Good News on Tara

Work on the motorway has been halted while a new archeological find is assessed (why does that not surprise me?)
The story is here
and there’s a pic of the new find here
Unfortunately this may only be a temporary reprieve and the fight to save Tara will go on.

Sheridan House

In a genteel area of Dublin, there was a house where Macbeth mixed with magicians, where actors from the Abbey Theatre shared a breakfast table with acrobats, where mountebanks slept in late and returned after midnight, still wearing the traces of fantastic make up.
This was Sheridan House, a theatrical `digs’ that was a cut [...]

Why Bellbottoms went out of style…

The girl looked at me
And tossed Her flipped hair
And said, Now I know why
Country folk are so
Unfashionable.
She looked at me,
In my waist high jeans,
Scuffed shoes and
t-shirt that said
PEACE and LOVE
With a rainbow.
Then she looked down
At her fashionable
White canvas bellbottoms,
Trailing in the dust like
Ship’s rigging
At half mast.

Jacarandas

Seek beauty wherever you are - nature will show you the way the human spirit struggles to rise above its circumstances - a flower growing in a crack in the concrete, a clump of moss claiming a a stone step - here in Australia the jacaranda trees are in full bloom.
I spotted this beauty at [...]

Blackberry Memories

Today I bought a punnet of blackberries for $3 – therewas barely a couple of handfuls, but at the prices growers have been charging recently, they were a bargain.
In terms of memories, they were priceless.
One look at the shining fruit, like clusters of tinyblack pearls, and I was back in England, a child again, setting [...]

The Sudanese Women

The Sudanese women get on the train
At Durden St
Momentarily turning the carriage
Into a bright aviary of trilling chatter
And fluttering gauzy robes.

Aussie Valentine

A little Aussie love song for The Day - and yes, it has been raining here, which proves nature still loves us.
Windy, rainy weather,
Grey and misty sky,
Rain goes on forever,
So we run helter skelter
For shelter, you and I.
We find leafy cover
Beneath an old gum tree,
Arms around each other,
We suddenly discover,
We’re lovers, you and me.
Wind and [...]

Ancestors

We see our eyes in your eyes.
We are becoming the ancestors,
Seeing the genes we pass on,
Coming out the eyes’ sparkle,
A turn of phrase, the curve of a smile.
We play the ancestors’ game with you;
“Got that from me, got that from him…
Haven’t seen that for many a year,
Remember how she used to tilt her head,
How he [...]

Guitars and Voices

As you would have guessed from my earlier blog, I love guitars and I love bands – I love the blend of guitar, drums and voice and the many ways that simple equation can go. Music is essential, I have always told my children – they have listened to music from the womb. Now I [...]

Guitars

My children are fond of boasting about their “cool mum” - I listen to their music and like the same bands - Linkin Park, Staind, Godsmack.
Some may think I’m just a baby boomer hanging on to my youth, but the truth is that I was brainwashed at a very young age by a father who [...]