Connemara, West Coast Of Ireland.

Aran Island.

Connemara.

Connemara.

Co Cork.

http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone

Co Cork.

Bantry, Co Cork.

Youghal. Co Cork.

Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare.

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Amisc/Lisdoonvarna.html

Co Clare.

All of these images are wonderful, but I particularly like the one of the men shipping the cattle on the Aran Islands, I just can’t imaging how difficult a task that was. I also love the one of the Glengarriff  Tunnel in Co Cork.

Which image do you like the best?

Me At Sacre Coeur. Failing To Look Chic Or Like A Parisian !

Paris.

I can’t think of any place in the world I love more than France, and in particular Paris, and the south of France, and a little place there called Ville Franche Sur Mer.I first visited Paris when I was sixteen years old, and stayed with a great family in  a beautifully typical Parisian apartment which I fell in love with the minute I stepped inside. I loved the long French windows, the high ceilings, the view over the square in front of the apartment, the old lift in the building, the wonderful ornate big heavy door at the entrance to the building, the ever present smell of garlic in the kitchen.

The Wonderful Apartment, Overlooking The Square.

I loved the meals that we languished over, and conversed in both English and French through, I loved the new language that I was absorbing naturally, I fell in love with the sound of every word, I fell in love with French music.I was introduced to new foods, new ways of shopping, not heading off to the supermarket once  a week for a big shop, instead shopping at the markets, deciding what we were having for diner, and then popping round to the local shops to pick up the ingredients. I first came across a family whose parents were separated,  of course in Ireland at that time, people just stayed together, whether they were miserable together or not, but here in Paris the woman of the house told me about her separation, and told me she finally divorced her husband because, ” I could no longer bear to listen to him slurping his tea”! I couldn’t understand it at 16, but I always remember it! And when I think of it now, it makes me laugh! This whole new way of life appealed to me so much, and I knew I had found a place I would love forever.

I adored wandering the streets of Paris, browsing the bouquinistes along the Seine, where I bought two images of Paris, which hang in my bathroom today.

Notre Dame.

Montmartre, Paris.

Or exploring the delightful Montmartre, where an artist cut out my image in silhouette, I treasured it then, and still do.

My Image In Silhouette.

I felt I was  becoming me, who I was meant to be, independent and in charge of my own destiny, and the wonderful sense of freedom and possibility that prevailed. And when I gazed out over the city from Sacre Coeur, I dreamt of marrying a French man, have bilingual, beautiful French children, and being a chic, sophisticated French woman, ambling the streets of Paris, with baguette and delicious pastries dangling from one hand and Channel handbag from the other, and a little perfectly groomed tiny dog by my side!

I explored the great tourist attractions of Paris, delighted in the wide boulevards of Baron Haussmann, sat in little cafes and investigated old book shops, visited museums and galleries, bought souvenirs to bring home, and bits  and pieces for myself, one of which was a small material bag which I loved at the time, and found at the bottom of a drawer the other day!

A Little Treasure From Paris In 1980.

I remember being so disappointed after making the trip to Versailles with the family, only to have arrived on a day when it was closed to the public, and I have never been back there, something I intend to do this year.

On that same trip to Paris, we visited the family’s house in Fontainebleau, and ate delicious cherries off the trees in the garden, bought cakes to die for in the village Patisserie, and had a lot of fun around the gorgeous country garden. We also made a trip to the South of France which gave me my first taste of another place that I was to fall in love with, and remain in love with for ever.

In the south we stayed in the glorious town of Menton right on the border with Italy.

Menton

We stayed in a magnificent house, with vines, orchards, rambling terraces, a swimming pool, pool house, where my French friend and I slept. Here I first encountered lizards, when one ran out from behind the curtain as I was closing it at bedtime. I was terrified! Everyone else was amused!

Me At The Pool House In Menton.

It was also here in the south that I fell in  love with the light, the sunshine, the colours, the men playing Boules in the village squares, the views, the  languid, peaceful, wonderful way of life, quite the opposite to Paris, but nonetheless  beautiful, and appealing. We  visited Monaco, and drove along the magnificent Corniches, we swam in the pool all day long ,basking in the glorious South of France sunshine, we ate juicy, fresh fruit, and baguettes, and jambon, wonderful fresh French food, and Christine and I became good friends.

