Following on from a post some time ago on Memories of Childhood Weekends, and regarding the emphasis on Farm health and safety I thought I’d share a couple of stories with you from when I was young and foolish!

When I was about 9, I used to bring in the cows to be milked. Unless the bull was out with the cows, I used to do it on my own with our useless dog at the time.  On this particular day, the bull was out with them so the workman Tommy came for the cows with me. The only problem was he was in a hurry for some reason and set off without me and he was at the top of the hill by the time I had started into the field.  Then over the brow of the hill came this large black and white bull who stopped and stared across at me. (and Friesien bulls tend to be quite wicked) A red and white cow ambled up beside him and she gazed at me too.  I could feel my knees dip as I tried to leach my bones into the ground and disappear.  The bull stood majestically and tossed his head as if to say ‘I don’t think I can be bothered with such small fry’, and then he picked up his hooves and ran down the hill, whereas I screeched ‘Tommy’ and raced up the hill as fast as my legs could carry me.

K in front of some large (but docile) bulls at a show

We are much more conscious of the road safety now, even though I still see kids driving in the back seats of car with no safety belt or almost worse, on the knee of a parent in the front.  But back then, I often travelled sitting on a trailer behind a tractor. On this particular day, we had loaded up the last trailer load of bales from a neighbouring farm and it wasn’t quite a full load so I asked my dad if I could ride home on home of the bales.  I guess  I was probably sitting at a height of 10 feet from the ground.  I was happy enough as the tractor ambled along, it was a sunny day, there wasn’t much traffic and it felt quite relaxing sitting at the top of the world. Until the tractor and trailer hit a bump and the bales shifted.  It felt as though the bales were going to slide off the trailer and I with them. I lay down on my stomach to shout at my dad who couldn’t hear me.  I thought we would never get home, even worse was driving up the avenue as it felt as though the bales were going to fall off the back, all I could do was lie on my stomach and hold onto the bale twines for dear life.

There was also the time I tried to climb down a very high load of bales from the front of the trailer. The bales were packed tightly and were quite slippery.  I lost my toehold and fell to the ground with a large thump from a height of about 12 or 15 feet.  I was very lucky I didn’t hit the drawbar or any part of the tractor or trailer – just my pride!

There is actually a facebook group called something like ‘I used to race along the piles of bales when I was a kid’ and glancing at it, I couldn’t believe how many people used to do it and yet, how dangerous it is. One slip and it could be a broken bone or much worse – getting stuck and suffocating.

How about you? Any tales to tell?

When I was baking with Kate last Saturday, I started to think about my memories of childhood during the winter months. The days that really resonate with me are the winter Saturday afternoons when my dad was watching rugby in fron on the fire in the living room, my mum would be baking in the kitchen and I would be scraping the bowls and reading my Enid Blyton and Roahl Dahl books.  Every now and then Dad would shout for my mum to come in and watch the replay of a goal or try and she would drop everything in the kitchen and run and pretend it was the most exciting goal she had ever seen!

Sundays were always a bit boring in the winter – church following by visiting or visitors or else an afternoon watching whatever rubbish was on the RTE channels or reading.  My dad would be glued to the Sunday newspapers.  In the spring and summer though, we used to cycle at lot on Sundays – always returning home in time for the milking. Trips to the seaside were few and far between partly because of the distance and the cows having to be milked and partly because my dad hates the sand!!

It got me thinking about what kind of memories my children will have of their weekends.  I keep activities to week day afternoons so that Saturdays are free for lazy days, for the occasional birthday party, to relax and play.  At this time of the year, we feed calves on Saturday and Sunday mornings followed by a very late breakfast.  Will is showing a huge interest in soccer and rugby and today he is going to his grandad to watch the matches with him (partly because Brian hasn’t that much interest in it and partly because he hasn’t the time to watch it with him at this time of the year).  I am going to paint a room and Kate is painting pictures.  I like Saturdays to be a relaxing day especially during the winter and early spring - time spent reading, playing board games, baking cakes and brown bread, going for a walk, playing football, gardening – days that have the smells of baby calves, spilt milk, grass cuttings, queen cakes and brown bread fresh from the oven.

Walks in Castlecomer Demesne

We tend to be quite possessive with our Sundays.  I’m not sure if it is because Brian and I used it as our one day to spend quality relaxation time together when we were in England – we used to spend the mornings decorating, followed by walks in the New Forest, then a meal in a pub are my favourite memories of Sunday afternoons and evenings.  While many people use it as a day to have visitors for Sunday lunch, we tend to limit our Sundays to the four of us and rarely visit others or have visitors. At this time of the year, it is difficult to go anywhere on a Sunday as there is usually the risk of a cow calving but we tend to have a mixture of days out and ‘lazy’ days at home. Will, in particular, enjoys Sundays at home and he likes nothing better than gathering up grass cuttings  in his wheelbarrow. Working hard in his own little way.

What about you?  What are your childhood memories of weekends? What do you do now at the weekends?

Woo hoo, I am quoted in an article on Children’s bedrooms in the Mothers and babies supplement of the Irish Independent today.  The  journalist phoned me a couple of weeks ago and I wish now I hadn’t been quite so colloquial when chatting to her but am pleased with the article overall.  Lovely image of the Floral Street wallpaper too from Designers Guild in the background which of course, we stock here.

I love the headline she used too, v clever and really emphasises the fabulousness of our room! Just click on the embedded PDF above if you wish to enlarge and read it.  Or here’s the link to the online version.

Here’s an article I wrote on Children’s bedrooms for the ‘My Waterford’ magazine – just click on it to increase its size.  It is about storage solutions, colour schemes, great beds and lots more for girls and boys bedrooms.

 Many of the beds can be ordered from Treacy’s Carpets and Furniture in Bennettsbridge – they are all very competitively priced too.

kids-bed2-captains-bed-low-

The Captain’s bed is great for storage – a trundle bed which is great for sleepovers as well as 3 drawers.

And what a girly bedroom.  Fab splashes of vivid pink and the green paint on the wall calms it all down somewhat. Great storage too.

And of course, many of the bedlinens featured in the article can be purchased from Garrendenny Lane as well as the fabulous Paperboy wallpaper.

Apparently children are much more so inclined to tidy away their toys if there is space on the shelves for them to put their books, bricks and toys.  These shelves are beautifully spacious, it should take a while to fill them!! 

We’ll be creating lots of shelves  in our house shortly – for my files, children’s toys, books, etc etc.  Will did say the other day that I wouldn’t have to tell him off to tidy up when he has his playroom as he’ll have his farm in it – although his farm is now occuping a good quarter of the living room, I think I would miss it. I like them playing around when I am working (and I’m more inclined to stop and play with them for a few minutes) so it will be interesting to see how it pans out.  By my reckoning, it will be at least April before he is moving into his new bedroom and playroom!