@Ireland Curator: Darragh McCausland

I'm usually @darraghmc - where my twitter feed is probably a bit more music based. See yiz!

The next curator is @CatsInTheMuseum... she's on from 8am tomorrow. Say hi.

I'm officially finished this at 8 o'clock but have to duck out now - goodbye all, it was a fun experience this week youtube.com/watch?v=5NanMW…

@Edie_Howe yeah, I visited cousins there once. Did the coast and Boston.

I stood at the traffic lights in Ranelagh, thinking "spring in the air" and what should go past? Only a full funeral cortege.

@Edie_Howe wow how interesting

@maurbyrnemusic well, you're not alone. I watch some, but very little, but I've heard plenty people say they don't bother with it any more

@pjnoack I'll have to start putting NSFW warnings

@geckoinpdx bahaha, I only mention it because someone else already tweeted that at me.

That photo was taken before the new garda station was built behind it, ruining it in my honest opinion. Not a good planning decision

Here's a non phallic thing from Kells - St Colmchille's house, where the saint illuminated manuscripts and studied pic.twitter.com/n6tcFrC4

Looking back at pictures of the round tower and the spire, I realise my morning has consisted of tweeting phallic things from Kells O_o

@paddycullivan you're welcome

If the free jazz is too squiggly and hard going for a Sunday morning - this might be just the trick instead youtube.com/watch?v=HS2BUr…

Listening to free jazz recently - particularly Ornette Coleman. It's not the easiest genre of music but so rich youtube.com/watch?v=bJULMO…

@JayCoyle yeah, Wed films can STINK - wooden rom coms. But then again, I see people bigging them up on twitter. No accounting for taste LOL

I see toy story 3 is still the second or third trending topic. People will still sit down to watch good film on telly, just cos it's on

The fact RTE1 movie trends in Ireland most Weds/ Sats shows digital telly/ internet haven't quite eroded shared cultural references

@WillanMeHole such a lovely photo

I made a spotify list for Sunday open.spotify.com/user/115987592…

small dads (via @bawwby ) sadanduseless.com/2013/02/small-…

@WeAreFilipinos it depends. In the west moreso a lot of old traditions to do with superstition live on

@Jonathanwpurvis you're welcome

The answer is (c) - though (a) and (b) are far more cool.

@Jonathanwpurvis it's open today 12pm-4pm - the Kells historical society sent a message on twitter.

(a) the ghost of St Colmchille (b) the ghost of local character Paddy Tobin... or (c) a barn owl?

A group of people from the town would stand around it every night at dusk hoping to see or hear the ghost. What do you think the ghost was?

Kells also has a fine monastic round tower. When I was in second class, word went around the school it was haunted pic.twitter.com/4LuU9ZWT

@DundalkExaminer it's owned by the OPW now. They open it on weekends for viewing

@LeoForde exactly that's it

@DundalkExaminer the earl at the time built it to provide work for people in the vicinity. It has no purpose other than views

I remember I first went up it, aged ten, I had never been in a tall building, and literally felt high as a kite. Views to Northern Ireland

So remember I told you about the 18th century folly in Kells? The inland lighthouse? Here it is pic.twitter.com/YpJ0eB8i

@altirishmusic oh gosh that is too kind of you Stephen

The pepper recipe at the top of this looks like a goer for this evening guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2… I like his recipes a lot.

@Marplesmarbles they really are worth while

@webbor13 just diary keeping and drawings - nothing spectacular but writing in it is a form of slowing down/ meditation

@vwdasher oh thanks

I started keeping journals for diaries and doodles recently and find that they really help with maintaining peace of mind

I went for a wee walk in the park and doodled pic.twitter.com/4S1PMzHp

@ianmaleney yeah, it's just terrific

I'm watching Take Me Out - I often imagine myself on it... walking out... smiling... half opening my mouth... and 30 lights going red

@leoie oh I haven't seen Boardwalk Empire. Didn't know he was in it.

@mrkocnnll I see this in IMDB now. Good stuff.

@leoie yeah, an extremely powerful and controlled performance

@TheSnappyBoss he was fantastic in this

@mrkocnnll thanks for this recommendation Mark. I'm definitely going to watch that.

Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon are both in it, and equally brilliant. Not a barrel of laughs but meaningful and worth watching

I watched a film called 'Take Shelter' for the second time. It is stunning, a allegory for the anxieties that can float through modern life

@mariadkennedy sor-ree

@AineDvs21 he's pretty accurate yeah - follows models and long range forecasts for his work

@enorris this is something he always talks about 'the models' haha

I mention him, because he is predicting the coldest weather of the winter for Ireland by the end of next week.

My brother is a weather enthusiast - hanging out on weird internet forums looking at pictures of, e.g., rare clouds in Louth...

