Blog

Look at the Birds               Word on the Week                       5th March 2022. As I walked past the forest garden, there in the bright sunlight were two blackbirds engaged in marital combat.   The frost was still sparkling on the tufts of grass unappreciated by the combatants.   A third blackbird or should I say ‘brownbird’, the cause of […]

Putin in Control                Word on the Week                     26th February 2022. This week has shown how well Putin has prepared for War.   Sorry ‘Peace Keeping’ is his preferred way of viewing it.   His adventures in Ukraine would appear to be running on schedule as he endeavours to put back the clock. The restoration of lands formerly […]

Covid – the reality           Word on the Week          19th February 2022. Just when we thought Covid had passed us by and we were cleaning the Men’s Shed prior to resumption I end up contracting Covid!   Other people got Covid, many people around us got Covid.   I had begun to think I was immune!    So don’t […]

Ukraine in the Frame            Word on the Week               12th February 2022. The frame is composed of Russian weapons of war.   It extends from Belarus in the North to Moldova in the South West taking in Donbas a Russian speaking portion of East Ukraine and including the recently annexed Crimea in the Black Sea. President […]

Bridget of Kildare               Word on the week              5th February 2022. Under the heading ‘The Biddies Are Back’ the daily newspaper showed dancers, clad in white, performing a ritual dance.  This annual event had been postponed because of the Covid pandemic.   They were heralding the start of Spring on the 1st of February and paying homage […]

Holocaust Survivors           Word on the Week             29th January 2022. “I don’t want to read about them!”   “Why can’t we be reminded about ‘Bloody Sunday, our own tragedy?”   Anniversaries, anniversaries, they often remind us of what we would like to forget.   And who can forget the photograph of the Priest waving the white handkerchief on […]

Covid Conquered             Word on the Week          22nd January 2022. Conquered? Not quite but it certainly felt like it listening to theTaoiseach’s broadcast last evening.   The only remnants remaining,that would affect the majority, are the mask wearing and handsanitising that have become second nature to us! It […]

The First Beginning                    Word on the Week          8th January 2022. For most of us it is the beginning at school that imprinted itself on our minds. That unforgettable first day!   For others it may be the first day at work with the trauma of a new beginning that became the time we cannot forget.  By […]

Making Merry                   Word on the Week          18th December 2021. “‘Tis the Season to be jolly” a line from the well-known Christmas Carol with a not so well known “Tiocfaidh ár lá” insertion got ex-president of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams into a spot of bother this week.   It was his own composition but it was the […]