Unfortunately France is the place where I also experienced death for the first time. I had returned to France again in the summer of 1981 to stay with my friend, and was not there more than a week or two when her lovely,dear brother was killed in a motor bike accident on his way to the South of France for the weekend.  He had also spent a couple of summers in my house in Dublin, as had his sister.I was in terrible shock, he was so young, just a few years older than me, and I was slightly in awe of him. I remember being completely unable to grasp the reality and finality of death, of one so young, so near my own age. He had promised to give me a lift on his motor bike the following weekend, as the family were planning a trip to Fontainebleau, I felt incredibly grown up at the thought of riding on a motorbike with a lovely young Frenchman,  but it was never to be. The family was devastated, and I felt it was only right that I should go home and leave them to grieve in peace.

Apart from that awful tragedy, my memories of France are very special, Paris is a magnificent city,and  Provence, Cote d’Azur, and the Riviera are heavenly. I still love to holiday in the south today, particularly in Ville Franche Sur Mer, a more delightful town, I can not imagine.

Ville Franche Sur Mer.

I read  books about Paris and France all of the time, about painters, writers, French history, and I hope to spend at least some part of my future life living in Paris, and somewhere in the South. Now that would be a dream come true.

Unfortunatly Christine and I did not stay in touch, but I think my daughter found her on Facebook last night, Idon’t use Facebook, and I am still awaiting confirmation from my daughter. I hope it is her, I would like to catch up ad see how life has turned out for her, and reminisce about my time in France in 1980.

Chocolate Cookies.

Recipe.

1/2 lb of room temperature butter. (must be room temperature)

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar.

Mix the above ingredients together in a mixer, using a paddle attachment.

When mixed, add the following and continue mixing,

2 eggs (one at a time)

2 teaspoons of good vanilla extract

2/3 of a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

On load speed, add,

2 cups of sieved flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt.

Be careful not to over mix the flour mixture.

Finally add to the mixture,

2 cups of white, dark, or milk chocolate chunks (big chunks)

Scoop the mixture on to sheet pans lined with baking parchment. Use an ice-cream scoop to do this. Keep the scoop measure flattened, do not overfill it. After each cookie is scooped out, flatten it a little with a drop of water on top. This recipe makes about 18-20 big cookies. Place about four scoops on each sheet pan, as they spread out a lot.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350° f /180° c  for 15 minutes.

Do not be tempted to leave them in a second over the 15 minutes or they will be over cooked. They may look a bit soft in the oven, but they harden a little once you take them out.

Ina Garten Recipe.

Enjoy the cookies!

Capitol Hill, Washington .

Today my daughter is doing her first big assignment in Washington on Capitol Hill. She has been on the Hill, as they say , since 12 noon American time today and will be there all night until Obama finishes his State Of  The Union  speech. Then she has to get interviews with certain Senators  and get the opinions of various other people and  write her article for a Washington newspaper, the name of which escapes me at the moment. She got her press card the other day, and her business cards, and spent a day on Capitol Hill, with her editor so she  would be familiar with the place for tonight’s event.

On Wednesday morning at 8am she has to be at some hotel in Washington, where Mike Allen of Politico, is hosting ‘ State Of The Union Reaction, And Year Ahead’ event,’ where  five  Congress people will give their reactions to Obama’s speech. She  has to write an article for the paper on this event too. Needless to say she is very excited about her first big assignment, and terrified at the same time. She can’t quite believe that she will be in the same place at the same time, as  so many of the people she admires so much, both politicians, and media  people alike.

Dianne Sawyer.

One media person she admires greatly is Dianne Sawyer, and apparently she will be there. The funny thing is she saw her in New York, two weeks ago when she spent 24 hours there after arriving from Ireland, before going on to Washington, to do the final part of her Masters and an Internship. She decided to go to the ABC news building, and as she was standing outside , Diane Sawyer came out waved at her, said hello and drove off. Of course she was so happy!

I really hope it all goes well for her tonight and tomorrow and that she gets what she needs for the paper, and that she manages to enjoy the event as well.It is such an important time, that great big step into the unknown, into a new career , a new life that she hope s to make in America, not knowing where it will take her, but with her head filled with plans and dreams of the future. She has done other interviews and written many, many articles for college papers etc, but this is  such a big deal for her, and I just hope and pray it’s a success. She just loves America,and has been having an incredible time since she arrived there . She adores the American “can do” attitude to everything, and the friendliness, and helpfulness of everyone around her. America still really appears to be the place where anyone can become anything they want.

