Lily’s Blog

A friend gave me this recipe for a very refreshing drink made from elderflower. Elderflower grows all over the countryside but I hadn’t used elderflower in cooking before.

10 Elderflowers
2 Lemons
2 lb Sugar
1oz Ascorbic Acid
4 pints Boiling Water

Leave for 24hours, strain and bottle. Store in fridge.

I just looked up Darina Allen’s book, ‘Ballymaloe Cookery Course’ to find she has nine recipes using elderflowers apart from cordial.

Watch out family!

I worked in Sligo for a number of years, leaving when I got married. I go back regularly as I still have a group of great friends there. We have all stayed in close contact over the years. Yesterday was my first chance to get back in a while. The day consisted of up early and a lovely drive through the country, which really looks great in the sunshine. This was followed by two hours over coffee with the girls, followed immediately by lunch with another friend and chat, four of us going for a long walk at Strandhill beach and chat, followed by dinner, more chat and stay over. Who says we can’t talk!

A very enjoyable day and great to catch up with everyone.

Last night over dinner, a friend said he was going out in the morning with another person doing a bird survey, leaving at 5.40am. Though it was quite late at this stage, I asked could I join them and so his wife and I decided to get up for the dawn chorus. I have been out a few times with him bird watching in Ireland and we spent a great week with them in France a number of years ago, going for long walks each morning with my friend pointing out all sorts of birds to us. I have learned what little bird knowledge I have, mostly from him.

I woke at 5.30, made myself coffee and was (appropriately) ‘bright as a lark’, by the time they got up! (I need coffee to wake up!)

We drove out the country on yet another beautiful morning. It had the feeling of ‘good to be alive’ about it.

The survey was part of the Countryside Bird Survey. Quoting the Birdwatch Ireland’s website
‘The Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) is a national project that monitors population trends of Ireland’s common and widespread breeding birds. It has been running since 1998. The main aim of the CBS is to keep tabs on changes in breeding bird populations from year to year and over long term periods.’

Basically the survey involves listing the birds found in a 1km square. A few hundred such squares are randomly selected across the country and competent bird watchers volunteer to do the survey on a semi-permanent basis. The survey involves two visits per year, one between early April and mid-May and the second between mid-May and the end of June. The area which he had to cover was interesting as it was quite varied, grassland, some of which was boggy and included a small lake.

More information on the CBS can be found here

I kept a list as they identified each bird. Fair dues to them, they had a spare set of binoculars for me as ours were at home. I got to see most though some were unseen as they recognised them purely by sound. This is the list:

Sedge Warbler
Snipe
Blue Tit
Willow Warbler
Stonechat
Pheasant
Hooded Crow
Wren
Chaffinch
Grey Tit
Swallow
Blackbird
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Pied Wagtail
Meadow Pippet
Robin
Mallard
Swan
Tufted Duck
Little Grebe
Moorhen
Wood Pidgeon
Reed Bunting
Magpie
Whitethroat
Dunnock
Cormorant
Blackbird
Starling

30 in all. (I may have missed an odd one on my list.) It’s amazing how many birds they identified. Had I been on my own, a) I wouldn’t have spotted as many in the first place and b) would only have been able to name a fraction of them. We never need stop learning!

One thing they commented on was that a virus has hit and almost wiped out the Green Finch population which previously was a common bird.

I saw a lot of new wild flowers as this was a new habitat for wild flowers for me. I started listing and photographing some but quickly decided to stop as would miss birds. I did see Wild Iris, Ragged Robin and the Common Spotted Orchid. A thought struck me – wild flowers are easier to identify than birds. Wild flowers don’t ‘fly away’ and can be easily photographed!

We also saw frogs and hares (and donkeys and cows and calves).

We were back for breakfast at 9am. All in all a very enjoyable morning bird watching.

The internet is down at home and it’s only when that happens, I realise how dependent we are on it. Despite my efforts to fix (pretty basic, switch on and off), and Tommy’s and Denis’s (more involved), it is still down. Unfortunately the internet at home isn’t straight forward. The boys have all sorts of ‘fancy’ things set up, eg server sitting on a shelf (just a few electronic components wired together with a noisy fan), which doesn’t make it easy when something goes wrong.

