I’m 35 and I still love to play, and that’s not going to change any time soon. Me and my four children love to go on random adventures. I just love playing with them. They’re my wee team, I always ask their opinion on things.

My husband works long hours and I feel blessed to be able to spend time with them while they’re young. We live in rural Donegal. There’s ancient sites like Beltany Stone Circle and the Grianán of Aileach scattered throughout this county. I’m fascinated by old things, and I love to guess at the mystery behind them. 

I try to imagine what happened at these sites back in the day. I like to touch the stones and feel a sense of the energy of the people who put them there. I’m in awe of the care, the detail, the skill that went into their creation. It’s breathtaking. It’s just fascinating to think of the secrets these places hold.

There’s no rail-line in Donegal anymore, but there used to be. Where we live in Castlefin we’re surrounded by remains of the old track, the bridges, the station, the carriages. Our adventures bring us through briars and across fences and I watch the kids jumping around being their carefree selves and it brings a smile to my face as I watch them breathing new life into what’s been abandoned and forgotten. 

Still, at the age I am, I believe in playing and dreaming and making wishes. It brings me right back to my childhood. Children and nature spark such joy in me. I struggle with reading and writing, but getting creative through photography is the best thing I’ve done for myself in years.