And here is a lovely Bert Jansch piece youtube.com/watch?v=f5Gcu0…

Planxty are great listening too youtube.com/watch?v=apkP_d…

When you're dawdling around the house, making a bit of grub and/or reading a paper, folk music or 60s Canyon country music are hard to beat

I love listening to folk music on the weekend for some reason - I'm getting old, pipe and slippers time, been listening to Bert Jansch today

@Daithionaroll great - it's so interesting to hear of past scenes. I've been floating around gigs of the Popical Island scene these days

This is definitely my favourite Irish song from the last few years...by a long shot. squarehead.bandcamp.com/track/fake-blo… The band is called Squarehead

Some 90s Irish indie music from Jubliee Allstars who were a cool sorta slowcore band - a bit like Pavement youtube.com/watch?v=TJvUKU…

Thanks for all the responses re:trad music. For anyone interested, the Cobblestone Smithfield is overwhelmingly recommended.

@storkboy everyone recommending the cobblestone. Bluegrass in the afternoon, trad in the evening

@ManAboutCouch thanks Richard

@na_lean_me thanks Sandra

@markobroin yeah good few people recommending it

@JJ5000 thanks Jim

@twt_malaysia @achillgooner hi

My twin bro is showing some Czech friends around Dublin today and looking for trad music. Can anyone recommend a good place?

@ClodaghShortall yeah if I had a better camera I'd have done a better job

I love twilight when the sky is still blue but lights are on. It is sort of surreal and reminds me of this Magritte pic.twitter.com/A1FwlC90

Hard to take pic of the moon that looks good - especially on my rubbish phone - but here's moon over rathmines pic.twitter.com/H450AyLS

@marieannmoran I was. Many people seem to remember it.

I'm babysitting my lil nephew Karl who is a total dude. Here we are - pic.twitter.com/kMeYR4Uq

@doortje wow - that must have been quite something

They live in holes in the bank on suitable stretches of the river

Last year too, I went canoeing on the Suir, and out of the blue, were thousands of sand martins filling the sky around us on the river

Have you ever seen a murmuration of starlings? I saw one in the fields over Kells last year. Lots of them on youtube youtube.com/watch?v=XH-gro…

"Across the evening sky/ all the birds are leaving" - this is one of the saddest, loveliest songs youtube.com/watch?v=n2xODj…

@Navifax oh very good thanks

It would be v.cool to catch a glimpse of this asteroid later, but you'd need a telescope for any chance of that guardian.co.uk/science/across…

I had Samuel Beckett chilling on holiday earlier in the week - well here's James Joyce unplugged pic.twitter.com/ZLKgJcIw

@ingeniousie really? What an interesting person to know

@ravenbooks it's a book of poetry about birds edited by Simon Armitage

Wow - turns out there are a bunch of new book/magazine/brochure smell fetishists out there.

My new book, btw, is this really nice anthology of bird poetry nhbs.com/images/jackets…

My sister loves the smell of new books (I'm tweeting this because I got a new book). So much so, that she sniffs the pages of them!

@NLIreland thanks - very cool to hear that from a library :D

Friday - almost time to finish work, bit of spring in the air, for the first time this year. It's time to enjoy the weekend everyone :D

Happy Friday - here is an indie song by Kells band @hamsandwich directed by one of the lads in the last photo (Marc) youtube.com/watch?v=FXFrOj…

@oconnola groan boom boom

@MurrayDeans yea the same

"we should try and record this shit" my mates Podge and Marc improvise an instrument out of an oven grill and string pic.twitter.com/phw7qKfn

I'm in my mate Podge's flat, it's like the blimmin rock n roll hall of fame all up in here pic.twitter.com/sxqjbST8

I'm in my mate Podge's flat, it's like the blimmin rock n roll hall of fame all up in here pic.twitter.com/DzrV5y5z

Nature is red in tooth and claw. I saw a carrion crow dismantle a duckling along the canal near Portobello today

@storkboy [horsemeat + meteor + pope] X [Irish reference^vinb] = jokey answer

People debating difference between meteors and meteoroids on twitter this morning. This song does it poetically youtube.com/watch?v=ak8S8F…

Irish memory is a lovely blog about Irish history, culture and ephemera - old postcards, maps, ads, photos etc irishmemory.blogspot.ie

@diarmuidcogan I wrote in my longer bio that I split my time between Dublin and Kells - if that is any help

Logging out for the night - here is a transcendentally lovely song from Van Morrison. youtube.com/watch?v=xrOgYj…

@confabulist @CurtAntoinette sure is.

@Cookiiedivine @CookeFred @podgesandwich he was more of a Piano Man back then, but he was a messer.

@confabulist I'm sitting here with @curtantoinette who knows you too! Just out of the blue. Small world.

@diarmuidcogan hah, I didn't write that, but I am in Kells more than Dublin these days

@confabulist Katie Dixon! Hah, cool to hear from you.

