We run along the path, glimpses of blue bobbing up and down in time with our steps. Down we go to the edge of the road, then we wait for the green man to stop the slow-moving but determined traffic. Across, and they keep running, but I stop for a moment, because there it is, stretching out ahead. ...
This post could also have been called "What we did this summer so far", or "Places I lost my youngest child this summer and needed help from strangers to find him" or simply "Brambles cafés we've been too, because they are EVERYWHERE now." We were away for the heatwave and since we've come home from holidays, the ...
White faces because Factor 50 never quite rubs in. Short-sleeves on the school run. Homework in the garden. Lunch in the garden. Dinner in the garden. A tidy kitchen because we've almost entirely relocated to the garden. Ice-cream every day - and twice on Sunday. There's nothing quite like the drop-everything wonder of an Irish summer. The summer ...
A very nice thing about blogging is being offered products to review. The hard part is deciding whether to say yes or not, but when Claire Povey asked if I'd like to try one of her hand-made beach bags, one click through to her website was enough to convince me to send back a resounding "Yes ...
Driving along the coast road, the September sun is filtering through the white sky. Mixed weather is what the forecasters call it. Silence from the back; a Saturday football roundup on the radio. Tired after running all day, three small faces are watching but not watching. The sea stretches out beside us and the red and ...
We're getting braver. This summer we took five day-trips. Not too adventurous and not too far from home, but a step-up from last year. Baby-steps - or toddler-steps as the case may be. So here's a quick review of five destinations - all within an hour of Dublin: 1. Clara Lara This was possibly our favourite day ...
"Mum, why do you never wear dresses!" asked my six-year-old this morning, for the eleven millionth time. "I do wear dresses - I wear them to work and on nights out don't I?" I replied, but Clara was unconvinced. It's a conversation we've had many times before and it always goes the same way. "But you never wear ...
Autumn equinox, the country bathed in an unexpected heatwave. A day to mark summer's end with one last everything. One last ice-cream, one last outdoor lunch, one last walk on the Dun Laoghaire pier. It was the day of the All-Ireland football final, and Dublin Bay glinted in the sunlight, a deep patriotic blue. Three hungry children determined that ...
"I hate the playground" said the woman as she sat back down on the low wall. "Me too" I replied, shaking my head as I plucked a squirming toddler off the top of the slide. The very nice woman had just leaped up to grab Sam, who had decided that at twenty months it is perfectly ...