This is my Hadji Bey, this is the Bey I will remember the day I’m dying……   Hadji Bey is a sweet memory for Corkonians. Hadji Bey was a Christian Armenian named Harutun Batmazian who arrived in Cork from … Continue reading →

    Recently I have been interested in the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler and as so often happens – it’s called ‘happenstance’ – yesterday at a Marché aux Puces I happened upon a print of his “Genfersee von Chexbres” (Lake … Continue reading →

                                    “Upscaling” is the next step up from recycling.  It means taking something old or broken or molecularly challenged or unfashionable and re-inventing … Continue reading →

  When our children were small we parents swapped around clothes and toys and paraphernalia.  I cannot remember how many of the group’s babies were wheeled out in a red pram (but no doubt Martin can! [Naoise, Catriona, Lucy, Maddy…….?]) … Continue reading →

Alexander Claud Cockburn died on Friday aged 71 in Bad Salzhausen in Germany, where he was being treated for cancer.  He was, like his two brothers, Patrick and Andrew, and his father Claud before him, a journalist and writer. He … Continue reading →

Woody Guthrie’s centenary, steel guitars and talking blues, freedom and freight train whistles and the Dust Bowl mentality which has replaced Ireland’s Celtic Tiger bravado lead this restless mind to John T Davis and frocks.   Its called polygenesis. Himself … Continue reading →

After a mutual declaration of affection, we got married twice or three times, (America, Ireland and kindof France) and have never been apart in 25 years, but once, Himself and myself had an almighty row. It was such a long … Continue reading →

    This is not me, it is Roger Medearis’ Granny, but this is how I see myself, ageing amongst fruit and flowers, beside field and water in the sound of church bells.  Roger Medearis called his painting “Godly Susan” … Continue reading →

    Sometimes, it takes a long time for an idea to gestate into something concrete.   It is so long ago – maybe two years, maybe even three – since I found 3 lost table legs, and two hinged bases … Continue reading →

  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 →