Grannymar

Ian asked me a question on 30^th March this year. He would be the first to tell us that some answers take time. This one did, but I at last have the answer.

Back then I wrote about this wonderful sculpture

At the time the only information I had was:

Brian Alabaster of Suffolk made this sculpture in 2003. His son Sam, a 15 year old boy with Downs Syndrome sits reading with his Grandpa, Dickie, who is 82, Sam’s dog Billy, age 10, is at his feet.

I received a comment to that post at the weekend. It was from Brian Alabaster, sculptor. ARBS. Sadly, he tells me that Grandpa Dickie has since died. The close bond between man and boy is so obvious in the work and I am sure Dickis is greatly missed by all his loved ones.

So to answer Ian’s question, asking if the piece was commissioned by the local council, I can now tell you it was purchased by the owners of Junction One Shopping Outlet after they saw it in Brian’s studio.

It was with great interest and curiosity that I visited Brian’s website and was fascinated at his back story. I immediately lost my heart to this piece;

If only I had a garden suitable for Lilly Luke and Rose to sport and play.

Now if you pause for a moment you can almost hear their chatter.

Enjoy!

I had a great few days away from home and feel like I was on holiday for a month.

You heard about the lists, the tasks and the curtains so now you want the interesting bits.

Saturday meant an early start; we left home at 8am in order to reach Hotel Kilkenny and registration for PodCamp Ireland before 10 am. We drove through thick fog most of the way, so the journey was slow. Seeing friendly faces as we arrived soon brought the sunshine to our hearts. I was not the oldest and the generations were like steps of stairs to the youngest little lady that I saw at lunchtime, a mere one year old!

Ken McGuire Bernie Goldbach & Krishna De all did a trojan job in the past few months organising the event. It may have been an ‘unconference’ event but without the background work it would not have happened.

So what did I do?

I hugged, or should I say Keith tried to crush my ribs!

I listened with Marian while Darragh talked.

I learned, Ellie May shows me how to use an iPod.

I talked about blogging and Podcasting for the older generation.

AND

I was brought home to meet ‘The Parents’

We arrived back with Elly & George in time for a sumptuous dinner on Sunday night and again enjoyed friendship, fun and laughter for several hours.

On Monday a workman was due so I stayed around to let him in. I had three more fine young Toyboys on Tuesday and one of them came three times! The work was completed on Tuesday and everyone is satisfied.

Fearing I would be charged rent if I stayed any longer, the bags were pack and ready for the return journey on Wednesday. I didn’t go straight home. I went to meet and dallied awhile with another fine handsome Toyboy.

Then I was presented with this:

How’s your Latin?

Some of the 110 attendees that I actually had conversations with at PodCamp Ireland were:

Evert Bopp (Tipperary)

Mike Buckley (St Louis, MO, USA)

Cian Mac Mahon (Dun Laoighaire, Dublin) wants to do a Podcast with me.

Darragh Doyle (Dublin)

Keith Shirley (Carlow)

John Keyes (Kilkenny)

Rosemary Khelifa (Dublin) (whose talk I missed as it clashed with mine) gave me a lovely neck massage.

Elly Parker (Adamstown)

Martha Rotter (Dublin)

Gabriela Avram (Limerick)

Nicola Brown (Carlow)

Simon McGarr (Dublin)

Deborah Hadley (Tullamore) found her way to our hearts with delicious Brownies.

Jan Buckley (St. Louis, USA)

Marian Roche (Limerick) who made the PodCamp Logo buttons

Dean Whitbread (UK) presented and chatted despite an ear infection. Thanks Dean.

Sabrina Dent (Cork)

John Handelaar (Cork)

Keith Bohanna (Kilkenny)

Niamh Smith (Dublin)

Gav Reilly (Dublin)

Ian Healy (Kilkenny)

Jason Roe (Dublin)

Conor Lynch (Meath)

Marie Boran (Carlow)

Sabrina Marczak (Canada)

Katherina Fay (Dublin)

George Pratt (Dublin)

Sinead Murnane (Dublin)

Cathy Fowley (Dublin)

Sharon Tobin (Kilkenny)

If we chatted and I missed your name put it down to a senior moment.

More photos at Pix.ie

We never had a Video player, videos or a Camcorder, but I certainly know people who did. Some were constantly sticking the camcorder in your face; they were so much more intrusive than the Camera phones of today. Perhaps that is because we are now more used to this technology, but I digress….

