Monday, December 23, 2013



To my millions of readers - give or take 999, 996 or so; 


May you experience peace, joy, laughter and love this Christmas time. 

May you all be here to read these wishes this time next year

(May I be around to write them.)   

May you be more certain on your own path through life in 2014

  -  and be at peace with yourself travelling it.


                                        
Nollaig shona dhaoibh agus Ath-bhilian faoi mhaise dhaoibh! (Irish) 

Frohe Weihnachten und ein schönes neues Jahr. (German)

Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.


 I am attaching photos, seen on this blog before, but timely for this time of year.  Please enjoy....

....a Christmas view around Allensbach.

My neighbour Bärbel´s crib








Sunday, December 8, 2013

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela has died. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.


My little blog is of too little consequence for me to write about a man of such immense consequence. 

I quote from a letter to the Irish Times, which sums up the man Nelson Mandela was.  

Sir, – He was a credit to his race, the human race. – Yours, etc,

                                            BRENDAN McMAHON,
                                            Naas, Co Kildare.






 

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Sundown on a gentle amble on the eve of Advent

This early evening it was sunny.  And beautiful.

We are enjoying a gentle coming of winter.

These photos were taken on an easy amble down to the lake to see the sun going down.

Enjoy.....



 

And just when I thought it could not get more beautiful sitting on ´my´stone by the lake watching the sun go down, there did n´t it go and get even more beautiful....




Yep.  On cue, just as the sun went down over the brow of the hill, did n´t two swans glide gently by...



















And then the next day....








The next two photos were not taken from my little spot sitting by the lake, but I could not resist including them; they were taking in the Alps a month ago by Romeo H.

So take your pick: sit by lake for a gentle moment, or´step´into the pictures below and enjoy a nice hearty walk through the Alps.

Is life not sweet bytimes.



Friday, November 22, 2013

Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip of the Day: How to make the bed linen `APPEAR´ ironed.

Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tips.  

If you have not been a regular ISFTS reader - and if not WHY not?  You may need an introduction to the Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip

A Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip could be anything pertaining to managing a home, be it cooking or cleaning etc. Indeed, on days I may be feeling a little bolder, I may even stretch to tips on managing one´s life, or one´s computer files etc.  But, all would be about running said home/life/computer a lá Hausfrau Róisín. 

The main characteristic of a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip is that it would offer the best possible outcome with the least amount of effort/time/cost; and if Hausfrau Róisín gets a few brownie points after expending so little effort/time/cost for achieving said fabulous results - then so much the better!  Disclaimer:  Absolutely no cook, or medical professional anywhere has ever recommended any Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip. Ever.

Hausfrau Róisín´s Housekeeping Tip of the Day:  
How to make the bed linen appear ironed on the bed.
Few things look as delightful in the home as a bed dressed with freshly ironed bed linen. -  Well except a gorgeous naked body lying on the self same bed on which said bed linen has been draped - but we won´t go there, this being a family friendly blog and all.  

On the other hand, few tasks can be as tedious to face into as a laundry basket full of crinkled wrinkled  bed linen.  And for the Martha Stuart types among my readers who LOVE LOVE LOVE  setting into ironing the bed linen needed for a family of 12 - well woop de doo for you, but I am not with you on that one.  So you guys can leave now, and go do some ironing or something.

(FYI: I DO actually have in my circle of friends a real live person who thinks there is absolutely nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than listening to Marian Finucane http://www.rte.ie/radio1/marian-finucane while ironing a basket full of bed linen.  - About listening to Marian, myself and just about the whole Irish radio listening population the world over could agree with that.  But, there is a heck of a lot of of things other than ironing I could think of doing while listening to said Ms. Finucane!)

Anyway, where was I... 

OH, yes, here´s how to have the ironed look without the actual ironing.

1)  When washing avoid using the ´wring out the water to death` cycle. 


Note:  If you have only the dryer option for drying clothes rather than being able to hang the sheets up somewhere, you may have to use the ´wring out water to death` cycle when washing, to avoid wasting money and energy at the dryer stage; even Hausfrau Róisín would accept that the ´wring out water to death´cycle is the better option here.  

However when using the dryer, it is important to note the cusp, just that moment when the bed linen is dry enough not to cause pneumonia -  but not even a little bit dryer.  Because, after that moment the wrinkling starts in earnest.

 But for those of us lucky enough to have a hang up option for wet clothes...... 

