This photo of the new Spike Bridge was taken by Mick O Callaghan on 02/10/2025 I WROTE THIS PIECE ABOUT THIS COURTOWN WOODS WALK IN 2020 I repeat it following requests from several strollers new to the area who want to learn some history of the forest. Please feel free to share. During the Corona Virus lockdown, I was lucky I lived close to Courtown woods and beach and was able to ramble there freely everyday . My most frequent rambles were in the 25-hectare Courtown wo

Unctuous. When I opened my special word from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for Saturday, May 30th, 2026, I was confronted by the word UNCTUOUS, appearing in large bold type that immediately caught my attention. I was quickly propelled down my lexicography rabbit hole to discover the exact meaning of the word, and it proved to be a real gem of an idea. Webster's Dictionary informs me that it derives from a Latin word meaning "to anoint, to smear, or to rub with an oily s

Photo of Courtown Harbour in May 2026 by Mick O Callaghan Weather An Aimsir Weather and weather forecasting play an important role in all our lives alerting us to approaching abnormalities in our weather. We see regular destruction, loss of life and huge damage to property caused by excessive rain and wind. This is particularly true in countries like Japan, India, New Zealand and The Philippines where they have weather alerts for tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoo

Rabbit Holes I love that term because I hear it so often at home being used about myself. Whenever I go blogging or researching some topic family members are inclined to say “Mick has gone down the rabbit hole again”. So being of an inquisitive nature I went down a laptop rabbit hole to find where this term originated, and I was delighted with my findings. The origin of the phrase goes back about 150 years to the book Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Carrol. In th