Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot more roadkill on Irish roads at the moment? I drove to Bandon yesterday, a journey which takes less than half an hour, and I saw four dead animals/birds during that time.

I went to the Spiegeltent the weekend before last and saw four singer songwriters do their thing. The first up was Cian, followed by Aaron Dillion, Ian Whitty and Ger Wolfe. Cian played a solo gig while the other acts were supported by their bands. Aaron Dillion played a good range of songs and sported a very fetching cowboy hat while on stage. Check out www.donal.ie for pictures of Aaron and Cian. Aaron didn’t play his song about everyone being confused about their sexuality but he did play his sing along economy song. He made a great comment about people buying things they didn’t need, with money they didn’t have, to impress people they didn’t like. It sort of summed up some sectors of Irish society over the last few years. I was delighted to see Ian Whitty play because I think the last time I saw him was in The Lobby. I just seemed to keep missing his gigs for the last few years. His songs have interesting and clever lyrics that catch your attention and draw you in. Ger Wolfe was the last act up and played some songs solo and some with his all female band. I was my first time seeing him play and he has the maddest Cork accent. I liked the song that he sang in Irish. Unfortunately I had to leave just before he played his last song but I did get to witness him singing ‘happy birthday’ to Cian!

Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.

Mary Tyler Moore
US television actress (1936 - )

Eugenics – plural noun

The science of improving a population by controlled breeding, in such a way as to increase the occurrence of desirable mental and physical characteristics.

DERIVATIVES – eugenic adjective eugenicist noun & adjective
ORIGIN – from Greek eu ‘well’ + genēs ‘born’.

Well, apparently I'm a feminist even if I don't know it! I like to think that men and women are equal but I wouldn't proclaim myself to be a feminist. There are some negative associations with the word. If you say that you are a feminist then people automatically assume that your favourite pastime is man-bashing. :-)

You Are 77% Feminist

You are certainly a feminist - whether you know it or not. You believe in gender equality, at least most of the time. You also believe there are a few exceptions.

I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me to be the most civilized music in the world.

Peter Ustinov
English actor & author (1921 - 2004)

I was in Prague recently for a couple of days and I couldn’t get over the number of amazing churches that are in the city. I thought Ireland had a lot of churches but Prague seems to have more than its fair share of beautiful churches. The stain glass windows in many of the churches were stunning.

I can be a little cynical sometimes about ‘Hallmark Holidays’ but I kind of like Father’s Day because sometimes Dad’s don’t get that much attention. I’ve been pretty lucky with the Dad that I got. He is a rock of sense and is always there for me. If I’m worried about something I know I can ring him and he will listen to my rambling and generally say that I’m worrying about something that I don’t need to worry about at all. For as long as I can remember, if I’ve done something good he’ll say to me ‘where did we get you?’ and the response to this question is always ‘in a lucky bag’. :-)

Shebeen – noun (especially in Ireland , Scotland and South Africa )

A place that sells alcoholic drink illegally.

ORIGIN – Anglo-Irish Síbín

To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.

Jane Austen
English novelist (1775 - 1817)

I was in Timoleague a couple of weeks ago on a dry Sunday morning and as I wandered around the village I took some random photos.

Old signposts























The Abbey over rooftops

















Church Tower

















Coloured Houses

Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.

Dr. David M. Burns

Aaron Dillon launched his first album entitled ‘Brown Envelope’ in the Triskel Arts Centre on the 23rd of May. I caught the latter half of the support slot but unfortunately I didn’t catch the singer’s name. She was really good so if anyone can fill me in on her name that would be great. I think the Triskel was a great place for this album launch and I was glad to see that the place was packed. Brown Envelope is a very likeable album with ten good songs on it. Aaron and his band of varied musicians gave an excellent performance of a whole host of songs. This was a very different gig to the one in Meade’s Wine Bar back in February but I think that Aaron’s music works well whether he is playing solo/acoustic or with a full band. Mick Flannery joined Aaron on stage and accompanied him on the piano for ‘Fellow Man’ and ‘My Girl’. He also added his vocals to ‘Fellow Man’ which is the second track on the album. While I really like the album I’m a bit gutted that ‘Everybody’s Messing with Their Sexuality’ isn’t on it. This was one of the last songs that Aaron and the band played on the night and they did a rousing version of it. The first time I heard this song was when Aaron played support for Mick Flannery in the Opera House. There is a youtube clip of it on Aaron’s myspace page in case you are curious about the song. I think I’m starting to wear out youtube by repeatedly listening to it! There aren’t that many photos of Aaron Dillon floating around but if you’d like to see some then head over to www.donal.ie for some good shots of Aaron and his band during the album launch gig.