Joseph M

I’m sorry I haven’t done a post for some time. Recently, my mind has been occupied with completing the sale of my house and I just found it hard to focus on anything else. If anyone has ever moved before you know what I am talking about. Also, some bookwork popped up that I had to attend to.
Now the sale of the house has been completed - fingers still crossed but all is going well.
I have a house bought in a nice area of the town, and while the formalities of that have still to be completed, it appears as if I will soon be on the move.
Now the real work begins. Tomorrow I start packing. Not a nice job but, in a strange way, I’m looking forward to it. It signifies reaching another stage in what has been a long arduous process. I think also the timing is going to be in my favour because I hope to have occupancy of the new house taken before I have to move from here. In that way, I will not have to move all in one go but will be able to do it over a period of time.
The big decision now is what to take and what to dispose of. Well, the size of the new house and its layout will determine what can be taken and then the question will be what to dispose of and how to dispose of it.
I read a friends post yesterday about she packing her things for a garage sale and the thoughts and feelings that went through her mind. I know exactly how she felt. Somebody, in a comment to her, referred to possessions as inanimate things. Are our possessions inanimate? In the strict sense of the meaning, of course they are, and we can be sceptical and say it’s a piece of rubbish - get rid of it, but the worth of an article is not in its monetary value or its condition, but in the story it can tell. I can pick up something that doesn’t have significant monetary value and yet it can tell me all kinds of significant tales.
Upstairs, from the far corner of a forgotten storage area, my son pulled out an old battered suitcase. It must be very old because it is made of pure leather and I don’t think they make them like that anymore. We both sat each side of it, examined it and wondered what kind of a story it could tell if we knew its language. Neither one of us knew its language because we had never seen it before. But, I’m sure it had been many places and I just can’t see it as junk. I hope it can be found a home someplace or, perhaps, recycled into something else. I just can’t see it ending its days in the rubbish dump.
Tomorrow the packing starts in earnest, and I’m confident it will be all systems go from there. I am allowing myself plenty of time to pack things up and listen to old suitcases and anything else I think might have a story to tell.

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On my way home to Nenagh last Friday, I passed through the town of Cashel, in South Tipperary.

Funny I should describe my passage through Cashel in this way because, having been born and reared nearby, Cashel is my home town but having left it forty odd years ago to take up residence in Nenagh, I now just see it as another town en route to Nenagh and home.

Perhaps that statement is not strictly true, because Cashel still holds many memories and fondness for me and, if time permits, I’m usually compelled to linger there for a while.

On this occasion, Friday being a beautiful sunny day, I stopped just on the outskirts of town and got out of the car just to have a walk around and take some pictures of the World famous Rock of Cashel.

I suppose if we live close to a historically-famous structure such as this, and see it every day of our lives, we tend to take it for granted. I, having been born and reared under the shadow of the Rock, thought to myself of the numerous times I passed it by on my way to school or on my way to the town, without a second glance, but what an awe inspiring spectacle it must be to a first-time visitor to the town of Cashel.

Rising 200 feet, the Rock of Cashel - also called St. Patrick's Rock - is a huge outcropping of limestone. And on top of the Rock, visitors today can see what experts call the most significant group of medieval buildings in Ireland.

St. Patrick is said to have come here in A.D 448 to baptize the royal family. The legend goes, Patrick accidentally stabbed the king's foot with the pointed tip of a shepherd's staff, the kind bishops use in religious ceremonies. The king assumed it was part of the ritual so he silently endured the pain.

Even if that tale isn't totally accurate, historians say they are quite certain that St. Patrick really did come here.

Among other reasons, historians say it simply wouldn't have made sense for the great saint of Ireland not to have come to Cashel, which was then a hub of early Christianity.

The Rock itself was a natural defensive fortress and, long before the time of Saint Patrick, the kings of the Munster region were using it as their inauguration place and royal seat of power. Kings in Cashel also had important links to the religious world, and in A.D. 1101 the king gave the Rock to the church.

In the 900 years since then, another set of rulers - powerful churchmen - erected the buildings that make a striking profile even to this day.

The towers and walls stir up feelings of awe, mystery and wonder, both by day and at night when they are illuminated by floodlights.

Today, the oldest structure on the Rock is a distinctive round stone tower built in 1101. It was a free-standing bell tower, and it is still intact and complete, including its cone-shaped stone roof - a style unique to Ireland.

The second-oldest building is Cormac's Chapel, named for the king who ordered it built.

This compact chapel is one of Ireland's first, finest and most ornate Romanesque churches, built of squared sandstone with a finely cut facade, carved arches and rib-vaulted interior.

On some pillars, carved stone heads seem to suggest different racial characteristics, resembling a very early United Nations.

You can walk inside, look around and admire the fine details. View the frescoes in the interior above the doorway. There are debates about the meaning of the various images, and some say the images over the door might depict Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Also inside Cormac's Chapel is an ornate stone coffin, or sarcophagus, said to be perhaps the resting place of Cormac or, more likely, his brother who preceded him as king.

The largest structure on the Rock is a cathedral built in the 13th century. It's a tall building, squeezed in between the old round tower and Cormac's Chapel.

The newer, 15th-century buildings - built as a residence and hall for church singers, known as the Vicars Choral - have been fully restored and serve as a museum, displaying artefacts of daily life from centuries past as well as relics of stone sculpture found at the rock.

The museum also shows a film of less than 20 minutes that is well worth seeing for a quick overview of the history and enduring significance of the Rock of Cashel.

I’m sorry; I have been neglecting my blog recently. What with being busy trying to get my house sold and purchasing an alternative residence (more on that later), the time seemed to slip by on me. Add to that a chest infection that grounded me for a week and a deadline with the Revenue to complete clients’ tax returns meant I had to put my blog on the back burner for a little while.

Leading up to the long-awaited sale of my house and a move to a new home, I have been going through some old photographs during the weekend and putting them on the computer for posterity.

Some of those photographs I can identify because they are of family members and events that occurred during my time here. Others are of previous occupiers of the house and it’s going to be an interesting project researching those and trying to find out who the people are. I’m looking forward to doing that.

My son Tim who was helping me do some clearing during the past week found some interesting objects in a long-closed-off portion of a storage place. One thing in particular, I would like your help in identifying. I have a slight clue as to what it may be, but if anyone can confirm what the picture below is of, I would greatly appreciate it.

WISE PROVERB

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"

"That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would
not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.

This is a story I received this morning that I would like to share with you for Mother's Day. As a lover of wildlife of all species, I particularly liked this story.

I know there are lots of bison in the world, even here in Ireland, that are being raised for commercial purposes but it’s to nice see that, with the help of dedicated people, and despite the problems that beset them, there are still some 20,000 of the wild variety that can roam the prairies free from the greedy hands of commercialism:

WASHINGTON, May 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Just in time for Mother's Day, five wild baby bison have been born on the plains of eastern Montana. The bison are part of a wild herd that live on a new prairie wildlife preserve and are the first bison to be born on this part of the Great Plains -- the heart of their historic range -- in 120 years.

"These baby bison are the perfect Mother's Day present for anyone who loves prairie wildlife," said Sean Gerrity, president of the American Prairie Foundation (APF), the non-profit owner of the prairie preserve. "These baby bison are entering this world just as the grass is starting to grow after a long, cold winter. Just a few days old, they're already running around, playing and chasing each other."

Although around a half-million bison live in North America, just 20,000 or so can be considered "wild" and most wild bison are beset by problems such as small herd size, intensive management and culling practices, absence of major predators, and non-native diseases. There is no viable bison herd that is free of problematic diseases such as brucellosis or other infections that exist under natural conditions, and no herd is large enough or healthy enough to maintain the long-term genetic health of the species.

"These baby bison are a lot more than just cute, although they certainly are that," said Dr. Curt Freese, director of the Northern Great Plains office of World Wildlife Fund, APF's partner on the prairie preserve. "These bison babies represent a future for our children and grandchildren that include wild bison. Most people have no idea how threatened bison are."

Article is reproduced in full with my thanks to: Noel Twigg of the American Prairie Foundation, 406-582-3495, and Erika Viltz of World Wildlife Fund, 202-778-9542

Wishing mother's everywhere, a Happy Mother's Day!

Use of Functions Keys

One of the biggest differences between a typewriter keyboard and the computer keyboard is the row of keys at the top of the keyboard that are labeled F1 through F12. Commonly referred to as Function Keys, these keys were frequently used in the good old days of DOS programs. In today’s Windows world of computers, you can probably use your computer without ever using one of these keys. Yet, these function keys provide some interesting shortcuts for common computer functions that can be useful tools in everyday computing. The function keys are frequently used in combination with other keys such as the CTRL key, the ALT key, and the Shift key. This results in a plethora of possible keyboard shortcuts.

Here is a brief rundown of the function key and what they can do for you.

F1
As a throwback to DOS days, you will find that the F1 key will often bring up a help menu. If you press F1 while working in a program, help for that program will usually appear. If you press F1 while at the Windows desktop or when the Windows Explorer is open, a Windows help screen will pop up. If you happen to be working in a program and would like to see the Windows help screen, simply press the Windows key (the key with the Windows logo on the bottom row of keys) on your keyboard and press F1 at the same time.

F2
You can use the F2 key to rename an item when working in Windows. Highlight any folder or file, and press F2. You will then be able to type a new name for the object. After you type the new name, just click outside the name box or press the enter key to make the name change. This works just like right-clicking a file or folder and selecting Rename.

F3
When you are working in Windows, the F3 key will open the Find Files window.

F4
The F4 key has some very useful functionality. You can press F4 to open the Address bar when working in Internet Explorer. This will allow you to type the address of a Web page for quick access.

You can also press the Alt key and the F4 key at the same time to close the open Window that you are currently working on.

F5
The F5 key is the refresh key. You can press F5 when viewing a Web page to make sure that you have the most current version of that Web page. You can also use F5 when in Windows to refresh the screen. This can be a handy shortcut. If perhaps you are viewing the contents of a floppy disk and you insert a new floppy, your screen will still show the contents of the first floppy. Just press F5 to refresh the screen and see the contents of the floppy you just inserted.

F6
This key is often used to move the cursor around the structure of the program. Pressing it will often cycle you from window to window.

F7
The F7 key does not have any functionality in Windows. It may, however be used in some individual programs. To find out if it is available in the program you are using, bring up the program’s help screen and type in the words function key.

F8
The F8 key can be used to access Safe Mode if pressed during the computer’s boot up process. This is a trouble-shooting mode which will start the computer with minimal drivers.

F9
The F9 key does not have any functionality in Windows. It may, however be used in some individual programs. To find out if it is available in the program you are using, bring up the program’s help screen and type in the words function key.

F10
F10 is the key that is used to activate the menu bar in many programs. You can use F10 to highlight the first menu choice, and then use the arrow keys to move around the menus. Pressing the Shift key while pressing F10 will bring up the shortcut menu. This is similar to right-clicking on an object.

F11
Press F11 when you are working in Internet Explorer and the window will open to full screen mode. This will make all the toolbars disappear and can be useful to see more information on the screen. Press F11 when you are in full screen mode will toggle you back to your normal view.

F12
The F12 key does not have any functionality in Windows. It may, however be used in some individual programs. To find out if it is available in the program you are using, bring up the program’s help screen and type in the words function key.

Most programmers adhere to using the F1 key for help. They often also program the other function keys to perform in the manner stated above. However, you will find that each program you use may be different. For instance pressing F5 when in Internet Explorer will refresh the screen. Pressing the same key in Outlook 2000 will make the application check for new mail. Using F5 in Microsoft Word will bring up the Find and Replace menu.

Many programs extend the usefulness of the function keys by using key combinations. The most common combinations are Shift + a function key, Alt + a function key, and Crtl + a function key. These combinations can be very useful. For instance, in Microsoft Word, when any text is highlighted, pressing the Shift key plus the F3 key will change the case of the text from all caps, initial caps, to all lowercase. Shift + F7 will choose the Thesaurus command. These shortcuts allow you to access such functions with one keystroke rather than three or four mouse clicks.

Since functionality can defer, it is often good to look in the help menu of the program that you are using to find a list of the function keys and their uses.

Sent: 23/04/2006 13:28

There's a land where I go when I need to share
that's not on a map, yet exists everywhere.
A land of names without faces, a curious place
A modern creation that's called cyberspace.
There's all sorts of people with cute little names
Like Pookie, and Sandman and Rosebud and Flames.

Some are just snobs and some are real fun.
And some of them just want to find someone.
But both good and bad they all play a role.
Still each one unique, but part of the whole.
We talk and laugh and wonder why.
We flirt and hug and sometimes cry.

We can't be heard and can't be seen.
Yet, there it is, right on our screen.
But all in all the most curious part
Is the power it has to open our heart.
To share with a stranger those things we've concealed
Which to our closest of friends we'd never reveal.

Our deepest regrets and most troubling fears
The scars in our life which bring us to tears.
What gives them the power to reach into me
and show me the truths that I never see.
How do they manage to open my eyes
And make me confess the deceit and the lies.

I don't understand this magical spell.
But I know that without it my life would be.....
This must have been planned by the Creator up above.
Cause there's no place on earth where you'll find as much love.
When I need direction I know I can find
those angels from heaven just waiting online.

~ Author Unknown ~

Some archaeologists believe that the Irish are of English and not Celtic descent

According to several modern archaeologists, it now seems unlikely that the Irish have Celtic roots.

In a statement that horrified Irish nationalists, Richard Warner, an archaeologist at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, told the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations: "The average Irish person probably has more English genes than Celtic."

The history of Ireland's original inhabitants is steeped in mystery. In The Book of Invasions, written during the 11th century AD, it was recorded that the Fir Bolag (Bagmen) were a race of hairy, subhuman slaves, and the Tuatha de Danaan were godlike creatures who survived Christianity as fairies, leprechauns and banshees. However, historians say that wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries that the idea of common Celtic roots became fashionable and acted as a catalyst for Irish nationalism. Following independence in the 1920s, Irish children were brought up to believe that the Celts or Gaels settled in their country, becoming the predominant racial group by the 5th or 6th century.

Warner argues that archaeological evidence proves most Irish people are descended from Mesolithic hunters and fishermen, who arrived about 8,000 BC, possibly from Scotland. However, the English invaders exerted the next greatest influence. "In round terms", he told the Association, "the image of the Irish as genetically Celtic people, in fact the whole idea of Celtic ethnicity and of Celtic peoples, Irish, Welsh and all the rest of it, is a load of complete cock and bull."

It is known that the Celts came into their own around the 5th century BC. Although they were a distinct ethnic group throughout central Europe, they do not appear to have had any significant effect on the Irish gene pool. Warner believes that, "if you can find Celtic blood lines now, it will probably be among the Germans".

After prehistoric people settled in Ireland, leaders such as Brian Boru (born AD 941) established kingdoms. However, from 1170 the English started to arrive after Dermot McMurragh, the king of Leinster, invited Richard de Clare, an Anglo-Norman warlord, to assist him in settling a dynastic dispute. Additionally, the campaigns of Elizabeth I and Cromwell ensured that English tenants and former soldiers settled in Ireland.

Warner explained to the conference: "In terms of the ability to recognise present DNA values, the intrusion of English blood and southern Scottish would be larger than any other group apart from the original Mesolithic inhabitants." This was backed up by Professor Jim Mallory, an archaeologist and linguist from Queen's University in Belfast, who agreed that, "if you believe the Celtic languages spread late in prehistory, they were accompanied by minimal population movements. There is no evidence in the archaeological record for a large influx of a foreign population".

Warner hopes that his case will be proved when the Royal Irish Academy completes its genetic map of Ireland. Many thousands of DNA samples will be analysed and compared with genes taken from skeletons discovered by archaeologists.

Warner believes that it is sadly ironic that the Aran islands off Galway, where the population is partly descended from Cromwell's soldiers, is one the few places where it is still possible to hear the Irish language being spoken. "Aran is going to be the last bastion of spoken Irish," he asserts, "so the Irish language will die in the mouths of the English".

The Banshee is another member of the fairy family. Banshee or 'Bean-sidhe' is Irish for fairy woman - ban (bean), meaning a woman, and shee (sidhe), meaning fairy.

The Banshee is not exclusive to Irish mythology. In Scotland, she is known as ban-sìth, bean-shìth, or bean sìth, but in both countries sheperforms the same role - to foretell the impending death of a person by her eerie cries and wailing. In Scotland though, I believe, she is more often seen at the edge of a stream or river washing the clothes of one who is about to die.

It is said that a banshee guards each Milesian Irish family (those with most ancient Celtic lineages), so keep your ears open if your name starts with O’ or Mac/Mc, or if your name is Kavanagh. There is, we are told, a banshee for each branch of these families, and she can follow the descendants to America, Australia, or to anywhere on the globe- she never leaves her family. Despite her somberness, a banshee's attentions to a family were thought to be a mark of high station, especially in Ireland, and several hundred families boasted their own banshee. Unless you had one in the family, you could not claim to be truly Irish.

The banshee, depending on where you live, is variously described as a beautiful young woman, weeping for the coming death of a loved one, or she may be a gruesome hag foretelling it. All agree on one distinctive feature - her fiery red eyes, said to be so from centuries of crying.

The beautiful banshee is more common in Ireland and the ugly more common in Scotland. Both the beautiful and the ugly figures often wear white; in some areas, she wears a white gown with red shoes. She may also wear a grey cloak over a green dress. The beautiful banshee has long hair which she strokes with a gold or silver comb.

Countless people claim to have seen and heard one. One witness has described 'a tall, thin young woman with uncovered head and long hair that floated round her shoulders, dressed in something like a loose, white cloak or a sheet thrown around her, and uttering piercing cries'. Another claimed to have seen a banshee sitting on a stile, a small woman, with long light hair and wearing a cloak.

Mercifully, she will never be heard or seen by the person whose death she has come to foretell - although I’m not sure if that is such a good thing. If everyone around you is seeing and hearing her, and you’re not, well, draw your own conclusions.

The wail of the banshee is most often compared with the keening of Irish mourners, and thus she is often known in Gaelic as an bhean chaointe, ‘the keening woman’. Less flattering commentators have compared her sound to that of a dog baying at the moon.

The banshee is most often a solitary person, although an assembly might wail at the passing of an especially noble or holy person.

On a lighter note, Scottish legends tell us that any man bold enough to creep up behind the banshee and grab her breast will be granted a wish.

It is not known if any man has ever succeeded.