@Daithionaroll yeah, more like a million. They stubbornly persisted with it.

Look at me name-dropping!! LOL @ the thought that the lads' names are droppable. But yeah, cool that our class produced them.

Fred robbed my toys when I was four. Podge has been my bessie buddy all through life. I hope his band @hamsandwich do brilliant in 2013

My primary school class in Kells sprouted some famous people!! @CookeFred (standup comedian) and @podgesandwich (indie rocker).

@lorraineopua sorry to hear. But he writes wonderfully about love and ordinary things.

@lorraineopua you should read his 'Memory of my Father' tcd.ie/English/patric… and In Memory of my Mother poemhunter.com/poem/in-memory…

@lorraineopua oh brilliant - you should definitely read his 'Memory of My Father' so lovely and loving tcd.ie/English/patric…

@lorraineopua indeed

@grannymo9 yeah it was

@Hamperlady thanks Amanda

@FforFLOWER yeah for sure :D

@am_flynn thanks Anne Marie (on behalf of other @Ireland ers)

Well it's not the worst for a first attempt. It's already collapsing in the photo. It tasted fab

soufflé after. YEEE HAAW pic.twitter.com/ccDeA5u7

supsense............dun dun dun

soufflé before pic.twitter.com/Ky3XYQXd

@Bangkoking howdy doody bankok

Code red: Code red: I have soufflés in the oven.

@JustJimWillDo @lynn_zack thanks for the tip you guys

But I've been told that "a tasty flat gooey mess" will be acceptable, should I fail.

I'm going to try to make soufflé later. Never made if before. I'm on a wing and a prayer

@thecheekykiks never - but would love to visit sometime

I mention Naples cos I visited Marino Casino and it was explained that Dublin bay looks like Naples Bay from there. Sugarloaf = Vesuvius

Another thing is definitely the sea. How many cities, bar Naples maybe, have anything to compare to that grand swoop of coast?

Red bricks against blue sky is one of the things I think of when I think of why I love Dublin. Another is actually the rain. Hah.

I think red bricked houses in Dublin wait quietly for blue-skied days, like today, and then they make perfect sense. The city's beautiful

@SOIreland you're very welcome.

LOL - I had to rewrite that last tweet because I got the maths wrong.

Remember: the size of the bunch of roses is directly proportional to the size of the transgression

@SOIreland keep her lit!

@aoiph @Kevind04 the jelly is so thick - that's what I love. If there was one that was all jelly, I'd buy it

@ImRealMRSHoran I can't follow people as the account is not mine to do that

Mind you, I probably look the same myself.

Mr Blue Sky by ELO is playing on bus and the sky is very blue - yet everyone has a stony bus face on. Our public selves are so inscrutable

This is one of my favourite songs - sometimes it's the favourite altogether youtube.com/watch?v=ilO7Hg… it's a love song

The weirdest thing - I bought a wibbly wobbly wonder and unwrapped it to find another wrapper inside it. Ice cream inception?!?

@bjsebeck it's associated with love because in Patrick Kavanagh's poem of the same name author falls in love at first sight on Raglan Road

@daramc76 it was though O_o

@LeedsBookClub yeah, in fact

@gardengra too late, I'm afraid, I've left the house to go to Dublin

@Pooch1222 I have no idea, I'm sorry.

@NiallOK it was, as a matter of fact

@niamhspectrum it was haha

@Brynmorbeer I want to say no...but....yes

@samorgill extremely close. October

@NLIreland oh very interesting. I just shared it, thanks

My parents' smallest hen laid her first ever egg an hour ago - it's teeeeeeeeeeeny

And thus ends my sappy sequence of tweets for today... you'll find sick bags at the back of the seats in front of you, just in case

On my first date with my girlfriend, we ended up (quite by accident, mind you) walking down Raglan Road

And this of course is a classic, Paddy Kavanagh's poem, sung by Luke Kelly youtube.com/watch?v=EuafmL…

For the day that is in it - this is my favourite Irish lovesong (well, London Irish): youtube.com/watch?v=55Yp8v…

@M_verloc Sorry not on my own twitter - but agree with your thoughts on that book entirely

Bright and cheery day in Kells for a walk before Dublin. I normally loop the town 'cos it's a hill. Might tweet a photo if I get one

@abzbyrne yes, if you go to my next tweet you'll find part 2

Logging out - here's some Frank and Walters before bed youtube.com/watch?v=Ex5H5Y…

@builtdublin you're very welcome Lisa. The blog is fantastic and deserves any exposure

Part 2 youtube.com/watch?v=z-GOjx… (personally I think it is required watching for anyone invested in mental health awareness in Ireland)

There's a powerful RTE documentary about Ireland's history of psychiatric care called behind the walls. Here's part 1 youtube.com/watch?v=qFZmCh…

@Eoin_Clancy yeah, that's vintage fair city, the moody stare into the middle distance

@frbryanshortall thanks Fr.

