Mairead Robinson offers some tips for tasting some tipples at home I have both attended and conducted many wine tastings over the years and it has invariably been both enjoyable and educational. But you do not have to be a master of wine to host an evening of wine tasting with your friends, and I have often been asked to give a few pointers to people who would like to organize one. So here are some basic guidelines for getting started. First of all choose a theme. You may like to try wines from several different producers in a particular…
Author: SLpeter
The Stableford system is familiar to all golfers, but who invented it? Dermot Gilleece traces the remarkable life of one Dr Frank Barney Gorton Stableford In one of his many enlightened moments, the distinguished scribe, Henry Longhurst, once observed: “I doubt whether any single man did more to increase the pleasure of the humble club golfer.” He was referring to Dr Frank Barney Gorton Stableford, inventor of golf’s Stableford scoring system whereby a player, when finished a round, could proclaim without shame that he had scored 25 points, rather than having to admit to the embarrassment of carding 104. For…
Lorna Hogg continues her literary-themed walks, tracing the rich heritage to be found in Dublin We have one of the world’s greatest literary capitals- but how much of it have you explored? Whether your taste is for comedy, history, philosophy, social commentary or ground breaking literature, it’s easy to walk in your favourite writer’s footsteps, inspirations and memories. The city has so many famous and well loved authors, that your only problem is choice, best solved by dividing the city into north and south side. Added to the variety of choice is the fact that those authors’ haunts are largely…
Do you or does someone close to you have Alzheimer’s disease, senility, dementia or memory loss? Then you may need to consider ‘enduring power of attorney’. Solicitor Aisling O’Leary explains What is an Enduring Power of Attorney? An Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) is a legal document that allows you (‘the Donor’) to appoint one or more trustworthy persons of your choice (‘the Attorney’) to look after your personal and financial affairs if, at a future time in your life, you are deprived of the mental capacity to do that for yourself. The powers you give to your attorney…
Mairead Robinson suggests some wines for the festive season. Go for a red wine glass with a good wide base tapering in towards the top to accentuate the wines’ bouquet. White wine glasses should be slimmer, but also tapering in at the top. One time of year when we all like to raise a glass or two of bubbles, is certainly around Christmas and New Year. Champagne is usually the number one choice, but increasingly good sparkling wines such as Cava and Prosecco and my current favourite, Cremant De Loire, are being enjoyed as much for taste as for cost.…
Gerry Daly’s tips on how to make your garden better — and easier to care for. The first thing to understand is that gardening is not a battle, not a war on weeds, pests and diseases. Think of gardening as a collaboration between humans, plants and all the living creatures that use the garden. The wild birds, small mammals, insects and even slugs and snails all have a role to play. Slugs play a part in breaking down organic material. The trick, and the challenge for the gardener, is to understand the various roles and the gardener’s own role. The…
“An Cabhan” is an old Irish word meaning “The Hollow” – and as so often in folklore, it really does say a lot about the place People, food, lakes, mountains and a certain serenity are here in spades and the County has a marvellous series of calming and mysterious waterways. Cavan is known as fishing country, and rightly so, its well-stocked waters have been attracting German, French and English anglers for decades, but there is, of course, more to Cavan than that. The hills and mountains are alive with poetry and heritage, and none more so than mystical Cavan Burren…
Thanks to Fund It, an all island crowd funding website for Ireland’s creative projects, support is given to the creative sector. Run by Business to Arts, a not-for-profit organisation, its aims are to support resilience and transformation in the cultural sector through research, innovation and partnership. Artists who sign up for Fund It are generally seeking the cost of an exhibition, publication or some worthwhile project which is funded by the public. In return, the public receive signed copies, invitations to openings, artwork, whatever is appropriate to reward the investment. Two of the projects I came across recently on Fund…
Shay Healy met his pal of forty years and heard how he recently beat a professional crisis but admitted he is ‘struggling’ emotionally Paul Brady has just got the thumbs up after negotiating his way through the biggest ever crisis in his career. Did he have writers block? No. Did he have to go into rehab? No. Was he caught listening to a Chris De Burgh CD? No. The clue is in the first line. Brady’s thumb was growing arthritic and sore to the extent that he couldn’t play his guitar for six months. For many guitarists, the thumb wouldn’t…