Who stole my daughter?

Just a few short weeks ago I bragged to my friends that my thirteen year old daughter has shown no signs of interest in boys / discos / make up / clothes (particularly of the short and skimpy kind) or anything else which contributes to the average parents’ teenage nightmare.  Not that I’d...

I have a new friend

I have a new friend. Her name is Lynne, and we met on the internet. Ok, so it’s not how I imagined it would be. Of course I’d have preferred if we had met in less contrived circumstances; if we’d clicked chatting in a coffee queue, or bumping into each other at work meetings. Or even...

Balanced Strategies.

You’d have to wonder why it takes a photo of a dead child for us to take an urgent situation seriously.  The focus and attention on the growing number of Syrian refugees is to be welcomed, although I am not sure the attention is going on the real issues here, which actually aren’t about where and how to...

It’s in the blood

My hands are clenched so tight I can feel the nails digging into my sweaty palms. My shoulders are tight and hunched with tension despite the hairs standing on the back of my neck, and my t shirt is stuck to my back.  My throat is dry and sore and my forehead is taut but my heart is pounding with...

Nostalgia

Nostalgia Lunchtime in CDI was a nostalgic event today. At the end of a busy week, we were only able for the oral equivalent of chick lit and got talking about game shows from our youth. Here are the ones we remembered but feel free to add to them: Blankety blank; celebrity squares; quick silver; call my...

The Best of Us

The recent events in Baltimore, West Cork, notwithstanding the obvious grief and loss, have again demonstrated the strength of our sense of community, and inherent desire to reach out to others. It was incredible to hear about those eighty divers converging on Baltimore from all across the country,...