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;

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...

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.

Keeping the candle burning in 2011

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times,
 if one only remembers to turn on the light
-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Another year is coming to an end and we start afresh all over again. I look back over the year now and realise just how busy it has been and so many changes have taken place. I hear about New Years resolutions too and remember that I haven't made one in 2 or 3 years at least. I'm not sure why really as it is always good to aim for improvement somewhere in life and it never has to be advertised. It can be as personal and private as you like. So I think this year I will be making up for it and having at least 2 resolutions.
 However, as far as this blog is concerned,...

Tapping into our conscience...

Pure, clean and precious

We are at last in the land of the Forty Shades of Green again and its good to be back! The rain has been falling and dare I say I've missed it and the temperatures have risen. So whats next? Well according to the weather forecast, floods! Still, we're not there yet so lets keep fingers crossed that perhaps it wont happen, but it reminds us that things are fast changing in this world of ours and maybe there is nothing we can do to stop the change. Or is there?...

"Beautiful to look at, Lovely to behold, But when the winter comes, consider it COLD!"

Winter wonderland

Its been a really cold Christmas for us Irish who are neither ready, equipped, or able to cope with 6 inches of snow and have much to learn from our North American and Canadian friends who would only laugh at us locking ourselves indoors for days on end avoiding work, school or everyday life, because of our fear of the white stuff. Well I tried to take a leaf out of their book this Christmas and got out the shovel (more like a spade actually) and brushed and cleared the driveway so that at least we could attempt to get out. I was chuffed with my human snowplough abilities. Outside sorted! Inside however was not so good...

Picture of natural beauty

My Christmas wishes to you all...

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Goodnight!"

xxx