@KathOMeara you're welcome. That is a great blog.

@Karenwq4 I couldn't manage a full episode tonight, though in the past I've gone through periods of watching it. I'm more of a corrie man

@ismiseronan yup. It's on now

@dulpit27 I'm a divil for that sort of thing, tweeting and correcting straight afterwards.

@helpwithdebt I've not been to it, but I have visited Coronation Street's set in Manchester.

This is cool - the bananas sign near Smithfield builtdublin.com/bananas-little…

She shines a light on all sorts of unusual and intriguing little corners of the city, its buildings and its public spaces

Built Dublin (builtdublin.com) is a wonderful blog about Dublin architecture run by Lisa Cassidy who is @builtdublin on twitter.

@ismiseronan I mostly think that, then get sucked into them like a fool

@Psycho_Sushi hah, well observed.

They're either talking in whispers or sighing.

Watching Fair City. Why does everyone, - everyone, like - on it talk in conspiratorial whispers - like gangsters discussing a big drug deal?

@LiamUnderpar yeah, no doubt.

Poor old Charlie Brown youtube.com/watch?v=CQX_T5…

@PotterAsylum yeah, nice to be treated

@MrSeamusKearney no doubt about it

And if you're single think of poor Charlie Brown always waiting for his valentine and maybe send a secret note or card to someone :D

Don't go in for that myself, but I definitely think it's nice to do a little something for someone on valentine's day.

I was in Navan shopping centre earlier and Tesco was full of flustered looking lads with bouquets and boxes of chocolates.

@MrSeamusKearney two days a year - you'd think you'd remember, but...

The chipper is doing a brisk trade in battered fish. That will do the job.

What a terrible rookie mistake

Made dinner for my mum - as I'm going back to Dublin tomorrow. She came home, and won't eat it, it's ash wednesday, it's chicken!

@agquarx soon - the final track on loveless is a good starter

@Alxtowrs that's a pretty underwhelming school tour tbf

@JurassicArse @DarraghMc if I do, it'll be about disability rights, not our dead and deadening patriot past. LOL - he said.

@RichRennicks indeed. There is a people's park around it now, with a playground, etc

@Louismasterson I'm personally not religious, so I haven't thought about particular teachings in any meaningful way since secondary school

Kells factz (3): Exterior scenes from the film Chariots of Fire were shot in Headfort boarding school in the town.

Kells factz (2): Maureen O'Hara has roots in the town and visited last year to oversee a bronze bust erected in her honour in the town

Kells factz: Kells has an inland lighthouse. An 18th century folly called the Spire of Lloyd, built by the earl of Bective.

@JurassicArse @DarraghMc I'm apolitical in this role. You'll have to get up on this soapbox yourself buddy.

Sorry I meant this track: youtube.com/watch?v=y2FQ3i…

I've been listening a LOT to the new My Bloody Valentine album. This track stands out: youtube.com/watch?v=rBKjhg…

@AnastasiaMcGee a wonderful ancient place. Well worth seeing.

@Tumedel well worth a visit

Here's website. Impress visiting American relatives by telling them you know a cool secret place older than Newgrange loughcrew.com/cairns.html

That's my brother and his girlfriend deep in the blue mist. We visit it sometimes and, unlike Newgrange, you can have it to yourself.

Took this photo cool ancient megalithic tomb near enough Kells, called Loughcrew. It's older than Newgrange O_o pic.twitter.com/KRGiJG3p

@VibrantIreland yeah, true, we had a mixed seed with hearts and that drew a good few last year.

@QueenELVIS yeah, I heard they like sunflower seed too. Ours might be a picky lot. I suspect there are other feeders nearby with niger

There wouldn't always be niger seed in the feeder.

Their colourful plumage makes them a treat to look at, but, after a while, the aggression around the feeder wears a bit.

@NeatFreak_ thanks

If you want goldfinches in your garden, niger seed is your only man. It's expensive enough though, and they go through it like maniacs

Here we go - MTV's goldfinches gone wild. It's a free for all out there. The seed, BTW, is niger seed pic.twitter.com/0cYLkI8V

About a dozen goldfinches monstering the feeder - photo to come soon

@Casserine thanks Catherine

@adnhnrt thanks Aidan. As you can see, it was halloween and he had a pumpkin coloured outfit

@adamprincebilly tweet it at me and I'll RT

Still mad for the dody or do-den as he calls it.

this is a doodle I did of my baby nephew last year - he's a toddler now pic.twitter.com/MUgZSbLb

@talkingdingo @routledge_relig thanks for this. Interesting too. I've forgotten much of my catholic education too. But I'm not religious now

@talkingdingo that's interesting to know

@andgoseek @storkboy followed.

