Thoughts for 2026 Image of the two faced Roman god Janus   I hope you have all recovered from the Christmas festivities and New Year celebrations as we head into a brand-new year with the welcome stretch in the day. My grandmother told us annually about the cock’s step or céim an choilligh, of 4 minutes extended daylight from the winter solstice on December 21 st.  The myth that there was a stretch of 4 minutes each day in daylight hours was not quite accurate. Ac

Photo by Mick O Callaghan of the back cover of Cinderella 2026 programme  We attended the annual Panto in Gorey Little Theatre last Monday January 12th. Before our attendance we had heard only positive comments about it from family and friends. We arrived early and were really impressed with the courtesy of the front of house people, welcoming us, selling raffle tickets, and showing us to our seats. We read through the programme and familiarised ourselves with the cast. As

The Rambler  Rambles Through the Year 2025 Photo Courtown Woods by Mick O Callaghan At my age of 78 years, I have acquired a certain perspective on life and living,. I have lived long enough to know that every year is exceptional. Looking back on the year just gone, I find myself agreeing,2025 was an exceptional year remembered for war and disasters. The world continued its uneasy balancing act. Wars already underway in Ukraine and Gaza did not conclude, and new tensions appe

Carols at Christmas time I was in Tesco, Gorey on Thursday 12 th  December to listen to Loreto Primary school pupils singing Christmas carols. This heralded the start of the Christmas season for me. They sang Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the 12 days of Christmas and many more. They sang them all beautifully with cheery smiles on their faces while collecting for the Jack and Jill charity. We sang along with them. It was most enjoyable and a fitting start to th

CHRISTMAS                       AN NOLLAIG At this time of year in the pre-Christmas season I think about my early childhood memories. I think about my grandparents coming into town on the pony and trap to buy the Christmas fare, the sack of flour, the whiskey and tobacco and the big red candle to be lit at 6 o clock on Christmas Eve by the youngest person in the house. A sizeable turkey or goose was dropped off at our house which was the standard Xmas present. They did all t

Wakes  I was recently proofreading an academic essay for a university student, and the theme was Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. I have read about this before both in school and in adult life. I was fascinated with the topic and its historical context in Cork. The mná caointe or keeners were professional mourners who wailed and screamed at wakes and funerals in Ireland. This ritual was a throwback to pagan Ireland when women at wakes wailed in mournful tones for the dead, often

Radio Times We were setting up an Amazon Echo  recently so that we can have ready access to our super intelligent house guest Alexa. When the system was operational, I asked her to play The Wests Awake for me and she duly obliged. At the end of the song, I wanted to find out when Marconi invented the first radio signal and immediately, she informed me that Guglielmo Marconi invented it in 1895 and patented it. When I heard this bit of news I thought about the development of r

Photography by Mick O Callaghan There are times in our lives when we want to be on our own to rebalance our inner selves and emotions. I had a stressful personal time recently and needed some space. To destress I decided to head for the peace and calm of Courtown beach and woods. The drive down was uneventful. I parked up, changed into walking boots and began my unwinding stroll. As I started, I heard a familiar voice asking if he could join me.  Being an ex-neighbour and fri

Changing financial times. Athraithe i gcúrsaí airgeadais During a recent woodland walk I chatted with fellow strollers about money in our youth. We recalled the penny bars, the penny worth of sweets. We were familiar with the shilling, the florin and the half crowns. And you were very wealthy if you possessed a ten-shilling or paper pound note.   We all recalled the post office savings books and how we bought savings stamps in school and how the man from the post offi

Changing Times My parents lived in London during the second world war. They were married there in 1939 and came back to Kerry to settle down after the war. I was the youngest of their 3 children and during my youth I heard lot of talk about bombs in London, air raid shelters and rationing of food. It was a different world then. People were full of war stories and tragedies. There was a lot of uncertainty in the world with everyone hoping that peace would endure. There was a l

The remains of my granny's ancestral home built in pre famine times A friend of mine told the following story recently, ‘Many years ago (circa 1983/4) I visited the Aran Island of Inisheer (the smallest one). I was intrigued watching a man dismantling a stone wall to move a cow from one patch of land to another. In my towny ignorance I enquired, "Would it not save a lot of time to have a gate”.to which he replied, Sure what's your hurry?. I never forgot it. To that man, there

Photograph of a decorated tree in Courtown Woods by Mick O Callaghan I remember the good old days when my father bought the Irish Independent first thing in the morning to read through the sports columns and the deaths. Every family placed the death notices in the national papers. Nowadays people just flick on to RIP.ie on their phones and they get all the funeral details, immediately forward them on to friends, express their condolences and even watch the service onli

Sweet things I was in a supermarket recently and having procured my shopping items I made my way to the till. As I was standing in the...

New Potatoes There is something very special about new potatoes in Ireland. They just jog up some great memories from my youth for me....

With a Shillelagh under me arm The walking stick has been around for thousands of years since the time of the Pharaohs. When the grave of...

Ireland was a very different place in the forties and fifties compared with today, particularly regarding waste management and environmental awareness. Back then, there was significantly less packaging, and most families dealt with their own rubbish. At home in Tralee, we had a large barrel in the back garden where we burned our waste and packaging. Newspapers were tightly rolled, some used as kindling for cooking fires in the range, others stored for bedroom fires in winter.

Making sense of it all.   Perhaps man had 100 senses and when he died only the 5 senses, we know of perish with him and the others...

When you go down to the woods today,   When I walk in Courtown woods I am constantly experiencing the unexpected as I amble along the...

Gorey Cars & Coffee Bank holiday event It was Bank holiday Monday on June 2nd, 2025.We had a busy weekend with visitors and so this...

The Horse Chestnut Tree in May An crann cnó capall i mí Bealtaine   It was Tuesday May 20th, 2025. We were after a sustained period of dry weather and the ground was very dry. Some plants were somewhat stunted in their growth I cut all the lawns at home and at our daughter’s house because rain was forecast for the afternoon. Now that domestic chores were attended to, I betook myself to Courtown Woods for a forest walk and to follow up on the progress of the Aesculus Hip