Saturday, June 28, 2008

Introduction

I have been told you might find my blog interesting. I cannot see why, since even the word blog is new to me, who have often been described as a dinosaur!

However....; I am an old woman now, born to elderly parents, with memories of times which I've even heard called "the olden days" like the beginning of a fairy story for children.

Which reminds me, why can I not find any traces of fairies, gnomes, or elves here, where I am visiting, or in South Africa, where I live? Unless you count the tokolosh, in S.A., which seems like a dirty, evil, nasty old man.

Now in Ireland where I was born and lived for half of my life, there were dozens, believed in by many. There was the fairy who looked after milk on Churning day. You had to behave yourself, if you were a youngster, or leave out a saucer of milk for the fairy that evening, so that butter would come on the milk, so that the housewife could have fresh butter on the table.

You must remember that this was all 'in the country'. There was little or no electricity . In the cities, people had to buy butter, bread, eggs, milk, even vegetables, the poor things, while we who lived on a farm, or spent their longed-for holidays there, had all the joys of food home-grown or home made. It was almost like two separate countries, although such a small one. No matter where you were, it was no farther than fifty miles from the sea!