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Taking the rise out of Easter
Two things strike me as odd about this sign outside a church in Itchy Ankle. First, and most importantly, aren’t the Methodists meant to be shouting about something rather more meaningful than candy as...
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Tarka the Topcoat
It started when I tried on a mink coat at a yard sale, just to see what it would feel like. Even, perhaps especially, on the inside it felt great. Silk lining and oh so heavy and warm. I didn’t buy it....
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The Full Irish Breakfast–Itchy Ankle Style
The world has been swimming in front of my eyes since St Patrick’s day. There are those who will blame my Black Velvet cocktails (Guinness, Pro Secco, and just a suspicion of Gin) but I attribute my...
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Irish Much?
Tonight for dinner I made a big bowl of boiled potatoes and buttered cabbage with salt and pepper. I washed it down with a glass of port. The day is much improved. Tagged: being irish, boiled potatoes,...
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Thank God for Sunday
I bolted out of bed at 6:15am, already worrying about the first three things I would need to tackle at the office. In the midst of a contemplative moment in the bathroom, it dawned that today is not...
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Drinking it all in
It is raining in Paris. It has been all day. Milhous and I invested in a couple of parapluie and set off bravely in the direction of the Center Pompidou for our daily dose of culture. When we got...
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Chateau Living
Having our own chateau rather spoiled us for anyone else’s. We rarely ventured from the ramshackle kitchen, the parlor fire, or the jigsaw table in the banqueting hall where one of a variety of...
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Achingly Hip
The Cackler is blessed with boundless Babelicious energy and a functioning set of knees but even she felt old and creaky when faced with three sets of stairs, no elevator, and the design features that...
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You can take a Philistine to Paris…
I heard British artist Damien Hirst recently on BBC Radio 4′ s Desert Island Discs (listen here). I truly enjoyed the program and felt it helped me begin to understand the artist’s work. Emboldened by...
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Elegant Irish Solution
Controversy swirls about the name of Washington’s football team. the Redskins. Many fans of the team find the name anachronistic and offensive to Native Americans. The answer came to me this morning at...
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Summer garden party for 20
It is all going terribly well. There was a moment of panic on Thursday of course when I thought I’d lost my credit card. How was I to buy the comestibles for this weekend’s party? It turned out to be...
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No Harm Done
The lights were on and the engine was running but there was no-one in the car. For two hours, nearly three, hundreds of tourists walked by and, if anyone stopped to try the door, no-one chose to get...
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The Best Kind of Birthday
Birthdays always fell a little short of special when I was a child. My sister was born a year and three days after me and so my mother would invest in one packet of candles, bake two cakes, and make us...
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The Earth will welcome him: Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet who died this week will be buried in his home town of Bellaghy, Co. Derry on Monday. Bellaghy (Bell-ack-ee), on the shore of Lough Neagh, (Lock Nay) is a bleak...
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To Heaven, seconds before the sonic boom: Sir David Frost
It is hardly a surprise that Sir David Frost should die in transit, for he was always going somewhere, both literally and metaphorically. Sir David had a heart attack on the Queen Elizabeth. Concorde...
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Back to the Beach: Anne Arundel County, MD.
Ms Monroe is on a mission. She has been hiking and hacking her way through land owned by Anne Arundel county where citizens and others are not encouraged. The land, overgrown and inaccessible, covers...
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Mazel Tov Zeke, Mazel Tov Redskins
I have been to my first Bar Mitzvah. Everyone should go to one. No, that’s not strong enough: everyone should have one. The reform temple was decorated for Sukkot which, to this Presbyterian girl,...
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Boys will be battering rams
“It looks like someone hit it head first” said the policeman as he wrote up the crime report for damage done to the Blarneymobile. ” The dent does look head-shaped” I agreed, looking pensively at the...
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Ideal Christmas Gifts for Itchy Ankle and Beyond.
I realize this list is a little late but the details are worth remembering for next year’s buying frenzy, or for people who have birthdays in January. Anything from Chocolopolis I invested some money...
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Don’t Stop The Rock: Unaccustomed Amazement in Arizona
The fairies who danced at my christening brought many welcome gifts but forgot the parcels labelled contentment,patience and satisfaction: I go through life perpetually fretful and impatient. My habit...
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