2) Take bed linen out of wash machine as soon as the wash cycle is finished and hang up straight away.    - Nice and orderly with a little tuck and pull here and there as you go to ease out any wrinkles in the linen.

3) When dry fold carefully.

Now here is the pièce de résistance:- if ironed looking sheets is your aim that is.

4)  After dressing the bed sparsely spray warm water on the areas of  bed linen and pillow covers that can be seen. 

That´s it!  That is the magic.  

Now I emphasize the word sparsely; you don´t want lots of water soaking into your €500 duck down duvet, causing all sorts problems with rotting duck feathers at a future - and at a not too distant future, date.

In addition I want to make clear, to avoid any litigious situations arising for me either at a later date: 
Do not apply the spray water technique just before bedtime.  All those soggy sheets and pillow cases won´t do your health an iota of good.   

So you should do the spray and ignore thing several hours before bed time to make sure the bed linen is well dried out before you hop in.
 
Plan B - if you forgot to put the fresh linen on the bed until just before bedtime.  
All is not lost.

1) Dress bed. Assuming you have followed instructions 1-4, the linen will be O.K. enough.

2) Turn on only the low light*.  
This will give enough light to show the bed linen has been changed. - Brownie points right there. But, not enough light to show any wrinkles. -  This really does work - especially if there is a distraction with the suggestion or even hint of nice and naughty fun things to come for other parties who have access to said bed.....

.....Ah yes, tried and true: a plate of ice cream in bed and NOT getting up to wash your teeth afterwards! The wild boldness and fun of it all will, with certainty, distract from any consideration or observation of wrinkled bed linen having been just put on the bed.

P.S. *Regarding the low light mentioned above.  This is one of those no brainers that some people actually need to be told I understand:   The naked truth is everything and everybody, the latter being much more to the point here, looks a lot better in low light.

If you don´t have low light in your bedroom. GET IT IN -  NOW.  

Hausfrau Róisín.        P.S.......................

a) If you found this tip absolutely thrilling (!) you can review the earlier HRT below.

The link to previously published  Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tips from March 17th 2013 under the title: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
About how to cut down on cooking time and on time given to washing saucepans. 

b) For more on the topic of low light in the bedroom: http://irishstewforthesoul.blogspot.de/2012/09/i-dont-know-about-you-but-i-just-dont.html

Sunday, November 17, 2013

An analysis of the financial state of affairs in Ireland - from a bar stool somewhere in Dublin

I have a friend Anthony, he  is great at summing up the state of affairs in Ireland.  He really does not appreciate how much we his friends enjoy and learn from his observations.  In spite of our pleas, he does think he should be writing a blog presenting his ruminations.  So,  I am putting his ruminations into MY blog!  For the second time too.  Read on and see if you agree that our man Antho hits the nail on the head with his observations.

Let me know, dear blog reader if you would like to hear more from our man Anto sitting on a bar stool somewhere in Dublin......

And so an analysis of the financial state of affairs in Ireland from a bar stool somewhere in Dublin.  A la Anthony

…..Yes, I do have a problem with the idea that every Irish person must pay €8,900 towards private bank debt whereas the norm is €191.  So what, a property boom happened here.  But I have no property - not even a car!  All we ended up with was higher rents. 

Why do H, A, N and myself owe €36,000 when not one of us has ever borrowed from a bank... have limited enough savings that have yielded only minimum interest payments?  My sister, likewise has never borrowed from a bank, nor indeed has my mother, unless you include her as part of the deal back in 1971 when my Dad - and it really was only a male matter back then - purchased the house. 

The Irish did not print money... the money that fueled the boom did not originate solely in Ireland.  Much of it emerged from banks in Germany and France... and the UK.  In other words, from other private investors.  Why are the Irish only responsible for those 'bad bank debts'?  The bankers took the risk... and the risk wasn't worth it.  Weren't they able to see that the whole thing was a house of cards.  The whole thing collapsed.  Under capitalism, therefore, they 'lost'.  Ahem... not so... the Irish tax payer - and that includes all residents, regardless of where they came from - must 'pay' instead. How are we more responsible than anyone else?  A lot of people here believe that it was to save the euro and to save French and German banks.  Maybe so.  I don't know.

The taxpayers here would also include you and H in Germany, if ye ever decided to move over here to Ireland.  The debts of 2008 have simply been transferred elsewhere... to other people in another time.  I still find this perplexing.  Can you justify it to me?  Please do.   Even if I had bought a home at an exorbitant rate - we'll say €500,000, which was not 'unreasonable'  back in 2007, I'd still have to pay a mortgage on that... and still pay the €8,900 to cover the banks' losses.  How is that anyway fair?  The banks have been 'bailed out', but Joe and Jo Soap have not.