@alsiewalsie you're welcome Alan

This is a lovely poem by Louis MacNeice which plays tricks with time poemhunter.com/poem/soap-suds/

@RichieSaidOhYea hah, yeah, just over the moon, huh.

@HugoBeB hah

@AstonishingSod can't be bate

@rudedoodle really? That's interesting

Still not sure if I understand Ash Wednesday

When I was too young to understand Ash Wednesday I once burst into tears when I saw lots of people coming out of mass with it on their heads

Me in Aldi - it's a running joke among my family and friends that I spend so much time shopping for sweets there: pic.twitter.com/3UOIF8Ar

@Evas_Tweets not me!

@andgoseek hey I am not sure if I am allowed to follow new accounts. Will get back to ya though

Busy day but will be manning the account from the afternoon. Meanwhile here's Irish indie song from @bigmonsterlove youtube.com/watch?v=rORBUk…

@GalwayCityBioD not easy, eh?

@Nenaghgal @VibrantIreland oh wow, would like to see it all the same

@walshsophie it is sophie! Hi

@PaulFreeneyFoto I don't live here, but do spend a good bit of time here.

Last tweet today: 48 hrs to learn this off by heart to impress someone special. More impressive than teddies or flowers poetry-archive.com/y/when_you_are…

@Daracho that's wonderful too

I love the Irish name of our rarest indigenous mammal, the pine marten. It is cat crainn (tree cat)

@celaV oh thanks for that.

He's only calmed down from a rant about Kevin Myers that began at 5pm

"I know men who worked in the meat industry..." my father just muttered darkly... "and I'll tell you some stories" OH God. Long night ahead.

@Brynmorbeer thanks for that, RTd

A Christian God would be wary of throwing around lightning bolts, I'd wager, knowing, as he would, that it's more Zeus's bag.

@Aisling_Browne maybe it's Zeus

@AccessibleJoe @carddfan we'll try it and see if it sticks :D

@Jim_Sheridan *regal nod of approval*

I said "yeah, it makes me think about how electrical charges in the atmosphere are drawn towards tall buildings" We're not speaking now

In fairness, the lightning pic was brilliant. My mother waved a paper at me and said "it'd make you think"

@Brynmorbeer in fairness, it's a cool pic

@Jim_Sheridan Library books, bedamned. 24 hours to finish up your bucket list...get going.

All that report needs to top it off is a comet flying in front of the sun and a flock dead birds falling out of the sky in a field in Italy

The RTE 6.1 news about the pope has (i) lightning striking a church (ii) clouds moving in front of the sun. Kind of weirdly magical for news

@carddfan "the little white one" - is as close to a name as it has.

That chicken is "the clown" - it runs down the garden like a hungry maniac whenever you open a window.

@PotterAsylum he doesn't know I shared it!

@storkboy @bigmonsterlove @DarraghMc friday will see such things

My father with his best friend - taken a few minutes ago pic.twitter.com/bajIsiJR

@Marcc68 don't tell @curtantoinette! woops, just did.

@MurrayDeans make variations of it meself every year.

@orielgirl1 well I imagine there is one rule - deny yourself luxury in the spirit of religious fasting (i.e. to focus more on spirituality)

@celaV haha, no, people are saying it off and on. Funny how many people remember those sort of things

@CurtAntoinette in post Celtic Tiger Ireland, spinach can be lumped in with cappucino and pesto as things children have tasted

"I'm giving up cabbage and spinach for lent" - the smart ass in every primary school class in Ireland.

@dazlo3500 sorry for the confusion I mean self-improvement in other aspects of their life rather than religion.

Like for practicing catholic (only talking about practicing catholics here) giving up chocolates to lose weight, is not playing by the rules

I was raised catholic, but lapsed. Lent fascinates me, though, how people misconstrue it and use it to self-improve rather than deny.

Now that, from @niamhconroy, was some chi chi gourmet stuff to be going on with. Yum

@GalwayCityBioD I visited Paris a couple of times and loved getting galettes (which I think are buckwheat?)

@Tumedel yeah I like this too - or dulce de leche

Experiment with your pancakes. Savoury is great - cheese and ham, bacon and syrup, etc...

My next tip: is get someone with a very practiced wrist to toss them - a teenage son in the house should suffice.

My main pancake tip is to avoid the plastic lemon stuff. It's putrid and lemons are only 30c or something.

@FricknFrack1 @socow will do as the week goes on

@pjnoack sorry

Someone should eventually write a play about that lad - it's a Celtic Tiger morality tale you couldn't make up. So weird, too.

I give out about tabloids but get hypocritically sucked into reading when there's a bizarro story like this on the go thestar.ie/star/fresh-mys…

Irish indie music - Here's a cool song from a talented lad from Tuam (Brian Kelly) whose band is called @socow: youtube.com/watch?v=hga69i…

Photoshopped frogs not accepted

"Can it be that there are really no newts in Louth or Tipperary?" - followers, anyone find a newt in Louth and Tipperary and instagram it?

