Friday, January 28, 2011

Introducing the Vernacular...

Thatched roof & stone walls of a house on the Aran islands.
..the what, I hear you say? Well it all comes from studying heritage I suppose and looking to the lives people who lived before us. I don't mean centuries ago but our parents and grandparents lived in a world where vernacular activity and recycling may have been much more the norm. I hate being a child of the plastic age and would love to get back to the basics but as said before plastic is pushed in our faces and we don't have a huge choice, partly because we have forgotten or were simply not told how to use the natural tools around us. The vernacular. My understanding is;

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Wonderful result!


Soon to be "Lovely old Town"

I received some great news this week! Always welcome. Charleville is a a busy little town in North Cork which is always full of jolly hustle and bustle and cars and lorry's and all sorts passing through on the way to Dublin or Galway as Charleville is very much the gateway to a lot of towns and cities further north. I'm not complaining too much as we need all of the business we can to pass through and stop to keep people in work and the town alive. However it has built up with the Celtic Tiger so much that people have forgotten the importance of green grass, trees and wildlife. At present there is not enough of it in Charleville by a long shot. Here is what some locals are doing about it...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Splish Splash I was taking a bath!


Nothing nicer than a good long soak in the bath to unwind and clean up. This week my hubby and I have been discussing baths. Why? Well because we need a shower actually. Still not got one but saving hard now to get tiles and doors and all of that so that we can save water and stop having to put the immersion on each time. Anyway, my other half had a strange conversation with  friend who said that he always has a shower when having a bath so that he isn't wallowing in dirty water. My first question is: " How dirty is your friend getting into the bath if he is wallowing in dirt in his bath?" and my second question is "How precious?" From here a larger discussion came about and he discovered that many of his friends do the same. Forgive me but, there are many problems because of this. Firstly, what a waste of water! I have a bath or a shower (when I get to a shower) and not both. I am not so dirty that I am lying in disgusting water and yes, I do wash my hair in that water. If I need to, then I rinse my hair in water from the tap via the extended shower from the tap or a jug or something. I can promise you I am clean. I realise that every one is allowed to have their opinion but I strongly advise thinking about what you are doing if you are like my husbands friends. In many cases we are too clean now and get rid of the friendly bacteria as well as the bad and cant fight off simple colds. "Chaps and chapesses", let me tell you that we need some bacteria.We are constantly on the antibiotics and now even they dont work so well. We want organic and natural substances for our bodies but over washing means we are no longer 100% natural ourselves. When the water was turned off this winter how did we cope. Very well thank you because we had to. Our parents and grandparents had a bath once a week on a Saturday night in preparation for mass the following morning and they survived perfectly well. How do I know? Because we are here to prove it.
Bathing regularly is a luxury that not all countries have. Our water is clean although perhaps not as clean as it was as I feel we abuse it. Lets appreciate what we have and use it sparingly.