It's been the biggest bank robbery ever - except, this time, the Banks are the robbers.

Clearly, I now need to take a break... from the meanderings of a mad man.  I still haven't lost faith in the European 'dream' but increasingly; I think that there are fewer and fewer of us about.  I honestly think that if the UK leaves the EU, there'll be a hell of a lot of people here clamoring to follow.  Sad, sad days... and just months after the EU obtained the Nobel Peace Prize... for actually managing to achieve peace between the former enemies.  Is it from this that the European goals of the past half century die?


Thanks Anthony, came it coming.  You really do make your case.  Roisín Hausfrau.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

I am having a bad hair day for more than 3 weeks now...

Yes.  I am having a bad hair day for more than 3 weeks now, that and a huge big fat cold sore under my nose for almost as long.  For me `bad`  anything does not lend itself to www - writing with wit. See I told you I could not write with wit.

I just cannot understand those creative types who when they are so depressed, they cannot get themselves out of bed, and when they finally do, they create epoch changing literature/ art/ music.  HOW does anyone do that? When I am feeling even the littlest bit bla, all I can do is drag myself through the day popping Smarites - the Cadbury variety, not the ´other kind´I hasten to add, and hope the blues lift before anyone notices I am not ´myself´as they say.

Re. Smarties Wikipedia says of them:

Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about 5 mm (0.2 in) and a major axis of about 15 mm (0.6 in). They come in eight colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, mauve,[2] pink and brown, although the blue variety was temporarily replaced by a white variety in some countries, while an alternative natural colouring dye of the blue colour was being researched.

Imagine, Smarties have their very own Wikipedia page - who knew!  Anyway, here´s the link for more on these oblate spheriodal yummies:      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties

Anyway to give us all a smile, I am sending links to smile worthy web postings. The first comes from Louie who must get credit for consistently sending smile worthy links.  Tell me this one does n´t make you smile regardless of what your life is about today:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/V_gOZDWQj3Q?rel=0

And this link reminds one we should not think because kids are ´just´ kids that they don´t know what is what!

http://dailynewsdig.com/how-do-you-decide-who-to-marry-written-by-kids/

May your day be wonderful!

Hausfrau Róisín.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

There is nothing not to love on your bike I say! - And the view is great too.


 



Yep it is the simple truth.


You just can´t beat the bike for fun in the sun – Especially when you live on the Bodensee.


 


Two recent bike trips help make the point.


 
 The first trip following the river Aach which runs into the Bodensee and second trip cycling from Schaffhausen to Stein-am-Rhein and back produced these gentle photos.



 


 







And yes, I do take a lot of photos of happy cows! 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Presenting for your absolute pleasure a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip.

Today I am presenting for your absolute pleasure a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip.  

Now a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip could be anything pertaining to managing a home, be it cooking or cleaning etc. Indeed, on days I may be feeling a little bolder, I may even stretch to tips on managing one´s life, or computer spam.  But, it would be managing said home/life/computer a lá Hausfrau Róisín. 

The main characteristic of a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip is that it would offer the best possible outcome with the least amount of effort/time/cost; and if Hausfrau Róisín gets a few brownie points after expending so little effort/time/cost for achieving said fabulous results - then so much the better!  (Absolutely no cook, or medical professional anywhere has ever recommended any Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip.  Ever.)

So to kick off this exciting  adventure today, I will give a great recipe AND two tips!

First the fabulous cooking with little effort/time/cost.  

This is a recipe from cook Donal Skehan that I heard yesterday on the Marion Finucane Show on RTE1. (Full details at the bottom of the blog).

Now as chefs go, Donal is my kind of man; he suggests one should  have basic things in the cupboard, the kind of stuff we all know we should have; pasta, spices, sun dried tomatoes, chickpeas etc. With those ingredients always to hand, one can, without too much effort, put together a very yummy meal with the minimum amount of e.t.c.   See recipe below and let me know what you think?


Creamy Salmon Tagliatelle with Garden Peas and Sundried Tomatoes
Thursday, June 2, 2011

Serves 4
300g (11oz) tagliatelle
2 tbsp olive oil

2 handfuls of peas, fresh or frozen
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
200g (7oz) low fat crème fraîche (
Hausfrau Róisín: how about a little half and half milk instead.) 

