The pox has finally tracked me down. Like a shadow boxer I have ducked and dived, but it caught me unaware last week with a sharp uppercut. As Paddy Kavanagh said, ‘We have tested and tasted too much, lover, through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder’. Whatever about tasting too much, we …
When I was around eight, I lived in fear that I’d accidentally buy a cow. It seemed there were a thousand simple things I might do that would result in me having to shell out for a heifer. Going to the mart in Thurles with my Dad, The Brother, and Uncle Tom was visually, aurally …
Many of you have sisters whom you love and possibly sisters that you struggle with. I’m in the fortunate position of being able to choose my own sisters. Several decades ago, when I went in search of pals who I could bestow this title on, I didn’t get lucky, I got blessed. I call my …
When we were saying our goodbyes to my Uncle Tom’s house after his 1st anniversary mass, all of us cousins were invited to take a keepsake. The Tipperary farmhouse where I had spent many summer holidays was a simple home. Yet everything had a familiarity and a link not just to my father’s brother Tom, …
It’s said that you should do something every day that scares you. I have a long list of things that scare me so I’ve plenty of choice. I’m afraid of the dark, swallowing a fish bone, not being liked, blood tests, maths tests and have a whole plethora of fears when it comes to motorway …
February is one of those months that drags me backwards and forwards along the hope continuum, until I don’t know which end is up. One minute I’m congratulating myself for getting through January and relishing the grand stretch, the next I’m stiff with the cold and despair of warmth ever returning. Transition months will do …
I’ve given up on far less worthy books if they haven’t engaged me by the first 50 pages. My bookmark rest on page 22 of my 10-year-old copy of Ulysses, in fairness Nora Barnacle passed on her copy after 27 pages, so I don’t feel so bad. I’m a slow reader, in school I struggled …
Given that my youngest will soon be eligible to vote, I thought my days of guiding limbs into garments were long behind me. However, that is exactly what I find myself doing since I starting working as a home carer last year. I have a schedule of regulars who I visit, helping them get washed …
Car journeys have often been suggested as the ideal time to bring up awkward chats with teenagers. The lack of eye contact and escape opportunities, make it ripe for broaching difficult topics. Mothers-in-law on the other hand, seem to choose Sunday dinner as their opportunity to thrash out touchy subjects. Mrs B Senior’s latest preoccupation …
I met a middle-aged woman the other day who told me she loves the magic of Christmas. I looked at her in wide-eyed disbelief thinking she’s either yanking my chain or she’s the kind who takes the family to Disneyland. ‘It’s fabulous’ she said, ‘it’s like going to Disneyland’. I tried really hard not to …
Ordinary Plenty 