I was speaking with somone last night who said he could do nothing without passwords. The passswords are as I write ‘cycling around San Francisco’ (Eldest Mouse) or ‘interrailing around Europe’ (Middle Mouse). Murphy’s Law means that when the cat’s mice are away, the normally perfectly behaved internet plays.

John left on Tuesday morning. Internet goes down Tuesday evening.

Because up to now I have been well served with help when my computer, internet, anything techy acts up, I have developed no techy genes at all. Instead I always ask for help from the nearest male. However they are now getting fewer. It looks like I will have to grow some ‘techiness’ for my older age. Tommy please start teaching me!

Normal blogging service will resume, when normal internet service is restored …

Fingers crossed for today.

Okay I have to admit it, June reading has been poor, poor in the sense that writing blogposts has eaten into reading time.

As a wife, mother, worker outside the home, etc etc, I don’t end up with a lot of spare time. I also like to spend some of what spare time I do have, exercising. In a recent post commenting on his first blogging anniversary, Ferdinand von Prondzynski wrote: My approach to the blog has been simple enough – I’ll spend between 10 and 15 minutes a day on it, no more. He writes approximately 400 words on a variety of topics daily.

I would love to know his secret, because it takes me much longer!

This month I did two reading activities:
a) Bought books for upcoming holidays, book tokens are always a great present!
Best Love, Rosie by Nuala O’Faolain. This is the book which has been published since her death in May 2008
Handle with Care Jodi Picoult
Brooklyn Colm Toibin
The Whole Day Through Patrick Gale
Leaving the World Douglas Kennedy
The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black
Nocturnes Kazuo Ishiguro

b) I did read Designer Genes by Emma Hannigan this month. I bought the book because I had heard a tiny bit of her interview on Ryan Tubridy and thanks to Steph, who posted a link, listened to the full interview. Steph also reviewed the book here. It was also reviewed here.

I have a keen interest in health issues and so was interested in reading this book. The story is a work of fiction based on major surgery undergone by the author.

I admire the author’s bravery as evidenced by her interview on Ryan Tubridy. Emma Hannigan found she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which meant that she had an 85% chance of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of developing ovarian cancer. She really did try to take control of her own health by having preventive surgery. The surgeries including the removal of both breasts (and subsequent reconstruction), ovaries and fallopian tubes. Her journey was not easy. I loved her openness and feel she has done a lot of good in sharing her story. In fact her story went further than that in the book. Despite having had preventive surgery, Emma went on to develop cancer and had chemotherapy and yet more surgery. She is thankfully now well, though still undergoing preventive treatment.

Whilst I found the description of her journey very interesting, I didn’t really enjoy the ‘novel’ part of this book. Basically the story is of the journey of two women, one reflecting the author’s journey. I found the plot too simplistic.

In addition, whilst in the early part of the novel the mother’s tests (before her daughter undergoes testing) and her reaction to its positive result are described, the mother soon gets forgotton. Even though she too carries the defective gene, we don’t hear any more of what happens to her – her dealing with the reality of carrying the defective gene, her screening. Once her purpose is served in the plot, she is forgotten.

Plus there were quotations at the start of each chapter which I just did not get the point of, example Chapter 49:
Blood Bath Bake
Fillet ovaries and fallopian tubes. Measure six pound of pain. Add to abdomen. Garnish with nausea and a good coating of fear.’
I like humour even in the depths of desperation. I didn’t find her quotations witty at all. In fact I skipped them altogether and just now opened the book randomly to pick an example.

In conclusion I have very mixed feelings about the book but admiration for the author.

Quoting that ‘font of knowledge’ Wikipedia

‘Father’s Day is a day honoring fathers, celebrated on the third Sunday of June in 52 of the world’s countries and on other days elsewhere. It complements Mother’s Day, the celebration honoring mothers … Father’s Day typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities.

The first observance of Father’s Day is believed to have been held on July 5, 1908 in a church located in Fairmont, West Virginia, by Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South of Fairmont …’

As a family, we are a little bit skeptical of ‘Hallmark days’. Today we are not doing any of those ’special dinners to fathers’, nor ‘family-oriented activities’, nor did he get a present! We love him lots all the same, everyday!

