Monthly Archives: June 2012

Light

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Light blogging from me this week.

I am rather busy

I had great fun catching up with Steve. We met about 10 years ago when Elly moved to live & work in Dublin. Then five years later at Elly & Georges wedding, he was a Grooms man with special responsibilities: –  To look after Grannymar for the day. He did a wonderful job on that day and we remain the best of friends ever since. I do hope his lap has recovered from my weight. The evening was drawing in so Elly threw the throw/blanket at us to keep my knees warm.

Gaelikaa/Maria with me at Howth harbour with Ireland’s eye in the background.

Maria and I met up for a couple of hours early in the week and had a good old girlie chinwag. Later I had the opportunity to meet Mr Gaelikaa and all the family.  It was great to hear about Maria’s life in India since she moved there to live.

Having fun at George & Elly’s BBQ

George, his sister and Elly.

Thanks to the good friend to invited my sister and I for dinner this evening. It was a great way to finish a busy day.

I did have some more photos, but alas due to several blips in the internet connectivity last night and today the photos are still in my camera and phone! 🙁

I am hoping to slip into the shade of the back row this week and leave you in the hands of Anu, Delirious, Maxi, Maria/Gaelikaa, Maria SilverFox, OCD writer, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, Shackman speaks, The Old Fossil, Will Knott..

See you next week!

Thursday Special ~ Charm School

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Two well dressed ladies happened to start-up a conversation during an endless wait in Brisbane Airport Terminal. The first lady was an arrogant Victorian married to a wealthy business man. The second was a well-mannered elderly woman from Mount Isa, Queensland.

After a little while Victorian woman started by saying, “When my first child was born, my husband built a beautiful mansion for me.”

The lady from Mount Isa commented, “Well, isn’t that precious?”

The first woman continued, “When my second child was born, my husband bought me a beautiful Mercedes-Benz.”

Again, the lady from Mount Isa commented, “Well, isn’t that precious?”

The first woman went on, “Then, when my third child was born, my husband bought me this exquisite diamond bracelet.”

Yet again, the Mount Isa lady commented, “Well, isn’t that precious?”

The first woman then asked , “What did your husband buy for you when you had your first child?”

“My husband sent me to charm school,” declared the Mount Isa lady.

“Charm school?” the first woman cried, “Oh, my Lord! What could they teach you ??”

The Mount Isa lady responded,

“Well as an example… instead of saying, “Who gives a F * * k?”, I learned to say, “Well, isn’t that precious”.

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Thanks Ramana, for this precious story!

Food Monday ~ Orange Bran Loaf

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Orange Bran Loaf
Preheat the oven to 180°C

4 ozs of Self Raising Flour
1 oz wholemeal flour
2 ozs bran
1 level teaspoon baking soda
3 ozs soft butter
3 ozs sultanas
1 egg, beaten
5 oz carton of fruit yoghurt
1 orange, rind and 2 tablespoons of juice
4 ozs soft brown sugar
½ level teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Rub the butter into the flours, then add all the remaining ingredients.
Put into a greased 2 lb loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes. Cool in the tin for ten minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack until it is cold.

A Torch

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Home ~ Limestone & Guilded Bronze
Sculptor ~ Leo Higgins

Standing on the junction of Buckingham Street and Sean MacDermott Street in Dublin’s North Inner City, is Home by Leo Higgins, is a monument to the memory of all those who died as a direct or indirect result of heroin in the area.

Since 1996, a Christmas Tree had been erected each year on the site, where the memorial now stands. Stars were placed on the Christmas Tree to commemorate those who had died from drugs. In that first year, eighty four stars hung on the tree’s branches. By December 2000, the tree held one hundred and twenty four stars, each one placed there for someone known to have died locally from heroin. Some families lost as many as three or more of their children to drugs. The idea of the Memorial project was not to replace the Christmas Tree, but to create some form of more permanent marker at the site.

Leo Higgins was born in Dublin in 1951. He went to London aged twenty-one and worked for ten years in a foundry. He now says that casting and making things in metal is, “What I absolutely want to do”. He considers himself “extremely lucky as I have the foundry and I also get to make sculpture”. However, he points out that “it’s bloody hard work”.

He was winner of the Oireachtas Prize for sculpture in 1984 and 1985. It is a national award open to all Irish artists living at home and abroad. Higgins has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Ireland. He is a founder member of the Sculptors Society of Ireland.  In 1986 Leo started a ten year, one-day-a-week teaching stint in The National College of Art & Design, Dublin. 1987, saw the beginning of Cast Foundry in the heart of Dublin’s “Liberties” with Leo Higgins and Belmullet-born Colm Brennan at the helm.

Openings ~ 40

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An Archway mid terrace that I passed in Banbridge the other week. I am nosy and love to peep through and see where they lead.

Taking a closer look, it leads to another roadway, some back gardens with clothes lines and a group of bungalows.

First Memory

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I remember the day. We were lying on the carpet under the bay window in the ‘Sitting room’. Nowadays you would call it a lounge. I liked the feel of the carpet on my legs and arms. It was late morning and the light was switched on.

I have the evidence.

In the middle of things as usual, with my brothers.

We were a family of three at the time. ‘1949’ was all that was written on the back of the photo. There are other photos taken that day, but there is no sign of brother No.3 anywhere in any of them, so it must have been before he was born in the month of February 1949. We three had birthdays all within two weeks, brother No 2 on the left was at the end of February and brother No 1 and I two days apart of each other in March. That would have me approaching my second birthday and the boys their fourth and sixth.

Although I do not remember the name of the photographer, I can still in my mind’s eye see his face and the camera on what I now know was a tripod. He played games with us like a magician. I remember oranges he did tricks with.

The boys are dressed as I always remember them until their teenage years – shirts that had starched collars, ties, grey short tailored trousers and knee socks with turn down tops and finished off with well polished shoes. The only variation in my wardrobe in 1949 was the daily change of colour for my smocked dress and matching ribbon in my hair. Did you notice my hair?  There was a little bunch on the top of my head and practically none at the sides. Thankfully mammy’s constant cutting when it appeared, helped to thicken it up.

While searching through my photographs I found this one from 1950.

Mammy in 1950

The car was a black Hillman Minx saloon and the reg was Z J 1717. I remember that summer dress with short sleeves. The fabric was a very soft muslin in a pale green pattern. I loved the feel of it and the style. If it was still about I would love to wear it. The collar was detachable for laundering and starching – we were a well starched family back then! 😆

If mammy was wearing a summer dress without a cardigan it must have been August. It had to be. She gave birth to sibling No 4 in July.

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The topic My first memory was chosen for us this week by Conrad. Time now to join me as I make my way through memory lane accompanied by: Anu, Delirious, Maxi, Maria/Gaelikaa, Maria SilverFox, OCD writer, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, Shackman speaks, The Old Fossil, Will Knott..

Thursday Special ~ The Bathtub Test

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During a visit to my  doctor, I asked him, “How do you determine whether or not  an older person should be put in an Elder Care Home?”

“Well,”  he said, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a  teacup and a bucket to the person to empty the  bathtub.”

“Oh, I understand,” I  said. “A normal person would use the bucket because it is  bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”

“No” he said. “A normal  person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the  window?”

Thanks Paddy, which bed did you select? 😉