There is only one day in the year.........

My UK friends and readers may find this as hard to believe as we did when we first arrived here, but there is only one day in the year when you are allowed to have a bonfire to burn your garden waste, hedge clippings and so on. Bonfires and the burning of rubbish are illegal without a special licence which you'd have to apply for and get signed off by County Council officials, so tends to get used only rarely by big landscaping operations and farmers. This is no doubt for very good reasons to do with not starting bush-fires in the local forests and on the bogs, plus pollution. We are told that in the early days of this ban there was actually a spotter helicopter sent up to look for tell tale smoke columns.

I have to say that before we knew this, and while we were ripping all the old, wood-worm riddled timbers out of the house, we might have done a few bonfires. I also think it is one of those laws, of which there seem to be quite a few in Ireland, where nobody actually enforces them and there have never been any arrests or prosecutions. None the less we are wary of being the first test case so, now that we know, we are not doing any illegal burns.

There is one day of the year when you are allowed to light bonfires - Bonfire Night which here is obviously nothing to do with burning Catholics on November 5th! It is celebrated on June 23rd (this year, anyway) and is geared to the Summer Solstice and/or St John's Eve. We suspect it is another of these 'Hi-Jacked' ones which was being celebrated by the pre-Christian Irish and was then absorbed and 'civilised' by the early Christians into being all about St John.

It ends up meaning that even if the weather is vile and too windy for sensible fires, everyone ignores all the beautiful, windless days of early June and saves all their burn-able rubbish for the 23rd. We did this - for all those still days of May and June, the hedge cuttings in our East Field languished on the grass and because the horses would not risk prickling their lips near cut bramble, the grass and docks grew long and lush through them, so that when we came to want them today it was the devil an' all job to wrench them out of the thigh-high grass. It was also a bit windy so that in the UK I'd have been leaving the burn for a safer day, but we decided that down in the 'well' of the field between the tall trees of our 'Secret Garden' and the eastern boundary, we'd be safe enough. So it proved. We have now burned all the cuttings and managed not to start any forest fires.

Happy Bonfire Night, Irish style!

Hallowe'en

It dawned on us that although we've been married 19 years, we'd never actually done a Christmas in our own place. Liz has never actually cooked the Christmas Turkey or had guests round. We have always been invited to spend it with Pud Lady and Tom (and, obviously we have been delighted to do so and very grateful to be asked) or we have been asked over to Silverwood to share theirs. Again, we have no problems with that and it was wonderful but now that we have our own place in Roscommon we are determined to correct this imbalance and we are going to do it here so that the Silverwoods can come to us and be spared the need to worry about cooking and kitchen stuff!

Along these same lines, we are also looking to enjoy doing OUR Roscommon version of any other festivals, High Days and Holy Days which come along. The first of these (maybe not a 'Holy' day?) coming our way was Hallowe'en which, here in Ireland, the locals go mad for it seems in lieu of a UK style Bonfire night and Guy Fawkes. It gets very American and all the kids dress up and go out Trick or Treating so anyone who wants to take part decorates the front of their house with appropriate pumpkins and any amount of lit up witchery, plastic tombstones and black-hooded, scythe-wielding, Old Father Time effigies, and stocks up on chocolates and Haribo sweeties for the marauding hordes of kiddies.

Now we live quite a way outside our tiny village and we were not at all sure how many Trick or Treaters might come our way but we decided to try a pumpkin on the gate pier and bought an 850g tub of Cadbury's Celebrations. Luckily, a couple of days prior we also met some kiddies who we knew lived in the nearest big house out walking a dog and established that they were, indeed Trick or Treating on the day.

On the night, about 7pm we were duly invaded by a nice selection of small ghouls, witches and ghosties accompanied by 2 Hi-Viz clad Mums. These were, by all accounts, "all the children in the village" (there were 8) who do this in one big posse. The Mums also, apparently pre-visit some of the senior citizens like our own John Deere Bob who don't really 'know about' Trick or Treating and give them a box of suitable sweets which they can give to the children on the night. The Mums were therefore delighted that we, the 'new people' had opted to join in the fun. The Mums, both in local family we will call McG, are quite close neighbours but we have to shamefully admit (as did they) to not having actually got around to calling on one another since we moved in, so it was nice to be able to say hello and to promise to go meet each other properly. We must actually DO this and not leave it another 10 months!

Happy Hallowe'en!

Bonfire Night Irish Style

At lunchtime on Sunday 24^th we bad farewell to our house guests after a very successful 'bonfire night' (BfN is 23rd June, St John's Eve in The Republic of Ireland where they don't really go in for those nasty UK celebrations of toasted Catholics on Nov 5th, can't think why...). The Silverwoods arrived minus one niece (Em-J in Paris on exchange visit) but plus Lily and the seven pups in a crate. The pups are 3 weeks old now and very cute and, because we hope to end up with one of same Mum and Dad were very pleased that they were the source of much delighted, happy, fascinated sniffing for Coco and I.

 Mum cooked a superb chicken dinner. Dad had decided in the shop that the organic Free Range birdie he had been sent out to buy looked a bit light for feeding 7, so he'd supplemented with half a dozen wings and drumsticks. The kids were much amused by counting how many 'limbs' the evening roast appeared to have!

The bonfire, when we tried to light it, was good and wet, so took a time to get going but eventually blazed away. The kids amused themselves running back and forth from caravan (now officially adopted as their 'den'), helping dig out the horse-drawn-hay-rake-in-a-hedge, or chuck more wood on the fire. Nephew M (6) has been a bit anxious / alarmed / paranoid about fire since the Silverwoods had a bit of a drama in the house recently where the flu from a badly installed range started a minor house fire in a stud wall behind the range, so Mrs S was very pleased that he seems to be quite relaxed near the bonfire. 

 We retreated to bed at gone midnight Saturday and nobody was that keen to get up on the Sunday. Dad, Coco and I were all on our own rousting chickens and rabbits out of their scratchers. Eventually the guests and hostess stirred and Mum laid on porridge for the 'smalls' and then an Irish Fry for the rest of the humans. It was a lazy morning with occasional excitement for 'smalls' as the Lovely Girls managed to produce 4 eggs, and all in the proper place. 

 Our guests departed midday leaving Dad to a bit of lawn mowing and filling raised beds with soil and Mum to restoring house to 'between-guests' format. Mum and Dad discovered that our new concrete apron, being due west facing, makes a very nice 'sun-deck' from which to watch the sun sink over the galvanized farm gate and the Charolais cows, while sipping rosé. They are going to buy a French stylee café table and chairs.

And so to bed.

Deefs