I don’t think Denis would have any complaints as to how he is celebrating father’s day – with a golf ‘marathon’, 18 holes in the morning and another 18 in the afternoon!

In a letter in yesterday’s Irish Times ‘Madam, – With all the advertising to persuade us to buy presents for Father’s Day, tomorrow, I could not but notice that it is three months after Mother’s Day, March 22nd. Or is it perhaps more significant that it is nine months before Mother’s Day next year? – Yours, etc,’

I never noticed the relationship of the dates before!

And while I’m at it, today, 21st June is Mid-summers day, happy that too!

‘The Times They Are a-Changin’ was written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1964 album of the same name.

I was thinking about the summer when, like middle mouse today, I finished secondary school. I lived in Kildare and that summer, the height of my travelling was trips to Dublin and one holiday in Sligo, with two sisters and an aunt.

In fact when I was growing up, my father always checked the oil and water in the car when he or my mother were setting out on long journeys. Dublin (about 20 miles from home) was considered a long journey so necessitated those checks.

Fast forward to 2009, middle mouse showed me the airports he would travel through in July:
- Budapest Ferihegy (LHBP)
- Dublin (EIDW)
- Madrid Barajas (LEMD)
- Mexico City (MMMX)
- Merida Rejón, Yucatan (MMMD)
- Marseille (LFML)
- Girona (LEGE)
- Shannon (EINN)
- Vancouver (CYVR)
- Boundary Bay (CZBB)

When eldest mouse was home recently, I overheard him say on the phone, ‘I’ll stop by on my way back to San Francisco.’ He did stop by and meet that person. In China.

I’m getting older
The world is getting smaller
The Times They still Are a-changin.

In a recent post, Grannymar described making Elly’s Christening outfit. Her post got me onto this subject.

When eldest mouse was born, a friend’s mother made a christening outfit using the material from my wedding dress. I loved re-using the beautiful ivory silk material for a family keepsake.

My friend’s Mum made a beautiful christening dress and bonnet as the following pictures show.

Eldest mouse

Middle mouse

Youngest mouse, not a happy camper. (Photograph reproduced here with permission!)

Speaking of the wedding dress, the main part of my head-dress probably cost all of €1 in today’s money. I got a piece of electric cord, covered it in silk ribbon and voila. Whilst the wedding dress was expensive, the head-dress certainly was not!

I loved the christening outfit. Sadly the person who made it, died from cancer shortly after Tommy was born. I remember going to her funeral with Tommy as a baby after one of his appointments. I remember the events of that day so vividly. I remember making a phone call on a pay phone en route to the funeral. These were the days before mobile phones.

In a separate story about six weeks before she died, she and her daughter came to stay with us. As well as being gifted at needlework, she also was a talented painter. On that visit, her daughter took some photographs, while her mum was resting. In the few short weeks she had, her Mum did a painting for us from one of those photographs. She signed the canvas shortly before she died. Always a very practical, down to earth sort of person, she said to her daughter, ‘tell Lily she will have to frame it herself, I don’t have time’.

Naturally I did and the painting is hanging in our house.

The christening outfit is truly a family heirloom.

I’ve commented before that I feel you can get a sense of a person, by reading their blog. Lette is one person I’ve admired from reading her blog.

I loved the way she described herself in this post. I’m a huge fan of people who don’t allow anything hold them back.

So when Lette wrote a post to say that this year’s Degree show at Limerick School Of Art and Design was on last Saturday afternoon, I made a note to call in.

Dropped into the show when in town with Tommy. It was lovely to meet Lette and see her project.

Congratulations Lette.

PS Apologies for my poor quality photograph of a Photographer! Even though it’s out of focus, it was the nicest one I had of Lette and Tommy.

When I wrote a post recently on wild flowers in the field beside our house, I mentioned the fact that I had worked for a number of summers when at secondary school and college in Lyons Estate, which was then a research station for UCD Dept of Agriculture. I worked for a Lecturer in Grassland research.

The main house, Lyons House was a beautiful Georgian house, which was used for labs, offices and canteen. At that time alot of the original Georgian features were intact but the house had begun to fall into disrepair. Even still the house had a ‘grand’ feel to it and we were free to wander around the grounds, beautiful gardens and artificial lake.