 A good handful of fresh dill, chopped
75g (3oz) sun-blushed tomatoes, roughly chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g (7oz) sliced smoked salmon, cut into strips
Juice of 1/2 lemon, to serve

This is a great meal to throw together in just minutes and it’s really filling. You can pick up sun-blushed tomatoes in the supermarket. They are a much brighter colour than sun-dried tomatoes and a little less intense in flavour.
Alternatively roast some halved cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil with sea salt and black pepper at about 200oC for about 40 minutes.
The Method
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan according to the instructions on the packet.
In the last few minutes of the pasta cooking time, drop in the peas, then drain.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the garlic and fry gently for 1 minute.
Add the crème fraîche and heat through then add the dill, tomatoes and a good pinch of salt and black pepper and stir through.
Finally add the salmon strips and hot tagliatelle and toss everything together until coated.
Serve each portion with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.


Source: Marion Finucane Show on RTE1 on Saturday March 16th 2013  http://www.rte.ie/radio1/marian-finucane/programmes/2013/0316/376980-marian-finucane-saturday-16-march-2013/?clipid=1032190

And the housekeeping tips.  Source: MOI
a)  The acquiring of all these ingredients can be a bit of a bore.  But once done, its done and then only topping up required.  I suggest you set yourself a day just to buy the basics AND then plan a big treat (ie bribe) for yourself AFTER the job is done.  I have found the ol´bribe technique works very well on me. 
b)  O.K. so you have made this wonderful meal, its eaten, it was yummy, the cook got the brownie points and now... all those pots to be washed...ugh... Not so.  

Stop and think.  
What pots and pans can you safely store in the oven without washing and use again tomorrow?   I mean why wash out all that wonderful olive oil in the pot you cooked the noodles in, a waste of perfectly good olive oil that is!  So there you are not not washing up, rather creating a ´base´for what ever you plan to cook tomorrow. 

Get creative with your ´bases´ -  but be sensible, do not not wash a frying pan that had a cream and chicken sauce in it, esp if its 90o outside!  - even Hausfrau Róisín has her limits, however tenuous they may be!

P.S. Some alert readers will recall reading some parts of this blog posting before. Due to popular demand (and how popular the demand was is my business, and my business only), I am re-posting this blog.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Seamus Heaney, Irish poet, Nobel Laureate and decent human being died on Friday.

Seamus Heaney died on Friday last. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Seamus Heaney was a great Irish man, a great poet and most important, a great human being.

Indeed that everyone in Ireland and England would agree with this opinion of Seamus Heaney would be a measure of how great an Irishman, poet and human being he was.

Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny´s discription of Seamus Heaney resonates with me. The Taoiseach said:   ´´Seamus Heaney was the keeper of language, our codes, our essence as a people.´´

It is a sad day in Ireland at this far too early loss of an Irish man who made words twinkle and dance.  He made us proud that we could claim the same place of origin as he.

Not just in Ireland but all over the world those who love words mourn his death.  Here in Germany a student of English wrote to me of Seamus Heaney.  She said:  

....as a human being he always seemed so full of grace, kindness and generosity, and so much modesty in all his famousness. ....  there is something in his poetry which to me seemed to be able to say things you normally cannot put into words.

She is right.

Seamus Heaney´s poem Song is a favorite of the  student´s from his vast legacy of wordmanship.

Song

A rowan like a lipsticked girl.

Between the by-road and the main road

Alder trees at a wet and dripping distance

Stand off among the rushes.

There are the mud-flowers of dialect

And the immortelles of perfect pitch

And that moment when the bird sings very close

To the music of what happens.


Not only a gifted poet, Seamus Heaney challenged us for ignoring the powerless, the forgotten.

In The Irish Times this week, Colm O’Gorman said Heaney’s poem From the Republic of Conscience, which he wrote for Amnesty International, had inspired a generation of human rights activists.  He was “a true ambassador of conscience, a man whose empathy for the powerless and the marginalised was matched by his magnificent capacity to construct language which demanded a deep reflection on what it means to be human”.

I enclose links showing a little of Seamus Heaney, how people thought of him and a taste of his  craft in action.

Seamus Heaney himself reading a poem:
http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/nobel-prizewinner-seamus-heaney-reads-his-poem-scaffolding-29539362.html

Seamus Heaney´s won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.  This is a link with the text of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech; there is also an audio link with him reading it.
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1506

I like this interview with Seamus Heaney below from the Paris Review in Sept. 2010.  I feel I can ´hear` him speaking.
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1217/the-art-of-poetry-no-75-seamus-heaney

The Irish Times report on his death.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/tributes-paid-to-keeper-of-language-seamus-heaney-1.1510607?page=2

This is a fitting obituary from the English BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13930435

.... the list goes on.

