All posts in category A big Adventure

Surviving the zombie cow apocalypse and other oddities

I’m sorry this episode is a day late but I’ve had rather an interesting 24 hours. As most of you know we live deep in rural Ireland and that means we are surrounded by fields. This being Ireland thas also means we are surrounded by cows. Lots of cows. Last night not long after midnight […]

Rounding up the year in 1,000 words

It may be an arbitrary date, dividing one year from another, but the New Year is always a good time to remember and reflect. Despite this supposedly being a quiet time of life this last year has been very busy and a bit of a rollercoaster. Rounding up 2024 in 1,000 words is a rather […]

Easing into Christmas as the solstice arrives

Well, it has been a rather frantic month here in sleepy, rural Tipperary. The autumn slipped by quietly, enlivened only by the mowing of the ever-rampant grass and some gathering of unexpected but most enjoyable apples from the new orchard. We entertained the idea we might potter along, easing into Christmas in a calm and […]

Forty Years on and a glance back in time

Forgive me if this episode is a bit late and a bit shorter than usual but we were up late and carousing on Saturday night. Sunday was our anniversary, forty years on from when Jacqui and I moved in together. It was not possible to have a formal ceremony then but we have always marked […]

Marching towards winter with some help from our friends

Met Eireann, the Irish weather centre, is warning of “an arctic front” in the next few days. This will be centred on the north and west but may move south too. Now, we are somewhat ambiguous here as we are in the midlands, more south than north and both west and east by different reckoning. […]

Sometimes things just seem to get harder

Sometimes things – all sorts of things – just seem to get harder as time goes by. I’m no spring chicken anymore so I expect some things to get more difficult. I’ve not really recovered from the falls last year – the concussion is fading at last but I have painful shoulders and spine still […]

Stormy days and unwanted visitors

It’s a dark and stormy day in Ireland, though not as bad as it seems to be in the UK. There have been a few brighter days recently however and we were able to get the mower out last weekend. The orchard was in real need of a trim as the weeds had one last […]

It’s that time of year again

I said last year that autumn comes early to Ireland and hey – it’s that time of year again. Actually it seems as if spring has just slipped past summer with barely a glance. It has been the coldest and wettest summer for nine years and we are already getting ready for winter. Still, there […]

Happiness is a working mower and baby swifts

After a rather fraught few weeks it is nice to have some better news to share with you. Our big problem recently is the breakdown of the ride-on mower. This may seem like an indulgence but with the area we have it makes keeping it in order just about possible. My shoulders are not yet […]

August is the cruelest month – in Tipperary

TS Eliot declared April was the cruelest month but I would say this is not the case in Tipperary. Here I think it is August instead. August has the false promise if Eliot’s April – decent weather at last, a time to rest and relax, a break from the harder months – but, alas, fails […]