Our Friend - Toby

This is our faithful old Toby, whose age we estimate to be about 9 years.He is a cross bred English Sheepdog and Welsh Collie, having the character of a lovable rogue, his hearing is absolutely brilliant and so makes for a great watchdog, especially at night.

Considering his background was not that great he is very well behaved with clean habits. Toby’s first companion treated him viciously, hitting him with a broom handle, punching him, feeding him on dry bread and water. He kept him on a short chain in a concrete yard with no proper shelter all the year round and only let him free to exercise about every six weeks.

Today he stays mainly indoors as he is not fond of rain. During the days of sunshine his favourite hideaway is a shady nook under a tree or shrub from where he keeps a watchful eye on what we are doing or eating, for his vast appetite can never be sated and we are careful not to over feed him. At the first opportunity he raids the cats’ bowls and leaves them without food.

There doesn’t seem to be any food that he doesn’t like. His tastes range from garlic to lettuce leaves and he even chews turf (the burning kind).
He also has a fondness Bailey’s Irish Cream and is especially good at plying his long tongue into a neglected brandy glass and not spilling a drop whilst he licks. On that occasion he did go through the door sideways then lay down and snored for a few hours! At a recent party a young friend placed a slice of gateaux on the coffee table only to find it missing within seconds of doing so... Toby had struck again !

We took him in the back of the car to our nearest beach, 70 miles away, because Jane had an idea that he would run on the beach with her and play in the waves. No such luck ! He was back in the car as fast as his legs would carry him when he realised it was wet, cold and tasted bad.
Toby is our friend, playmate and guardian and we are his. 

No photos, no drivers - thanks to Canon

As many of you are aware I use an iMac desk top and recently installed Apples new operating system Mountain Lion OS 10.8 which is amazingly fast and smooth.

My camera is a Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS which is perfect for me with my limited knowledge of photography.

Nearly all all of the photo’s on this blog were taken with my camera. Today I am unable to display any, in fact I am unable to download any of the photo’s from my camera onto the apple application iPhoto.

The reason for this is that Canon have yet to produce any drivers to work with my camera and OS10.8 operating system. 

Twice I rang Canon to enquire about this problem. The first time after having pressed all the buttons I was cut off, on the second attempt the female techie that I was talking to spoke so quietly that I had a job to hear her and I had to as her to speak louder.

During our conversation she asked me for my email address and said that she found some drivers and would email me that information. 

You know what! I am still waiting! 

I am in a quandary now as to whether to sell the camera and buy another one but most definitely not a Canon.

I await guidance from you my readers.

A Photo provokes memories

An old home

 My mind is churning up memories from the past and the blame for this can be placed squarely on the head of my cousin Anne T who yesterday forwarded to me a photo of my old home in Burnham-on-Sea. The house is up for sale at the modest price of  £185,000. I have no idea what my father paid for the four bedroomed property in 1947, except that it was considerably less. 

When we lived at Lynton Road the red bricks were, to my mind, a prominent and homely feature of our Victorian home. As we were a small family my mother had an idea of becoming a landlady so number twenty became a guest house. The first year she provided full board i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner but this proved to be too much work for her and subsequently she reduced it to a bed & breakfast establishment with an occasional evening meal on request.

I have a memory of there being a week when there was no hen eggs for sale in any of the shops nor even any packets of dry egg powder. So the boatmen of Burnham made a trip to one of the islands returning with sufficient eggs so that each child in the town was given one. They tasted rather salty so I guess that they were seagulls eggs!

During our time in Burnham my father managed a grocery shop in Bridgwater. My mother & I went to meet him from work and it being a Saturday the custom was that any fresh produce that had not been sold was divided up between himself and his assistant: a heated discussion (almost a fight!) was taking place inside, for there was just one banana left in the box outside of the shop. My mother told me to pick it up and be quick about eating it - which I did. The argument inside of the shop ceased immediately.

It was in B-o-S that I first went to school. Oxford Street was just around the corner and my parents sent me to St. Joseph's Elementary School (1948 - 50) which in those days was staffed by the La Retraite Nuns of the adjoining convent. Being sent there was rather odd considering that my parents were virtually pagan in comparison to our neighbours. Xmas meant presents with two days of feasting and Easter meant chocolate eggs with visits to old pagan sites up in the hills.

