Well less than a week to go to Christmas day, meanwhile the village looks great with all its lights, the one Christmas tree standing tall and bright, more and more windows becoming decorated, and there is a buzz around the village, what with more and more relatives of the community arriving in the village from foreign parts for the Christmas period. Santa:
Santa came to eight lucky little people to the community Hall on Friday morning, bearing gifts and sweets, some of the troops thought the visit a little scary, however with a little cokesing from Santee they in end thought he was quite cool. There were also a few little babies who also came to see Santee; well at least they were either asleep or just in a good mood. It was a noisy morning, but a nice one. Santa's Tour:
Which will be held on Wednesday first stop the national school then on walk about the village wishing merry Christmas to everybody and to the senior citizens ho ho ho, actually its members of the youth club on this mission of good cheer, so if you see him Card Game:
Was organized by members of the Roundstone Development Council in the Community Hall all nine by nine tables were taken, with €1'500 Prize money and the Connemara Champion for the year 2004 to win the cup was Big Tom Conneely, the first, second and third winners received €200 and they were Tom Conneely, John King (Jaffa) and Padric Clogherty, all other winners received €150. The ladies committee made all the sandwiches, cakes and of course the tea, so well done to all concerned who helped to make this event a success, which by the way is one of the oldest card games in Connemara, and long may it last. Mink News:
As mink has been in the news on and off, I thought I would pass on another little bit of information re these creatures, two days ago I was walking around the grounds at home with the dogs when something darted in to the bushes, so I put my Labrador into the cover, he went in with great enthusiasm and came back equally as quick, not frightened exactly, but he acted differently, I could not make it out, so I just I put it down that the scent was not to his liking, I was almost on the right train of thought, so did a little bit more research about mink and stoats, for example did you know that both sexes of stoats and mink fiercely defend their hunting grounds over large area's by marking with a pungent scent from the glands on either side of the anus, now get this mink and Stoats will also use this scent gland as a powerful deterrent if attacked by another animals, this could be the possible reason for the reaction from my dog, so its possible I have another mink or a stoat for that matter lurking around. The one thing I cannot find out, is man the only person to control these deadly creatures? they can run like a fox, dive like an otter, climb like a cat, double like a hare and they will hold their ground if attacked by dogs.
There you are I thought I would just pass this on to those that have been affected by mink.
On the 22nd of this month chez Maurice Ryan in Ryan's Bar there will be a table quiz, €20 a team, starting at 9pm to 9.30 the winning team will win a DVD player and 3 bottles of wine, but Maurice tells me there are lots more prizes through the night.
Then on the Thursday 23rd, Maurice will be holding his annual Charity Draw again in the bar, believe me when I tell you there are some serious prizes to be given away, this is something that he does every year, and the said charity will be nominated on the night, at the same time to keep the whole evening going there will be music with Jerry Hannon. Actually come to think of it as I had a very short conversation with Maurice this evening re the two days, It might not be a bad idea to give you his telephone number for more info on these events 095 35841. Looking at it, it will be a great week to the build up to Christmas. Now for something quite different:
In early December a great friend of mine and of my family here in Ireland had a terrible accident under extraordinary circumstances and he is currently on a life support machine It has been, naturally enough a terrible time for the family and to a great many of his friends, trust me when I say here was a man with huge generosity and wit and had spent most of his life fighting for the under privilege and standing up for what he believed in. That's one part
Thinking that sending E-mails to express ones emotions, or sending Christmas wishes instead of written cards I thought its rather an impersonal and rather cold way of doing it, but I have now changed my mind E-mails etc re this friend of mine have been flying all over the world with tributes and keeping everybody informed re the family and to this young mans progress.
The one thing that struck me while reading some of these letters was the power of the written word, to the extent it is helping the family and their friends in these difficult times to cope and be able to come to grips with this tragedy.
The point that I am trying to make, because of this tragedy a thought is placed in my head, what with the excitement of the build up to Christmas, one might just forget that Christmas can also be a sad time, and a lonely one for certain people, so what I am trying to say is that we should possibly spare a thought for those in these situations, visit them, call them, send a Christmas card etc because you just never know what's around the corner, like the story that I have just related to you. Its food for thought
Anyway, lets not be gloomy I hope that everybody will have a great Christmas, tomorrow is the shortest day, there will be a stretch in the days after the 21st so everything is going in the right direction. That's all from me.
I hope everybody has a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year
Richard de Stacpoole
