Grannymar

Who remembers singing this little ditty as a young child?  We were learning without knowing….

One, two, three, four, five.
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine ,ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.

The other day I caught a fish.

It was this [ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -] size!  No Really!

The Big Fish ~ Ceramic
Artist: John Kindness Date: 1999

This ten metre Salmon has been sitting on the waters edge at Lagan Weir in Belfast, for over ten years. The work was commissioned to celebrate the regeneration of the River Lagan. It is located where the River Farset meets with the River Lagan.

Colourful little number!

The outer skin of the fish is a cladding of ceramic tiles decorated with texts and images relating to the history of Belfast. The Big Fish also contains a time capsule storing information, images and poetry about the city.

Closer detail

On close inspection you will find little nuggets right from Tudor times to the present day. There are contributions from Belfast school children. including a soldier and an Ulster Fry – Those Ulster Fries, often referred to as a heart attack on a plate, turn up everywhere!

The Ship Yard

The Ulster Museum was the primary source for historic images, while local schools and day centres located along the line of the River Farset were approached to provide drawings for the fish. Images were provided by Glenwood Primary School, St Comgalls and Everton Day Centres.

How many do you recognise?

John Kindness is one of Northern Ireland’s best known artists, particularly in relation to the work he has produced for public spaces including Big Fish at Donegall Quay in Belfast (1999) and Waterfall of Souvenirs (I will feature this next week) at the Ulsterbus Station in Glengall Street, Belfast (1991).

He has had solo exhibitions in the Ulster Museum, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Art in General, New York and Third Eye Centre, Glasgow.

His work has been is included in many private and public collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the AIB Bank.

I have my eye on you!

Winecellar Entry

Winecellar Entry is a small Entry just off Lombard Street, it is home to White’s Tavern, a popular pub founded in 1630. Whilst considered to be the longest serving pub in Belfast, it has largely been rebuilt after a fire in the 1990s.

Belfast has a series of historical narrow alleyways  they are mainly to be found in the vicinity of High Street and Ann Street. It is thought they date back to at least, if not before 1630, these entries are the oldest parts of Belfast city. In days long gone, they played an important part in the residential and business life of the then town – now city.

The names gracing these alleyways are almost romantic and I intend returning to them at a future date.

Ramana makes yoghurt every morning. Maybe we are in for a demonstration today. Do you think that is why he chose the topic of:

Culture

I wanted to follow a different route.  I was spoilt for choice and it was difficult to make up my mind.

Culture Club Karma Chameleon

Culture Night Belfast at the Cathedral Quarter and beyond is usually a-buzz with gigs, choirs, dance, poetry, exhibitions, theatre, street performers, taster tours, workshops, and more.

Culture Vulture – an online shopping space where I came across this little beauty

Alas, it is out of stock.

I learned this serene representation of the Buddha’s hand showing the fingers in the ‘mudra’ position, is known as the teaching gesture with the thumb and index finger forming the Wheel of Law.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute tells us

Culture is a definition highly misunderstood and misused, thus the need for an explanation:

Culture refers to the following Ways of Life, including but not limited to:

• Language: the oldest human institution and the most sophisticated medium of expression.
• Arts & Sciences: the most advanced and refined forms of human expression.
• Thought: the ways in which people perceive, interpret, and understand the world around them.
• Spirituality: the value system transmitted through generations for the inner well-being of human beings, expressed through language and actions.
• Social activity: the shared pursuits within a cultural community, demonstrated in a variety of festivities and life-celebrating events.
• Interaction: the social aspects of human contact, including the give-and-take of socialization, negotiation, protocol, and conventions.

Now before the stuff Ramana makes is ready for tasting I want to lead you in a different direction altogether, to what I would call:-

The Culture of Disrespect.

My attention was drawn to a ‘Huff Post’ article written by Yashar Ali about Gaslighting.  It was not a term I was familiar with.  Hush up in the back row, the only glimmerman that I know about, sits on my mantle piece over my fireside.

According to Mr Ali, Gaslighting is a term often used by mental health professionals to describe manipulative behaviour used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy.

I would see these actions as controlling or abusive.  I will let you follow the link and make up your own mind.

This Culture of Disrespect can come in another guise:-

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve had. ~ Anon

I’m prepared to sit on the porch of life…. but, for a conversation you need two people.  When the other person keeps disappearing for a myriad of reasons…

What message do you think  it gives to me?

