No quitten we're whelan on to chitchat 11

Had uncles and aunts calling here today and before everyone left, the conversation went onto ghost stories and people dying. Pictures falling from walls, pictures found facing down, some with visions of dead people after they died, others with tales of others seeing a person dying the next day. Some with ability to tell when a phone will ring. The same with ability to brake a car or motorcycle ahead of unseen dangers.

The pictures falling from walls and pictures turned down is apparently after the person has died.

Then the conversation went to banshees and foxes and owls and lights at windows. And cancer cures and blood cures. And haunted houses unable to be cleared.

Welcome to the Adams family..

Long may it continue.

I found it hard to believe that someone from Kerry wouldn’t know… but age about 21/22- tells a lot.

my nine year old was able tell the story of how the wren became king of the birds and also why we went on the wren on St Stephen’s day…. And I hadn’t just told her this morning.

There's actually some from your country but not as innocent as hares.

More like former children's homes now as dwelling houses and slaps across faces in bed and entities pulling down bed sheets, trapping the children in the bed.

And unfortunately we didn't listen enough at the time.

I had the ability to tell when a phone would ring and who'd be the caller. Amazed them all when I'd predict Connie O'C would be phoning in the next two minutes. It was an unnatural ability some said. Year after year I'd get it right. Looking back on it now, Connie being the hay man, and me predicting the call shortly after the nine o clock news weather forecast in June had nothing to do with it.... At the time I didn't realise it myself.

What would "Going on the cuaird" be? Never heard of it.

Back then people would just called to the neighbours for just a chat. Now neighbours don't even talk to each other.

Scoriochting, is what it would would have been called in Cork.

The big thing is knowing when to say nothing.

Had a calf born premature today and not due till mid January. Tubed and kind of sucking. Will be touch and go with the chap.

Then I watched someone with sheep breaking out online and I realised things could be worse. Those farmers are a great mental resource of strength to the farming community.

When I was a child (late '60's/early 70's) my Grandparents house in Longford was known as a Ceili house. There were lots of Ceili houses around abouts in those days. People would drop in especially on the weekend nights over the dark months, Christmas or after rearing the hay, saving the harvest of spuds, oats etc. Granny played the button concertina/accordion and some of the people would arrive with fiddles, tin whistles, banjos ect whilst others would arrive with a brace of pheasant or wild duck or maybe a bottle or two of poitin or whiskey. The kitchen would be full of steam and smoke even with the sash windows open in the middle of Winter - steaming from the heat off the turf in the range and all the adults playing music and smoking plug tobacco in their pipes or Major/Carroll cigarettes. Everyone in the house was encouraged to either play a musical instrument, dance or recite a poem or prose. I didn't play a instrument, didn't dance but my elocution teacher had taught me "The Puppy" by Alexandr Solzheinstyn which I recited every time. I always got a round of applause.

I also enjoyed a game that was played towards the end of the night. A ponjar - a tin mug made by hand by the traveling tinsmith was placed on the floor of the kitchen. Everyone had a chance to throw/toss a half penny or penny into it if ye didn't get it into the ponjar then it was left on the floor. Whoever got the coin into the ponjar won the rest of them on the floor.

As an aside - We haven't been visited by nor seen the Wren boys in the last ten years.

Have a couple of teachers in the extended family and they get very touchy if they lose any quiz based game at Christmas.

Ah Twas some laugh. The question that brought it to a tie breaker- there was a photo of a wood pigeon- we wrote wood pigeon and they only wrote pigeon.

the lad that set the questions was the lad that came seconds brother…. All grand til a half our after quiz and the second place lad went over every one of our answers.

crying with laughter.