With Katherine O’Leary
Wearing overalls or “wet weathers” saves your clothes. They too have to be washed periodically. It’s wise to not let them get too dirty.
Always soak them in cold water for a few hours before washing. This takes off the loose dirt. If they are really dirty, soak them in an outside tub so as not to clog up drains. Wash wet-weather and waterproof clothes at low temperatures not exceeding 40°C.
Higher temperatures will damage areas that have been glued. Also use non biological detergent or liquid as biological detergents can damage the water repellent qualities of fabrics. Always spin them using a low spin speed so as not to stretch glued areas. Hang them in the garage or an out-house to dry.
with Dr Catherine Keena,
Teagasc countryside
management specialist
Water mint.
Look out for water mint, with pale purple or lilac flowers in a pom pom cluster at the top of the flowering spikes. The plants can also be purplish with softly hairy leaves in opposite pairs on square stems. It is easily recognised by the unmistakable mint smell when crushed. Mint has been used in the past to help with digesting food – similar to eating after-dinner mints. It was also strewn on the floor to deter insects with its scent when crushed. Water mint grows in damp places and is part of our native Irish biodiversity.
An Irish Grandfather
By Trevor Johnston
He moved into our house
He took the best chair
The one with the deep cushions
And the buttoned back
That guarded the fireside.
Why should an old man
With too many years spent
On this planet
Banish us
To the dark and cold
Recesses of the room?
I did not like him
Nor his ways
Of shuffling round
The room
Disturbing our presence.
What had he ever
Done in life
But outlive
His peers?
Slowly he melted
The frost of my reception
First with the radiance
Of his smile.
It gathered pace
With the way he twisted
Words into a garland
Of love.
His hands shook
But still there was a gentleness
Of touch
When he comforted
And shushed me
In moments of deep stress.
He’s gone now
But I still view his chair
As an altar
Of Remembrance.
To touch the cloth
Fills me with a yearning.
A vacuum
That lies too deep for words.
Two people couldn’t leave, rural Ireland was very hands-on work, the women usually did the milking and the baking and the washing. And it was expensive and they didn’t have the money either.
Bridie McMahon, who was separated from her parents due to polio in 1954.
Bobbi Quinlan Hannigan (5) with the Sunflower she planted as a seed at her playschool Clonea Rathgormack Community Playgroup, Co Waterford. Her nanny planted it in a tub for her. It turned out that she got two flowers. The plant measured 4cm when it was transplanted. Now there is a flower 188cm in height and the taller one 245cm in height.
The number of talks that members of the Barn Owl Project have completed this year alone.
With Katherine O’Leary
Wearing overalls or “wet weathers” saves your clothes. They too have to be washed periodically. It’s wise to not let them get too dirty.
Always soak them in cold water for a few hours before washing. This takes off the loose dirt. If they are really dirty, soak them in an outside tub so as not to clog up drains. Wash wet-weather and waterproof clothes at low temperatures not exceeding 40°C.
Higher temperatures will damage areas that have been glued. Also use non biological detergent or liquid as biological detergents can damage the water repellent qualities of fabrics. Always spin them using a low spin speed so as not to stretch glued areas. Hang them in the garage or an out-house to dry.
with Dr Catherine Keena,
Teagasc countryside
management specialist
Water mint.
Look out for water mint, with pale purple or lilac flowers in a pom pom cluster at the top of the flowering spikes. The plants can also be purplish with softly hairy leaves in opposite pairs on square stems. It is easily recognised by the unmistakable mint smell when crushed. Mint has been used in the past to help with digesting food – similar to eating after-dinner mints. It was also strewn on the floor to deter insects with its scent when crushed. Water mint grows in damp places and is part of our native Irish biodiversity.
An Irish Grandfather
By Trevor Johnston
He moved into our house
He took the best chair
The one with the deep cushions
And the buttoned back
That guarded the fireside.
Why should an old man
With too many years spent
On this planet
Banish us
To the dark and cold
Recesses of the room?
I did not like him
Nor his ways
Of shuffling round
The room
Disturbing our presence.
What had he ever
Done in life
But outlive
His peers?
Slowly he melted
The frost of my reception
First with the radiance
Of his smile.
It gathered pace
With the way he twisted
Words into a garland
Of love.
His hands shook
But still there was a gentleness
Of touch
When he comforted
And shushed me
In moments of deep stress.
He’s gone now
But I still view his chair
As an altar
Of Remembrance.
To touch the cloth
Fills me with a yearning.
A vacuum
That lies too deep for words.
Two people couldn’t leave, rural Ireland was very hands-on work, the women usually did the milking and the baking and the washing. And it was expensive and they didn’t have the money either.
Bridie McMahon, who was separated from her parents due to polio in 1954.
Bobbi Quinlan Hannigan (5) with the Sunflower she planted as a seed at her playschool Clonea Rathgormack Community Playgroup, Co Waterford. Her nanny planted it in a tub for her. It turned out that she got two flowers. The plant measured 4cm when it was transplanted. Now there is a flower 188cm in height and the taller one 245cm in height.
The number of talks that members of the Barn Owl Project have completed this year alone.
SHARING OPTIONS: