“What is Beauty?” considered in Dungloe courthouse
An interesting tale from the Donegal courts. A vet who set up a clinic in Bunbeg was denied certification by the veterinary authorities as the word “beauty” was in the…
Gizella Bodnár AKA “Airplane Gizi” RIP
Gizella Bodnár has died. No, I hadn’t heard of her either until I came across her via Wikipedia’s Recent Deaths page. Hungary’s “Queen of Thieves”, she also earned the name…
What is greater – to give your life for Irish freedom or to write comic songs about the Tipp team?
The Nationalist is running a poll to find out Tipperary’s All Time Great. Among the likes of Charles Kickham, Adi Roche and Dan Breen we have The Two Johnnies, a…
Stone lettering from Nelson’s Pillar – exiled from O’Connell Street to Kilkenny
Recently I came across Butler House, the former dower house of Kilkenny Castle. In its topiaried gardens I came across this: Not sure how legible that is. I recall Nelson’s…
The water-filled River Clashawley, Fethard, in February
Last September I posted eerie photos of the dried up bed of the Clashawley River at Fethard. As contrast, here are some February photos showing the river in good flow:
Ian Parker in The New Yorker on Dan Mallory’s life of deception
There’s an enthralling piece in the Feb 11th New Yorker on the suspense novelist Dan Mallory who has published as A J Finn. Turns out he chose a pseudonym for…
Review of “Oestrogen Matters’ in the current TLS
In the current TLS I have a brief review of Avram Bluming and Carol Tavris’ book on HRT. The full text is available to subscribers; here is the first paragraph:…
“the unfortunate matter of the suffix -anus”
I am pretty sure I have overshared from John Wright’s “The Naming of the Shrew”but ah sure one more for the road: First, the unfortunate matter of the suffix -anus.…
Séamus Sweeney 