex-Pats like myself, there really isn’t a ton going on. Myself, my Classmate Andrea, my friend Brian, and a whole slew of other classmates all huddled up and went to a nearby pub that was supposedly hosting a Halloween costume party (but clearly didn’t, because we clearly would have won).

For Dubliners, or especially the folks living in the neighborhood that I’ve made my home, it’s a bit more of an ancient affair. Which is to say – kids gather wood for a month or so ahead of time, storing it in vast quantities in hidden lairs. They raid other kid’s stashes, and protect their own from opportunistic raiding, in the dream of having the biggest bonfire.

Then, the evening of Halloween, the city burns. Seriously, see the link below.

Countless bonfires and fireworks go off, and parties are had, and people celebrate… all while those international personas, such as myself, wonder how exactly to break into those friend groups so that we too can dance around the fire…

Though, maybe, we can keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Just a thought.

Link to previous post = https://talesfromthehutt.com/2025/01/22/a-trip-into-legend-the-cave-of-the-cats-in-rathcrogan-and-the-origin-of-samhain-halloween/?preview_id=35587&preview_nonce=9400141bfa&preview=true

Some more info about Halloween and Dublin = https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4d40rwwyjo

How much did Dublin burn in 2024? Well… = https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/11/01/dublin-fire-brigade-experience-busiest-halloween-in-10-years/

May10

The blaze of the past lights my way

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Sunday, 21-April-2024


I am a sentimental creature, by nature. This is the culmination of that sentimentality.


I assign meaning to little things, overthink gestures and comments and actions, and see memories in the smallest of things. I save postcards and greeting cards – I’ve got a huge stack of them, going back 7 or 8 years, in fact. Yes, if you’ve sent me a card anytime since I’ve been in Oregon, there’s a good chance it’s flying to Ireland right now.

Some of the things I save have deep meaning. A faucet handle from when I was in a Brazilian detention center, for example, has deep meaning. Some of the things I save do not have deep meaning. A neat looking snail shell that I’ve had on my desk, for counter example.

Some things have deep meaning that needs to be left in the deep. Consigned to the past, and not carried forward into the future… regardless of how deep the meaning may be. Anchors to that which came before, that simply don’t aid in the fact that this ship is no longer anchored there, and is instead heading out to sea.

<Editor’s Note: One of Ben’s favorite quotes is from someone named John A. Shedd – “A ship at Harbor is safe… but that is not what ships are built for“. It seems appropriate to include here, thanks to his current metaphorical course>

Burning anchors is hardly advised, but in this case that’s exactly what I did. A box of Memories that shouldn’t be kept was carried with me, along with some firewood, camp chairs, and an axe, to Collins Beach out on Sauvie Island. The sand was prepared and cleared of anything flammable, a nice log cabin fire was made, and memories were shared before the physical memories were burnt. Old love letters, paintings, drawings, and other things that reminded me of a different life that I’d lived… hopes that I’d had for an alternative course that my life could have taken.

The memory sharing didn’t go quite as well as I’d hoped, but it was… almost cathartic. I learned an important lesson (that I’ll keep personal, for the time being), and had the opportunity to grow as a person… even if it wasn’t in the manner that I’d hoped for when I set this plan in motion.

It was an ending, in any case, with all the memories safely disposed of and left as buried ashes in the sand of the beach.




Link to the history of the “Ships at Harbor” quote – it’s interesting, and involves some very impressive persons!

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/12/09/safe-harbor/

Nov4

A bonfire, a birthday, and a river

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Saturday, 21-Oct-2023


It’s been absolute ages since I’ve hung out around a fire, swapping stories and getting to know new people. The last time was… I’d have to say BCEP, earlier this year? In the beginning of April?

Whoof. Too long.


I arrived at the parking lot late, having accidentally set my GPS to the wrong side of a river tributary, but thankfully I wasn’t the last to arrive, nor did I miss the sunset. I walked up to the Columbia with a dozen donuts and a handful of fire-color packets, twin gifts for my neighbor whose birthday it was.

It was awesome when Bethan and Courtney invited me along – I know I’m a bit of the oddball in their friends group, so it meant a lot to me that I got the opportunity to join in on their birthday adventure.

It was really fun – and also a great change to further test out the night-photography on the new camera, I’ll freely admit!