Most of the people that I know of who amassed great mounds of videos, were very careless with their storage. An untidy bundle would accumulate on the floor beside the TV. Some might be film of family or special events, while others were recordings of TV programmes broadcast at an unsuitable time for the viewer. Perhaps they were off recording their own material for the great video of the future, or something to bore the relations with on a wet winter’s evening. I actually wonder how many miles of TV programmes recorded on video tape, lie about never viewed again?

So these videos reclined in the ‘must watch’ muddle for several months before the day of the Box. By Box I mean the day when an empty recycled cardboard box appeared and all the videos were meticulously packed away, the box sealed with parcel tape and the word VIDEOS scrawled in bright Felt Marker across the top. Occasionally a date might be added. If only the videos inside the box had the same treatment, thus avoiding the ‘I wonder what’s on this one?’ question many years later.

The box then sat in the hall or on the landing for a week or three until a trip to the loft became unavoidable and the box was lifted carefully to its new home in the farthest, corner of the dark loft. No thought given to the temperature of the loft and the effect it would have on the tapes.

Guardian.co.uk ran a very interesting piece on Sunday for the home movie maker of yesteryear.

A virulent infection is destroying the audio and videotapes once used to capture important moments of family life and great historic events. The fungal blight, or ‘tape mould’, has already ruined thousands of miles of audio and video tape in Britain and, according to specialist restorers, much more is likely to be deteriorating, unobserved, in storage. The infection of VHS cassettes and of the audio cassettes popular in the 1980s and 1990s is increasing at an alarming rate.

At the end of the article is a list of Do’s and Don’ts for storage of VHS and audio tapes.

The wet weather during the past few summers has not only proved detrimental for arthritic bones but also for audio and video tapes. Now don’t all run together, but in the next few days take a look at your storage and sort out those tapes or there will be no movie of Great Aunt Alice sitting on the Whoopee Cushion or audio of Grandpa Joe singing all 32 verses of a rebel song!

I hear the birds in the South of Ireland are chattering Post Codes once more. Let their music not fade into oblivion like a one hit wonder, but rise with a great crescendo to completion of the task. Postcodes are very handy. I know because I have one. Way up here in the cold and often forgotten part of the UK, are many towns and villages with a prefix of ‘Bally’. I live in one of them. Back in the days before we had post codes our mail took the tourist and scenic route via Ballycastle. Now with a Post code such detours are avoided.

Nowadays all my outgoing mail has a return address of my last name, house number and post code. I have in fact received Christmas Cards from the United States of America addressed to that return address. If for any reason I need to phone my bank or any utility company they ask first for my postcode and then the house number and finally ask me to verify my name. When travelling my luggage tags have only this return address.

Northern Ireland was the last part of the UK to be postcoded with all postcodes here beginning BT, a mnemonic of the capital city’s name. While Belfast was already divided into postal districts, rural areas known as townlands posed an additional problem, as (at the time) many roads were not named, and houses were not numbered. Consequently, many people living in such areas shared the same postal address, which is still the custom in the Republic of Ireland. Today the majority of roads in Northern Ireland are named with the odd exceptions in Co Fermanagh and most houses (even in rural areas) are allocated a number. Those that are not allocated numbers can be uniquely identified by a house name. An example is Bushmills, which begins with BT57.

The format of UK postcodes is generally:

A9 9AA

A99 9AA

A9A 9AA

AA9 9AA

AA99 9AA

AA9A 9AA

where A signifies a letter and 9 a digit. It is a hierarchical system, working from left to right — the first letter or pair of letters represents the area, the following digit or digits represent the district within that area, and so on. Each postcode generally represents a street, part of a street, or a single premises. This feature makes the postcode useful to route planning software.

The part of the code before the space is the outward code or out code used to direct mail from one sorting office to the destination sorting office, while the part after the space is the inward code or in code used to sort the mail into individual delivery rounds. The outward code can be split further into the area part (letters identifying one of 124 postal areas) and the district part (usually numbers); similarly, the inward code is split into the sector part (number) and the unit part (letters). Each postcode identifies the address to within 100 properties (with an average of 15 properties per postcode), although a large business may have a single code

wikipedia.org.

The population in the Republic of Ireland are well prepared for this type of system since vehicle registration has worked on a similar vein for several years. Surely incorporating the latter system would make the providing of Postal areas and districts an easier task.