I looked up the UCD website for information on Lyons Estate.
UCD Lyons Research Farm, which is part of the original Lyons Estate, is located adjacent to the village of Newcastle in Co Kildare. Lyons Estate was originally purchased by UCD in 1963. The estate consisted of approximately 1,200 acres including Lyons House. The house itself was formerly the seat of Lord Cloncurry and is a period house of national importance. In the early 1990s, the university disposed of the house and approximately 620 acres of land. The farm now consists of approximately 580 acres. It is used for teaching and research field activities by the School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine.

The late Dr Tony Ryan of Ryanair, bought Lyons House and land in 1996 and carried out extensive restoration work on the main house itself and to other houses and out-buildings on the estate.

On Thursday I saw in the Property section of the Times that his family is now preparing to sell Lyons House and its 600 acres.

Looking at the photographs, I can be transported back in time to when the now beautiful drawing room in the photograph was the office of Professor Ruane, then head of UCD Dept of Agriculture. (Me a student can’t have been in there that often, but do recognise it). I also recognise the large entrance hallway.

Quoting from the Times piece;
Tony Ryan, whose vast wealth came late in life, through Ryanair, threw all his energies into creating one of the finest estates in the country, complete with formal gardens, and a state-of-the-art equestrian centre for his beloved thoroughbred horses.

The result was a very grand house in immaculate taste. Irish furniture had been bought from all over the world and decorators from London toiled to create a grand country house atmosphere. Formal rooms, such as the dining and music rooms with their 18th century wall paintings of famous Irish views, are countered by big welcoming spaces like the Orangerie which comfortably takes 20 for lunch.

And quoting again from the Times article;

The Village at Lyons, a series of renovated and new cut-stone houses on the edge of the estate by the Grand Canal, will not be included in the sale. The design for this scheme was based on the estate’s original canal station, and it is now run as a separate business, with a popular restaurant at its centre.

About two years ago my sister and I went to the restaurant in The Village at Lyons for lunch. The place is hugely worth a visit.

One small thing I remember from all those years ago was how the accounts department didn’t know how to classify a ’secondary school student’ for payroll purposes. They didn’t have any such category. I was given the most suitable job description they could find, so they could pay me. Whilst I can’t remember my exact job description, I do remember that my salary was in excess of what a student could reasonably have expected to earn. I always think of this as a good example of how inflexible large organisations become, to their own cost.

The downside of this however was I always had this ‘good job’ to return to each summer. Thus I didn’t travel like I should have had, when at college. I made up for it later though.

Dr. Ryan did a beautiful job restoring Lyons House. He lived there while in Ireland until his death in 2007. The price being quoted for the house and lands is €80 million, down from a valuation of €100 million at the height of the property boom.

I just hope Lyons Estate finds another good owner.

The Leaving Cert is stressful.

Yes stressful on the parent of the student.

Okay the student experiences some stress but being the parent is no piece of cake either. All this ‘TLC’ing is hard work! First there’s a small matter of having nutritious meals prepared to suit the student’s timetable, carefully balanced with a decent supply of junk food. I’m not normally a stocker of sweets, biscuits etc but all rules get broken at these times. Son gets what son wants … during LC!

Then there’s the small matter that student has an offiicial card saying he is exempt from household duties for a very extended period of time.

Then there’s the support one must give to study. In a previous post I wrote where John had asked me to nag him to study. Nagging is hard work! It’s hard to get the nagging balance correct.

The days of the exams themselves need to be peppered with little forays down to La Cucina. There will be a drop in business for Lorraine when this LC is over and John skidaddles off to ‘the world’. John feels it’s important to support local business!

Tommy wrote previously of how John studies. This morning John was preparing for Design and Communication Graphics, (a new name for Tech graphics of old). Preparing for said subject involved getting a basin of warm water and some cloths. Below is a photo of John lovingly washing his set squares in preparation for this afternoon’s exam.

If performance at the exam is judged by cleaniness of the page with his drawings, John has scored an ‘A’

And this is all before I begin the day job.

Forget about the student, ’tis me that needs the holiday