@PotterAsylum haha, well my parents have had to do a lot of cleaning after them for not so many eggs. But they love them all the same

@claireskane neither am I :D It's good to debate academic findings though. Nothing should be taken at face value

@claireskane because within children with autism, the children show a statistically increased love of it when compared to kids who don't.

@PotterAsylum they can be trouble

@PotterAsylum @ciarangaynor I treat those things as 'fun' and not to be taken too serious

@claireskane but on a broader level if stats show a significant number of kids with autism prefer it, it doesn't matter if outliers don't

But most people found it kind of cool to look at I think, as its not a usual thing to see. We let it go afterwards. We were humane that way

My twin brother and I caught a smooth newt and did the rounds of all the neighbours' doors with it in a bucket. They thought we were nuts

When I was little I was obsessed with newts - they were much rarer than frogs. There's been a newt survey in Ireland iwt.ie/2013/02/newt-s…

@ciarangaynor of course - it would only be one aspect of a longitudinal battery of tests and observations. I treat these things as 'fun'

@claireskane I think with autism (only my own opinion) that is goes beyond fascination. some seem to adore it over all other cartoons

@ciarangaynor that's pretty high I believe. But supposedly average for collectors and obsessives

@patriciamacb that really is a great idea. Many parents feel under pressure during normal screenings

@claireskane yeah, I like him a lot too

@holliie haha, a few months now.

My girlfriend is vegetarian so that has some to do with it, but I've just found myself eating less and less meat, about twice a week now

Always with the zeitgeist, I think I've been turning into one of these yokes, without realizing, a flexitarian guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2…

@ciarangaynor take the AQ test! (I scored verly low but I'm a scattered mess) wired.com/wired/archive/…

@TheHappyVeggie best of luck

@RosieJosie76 someone else said that it's because he's such a single-minded chap. Makes sense.

@Cloudytrees some day she will!

@ColinJM you're correct. They really do

@PotterAsylum yeah, Ice Age seems to go down well with kids across the board

@ciarangaynor Haha. The mascot band for autism

@DeiseDreamin yup he has one favourite thing and goes out of his way to hold on to it. Makes sense

@TheHappyVeggie the masters in Galway is very well regarded

@ColinJM i think they are popular too. Most things are as long as they get to rewind their favourite bits, which can become problematic

@TheHappyVeggie hah. well, I have an academic background, so perhaps there will be more research from me, yes.

@DeiseDreamin that's the lad

@TheHappyVeggie best of luck - I think there are still jobs available - from time to time - in spite of the economy

@ColinJM Not sure. I know a few who hate the unpredictable - so seeing their favourite characters live (e.g. disney on ice) is difficult

There's no research to back this up, but I'm throwing it out there as a little theory of my own, haha

Something else that seems to go down well with some kids who have autism is the little fella with the acorn in the Ice Age movies

I've often thought about it, and think - as research indicates too - that it's because the trains run predictably with fixed expressions

There are curious things I notice that many of them enjoy. Such as Thomas the Tank engine! autism.org.uk/about-autism/o… [2/2]

In my work I meet a lot of children with autism. They're all very different (it's a spectrum disorder) but [1/2]

@CurtAntoinette @bigmonsterlove rawr - I feel his hot virile spirit flowing (weak and dilute) through my usually fey vains

@PotterAsylum no doubt

I nearly had a heart attack from watching it too... but not from laughing pic.twitter.com/nFyns9E3

@PotterAsylum haha, same guy? Sure he'd be hard to mistake

I took a surreptitious photo of him because I know he doesn't take kindly to the paparazzi off-season

Where does santy go during his time off? I just spotted him on the 44 bus in Ranelagh pic.twitter.com/GwqFaUyb

@mePadraigReidy yeah he's one of my dream meet in real lifes too

@GHarte99 yup

@storkboy @DarraghMc sorted now

@jlfxa they eat the leaves just shredded or torn

@mePadraigReidy isn't it?

Sick of seeing pictures of Samuel Beckett where he's grumpy? This is Officially The Best Picture Of Sammy B Ever pic.twitter.com/2fvfBhm8

@itayiviriri wow. I think they were used a lot in cottage fires in Ireland in the olden days. But stoves changed that.

@Netherlanders @WeAreUkraine @PeopleOfUK *checks calendar*

Mind you I've heard him call other hens "idiot", "sweetheart", "bollox", "mad in the head" and "arsehole"

One hen - I wish I could get this on video - has a most comical demeanour. My father, who anthropomorphizes animals, calls it a "clown"

@VibrantIreland yeah they have a flash of yellow in their wing that is quite bright

@itayiviriri yes, my mother bought that in an old house's sale of their goods and painted it black - years ago

@IrishSportFlag I am not allowed to follow other accounts but I can RT.