I enjoyed my time at the school especially the after lunch naps on raffia mats and the music lessons when I was first given a drum to play, however I was quickly demoted to a triangle and I can't think why ! The nuns stole my tender heart away with their sense of fun and the Mother Superior was like having an extra aunt, as she seemed to have an endless supply of sweets. On my last day she appeared with a large flat box of chocolates that were shared among the class and the box with two chocs left were given to me to take home. Of all of the many educational establishments that I attended, I think that this first school was the happiest.

Food in those days was always upper most in our minds. Everybody was subjected to a Ration Card with rip out tokens that had to be presented to shopkeepers before a purchase could be made. 

My father obtained some fertilised eggs which were put in a straw filled box in the airing cupboard and eventually out popped some yellow chicks, from these we kept three cockerels that were put in a purpose made cage in the back garden. Little did I know how exciting this would be on the day that my mother (she being city raised) decided to let them out for a bit of exercise. Getting them back into their run took the combined efforts of two neighbouring housewives armed with brooms to shoo them in the right direction - I think we ended up giving one bird to each of them as payment for their silence. 

Beach combing was a pastime that was carried out by all who lived handy to the shore. The sandy beach at B-o-S is the southern end of a sandy shore that is 7 miles (11km) long from Brean Down at the northern end via Berrow to Burnham. I spent many a happy hour looking amongst the seaweed for odd bits of firewood and other interesting items that drifted ashore. On the beach at Berrow were the old wrecks of two wooden vessels which greatly enlivened the imaginations of small boys of sailing to foreign places, rum, sword fights and romance with dusky maidens.

In my early boyhood days there was no suntan lotion but sunburn could be prevented by squeezing the juice from the bubbles on green bladderwrack and smearing it on the skin. Cooling calamine lotion was used to soothe sunburn. 

It is amazing the memories and reminiscences that Anne's photo have brought into my mind and for that I really need to say:  Thank you Anne!

Small tour of Cork & Kerry

We took a few days off from the treadmill of life to go sight-seeing around the counties that lie to the West and South of us.

The Shannon ro-ro ferry that plies between Killimer in Co Clare and Tarbert in Co Kerry saving  many miles tedious driving.

Shrone Beg showing the Paps of Anu in the background and in the foreground a spring well that has been venerated continuously for thousands of years; today it is known as Mary's Well, prior to that it was named after three female saints whose names closely resemble ancient pagan deities.

Inch Beach is a 3 miles long by approx. 3/4 mile deep peninsula with sand dunes and provides a natural breakwater to Castlemaine harbour to the east.

The speed limit through the small village of Adrigole on a well dressed tarmac surfaced road is safely signed as 60 km/h (35 mph) So it came as a surprise to me to see that the speed limit on twisty, stony boreen (track) was signed as 80 km/h (50 mph) ! I wonder who in Cork County Council is responsible for this bit of mis-management and whether they were sober at the time of signing the appropriate order ?

We visited Eyeries a small picturesque town where every building is painted a different colour. Eyeries nestles on high ground between the Slieve Miskish and Caha Mountains. It was holding a Family Day in aid of the local school, here amongst the many stalls we found a friend of ours selling her Eco-wares.

I am drawn like a magnet to businesses that sell good food and wine. One such place is Val Manning's Emporium at Ballylickey, a few short miles west of Bantry. Here we managed to find a table for two and in warm sunshine we feasted on Lemon Polenta cake washed down with delicious coffee and enjoyed our talk with Val, who is a legendary conversationalist with a wealth of knowledge on many subjects.

BIRR - revisited

The Birr Civic Offices & Public Library are housed in a revitalised Gothic building that was formerly owned by the Sisters Of Mercy and designed by A.W.N. Pugin.  The library holds as part of it's treasures an illuminated copy of the Macregol Gospels, the original of which was written in 800 AD in Birr and now sits in the Bodelian Library in Oxford, England. Incidentally 2012 is the bicentenary of the acclaimed architect who works span England & Ireland. 