What do you think?

I know several people with itchy feet syndrome.

It seems to be more evident as spring raises its sleepy head from the grey blanket of winter. The new life we see around us like the first snowdrop or crocus pushing its way through frozen ground or daffodils fluttering in the breeze make us hanker for new growth in our lives. The new growth might manifest itself in a change of routine, a new hobby, a career move or a new relationship.

None of these will happen unless we are open and willing to accept change. Sometimes the idea of change is difficult to accept. We are changing every day without realising it. We are a day older and the happenings of the previous day have left a mark, even if we are unable to see it.

Firstly we must be open to the change and prepare for it. If you are going to a party, and know your heart’s desire will be there, what do you do? Have a shower, wash the hair, wear clean pressed clothes etc. In other words = Prepare

If you are going to the Gym, well you need the new shorts & top and of course the right trainers = Prepare

If you are going to an Art class, well you need to buy a sketch pad and pencils or paints and brushes = Prepare

What about the career move? = Prepare

How do I suggest you do that? Go read an excellent blog post from one of my Toyboys; Rowan Manahan puts it so much better than I ever could. I would go as far as saying keep a copy of the post close to you and read it on a regular basis. It applies not only to job hunting but to life itself:

Being prepared - getting a foot in the door and not in your mouth

Now when you find your truelove and make your millions, don’t forget to come back and tell Grannymar.

I will never make a statistician. I count to 10 in four languages, but after ten I run into trouble. Well at this time of the year it is not easy getting down to find my toes!

Several fellow bloggers seem obscessed with counting! They count on a regular basis the number of incoming visitors they have to their blogs. I think it must be a Boy thing!

I am not interested in the number of visitors, but in the places they come from. While waiting for a phone call I had a little look!

I feel humbled.

I speak only one language, and not very well at times. Spelling and grammar are difficult for me. Yet I have visitors from across the globe. One young man reads my blog aloud to practice his English and discover new words and phrases. Who would ever believe it?

So where do they come from?

Thank you for calling, and please come again!

Deciduous teeth, otherwise known as milk teeth, baby teeth, temporary teeth or primary teeth, are the first set of teeth in the growth development of humans and many other mammals. They start to form during the embryonic phase of pregnancy. These teeth will continue to form until they erupt in the mouth at the age of approximately six months and continues until twenty-five to thirty-three months of age. The full set of milk teeth is twenty: five per quadrant and ten per arch.

The deciduous teeth will remain until a child is about six or seven. At that time, the permanent teeth start to appear in the mouth. The erupting permanent teeth push down on the roots of the milk teeth causing the roots to be dissolved and become absorbed by the forming permanent teeth. The process of shedding deciduous teeth and the replacement by permanent teeth may last from age six to age twelve. By age twelve there usually are only permanent teeth remaining.

Deciduous teeth are considered essential in the development of the oral cavity. The permanent teeth replacements develop from the same tooth bud as the deciduous teeth; this provides a guide for permanent teeth eruption. Also the muscles of the jaw and the formation of the jaw bones depend on the primary teeth in order to maintain the proper space for permanent teeth. The roots of deciduous teeth provide an opening for the permanent teeth to erupt. These teeth are also needed in the development of a child’s ability to speak and chew their food correctly.

Various cultures have customs relating to the loss of deciduous teeth;

In the United Kingdom the tooth is put under the pillow of the child who lost the tooth. When the child wakes up, the tooth fairy will have turned it into a coin.

In Mexico the child goes to bed with the baby tooth under their pillow. A mouse, not a fairy, takes it during the night. She leaves some money.

In Austria, you either make the baby tooth into a pendant head, a key ring, or throw the upper tooth under the house and the lower over the roof.

In Korea If it is a lower baby tooth, throw it up onto the roof; and if it is an upper tooth, throw it underneath the house. It is done so that the upper tooth grows healthy downwards, while the lower tooth upwards.

In Mongolia the baby tooth is given to a young dog. In Mongolia, the dog is respected and is considered a guardian angel. The baby tooth is put in the meat fat and it is fed to the young dog. When the guardian angel eats it, it is said, that a strong tooth will grow.

Now I wonder what they ever did with mine?

On a Sunday afternoon recently while listening to Gardeners Question Time (BBC Radio 4), one of the questions made me smile.

What do you wear in your wellies? (Wellington Boots)

The questioner admitted to wearing bed-socks inside her rubber boots to keep her feet warm while working in the garden.

