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First Holy Communion

  This weekend is one of the busiest in the year in Ireland for First Holy Communions.  First Communion is a right of passage for every 7-8 year old Catholic child, their first time to receive the sacrament of the … Continue reading



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A Year in Brocante 6: Water Jug

I’m posting this water jug as much for itself as to welcome the May. (“Bring flowers of the rarest, and blossoms the fairest from garden and woodland and hillside and glade”…) It cost €3 in Annecy, is hand made and … Continue reading



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Ronald Reagan and the Green Shield Stamps

With loyalty points from our local supermarket Super U,  you can get fantastic gifts such as sandwich toasters and ice-cream sundae glasses and polyester pillows, but with an active imagination and a memory not yet lost to age or the … Continue reading



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A Year In Brocante 5: Chapeau Méchanique

Tonight in Cork the 58th International Choral Festival begins with a Gala Opening Concert of Mozart’s Requiem by the Goethe-Institut Choir of Dublin and soloists. The Choral Festival began in 1954 as part of a three week Spring cultural event … Continue reading



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A Year in Brocante 4: Gzhel Porcelain

Under the old Soviet regime not many ordinary folk got the better of the system in the USSR. If one was a high-up member of The Party of course, things were different. However, as a bourgeoise citizen of a democratic … Continue reading



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Our Art (Yours and Mine, Biddy)

  In or around 1910, my grandfather bought shares in the Munster and Leinster Bank and gave some to his children. Over the years, the name of the bank changed to Allied Irish, but the shares stayed in the family … Continue reading



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A Year in Brocante 3: Blocks and Moulds

  This collage of printing blocks and moulds began with some pieces I picked up in the Markets in Belfast in 1978-80ish. They would have been relics of the linen trade in the city, where my sister (the Elder) was … Continue reading



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A Year in Brocante 2: Goat Peter

  We have a second guest room under the eaves with a sloping ceiling in which is placed the room’s only window. If this window were bigger, or lower, or even on a wall, it would have the best view … Continue reading



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The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies….or, Isabel sans Frontiers

I had forgotten to bring my passport when we boogied off down to Spain from Beziers in the south of France last week.  Turned around after lunch in Figures and drove straight back up to the Swiss border to change … Continue reading



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A Year in Brocante 1: Feedsack Fashion, Sugarbag Style

In France, we have Brocantes, which are antique markets, Marche aux Puces which are Flea Markets, Braderies (street fairs, often with local vendors selling goods on trestles outside their shops at a reduced price) and Vides Grenier (“Empty the Attic”) which … Continue reading



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