Danielle At Eleanor Roosevelt Statute In Washington.

Last night at 1am, I was awakened by a text from her, panicking about how her black trousers, or pants I think they call them in America, that she just had to wear today had shrunk in the wash, and there just wasn’t one other thing in her wardrobe she could possibly wear! Not true of course! I am not quite sure how texting me in the middle of the night , thousands of miles away was going to help, but I told her to just go out  first thing this morning and buy some more, or wear something else.I guess she will have to get used to not being able to call on her Mom in a crisis any more!

Anyway that’s what my little blog is about today, nothing very interesting for the rest of the world to hear about, but kind of special to me.

Just a quick addition to my post, got a text from my daughter a minute ago to say she just got a ticket for the speech, and will be able to be present in the room when Obama makes his speech, even more excitement for her!

The Joy Of Books.

One of the great pleasures for me at Christmas is receiving presents of books, or book tokens. Every year without fail I        get a lot of books,always books from my children, my husband, and my mother. There is nothing quite like putting them  on my bedside table, and deciding which one to start with, then knowing there is another good one waiting to be read as each one is finished. My problem at the moment is that my  shelves are heaving, and can’t take any more weight. I shall have to go shopping for another book-shelve soon.

Lunch In Paris, Elizabeth Bard.

I have just finished reading a lovely called, Lunch In Paris, by Elizabeth Bard. Its written by an American author who found love in Paris with a Frenchman. It is part cookbook, and part love story. Its funny, and romantic, and has great recipes. It also brings the “real” Paris to life. Bard now lives in Provence, after ten years in Paris. I just found her blog today, and it looks very interesting. Any book about Paris always interests me, it is my favourite place in the world, well of what I have seen of the world so far, and I can’t imagine any  better place. Provence is another great favourite of mine, and I have spent many wonderful summer holidays there, so a blog chronicling life in both places is a real treat to find.

I Was A Boy In Belsen, By Tomi Reichental.

The other book I have recently finished is by Tomi Reichental, I Was A Boy In Belsen. Tomi Reichental is a Jewish man living in Dublin since 1959. He was taken from his home in Slovakia in 1944 by the Nazis. His mother, Grandmother, brother, cousin and Aunt were also taken. For 55 years Reichental never spoke of his ordeal, even to his own family. “Not because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t.”

The book is a chilling account of his time in the notorious Bergen-Belsen, as seen through they eyes of a child. The subject matter is grim, and often painful to read, yet it is also a triumph over adversity, a wonderful life lived after Belsen despite what he and his family suffered simply because they were Jewish. Reichental became involved with The Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, and now regularly speaks in schools telling students the truth about the Holocaust, a truth he never wants forgotten. I read a lot of History, and have read a great deal about this period, what I liked about this book was seeing how this mans life has been lived not just whilst in Belsen, but to the present day. It is my intention to arrange to have him speak at my son’s school some time in the near future. It would be an honour to listen to his life story, and an education for the students.

The three other books that I have on my bedside table at the moment are, The Group, by Mary Mc Carthy, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ghost Light, by Joseph O’ Connor. I have just started The Group which is very pleasing so far, and anything by O’ Connor is always a delight, and of course I know the The Great Gatsby, is wonderful as I read it before, but intend to read again.

I also received two wonderful cookery books, Cake Days, The Hummingbird Bakery, and Back To Basics, by Ina Garten. As I am trying to eat well after all the indulgences of Christmas, I will be cooking very little from the cake book for the moment, so I will stick with healthy meals from the other one for a while anyway!

Dan Tani.

Tani trained for five years for his three-month stint on the space station. He was there with two others, one other American woman Peggy Whitson, and a Russian Yuri Malenchenko. Whitson was the first female commander of the International Space Station, and Tani and Malenchenko were the two flight engineers.

Dan Tani And Peggy Whitson.