The Belfast Telegraph, a newspaper not world famous for speaking enthusiastically of people with affiliations south of the boarder, said this weekend of Seamus Heaney: ´´He showed that you did not need to deny the rights of others to stay true to own roots.´´

So  I end with witty words from the man himself, which might give credence to the Telegraph´s comments; it seems Seamus Heaney was not at all happy that his work was included in The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry.  Heaney wrote in "An Open Letter" in 1983:
Be advised my passport's green.
No glass of ours was ever raised
to toast the Queen.

Thank you Mr. Heaney for the legacy you left us with your words.  And with your actions.

My deepest sympathy to his wife and Ann and their three children, Michael, Christopher, and Catherine.   Nochmal:   Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam - May he rest in Peace




Sunday, August 25, 2013

...And all because someone who never heard of U2 thought Bono was somebody´s pet monkey!



So.  I post the following letter to ONE
(ONE is an organization founded by several good minded people including our man Bono.)
                      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good morning Alicia at ONE in Germany, 

I hope you are reading this after a wild and exciting weekend.  
 
I am a ONE member based in Southern Germany.

Like most people, I go through life just trying to juggle the comings and goings of daily life; job, family connections, getting in the groceries, getting enough sleep - `Yikes, I forgot to hang up the washing, no fresh socks for the morning´ etc.  

(I just can never imagine how people who are presidents and world movers and shakers - both the good and the bad ones, have only the same 24 hours in a day that I have.  I mean after doing all the above, how and where do they find the time and the energy to do all that other world shaping stuff.)  

That is why I am so so grateful ONE gives me a chance to add my voice the the voices of your 3 million plus members world wide to make a bigger and more positive difference than most of us could ever do otherwise.  Thank you. 

I wonder if I may be of further assistance.  Stuff in English.  I don´t really know how - considering I still have to juggle all the other getting through life stuff mentioned above.  But if you have any ideas where I may be of assistance, do let me know. 
By the way, I teach English conversation classes in Konstanz.   One of my students a very learned man - is clearly not a rock music fan however:
 
He never heard of Bono! 

Nor U2!

Sorry to Bono und da boys!

But the student, who shall be known only as `Mr. G.`,  thinks Bono would be an excellent name for a pet monkey!

(Even more sorry to Bono!)

So off to bed now for me.
R...

             ------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I get this letter back….
Dear Rosaleen,

Allow me to introduce myself: I recently joined ONE to support the team in terms of Campaigns and Special Projects ….When I read your letter to One.org, I could understand your issues very well.  It is really tough to get anything done outside the circle of things we do every day. Therefore volunteers in any organization have my whole admiration…
 Regarding your suggestions I had some ideas:
 I thought it would be awesome if you could tell your English class about ONE, what we do and what we want and how they can participate, maybe get a signature or two and of course their eyes for our current campaign “Ich schaue hin!”. If we had two or three photos of your presentation and the class, we could create a blog post and you could feature it on your blog (which I took the liberty of browse through).
All the best from Berlin, hope you have a good day!
Take care!
René 

 



And so I do talk with my English classes about ONE, what it does and what the organizations aims are etc.










And hey presto… There I am the first ONE  ´Volunteer des Monates´
See link below for more wild and exciting details.

And this because I happened to mention that a student in my English class never heard of U2 and thought Bono was somebody´s pet monkey!

              Now on to the really important stuff - the organization ONE

On their U.S. website ONE http://www.one.org/us/  is very accurately described as…
…a hard-headed movement of people around the world fighting the absurdity of extreme poverty.

Poverty in any form is a terrible thing. Extreme poverty is an intolerable thing.


That’s why we started ONE.

Our three million members around the world take action. They  click petitions, make phone calls, write letters, attend rallies – to demand solutions from their governments. Your voice alone may struggle to be heard, but our voices together are hard to ignore.
                   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can check out the site http://www.one.org/us/ to read more.
…. The ONE German language website:   http://www.one.org/de/
Go on,  check out ONE today.   
If you do, and you let me know, I promise to call you and sing you ` Happy Birthday` on your birthday.
…. Or better again.  If you do check out ONE, and let me know, I will promise to call you and NOT  sing you ` Happy Birthday` on your birthday!