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The Lice of my Life

My life as a parent can be measured in lice. Those tiny creatures that never show their face but brazenly attach themselves to the hair shafts of humans – usually the smallest of humans – where they decide to chomp down and get cosy. And then, they start to make their own babies. You don’t […]

First Swim in the Sea – in November

We were putting out our bins, the neighbour and myself, and I asked her if she’s enjoying her daily swims in Dublin Bay. “Emma, it’s lovely these days”, she says. “the water’s 12 degrees!”. “Awww,” I reply, “I really will get in one of these days”. “So you keep saying” she says, and heads back […]

The Placenames of Dublin

If you’re a newcomer and want to adapt to life in Ireland, you need to get to know the names of places. And how to pronounce them. This is for two reasons. One, so you don’t get lost. And two, so you don’t sound like an eejit. (Actually, it’s more so you don’t sound like […]

A Diary for Bella, our Lockdown Lurcher

April 14th 2020Dear BellaI saw a photo of you today and I think my dream of having a dog might finally come true. No pressure, but you looked adorable in the photo sent by Mary at the rescue group. You’re a lurcher, about a year old, quiet and sweet and housetrained, she said. Too good […]

The Yellow Room

I wrote a little poem about this painting, by Belfast artist Gerard Dillon, painted in the 1950s. I bought a postcard of it years ago and it’s moved around with me since. A more Irish scene you couldn’t get. (With a nod to Margaret Wise Brown). In the great yellow room, there was a stove […]

Happy Families?

March 6, 2020 By EmmaP

In an arts and craft shop in Dublin, I spot a pack of Happy Families. It was one of our favourite games when the kids were small, but we either lost our pack during one of our many moves or it’s still in a box in my father’s attic. I grab the pack of cards, […]

Courgetti

February 9, 2020 By EmmaP

I laughed when I noticed the name on this packet I had picked up in Tesco. The spirally courgettes (ridiculously cut up and ready for me to cook, when I could of course have done it myself, but they were on the cheapo shelf) had already gone into that evening’s stir-fry. Who’s ever heard of […]

Irish Creatures on Irish Coins

January 12, 2020 By EmmaP

It’s true – your children really can open your world a little wider. A treasure, to them, is often something you just never noticed before. One recent Sunday, at a local Dublin market that has barely changed in decades, my daughter and I wandered into a bric-a-brac stand. Just the place where a 10-year-old might […]

Nana’s Gingerbread

November 13, 2019 By EmmaP

I’ve been running a blog for a few years so maybe it’s no harm if I put up a baking recipe from time to time. I’ll warn you here, it’s no healthy, non-vegan, low-sugar snack but an old-fashioned treat that’s full of butter and sugar. This is my mum’s gingerbread, which I decided to bake, […]

At Last, Our First Halloween in Ireland

October 28, 2019 By EmmaP

This will be the first time my daughters will be celebrating Halloween in Ireland as we’re not going away for the mid-term break. I don’t know what to expect from this celebration, though I’m sure it won’t be the same as when I was young, the mystical memories of which I carried around with me during my […]

The Wren on the Farthing

October 14, 2019 By EmmaP

I love old coins, like this English farthing I found recently in a shop in Carlingford, which had transformed into a necklace. The smallest of pre-decimal English coins, the farthing had a wren on it for many years, chosen to represent one of Britain’s smallest birds. But in Irish culture the wren is actually a […]

Drizzle and Stone in Monasterboice

September 24, 2019 By EmmaP

Ireland is such a small country but it’s jam-packed with history. Driving back down from Carlingford last week, we stopped to look at Monasterboice, the ruins of an ancient monastery which I last visited about 30 years ago. It hasn’t changed a bit since then, nor much at all in the last 1500 years. An […]

Jaywalking

September 9, 2019 By EmmaP

I stood at a pedestrian crossing in Dublin during the week and, like all the other Irish people around me, I walked across the road when no cars were coming. A young student, clearly not a local, was waiting to cross on the other side. He looked confused, as if the rest of us had […]

Gargoyles and Angels in Armagh

July 30, 2019 By EmmaP

I just spent an entire week in Armagh – at the wonderful John Hewitt Summer School – but it wasn’t until my last day that I spotted an odd detail on the streets. It’s an elegant Georgian/Victorian city and I had already noticed the footscrapers set into the wall next to the fine doorways, but […]

Evening in Dublin

July 17, 2019 By EmmaP

You have to love Dublin.  Where you can take an evening walk by the sea, and as the younger daughter stoops to pet a waggy spaniel you smile at the owner. Who may or may not have been Anne Enright. She did look an awful lot like her (and I met her once at a […]

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A Blog and More

I write about language and the quirks of our family life in Dublin and previously in Italy and Norway. Read More…

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I saw this beautiful ivory comb (16th century) at I saw this beautiful ivory comb (16th century) at the Bargello in Florence one afternoon before heading back home to most likely check my kids' hair for nits. Those little creatures have plagued us from country to country, like most parents. Read the full story on the blog. Link in bio.
Everyday colours. Piano. Everyday colours. Piano.
Everyday colours. Garden Everyday colours. Garden
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Wash my language?

Språkvask is the Norwegian word for proofing text. Literally it means “language wash”; a more poetic way of saying it!

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  • EmmaP on First Swim in the Sea – in November
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  • EmmaP on First Swim in the Sea – in November

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