We decided to name our screened porch the Bogside after our trip to Ireland last Fall. We traveled around Northern Ireland with our beloved cousin and tour guide Linda. This included a trip to Londonderry / Derry. Derry taught us a great deal about the history of Ireland and The Troubles, through it’s architecture, it’s people, it’s landscape, somewhat sadly, it’s expressions of Christianity. From the wall surrounding Derry you see the area called The Bogside. There is a lot of angst and still high emotions about this divide, but for us we connected to the origins of the name, because the area  was originally underwater as the river Foyle flowed round the island of Derry. It dried out into marshland: hence the name Bogside. And marshland is exactly what you see from our porch!

Here’s a summary of the many months it took to create our Bogside!