If you have a cell phone in each hand, constantly pinging with calls & messages and you feel you must take or read them during our conversation, then you are not the friend I thought you were. Will the world end if you leave them unanswered for 10…20 or thirty minutes?

Have you an iPad, Notebook or laptop constantly taking your attention and interrupting what we were saying? Then you are not paying attention to the topic in hand. Will the world end if you lift your eye from the screen for 10…20 or thirty minutes?

Maybe I am kidding myself that there was a true friendship in the first place. Your actions are telling me that I am the bottom of your pile. Is it time to move on?

It will not be easy.

You see, I enjoyed the banter, the laughter and the deep soul baring conversations that we used to share, but alas, the winds of time have blown them all away.  If you only want to talk when you need something or when the day has sapped your energy and you are tired, then that is not friendship.

I have no wish to be the floor mop of life, stuck in a corner only used to mop up the dregs of life. I am worth more than that.

Young people are very fond of the phrase ‘Quality Time’, Is that what you give your friends? Do you switch off from all distractions to share real quality time?

Think about it. Now is the time to change and do something about it!

Or one day you might find yourself sitting alone on the porch.

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar,
but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.

Now off you go to check on the porches of our active members of the Loose Blogging Consortium:- Conrad, Delirious, Maria/Gaelikaa, Magpie 11, Maria SilverFox, OCD writer, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, Rohit, WillKnott, & Little old me.

A blonde lady motorist was about two hours from San Diego when she was flagged down by a man whose truck had broken down. The man walked up to the car and asked, “Are you going to San Diego?”

“Sure,” answered the blonde, “do you need a lift?”
“Not for me. I’ll be spending the next three hours fixing my truck. My problem is I’ve got two chimpanzees in the back which have to be taken to the San Diego Zoo.  They’re a bit stressed already so I don’t want to keep them on the road all day.  Could you possibly take them to the zoo for me?  I’ll give
you $100 for your trouble.”

“I’d be happy to,” said the blonde. So the two chimpanzees were ushered into the back seat of the blonde’s car and carefully strapped into their seat belts, and off they went.

Five hours later, the truck driver was driving through the heart of San Diego when suddenly he was horrified!  There was the blonde walking down the street, holding hands with the two chimps, much to the amusement of a big crowd.  With a screech of brakes he pulled off the road and ran over to the blond.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded, “I gave you $100 to take these chimpanzees to the zoo.”

“Yes, I know you did,” said the blonde,”but we had money left over so now we’re going to Sea World.”

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Thank you Darlene for this one.

I wake up this morning to discover that my Google Account has been disabled due to suspicious activity.

Please be careful if you receive any email supposedly from me today  I suggest you bin it without opening.
I am in the process of trying recover the account and it may take up to 24 hours.

Fingers crossed that I can get back to normal very soon.

Scrap that, I am back online alive and healthy.  Thanks Elly for your assistance!

My daughter is the best!

We are about to face another Christmas.  Yes I did say FACE.

Already the round of fluster and fuss in preparation for the greedfest has started. Office parties here, club parties there, and the ‘Well, sure it is Christmas’ and we must get together parties.

The rush is on.

Trees are covered in fairy lights and decorations placed in every available space
Shopping for cards and gifts and don’t forget the the gift-wrap, ribbons and gifttags.
Families arranging to be together, some racing half way across the country if not the world.
Cooking, baking and candle gift making (it rhymed) all for one day.

What has any of this got to do with Christmas?

We are in a world wide recession.

Maybe this world wide recession is actually a gift.  A wake up call.  Yes, we have heard them before, but have we listened?  I mean really LISTENED!

It is Our World.  The one true gift we can give to future generations.

The message in the link is not new, but certainly worth the six or seven minutes it takes to watch. I urge to stop what you are doing and give it your FULL attention.

Then go and have a Happy Christmas!

These tasty little numbers look festive and disappear quickly.
Bake ahead and store UNfilled in an air tight container until you need them.

Cranberry stars
Preheat oven 180°C

100g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 egg yolks, medium size
225g plain flour

3 tablespoons Cranberry Jam *
Icing sugar to dust

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.

