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.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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.
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?
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
See http://www.donalskehan.com/ for more.
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.
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:
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 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.)
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
…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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
…. 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!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Witty Words - and not even mine!
With these lovely
summer days, I am sure the world will do very nicely thank you without a long
blog posting from Moi. So today I am
compiling a few words of wit, accidental or otherwise, from some of my favorite
witty people or at least some people, favorite or otherwise, who have spoken some
of my favorite witty words.
I hope these funnies
will give you all a chuckle as you lounge under a palm tree/ by the
sea/lake/river/in the garden/sit on a crowded hot bus/ fight with the mosquitoes/feel
awfully uncomfortable in your ´a little too tight´ Unterhose und so weiter. Or as you English
speakers say might say ´underpants and so on´.
There is only one thing in life
worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar
Wilde
It is better to remain silent and be
thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Mark
Twain
The quotes from Messrs. Twain
and Wilde above are taken from Brainy Quote - always a good source for witty words of wisdom. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/oscar_wilde_2.html
Why
ruin a good story with the truth
Chubby
Brennen
This variation
on Mr. Twain´s quote above was uttered by the self same Chubby Brennan who is a head honcho associated with the world famous (in some places) Wellie Race in Castlecomer,
Co. Kilkenny
I don´t need to exercise – my two brothers do enough
for the three of us.
Thomas Crotty - brother
And the best source for wisdom and wit – children.
The following quotes come from letters written
to God from children in the Homework Club, St. Canice´s, Kilkenny.
Dear God, In bible times, did they really talk that fancy?
Jennifer
Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in
the church. Is that O.K.?`
Niel
Dear God, I think the staple is one of your greatest
inventions.
Ruth M.
Ruth M.
Dear God, I am American. What are you?
Robert
Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother, but what I
prayed for was a puppy.
Joyce
Joyce
Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of
everybody in the whole world. There are
only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.
Nan
Nan
I hope you are having a wonderful summer, where ever you are reading this.
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