@WeAreUkraine cosmic chicken coincidence

The eggs are just super, though. Always a treat to eat. My mother reckons cabbage in the diet makes for the nicest egg.

One of the chickens was attacked by a neighbourhood dog last week and is now covered in a bandage. It's a hard knock life.

I think the other neighbours are starting to doubt their sanity - from time to time my mother has to retrieve a chicken from other gardens

My parents keep chickens in their garden. They let them out of the coop in winter. They've the run of the place! pic.twitter.com/ogsV0eXV

@VibrantIreland yeah there would definitely be greenfinches in north norway

Really great Irish indie rock song from the 90s right here. youtube.com/watch?v=B7qR3h…

I have nothing of any import to say about the pope unfortunately. But stay tuned for more food tweets...

@woulfie yeah for sure. Those are a good second and third

@carldevlinwhyte @Pontifex I think everyone else has enough to say on the pope today Why would I want to add to the noise? I'm not taoiseach

I've been known to moan about tweeting pictures of food. But as my father said "It's one rule for yourself and another for everyone else"

tea: after shot pic.twitter.com/40v59nwL

@storkboy later in the week, sure why not?

tea: before shot pic.twitter.com/eq5j8iK3

@LeojjKelly haha

@SophiaGrene I'm going to have a go at that again sometime, thanks

@_dmurphy_ @TanneryDungarva yeah, I said that in my next tweet - great culinary minds...

@psneeze yeah, must keep it family friendly :D

@aoiph such a good tip I've RTd

@auroralapetite snap! Except with mine it is Knorr aromat

"How do you retweet a fart?" - a good philosophical question someone is probably now asking

"With 12,600 followers I could probably fart and it would be retweeted" I just said this to my girlfriend in a shameful moment of hubris

@IrishLives oh yeah, must do that.

Seasoning is a close second - in that at home people are afraid to be generous with seasoning and often use less

My chef friend says that the main quantifiable difference, the real big one, between home and restaurant cooking is butter.

Teatime. I'm going to stuff or fry some mushrooms. They drink butter, but it's worth it every now and again, even though its calorific.

@phewsha I'll try to be as much like Peter Parker as I can.

differ on the "benevolent" bit.

"Though the púca enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent." - hmm, I'd beg to differ.

@SweetenedVoices we're everywhere

@phewsha kind of intimidating from the inside too. 12,000 followers O_o

@Ryanofoto thanks

@Ryanofoto haha, I left them behind with santa at the age of 10 or so. But I'm very fascinated by mythology

Good job Brian didn't ride a Kelpie instead of a Púca (takes its rider and dive into the nearest stream or lake to drown and devour him/her)

@phewsha DON'T TAKE A KELPIE (a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest stream or lake to drown and devour him/her)

@orlabarrett the price would suggest it.

According to Wikipedia "the only man ever to ride the púca was Brian Boru, High King of Ireland." - so there you have it.

@omaexlibris well, the golf course was the place for that

@munirahzahari swee my last tweet. It is an Irish ghost

When we were in third class of primary school, a bunch of us were convinced we saw a púca. It was mass hysteria or something.

I was watching a Japanese ghost story movie (Kwaidan) recently and thought of the Irish Púca - a sort of faerie ghost en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%BAca

@Carrollsgifts we can only imagine

I saw this mystery in the shop a few weeks ago and shared it on my own twitter. Wonder if anyone dared buy it? pic.twitter.com/Djl4YRWM

My home away from home!......................just kidding pic.twitter.com/GRLBlnkA

@PaulGuinan thanks Paul.

@sheilaoflanagan it's a lovely place

@PaulGuinan thanks Paul. I'll retweet this now

This is just a very silly poem about pelicans I read and enjoyed recently. It's by the nonsense poet Edward Lear bachlund.org/The_Pelican_Ch…

@form_architect yeah I've read plenty on how prickly he was

@conibonjovi not a familiar name, I'm afraid. But there are so many Barretts in that part of the country

@Karenwq4 @oconnola welcome

@conibonjovi no, she's Barret née Lindsay

@Karenwq4 yeah, that's one of the reasons I admire his poetry so much.

@conibonjovi it's a lovely place. I spent many weeks of summer there growing up

House music interlude (I like house and techno): This is from an Irish producer living in Berlin called @manoletough youtube.com/watch?v=Vinxtt…

@oconnola that's very poetic

@dleacht it's a blustery but beautiful place

My mother come from a place in Mayo called Geesala which is an anglicized version of Gaoth Saile (the salty wind). I think its a poetic name

Kavanagh saw poetry in Irish place names, that other people might not have thought of as poetry: Shancoduff, Featherna, Mucker...