Beat the butter, caster sugar and lemon rind in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg yolks then stir in the flour and mix to a fairly stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.  If the dough is very soft, chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 6mm or ¼ inch.  Cut into 24 rounds with a fluted cutter, re-rolling the trimmings to make up the number.  Cut the centres from half the rounds with a small star shaped cutter. (bake these little stars too, children love them!)
Place the rounds on the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes until pale golden.
Transfer to a cooling rack until they are cold.
Spread the jam on the plain biscuits, dust the star biscuits thickly with icing sugar. Sandwich together. Eat on the day the jam is added, if not they will become soggy.

* I bought a small jar of Cranberry and Port in Lidl recently, (I think it was with the sauces) I use it to fill the biscuits. Yum yum! I see it won a Silver Award at Blas na hÉireann.

Yesterday, I promised to return to an archway deep in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast.

Looking through that arch I thought of my father, singing about ‘sittin on the wall upon a Sunday, watching the girls go by.  I was not so much looking at the lads sitting on a wall, but a man hanging by a thread on a wall!

You believe me now, right?

James Larkin ~ Bronze

Sculptor - Anton Brennan

The plaque beneath the sculpture reads:

This statue was jointly commissioned by the I.C.T.U. & Laganside Corpration and unveiled on the 8th of May 2006 by David Begg General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions

It was sculpted by Anto Brennan and erected by Open Windows Production Team:- Gerard Brennan, Gerry McCullough & Joe Morrissey.  The Architect was Des Grehan.

It includes the quote from James Larkin:

“The Great are only Great because we are on our knees.
Let us Arise”

This work is a celebration of Irish Trade Union Leader and socialist activist James Larkin who moved to Belfast in 1907 and founded the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, the Irish Labour Party and later the Workers’ Union of Ireland.

Recently, fellow blogger - Speccy and I met for coffee.  We talked for Ireland and sure why not, The first and last time we met ‘in the flesh’ as they say, was last March at the Irish Blog Awards in Belfast. When we reached the dregs of our coffee cups and time to leave the table, she asked about my plans for the day.  With time to kill she came on the sculpture hunt with me.  I had a list as long as my arm, but would be happy with three or four items to photograph, explore and write about.

As we emerged from the alleyway we took a left and very soon we were looking in a shop window at the very same statue!!  Two gentlemen inside, beckoned us in.

We entered the premises of Open Window Gallery and Workshop.

Gerard (L) and Anto (R) Brennan in their studio with another James Larkin.

We could have stayed there all day.  The lads were delighted to see us.  The studio contains not alone their own work, but paintings of fellow artists.  We were welcome to wander, photograph, chat and ask questions and they were a mine of information about other works of art and where to find them.

I forgot to ask them how much it would cost to have my bust bronzed!

Anton Brennan (unfortunately does not have a website) began sculpting in the early 1990s making figures from clay. He is best known for his chess sets featuring caricatured models of politicians.

Gerard was putting the finishing touches to a rather special chess set as we chatted.

There are others:

Just click on any of the photos for greater detail.

Before I met Speccy, I had wandered close to Writer’s Square and discovered the Occupy Belfast site.  I saw a sculpture and had difficulty photographing it,  I did my best

The camp site was small and smoke shrouded.  I lingered long enough to take a photo of the sculpture.

No Pasaran - They shall not pass.

The plaque informed me that the sculpture was by none other than Anto Brennan and erected by Gerard.

Donegall Street Place

I found this archway in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter,
you will find it beside the John Hewitt Bar.

John Hewitt

Just a little taste…. I will return to it again tomorrow.
The entry, and not the Bar!

In the meantime take a closer look at the bicycle below:

Every turn of the wheel is a revolution.

Peer Pressure – Me?

Not on your nanny!

The only problem I have is with my blood pressure.

So why no Peer Pressure then?

Because:

• I’m not heavy enough to sit on anyone.
• I’m not in the House of Lords.
• I have new eyes and new glasses, so there is no need for me to look narrowly at anything.
• At my age, my peers have faded into the woodwork.
• Once I get my pants down, I have no problem with my pee ‘r!

Come on OCD, you didn’t really expect a dissertation on peer pressure from me.

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OK folks, I let you off lightly this week, so away you go on the rounds and check out what our other Loose Bloggers are up to:- Conrad, Delirious, Maria/Gaelikaa, Magpie 11, Maria SilverFox, OCD writer, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, Rohit, WillKnott, & Little old me.