With Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist
Blackthorn flowers: Look out for the first blackthorn flowers, with small snow-white petals striking a stark contrast against the black stems. Blackthorn flowers appear before its leaves, which is a clear distinguishing difference from whitethorn, where the leaves appear first.
While regularly appearing after St. Patrick’s Day, blackthorn flowers appearing in February are very early. As they seem to be appearing on hedges planted in recent years, the concern is that early flowering shrubs may have been imported, of non-Irish provenance. Farmers planting hedges under Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), who wish to include blackthorn can only use it if grown in Ireland of Irish provenance. Blackthorn with its sloes in autumn is part of our native Irish biodiversity.
Singing in the Kitchen
Early morning ground frost
melted by skydrenched sunrise
flooding through kitchen sink window
across and over wooden table
where she peeled Sunday spuds
Over fifty years a Mother
ten of them a Gran
readying Sunday dinner for the wide brood
to come in and gather round
with workaday news
and hearty laugh tales of tots
their latest tricks and minor triumphs
to be shared at neighbours
throughout the coming week
Half singing lilting a
century old song
handed down from ear
to learning ear
etching more than word or image
on young absorbing mind
a tale of long ago
with its ups and downs
the details not the major matter
The singing and sharing
cusping a way of life
and living
encapsulating landscape
battered road and field
where souls have left
for better or worse
and returned better or worse
to re-find the way of life
and landscape still solid there
like an old song
lilting at the peeling of the spud
Written by Galway based poet,
playwright and novelist
Anthony Ryan.
If you paid for an item but never received it, or it arrived damaged, and you, justifiably want your money back, you may try to dispute it with your credit card issuer through the process of a chargeback.
Chargebacks are different from refunds, but both can result in you receiving a credit for an order that went wrong or a fraudulent charge on your account.
In order to start a chargeback, you should contact your bank or credit card provider immediately. Give them details of the disputed transaction and request that they follow it up.
Depending on the debit or credit card scheme – i.e. Visa or MasterCard – there are different terms and conditions in relation to chargebacks. Most schemes offer full chargeback rights but there can be specific timeframes for requesting a chargeback, such as 120 or 180 days after the transaction takes place or the agreed date of delivery.
For more information check out Competition and Consumer Protection Commission at ccpc.ie.
Two-year old Pàdraig Murphy helping his Uncle Con feed the bullocks. Submitted by Tracie Murphy, Co Cork.
Annika Berglund.
In this week’s Meet the Maker, Grace Hanna chats to multidisciplinary artist Annika Berglund about her work and she gives advice to those who want to pursue an artistic career. Annika’s work can be found at oliviercornetgallery.com.
An Post says it will advertise post office contracts shortly and that existing staff will have first preference in applying for them. David McRedmond’s press statement claims the move is in line with the ongoing transformation of the national network and that these six busy outlets will now join more than 95% of the country’s 900-plus offices run by contractors.
Anyway, I quickly moved this heifer from the group and tried to figure out what the problem was. It wasn’t the food or water. At one point, I thought maybe she was a little depressed. In fairness to her, I had been playing a lot of Radiohead in the parlour. When playing her my Enya collection didn’t help, I knew I was in trouble.
Read more
Meet the Maker: Annika Berglund
Katherine O'Leary: 'I can continue getting well'
With Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist
Blackthorn flowers: Look out for the first blackthorn flowers, with small snow-white petals striking a stark contrast against the black stems. Blackthorn flowers appear before its leaves, which is a clear distinguishing difference from whitethorn, where the leaves appear first.
While regularly appearing after St. Patrick’s Day, blackthorn flowers appearing in February are very early. As they seem to be appearing on hedges planted in recent years, the concern is that early flowering shrubs may have been imported, of non-Irish provenance. Farmers planting hedges under Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), who wish to include blackthorn can only use it if grown in Ireland of Irish provenance. Blackthorn with its sloes in autumn is part of our native Irish biodiversity.
Singing in the Kitchen
Early morning ground frost
melted by skydrenched sunrise
flooding through kitchen sink window
across and over wooden table
where she peeled Sunday spuds
Over fifty years a Mother
ten of them a Gran
readying Sunday dinner for the wide brood
to come in and gather round
with workaday news
and hearty laugh tales of tots
their latest tricks and minor triumphs
to be shared at neighbours
throughout the coming week
Half singing lilting a
century old song
handed down from ear
to learning ear
etching more than word or image
on young absorbing mind
a tale of long ago
with its ups and downs
the details not the major matter
The singing and sharing
cusping a way of life
and living
encapsulating landscape
battered road and field
where souls have left
for better or worse
and returned better or worse
to re-find the way of life
and landscape still solid there
like an old song
lilting at the peeling of the spud
Written by Galway based poet,
playwright and novelist
Anthony Ryan.
If you paid for an item but never received it, or it arrived damaged, and you, justifiably want your money back, you may try to dispute it with your credit card issuer through the process of a chargeback.
Chargebacks are different from refunds, but both can result in you receiving a credit for an order that went wrong or a fraudulent charge on your account.
In order to start a chargeback, you should contact your bank or credit card provider immediately. Give them details of the disputed transaction and request that they follow it up.
Depending on the debit or credit card scheme – i.e. Visa or MasterCard – there are different terms and conditions in relation to chargebacks. Most schemes offer full chargeback rights but there can be specific timeframes for requesting a chargeback, such as 120 or 180 days after the transaction takes place or the agreed date of delivery.
For more information check out Competition and Consumer Protection Commission at ccpc.ie.
Two-year old Pàdraig Murphy helping his Uncle Con feed the bullocks. Submitted by Tracie Murphy, Co Cork.
Annika Berglund.
In this week’s Meet the Maker, Grace Hanna chats to multidisciplinary artist Annika Berglund about her work and she gives advice to those who want to pursue an artistic career. Annika’s work can be found at oliviercornetgallery.com.
An Post says it will advertise post office contracts shortly and that existing staff will have first preference in applying for them. David McRedmond’s press statement claims the move is in line with the ongoing transformation of the national network and that these six busy outlets will now join more than 95% of the country’s 900-plus offices run by contractors.
Anyway, I quickly moved this heifer from the group and tried to figure out what the problem was. It wasn’t the food or water. At one point, I thought maybe she was a little depressed. In fairness to her, I had been playing a lot of Radiohead in the parlour. When playing her my Enya collection didn’t help, I knew I was in trouble.
Read more
Meet the Maker: Annika Berglund
Katherine O'Leary: 'I can continue getting well'
This is a subscriber-only article
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