"My hills hoard the bright shillings of March/ While the sun shines in every pocket" tcd.ie/English/patric…

@limmster yeah I'm proud of her

@trontsephore yeah, I've had four or five (funny enough) jokes that I've mistaken the father with the son

@girl__friday yeah, the weather's atrocious these days

@markohalloran you're welcome Mark

@lukemcmanus LOL

woops - I said Lenny Abraham when I meant Lenny Abrahamson.

@WestownLife yeah the bog shots and exterior of the garage were wonderfully composed

Which I'm sure is hard to emulate without sounding 'stage oirish' so to speak

The script is understated, and the dialogue captures the way, we Irish sometimes have, of hiding our feelings behind chit chat and cliche

I want to recommend extremely moving and poetic film about an isolated man - Lenny Abraham's and Mark O'Halloran's 'Garage'

@TWkUSA @LennartvN @Netherlanders @I_amGermany @twt_malaysia Hi all

@defsmith morning

@michfreeman they know what they want too (oily seeds) - picky as heck

@FizaIsa she is!

@OLDEFARM thanks

@michfreeman we've a feeder that attracts up to twenty, yeah, they sure are aggressive feeders.

@msannaandersson One of my friends got mad at me for ruining Romeo and Juliet on them once

She's modest and would be mad if she knew I was showing stuff off. She's camouflaged in the photo, where's wally style #wheresmammy

As sure I'll show off my mother's small cottage garden, the nicest in the estate where she lives (if I say so myself) pic.twitter.com/TO3rSKyW

@misterebby cool. It's great to do something small and useful and it's a good way of getting an idea of your own garden's birds

@iandevlin wow, I'm often jealous of the range of birds in continental europe.

@unakavanagh yeah, both robins and blackbirds are full of character

The Irish Garden Bird Survey birdwatchireland.ie/Ourwork/Resear… if you fill it out, you are contributing to statistics on our winter birds

Ok, if you're in Ireland and keep an eye on garden birds and have time on your hands I'm about to tweet something worth doing

@jjb970 wow, that beats a blackcap

@StanCarey that's a fantastic photo Stan

@TheSonicScrew @IreHappyNews Éan Mhór

I like to think you can tell even from the photo that blackcaps have cheeky personalities like robins. They are territorial and brave

This little dude is a blackcap. He wintered in my garden in Kells, and I got this photo of him eating an apple pic.twitter.com/ZXl6iX0M

@gra5105 hah, you are the second and not the last person - I'm sure - to mention that.

The lesser spotted giant green fur burdy from @IreHappyNews there.

@rickoshea you're very welcome

Anyone seen any weird or unusual garden birds this winter? Photos guarantee instant retweet.

Rick O'Shea @rickoshea does great charity work for epilepsy treatment and awareness

@stephen_coyne they had a clean-up day last summer. An extremely good job was done

@ProFotographer yeah I enjoy going for walks down around there

@storkboy @adamprincebilly Meath

@RedmondClaire Lovely photo. They are so big

@mikeneglia thanks Mike I will mention stuff as the week goes on.

@PixelPotion hee hee. I know you from somewhere

@AthyMensShed what a lovely dog

@laurencro HI

@AthyMensShed no it was in King Lear, I took the photo outside the theatre (Abbey). It's less than a year I believe.

okay, will be back later. Meantime here's a cool song from a psychedelic Irish 60s band you might not have heard youtube.com/watch?v=rVIfjp…

@onetruecathal yeah, that must be it. now they just play xbox and watch dvd boxsets all day

@AisTalkShop my lips are sealed

Also - you can't really see the town itself, woops, haha

I took that photo last summer on the seeming one day it wasn't miserable wet

I work in Dublin but spend plenty of time in Kells. I sometimes moan about the town but doesn't it look pretty here? pic.twitter.com/M7H8obI6

@adnhnrt hey Aidan

A really good production. Owen Roe plays Lear brilliantly. (Are you allowed spoiler Shakespeare?) He portrays the change in him powerfully

@storkboy you? trolling? Never

@JustJimWillDo sort of, yeah

@NLIreland thanks

@UltimateHurl thanks a million Eoin

@TheHappyVeggie haha, no pressure like

@storkboy I'm apolitical this week

@storkboy later this week

It's an Irish wolfhound I think. There were two of them on stage in King Lear in the Abbey theatre in Dublin the other night.

Looked through my phone for an interesting photo - don't have a smartphone - and found this (explanation forthcoming) pic.twitter.com/hTN76uNi

@patrickabbott thanks Patrick

@Lollypopped66 hah, it's original home.

@alan_maguire @DarraghMc I don't know how much techno I'll get away with but I'm sure the come dine with me will get mentioned at some point

Thanks Katie. Hey everyone - I'm Darragh. I'm here for the next week. Here's my slightly longer bio worldirish.com/ireland