When the titters of laughter died down the panel gave their answers.

One guy used newspaper to soak up dampness and keep in heat, while another male panelist swore by ladies tights!! The only lady on the team wore an old pair of her husband’s socks over her own.

So what does Grannymar wear? Do you really want to know?

Well to begin with my wellies are so old the thread on the soles would not pass a road safety test. I find them very heavy nowadays so only don them when I have no other choice.

Somewhere in days of yore I read about making insoles from carpet to line the base of Wellington boots. Fortunately it was at a time when we were in the process of changing floor covering. I cut insoles to size and placed them in the boots. It works! I also find that Ski Tubes, those 24” long socks without heel shaping are warm and comfortable in my boots. I bought a couple of pairs about eight years ago to wear when rambling, something I used to do most weekends.

My ski socks served their time well and are as good as ever to this day.

Red ones keep you warmer, perhaps that is physiological, but I do know of one nursing home that provides red bed-socks for the inhabitants for that very reason!

You learn something everyday and last night I discovered that sneezing on different days of the week was once believed to have a bearing on your future.

This little saying is a new one to me:

Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;

Sneeze on a Tuesday, you kiss a stranger;

Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;

Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;

Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;

Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart tomorrow;

Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek,

The Devil will have you the whole of the week.

~^~^~^~^~

People were supposed to cut their nails on a Monday in preference to any other day of the week. Sunday was the least propitious day to do it, because that was the day when the Devil cut his nails.

This old rhyme offers advice:

Cut nails on Monday, cut them for health

Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth

Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news

Cut them on Thursday, a pair of new shoes

Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow

Cut them on Saturday, see your true love tomorrow

But cut them on Sunday, your safety seek

For Old Nick’ll have you, the rest of the week.

Red Mum wrote about the difficulty of carrying large cumbersome purchases around busy shopping areas by hand. Nowadays shopping and goods are supposed to go magically into standard sized plastic bags. It is surprising how often that the larger the bag the weaker the handle.

Way back when Ya-di-da-di-da…

Well it was way back when I was a slip of a thing and growing up in Dublin. Everything you bought from 5 rolls of wallpaper, a pair of blankets, or a pair of shoes, to a fur coat (no I didn’t, but I did refuse a mink coat once!), they were always wrapped in strong brown paper and tied with string. Where do you think we old folk learned to wrap a neat parcel?

When we got home the parcel was unwrapped, the string rolled up and saved and the paper folded, for reuse to back school books* or to make a dress pattern. The string was always useful, for tying other parcels or with a weight attached it made a useful plumb line.

So back to tying the parcels…

When they were carefully wrapped in paper, the string was tied securely around the parcel lengthwise with a strong knot positioned about 1/3 of the way along the long side. The string was then taken over the top and back of the parcel and looped around the string at the back then on down under the parcel and back to the knot at the front. Leave no slack and knot it again around a T bar this time. Bring the line of string along the first string about another 1/3 of the way and loop and tie it. Again bring the string over the top and back of the parcel as before and loop it again, taking it on down and round to the front once more. Secure at the knot above and then take it back to the first knot, and secure with a final knot and trim end. You will note a double string in the middle and this can be used as a strong handle.

Now for the Grannymar special. I have my uses!!!!

You have heard me talk of my days living in Germany way back in the early 70’s. During my first week there I bought a duvet and it came in a cardboard box. This box was wrapped in brown paper and tied as I described above. The sales assistant was a pleasure to watch as he swiftly completed his task. Setting the parcel on the counter, keeping one hand on it he bent down and from some secret compartment he produced a little wooden handle which he attached. It was wonderful! I had no numb fingers from loss of blood supply, and my arms were not aching from trying to hold an awkward package up at elbow level.

I still have that wooden handle 36 years later and it has well served its time. The wood is worn at the edges and the wire replaced. I used part of a metal coat hanger for this purpose and my metal turning skills would never win prizes but it works! I have made several handles since using bamboo and the coat hanger wire.

If you attempt to make some from bamboo choose a smooth piece as the ridge marks hurt the hands when carrying a heavy load. Also remember to file the cut edges of the wire or it might catch and tear the skin or fabrics of clothing while on the move.

Now I will expect to see your handiwork very soon.

* When we were at school all school text and copy books had to be covered in brown paper to keep them clean. We then had to write our names and the title of the book on the new cover.