On the train from the ferry,I’m pointing, enthusing;nose snug in the guidebook,you snigger at ‘BUTT Bridge’.   Five minutes later,while crossing the Loopline,you’re lovestruck…  

AUNT KATE AND THE MATCHMAKER   Though my father lived to be 92, I never heard his speak about his own father. Like many men

I KNOW A WOMAN   I know a woman who forgot to grow up. She never made it past childhood; it seems. Though she has

Just Imagine  …               … The Covid-19 pandemic is a Blessing in Disguise.   It has taught us some life lessons.               Imagine all

THE HOUSE WITH NO BACK DOOR (revised edition)     Every now and then a memory suddenly chrysalises. Sometimes it’s triggered by the scent of

Last Day at the Strand   “I didn’t know we were coming here,” my mother accused.        “Neither did I; I just decided as we drove

(A new book, called “In Fact” by Mark Henry has just been published. It is subtitled “An Optimist’s Guide to Ireland at 100”. I wrote

    It must have been a street photographer who snapped them as they passed – 2 young men striding purposely along a Dublin street.

THE LOST GIRLS It was an annual ritual in the school. Sometime after Easter the Year Head had to organise a day out for his

  I watched and listened to a special classical music concert on September 2nd live streamed from Kylemore Abbey.   It was streamed globally by the

Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Friends are a truer list of life’s essential elements.   Our family Earths us while our friends give us Air.   Leaving home

Sitting With Baskets Once, in the early sixties, after a loud drive in second gear along a bumpy track tacked between thick trunks, Fedora Father

  “He saved string, scrap wood, old screws, nuts and bolts, jam jars, coffee cans, cigar boxes, orange crates. He threw nothing away … He

It’s late August, the sun is relentless, searing heat ,energy-sapping, becoming intolerable for this writer. In the middle of a ten acre field, my task

The lilac outside our bedroom window is in bloom. The fragrance from the light purple or lilac, cone shaped panicles bring me back to my

I stroll nonchantly by on my evening walking ritual.  They barely notice me with bowed heads sharing their secrets with the birds of how they

Telstar and the Lunatic   I was fortunate to be a teenager in the 1960’s. It was a time of great change and optimism, even

Something In The Way They Move   A man’s shoulder swagger and the sway of a woman’s hips may be seen as an attraction in

A MOON LOVER   Have a kind thought for the moon lover who adheres to ancient Greek mythology and describes herself as a Selenophile, after

  What time is it?   We have family and friends living around the world and it’s a job to keep track of what time