Anyway I just found some of the facts very interesting. The space station orbits the  world in just an hour and a half.It goes around the earth 16 times a day, so the crew get to see 16 sunrises ans 16 sunsets each day! It flies at 17,500 miles per hour, and it flies at between 190 and 330 miles above sea level, and on a clear night it can be seen with the help of binoculars. I intend to keep a close eye on the sky to make sure I get a glimpse of it, and have found out that it should be visible in my neighbourhood tomorrow night at 7.52pm. If you want to get a look at it, go to the following link and it will give you exact times for anywhere in the world.

It was the practical facts about living in space for three months that I found the most interesting. He talked about the fun of weightlessness, and having to spend quite sometime learning to navigate their way around the station without banging into everything and everyone. Every part of the station is heavily padded for obvious reasons. But the weightlessness also causes problems, he talked about the difficulty of a normally simple task like putting on socks, brushing teeth, eating, drinking. After they brush their teeth they cannot spit out the toothpaste they have to swallow. There food is all freeze-dried, or in packs that has to be heated up, and drinks are all contained in bags and straws used to drink them. Sleeping is done in a little compartment, and they sleep in a sleeping bag, partly for warmth, but also to keep them weighted down a bit, otherwise they would be floating around in their sleep. Clothes are worn for about two weeks they discarded as they cannot be washed, he explained the pleasure of putting on clean socks and clothes after two weeks. One fact that seemed to fascinate the students was the question of how one goes to the toilet in the space station. Tani explained that they wear nappies, and they have a toilet device with a hoover like system which sucks away solid mass! He also talked about cutting his hair , this is done with a device that is attached to an other hoover like device which sucks up all the cut hair, otherwise it would float around everywhere. Everything on the station has to be tied down or have Velcro on it.

Tani Cutting His Hair.

One problem living in the weightlessness is the fact that muscle is wasting away, so the crew exercise on  various machines for two hours a day to prevent this from happening, and upon returning to earth they start physiotherapy immediately.Tani showed wonderful pictures that he took from the station, he took something like 14,000 images in the three months. They were quite incredible, and showed the earth in all its amazing glory.Looking at the pictures all I could think about was all the wars and problems that are on the earth, and all the time we waste on silly things, and how we are so small and powerless on the earth, and how we should all appreciate our amazing planet much more than we do. He showed us magnificent pictures of Ireland, and one of The Old Head of Kinsale  in Cork . He explained how he just had to get that picture for his wife who is an Irish woman from Co. Cork, and he was lucky enough to capture it on the second last day in the station.I particularly like the following images.

The Bear Glacier, Gulf Of Alaska.

Tokyo City Taken By Tani.

Earth Seen From Space Station.

The final picture is of Dan Tani during a seven hour ten minute space walk, doing maintenance on the space station.

Dan Tani On A Space Walk.

The wonderful thing about a person like Tani giving a talk to young people in particular is that it is inspirational. He certainly gave my son the feeling that nothing is impossible, he explained that he had not always wanted to be an astronaut, he studied engineering at college then heard that NASA were recruiting people, applied and was accepted.I could see a glimmer in my sons eye. He intends to study engineering  or Astrophysics at Trinity College when he finished school, after Tani’s talk I think we may have a future astronaut in the family!!!

Charles Stewart Parnell. 1846-1891.

Parnell was a Protestant landowner, and Irish Nationalist political leader, he was also a land reformer, and founder of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was imprisioned in Kilmainham Gaol between 1881-1882.

Patrick Pearse 1879-1916.

Pearse was a Political activist, and one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, he was executed in Kilmainham Gaol after the rising.

Executed Leaders Of The 1916 Easter Rising.

Michael Collins.

Collins was huge figure in Irish life, he was a revolutionary leader, political leader, and was killed in 1922 during the Civil War in Ireland.

Civil War. Officers And Men Of The Free State Army, With Two Prison Wardens Outside Kilmainham Gaol 1923.

All images are reproduced by Duchas, The Heritage Service, The National Photographic Archive, and The Office Of Public Works.

O' Connell Bridge, Dublin 1905.

O' Connell Bridge, Dublin 1964.

Grafton Street, Dublin 1900.

The Pier, at Kingstown, now Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

I regularly take a lovely walk down tat pier.

Georgian Doors,Baggot Street, Dublin.

Children Play Red Cross during the Civil War , Dublin 1922.

Young Girl At Barricade In Belfast In 1969. British Soldiers In Background.

The Beatles, Coming Out Of The Ritz Cinema, Belfast, 1963.