The former convent has an internal cloister and the south-eastern cloister has been extended into an internal quadrangle to provide an exhibition & tourist information area. The extension consists of a frameless glazed roof, which is supported by a masonry wall within which six old stained glass windows have been restored and relocated. The overall ambience within this building needs to be experienced to be properly appreciated, for there is so much peace and tranquility present that it as if the former occupants were still in residency.

Dr. John Feehan & Bernie in discussion

Maid, Mother & Crone (Cailleach)

Fred salutes a Lady

A profound conversation perhaps ?

Everywhere it is the paintings that sit as

silent witnesses to conversations

To read the opening speech by Dr John Feehan please visit http://theeverlivingones.blogspot.ie/

Brú na Bóinne & exhibition extra's

The silent stone that greets visitors.

The ornate entrance gates with a triple spiral design.

From the car park the approach to the visitor

centre is via a sloping pathway covered by a

pergola.

Along the entrance path the trees and shrubs are named

and the Ogham hieroglyph is shown when appropriate.

The view of the ancient monument from the upper floor of

the visitor centre, in the bottom left corner of photo the river Boyne

can be glimpsed.

Flor who kindly modelled for

the God Manannán

Flor & partner moved by the painting

perhaps ?

The Healing God Dian Cecht witnesses a téte á téte

between lovers !

Exhibition: The Ever-Living Ones

Looking to the left from the centre

Looking to the right from the centre

Appreciative onlookers

Card Stall  

The fellow in the red hat was brought over from England

by friends who made the trip especially to see J's work

and the basket of flowers were sent to J by Lady North who 

lives on a Canadian island.

The artist J now relaxes.

Link to J's blog : http://theeverlivingones.blogspot.ie/

Jane's Exhibition

It is with great pleasure that am able to share the following:

About the artist: Jane Brideson was born Jane McGill in Ghana, West Africa and 

adopted her Manx grandmother's name of Brideson 

(Mylevreeshy / Mac Ghiolla Brigide) when she began painting in the 1980's.

After growing up in Liverpool and on the Isle of Man, she moved to live in Ireland between the Slieve Bloom mountains and the River Barrow where she shares a cottage with her husband, Mel, their dog and several cats. 

Jane has an honours degree in graphic design and a diploma in client-centred art therapy. 

Whilst in London she worked as a freelance designer / illustrator for the Observer newspaper and Hodder & Stoughton Publishers. 

In 1997 she collaborated with Teresa Moorey to produce their book 

"The Wheel of the Year : myth & magic through the seasons". 

She loves Ireland and the Irish mythology, the power of images, books and music to transport us to other worlds and the occasional pint of Guinness.

In 2006 she was inspired by a dream to begin painting 

"The Ever-Living Ones" and along the way found help, support and knowledge.

Without the following people this exhibition would not have been possible:

Mel Llwyd, Fred Mathews, Michael Collins, Seán Gilmartin, Fiona Young,

 Áine-Máire Ní Mhurchú, Siobhán ní Ghabhann, Shirley Swan, 

Marie O'Dwyer, Seámus Ó Ceallaháin, Antoine O'Lochlainn, Carole Larkin, 

Trish Keating, Gearóid Ó Crualaoich, Eoghain Mac Connell, Flor Burke, Seánie Larkin, Carmel ní Dhuibheanaigh, Bill & Peggy Sinnott, 

James Crowley, Jenny Butler, Anthony Murphy, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 

Fr. Seámus O'Duinn, the late Dáithí Ó hÓgain, Noel Reynolds, 

Suzanne Power, Æ, the contributors to "On Crow Road", Claire Tuffy at 

Brú na Bóinne, Joan & Des at Midland Framing, Mochua Print & Design, 

Joe & staff at  O'Sullivan Photography, The National Museum Dublin and 

the staff at Tullamore Library.

Shop Fronts - Birr

The character of any town is in it's architecture, colours of buildings and the variety of business premises. I am unable to show them all, so I have made a selection in the hope that it will give you a flavour of the town.

Emmet Square sits at the start of the town

There is always one who tempts the wrath

of a traffic warden.

The Horse & Dog Outfitters being next door a victualler always brings a smile to my face, for my imagination always conjures up a picture of a portly well fed & groomed dog strolling down the street in top hat and tailed coat smoking a cigar. 

