This is Aunty Brid's house in Newbridge. Brid was great and put us up / put up with us for two nights.
Poor Brid also went beyond the call of duty to entertain the girls. The result was they didn't want to go home. They now also want a wheelbarrow.
They also told Masa Daddy that they would like a house, a garden and frying pans for the birds to have baths in. Best go see Brid's lovely garden to check all that out!!
They helped / hindered Brid with her gardening.
They watered / drowned the flowers.
Then they cooked dinner in the wheelbarrow.
Brid looks after the birds very well.
Brid is also very green fingered. She's also a fabulous artist, but I'm not allowed tell you that.
It's a wonderful house and holds great memories for me and now the pair. This is where Ganny Brewer, Brid and the whole gang of 9 grew up. I could never wait to visit when I was small. It's also the place where William Brewer took a hurley to poor Grandad's greenhouse, but that's another story.
After Mrs. Richard Parker, the second most retold story of our trip home is that on when we went to stay at Lily's house.
That's Lily below..........and she owns her own house, or at least acts like she does.
Nina is very quick to tell people that Aunty Mags told Nina that Lily doesn't bite (and she doesn't). She jumps up and down a lot and has a very jealous streak when it comes to Uncle John but she is a gorgeous dog.
Nina took that picture of Lily and before you start thinking how brave Nina has gotten, don't. There's a pane of glass between Nina and Lily and there was always a pane of glass between Nina and Lily but getting that close was definitely progress.
Years ago when I came to Japan I was trying to explain to some students about our Irish national sport, hurling. They had good English but I was fresh off the boat and unfortunately the Tipperary accent was more then they had bargained for. So there I am explaining away and someone takes out a dictionary, looks up hurling and then passes it round. They all nod and go "ahhhh" . I went on a bit more about hurling and then branched into Gaelic football and camogie. This was where I knew I'd lost them but being Japanese they were too polite to say anything. They thanked me for such an interesting lesson before they left.
Years later I'm trying to explain the same sport in Japanese to some people at work and again someone takes out a dictionary, looks it up and then hands it to me saying "you mean this?".
To hurl: The act of throwing something violently in a particular direction.
To hurl: To vomit.
I kind of wish I could contact those original students and set them straight, or at least explain that definition number one is closer then definition number two.
Now I'm not a sports fan but if I had to attend some sports event then it would definitely be a hurling match. I grew up in hurling country, where hurleys were placed into babies hands before bottles and children with parents from different counties could say nothing for fear of it being the wrong thing. However nothing ever caught the imagination like a Tipperary/Kilkenny hurling match and apparently Sunday's All Ireland Hurling final didn't disappoint. I found out the news from my contact in Peru and would still like to know if he actually got to watch the match? And if he did, how?
To celebrate this momentous occasion I will leave you with The Premier Rap (thank you Pauline). If you're Irish you might enjoy this, if you're European or American you may not understand a word of it (or indeed suspend all plans to explore the Emeral Isle) but if you're Japanese and by any chance sat through that class with me years ago, I'm sure it won't make anything the clearer.
