Diary of a busyish woman

Hi, No photos this time because I'm on a bit of a rant: Hubby & I like our coffee. He's all Americano & I like Cappuccino. We like full-bodied strong but not bitter coffee. I make a pot of filtered coffee most mornings when I'm at home and just have it with a drop of milk. I've tried black, but it just doesn't work for me. Always on the lookout for places that serve good coffee, we were on our way home from Kerry recently. We stopped at one hotel, where the receptionist didn't even look up from her computer screen and the bar was closed. I suggested we could get a cup and sit to read the paper in the foyer where the furniture looked really comfy, but Hubby was having none of it. He had previous experience of being served the coffee from a coffee jug and it was super weak in his opinion. Retreating to our vehicle, we continued on our merry, or not so merry, way. Before long, I spied a simple sign, 'Coffee House'. That was all the encouragement

Habits are funny old things. We talk of the ' habits of a lifetime' or 'breaking the habit '. Habits are part of a routine be they good or bad. We also talk of 'addictive habits ' - a work colleague took me to one side, when I was in my 20's, and explained how easy it is to fall into the habit of drinking too much alcohol. Easy to get the habit and can be brutally difficult to lose it! He was, and still is, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I often think of him and the influence he had on me for long-term good. September and January herald new resolutions:- increasing fitness; losing the holiday kilo/pounds; healthier lifestyle. The problem is that after the first few weeks, so many of us slide right back into same old, same old. We don't tend to appreciate our environment half enough because it's like a habit - always there and we are unaware of the small imperceptible changes that happen daily unless of course there is a catastrophe. Autumn Co

Recently I met a few people with whom I'd attended secondary school. 40 years on and we had all travelled different paths & had a great time comparing notes. One of the things that I have been reflecting has been the different attitudes to food which were expressed that afternoon. The group included myself - a meat producer & carnivore although vegetables, fruit etc constitute a large part of my diet; a coeliac ; and a vegan but the person with whom I'm actually identifying is a 'locavore'. Our health, food experience and adventures, animal welfare knowledge & assumptions are among the contributory factors to our food choices these days. Gone are the days for many when there was no choice but to eat in season and whatever was affordable - with sweets & cordial as treats. I've said it before that my childhood was extremely rich and we neither realised nor appreciated it. Our farm was pretty well self-sufficient as was normal in those days. Our gran

Hi. Please bear with me because I'm not a psychologist/psychotherapist/counsellor or someone with a qualification on modern society. Recently, I met with a group of schoolfriends, one of whom I hadn't met since 1978/79! That's a heck of a long time and the conversation could have been awkward, because we have all gone in different directions; achieved different ambitions or not; married, single, divorced... The variables were incredible. What transpired was, for me, truly special. At one point, I was asked if I was ok because I was so quiet! I was revelling. There were no sides; no competition, just a genuine interest in how we were all doing. It was fantastic. We were all comfortable with each other. I'm fairly forthright and honestly, at this age if people don't like me or some aspect of my lifestyle (including the fact that I prefer to read a book/cook & bake/write my blog to doing housework, which will still await me tomorrow), I really don't mind. I

I'm currently a church warden in St. Fachtna's Cathedral , Rosscarbery . It's a small role I've taken on this year for the third in a row. While I may be of some use ensuring everything is ready for Sunday morning at 11:30, let me assure you that I do it for very selfish reasons. Let me explain:- There are so many of these 'mindfulness' courses that people flock to attend, I'm in awe. In awe, because every Sunday, I'm in the Cathedral for perhaps 45 minutes before the service. The preparation doesn't take that long, so why am I there? This is my selfish time. I stop. I sit for anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes.  I sit at the back of the church and I don't have a book or a screen in front of me. I just sit and look:-  St. Fachtna's Cathedral, Rosscarbery at the walls - built to last with a little care from ensuing generations;  the stained glass window on my right (there is another in the transept);  the stained glass windows th

Over the past few years, this word, mindfulness, has crept into the everyday vocabulary and there are experts aplenty to expound on the benefits and the barriers to achieving true mindfulness. How to practice mindfulness through various means including meditation, yoga etc is one of the basics. Of course, where there are experts, there are qualifications at all levels including online and college based. I'm fascinated because if you look at religion, mindfulness is very much part of its practice. I have no doubt that many of the expertise in mindfulness has been 'borrowed' from various religious practices around the world.  I'm a Church Warden in St. Fachtna's Cathedral , Rosscarbery . Essentially that's a fancy title for a person who ensures that everything is ready before people arrive for a service and tidies up afterwards. There's no special qualification or qualities apart from a willingness to be of service in one's church. However that's not

Hi, An ad in the Southern Star nudged my train of thought for this post. Who are our heroes? How do we identify them? What makes a hero?  Those questions, I'm sure, aren't in a logical order and having recently attended a food safety course led by Denis Kiely , SQT-Training , I should have  a better grasp of this word, logic, and it's step by step thought process. But bear with me, I'm long in the tooth; suffice to say that I left the training knowing a lot more and knowing that I need to know a lot more!!! A sign of a really good course. But back to my original topic:- Hero.  It's a word that packs a punch. You don't call everyone you meet a hero and yet if we look hard enough, there are heroes to be found everywhere and most of them don't actually wear the word emblazoned on their backs or have halo's glowing brightly over their heads.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary , a hero is ' A person who is admired for their courage, outstan

The narrow path Hi, As a child, I remember that whenever we visited the once derelict Castlefreke Estate , we also had to visit the nearby graveyard near Rathbarry House. In those days, you didn't ask why or whine that you didn't want to go. It was simply the done thing that as soon as the picnic was finished and leftovers and paraphenalia returned to the car boot, the whole family including my maternal grandmother would make what I always thought was an expedition. Of course as soon as we reached the graveyard, we, children,. were let loose to explore with the admonition not to fall into any grave or disturb anything! I regret now that I didn't watch to see what grave(s) my grandmother visited because the visit was at her insistence and the reason now lost in the mist of time. We can only assume that some relations or special friends of hers were buried there. I know that she knew the author,  Lady Mary Carbery and probably a few more as she was once invited to a bal

Hi If I could type as I drive, I'd probably be writing a post every other day. When I'm driving, I listen to the radio almost all the time, but occasionally something will occur to me so the radio goes off and I take the time to ponder. Today, no driving but something I don't tackle too often - housework! Not my favourite occupation and it seems as soon as I start in one room, there's something more urgent in another. And, of course, frequent breaks so that I can pull a book off the shelf & read for 5 minutes. I don't know where I bought this book, but I'm sorry I haven't opened its pages until today. Add caption It's a book you dip into and fits my mood perfectly. As you may know, my husband, Willie, has been attending events organised by the Irish Timber Growers Association for the past few years. I began to join him about 18 months ago and resurrected a love of nature and trees in particular. Growing up, there was no shortage of tre

Maybe it’s a good thing that  Advent & Christmas happen at the end of our calendar year. There is very little if any reviewing and critiquing like for example New Year when we’re expected to review the past year and make resolutions for the coming one. I honestly believe that the number of people who have no idea of the reason for celebrating the Christmas season is increasing in Ireland. I suppose it hit home when I realised that the Advent calendar with a different Biblical thought for each day is now a chocolate a day or for the adults a bauble or even an alcohol minitature a day. Does anyone have any comment, I wonder. Is Christmas a stand alone commercial event loosely based on a pretty story or does anyone note there is a very old tradition and belief on which it is based. Sure, the Christian Church has taken over many a pagan tradition from the season timing to the feasting but now the tables are turning and it is increasingly a commercial opportunity to encourage consu