BIA LICIOUS CAFE

Bia Licious is a wonderful eating house who serve freshly baked food on the premises,it is tucked away in a quiet courtyard with chairs and tables outside plus a eye-catching vintage Austin Seven. It was in this cafe that my wife spotted the waitress as being an ideal model for her painting of the Goddess Anu, which is now three quarters finished.

The Organic Store is a great attraction and always receives a weekly visit from us.

BRAMBLES

Brambles is owned and managed by Ms Delahunt who has keen sense of wit and a fascinating surname; Besides serving delicious food and the best coffee in Ireland!

Delahunt: the first two syllables might suggest a French origin however Delahunt is an anglicised version of the pre-tenth century gaelic name O'Dulchaointeach, a name composed of the elements 'Dul' meaning satirist and 'Caointeach' meaning keening song
The satirists were part of the ancient druidic caste and to be specific they were part of the Filidh/Fili who had many grades of members, from the highly educated poets, musicians and satirists to the lowly uneducated baird /bards. Satire in ancient times was capable of reversing the fortunes of a Chieftain's status and therefore it paid to keep the Druids and Filidh well fed when they came to visit. 

The sparkly interior of Brambles

Imelda is a ladies hairdressers with an eye catching and unusual window decorations, in the form of handwritten messages and drawings that change to celebrate every season. The street that it is in seems to have a proliferation of mens barbers and women's hairdressers. 

A close up of Imelda's messages

A Faceted Jewel

We now do our weekly shopping in a different town, a place that we had often passed through on our way to the counties of Clare and Galway. Early in January on the recommendation of a friend we visited Birr in Co. Offaly to use a different insurance broker, it was a good advice, for it saved us well over €200 on the annual car insurance.

On our walk along the main street we noticed that the townspeople were friendly and convivial by giving us, who were strangers to them, a nod and a "hello" as we passed them by. Mrs H remarked to me about there being a good variety of interesting shops which were well stocked including a small art shop; what we did find amusing and unusual for the size of the place was the number of large, privately run, pharmacies, all of them on the main street and in some cases next door to each other.

Birr is like a faceted jewel whose intricacies belong solely to this town, the like of which cannot be found anywhere else in Ireland or even in the world. These I will be sharing with you in several future blogs.

St. John's Mall

Signs of the times

St. John's Hall

An unusual building to be seen here is Saint John's Hall. This building was erected in memory of John Clere Parsons, son of the 2nd Earl of Rosse, who died in 1828. It was built as a miniature Greek ionic temple and provides a focal point along the axis of two flanking rows of terraced houses.

'Umbillicus Hibernia'

Referred to by Geraldus Cambrensis in the 12th Century as 'Umbilicus Hibernia' (The Navel of Ireland) and probably part of a megalithic monument at Seffin, the exact site of which is now unknown.
Reputed by oral tradition to have marked a meeting place of the Fianna. It was removed from Birr in 1828 by Thomas Steale and taken to his residence Cullan House, Co. Clare to honour Daniel O'Connell and used as a Mass rock at that site.
The monument stone was returned to Birr Urban District Council in June 1974 by the Department of Lands. The stone is a block of limestone from the Lower Carboniferous Age, 250 million years old and is of local origin.

 The Little Brosna River ( the home of a rare fish)

The Croneen Trout

The Croneen is a fresh water, migratory, silver, torpedo-shaped trout that can weigh over 4lb, it spawns in the Little Brosna and Camcor rivers and migrates to Lough Derg, in the river Shannon, to feed. 

Advances in genetics and DNA techniques show that trout such as the Croneen trout are distinct species. Additionally it has been shown that many of our lake trout populations in particular belong to races or “conservation units” that must be protected as they have evolved and adapted to suit the conditions to the lake and river sometime after (and in some cases before) the last Ice Age, 13,000 years ago. The fact that they return ‘home’ to their place of birth on the river ensures that they do not mix.

A gift from a neighbour

When we returned home we had a pleasant surprise! For standing on the window cill was this bowl of eggs, which from the colour of the eggs and design of the dish we recognised

as being a gift from our nearest neighbour.