The first port of call this week is the Dungarvan Leader, where Jo Bell writes about another Dungarvan-based Joe – Joe Power – who launched his book at Dungarvan Town Hall on Saturday last…
‘Honey Talk Before Strangers’ is the title of the popular performer’s 300-page book which features over 200 photos of Joe’s musical life and local adventures, along with two CDs showcasing 37 songs, poems and spoken word recordings.
The launch, which was performed by acclaimed singer Jimmy Crowley, before over 140 guests, “went like a dream” according to Joe. “It went as well as it could possibly have been expected to go. I’m delighted now, because everything that we envisaged came to pass but more.”
Joe went further and described last Saturday as “one of the best moments” of his life, adding: “I really am over the moon and I’m still flying high over how nice everyone was…At the time I was writing the book (during the Covid-19 pandemic) I was just writing it, because there was nothing else to do. I wasn’t even really planning a big launch. I thought it might never be published.”
In the book, Joe describes himself as someone who “loves the arts in all its forms" Jo Bell writes: "using Grattan Square as his spider’s web, he entices young and old to participate in local singing and music sessions, the most famous of which is the Dungarvan Singers Club. Having lived all his life in Dungarvan, apart from his college years in Dublin, he has developed a world view that is expansive, eclectic, and erudite.”
And if you would like to order ‘Honey Talk Before Strangers’, which was launched as part of the highly successful Tunefest, you can call Joe on 087-0640542…
And now we’re moving from Dungarvan and back along the coast to Tramore thanks to Catherine Drea’s Waterford News & Star column where this week she’s writing about a day out on home soil…
The word ‘staycation’ was very much in vogue two summers ago but it’s not featured in too many headlines of late, which was why it caught my eye in Catherine’s column where she writes about not having been abroad for a few years – and as Catherine’s son pointed out while home from the Middle East earlier this year: “isn’t it a great little country we have here all the same: the peace, beauty and ease of it.”
And on Catherine delightfully goes: “From transplanting seedlings between thunderous showers one minute to floating in the balmy waters of the Copper Coast. From unseasonal heat to sagging wet sun umbrellas. From huge waves in Tramore one day to flat calm bathing the next. We are all blissfully happy to be here at all and there’s nothing for it but to go with the flow.”
And this lovely column maintains this spirit from start to finish, taking in an early swim followed by a coffee in Molloy’s and a trip to the library where Tracey McEneaney is, as the rest of the world will readily testify to, bright and breezy.
There’s so much to enjoy in this week's column and it reminded me yet again of the pleasures on our doorsteps: from Tramore's Backstrand to the Seagull Bakery and out to Dunmore East to the Strand Inn and East Pier to name but two of its many pearls.
Catherine rightly points out that we won’t be able to keep Waterford to ourselves for too much longer. She writes: “Without doubt more and more people will want to join us here and enjoy a superb quality of life or a lazy holiday. Meanwhile, those of us lucky enough to live here can continue it all and there’s even more to see tomorrow.” And so say all of us!
Catherine’s column remains a fortnightly treasure in the News & Star (https://waterford-news.ie/author/cdrea/) and there are more diamonds to be mined on her blog: https://www.foxglovelane.com/
Staying outdoors, and a literally eye-catching story on Page 2 of The Munster Express about a stunning photograph shot by a County Waterford nature lover has received national attention…
And deservedly so in the case of Lismore resident and County Down native Andrew Malcolm whose amazing photo of a Sabre Wasp made the shortlist in an RTE wildlife photography competition last weekend.
Chosen from over 2,500 entries, Andrew Malcolm was one of 10 finalists in ‘Eye on Nature’, with the winning picture (by Limerick’s Daniel Meehan of a rabbit licking its paw) revealed on last Friday’s ‘Nationwide’.
Having lost several trees in his garden due to a big storm two years ago, he later noticed “a procession of incredible-looking insects landing on the logs of the spruce trees that had been blown down to lay eggs into the trunks”.
Andrew described the Sabre Wasp as “a big girl, measuring 80mm long, including the extensive hair-thin ovipositor, which females use to drill deep into wood when laying eggs on larvae living inside timber”.
At the time the photo was taken, the spectacular specimen (also known as Rhyssa persuasoria) was just starting to drill a hole into the trunk which Andrew said was “just an amazing thing to be able to witness”.
Andrew told RTE's Derek Mooney: “I just managed to get this picture what was a nice kind of tableau really between the wasp, the tree trunk and the Knockmealdown Mountains in the background.”
Now, Andrew loves taking photos of Waterford wildlife of all sizes, from insects to whales. By the way, he works as a forager who finds and eats healthy, local ingredients that grow in the wild and also makes guitars. Talk about a renaissance man who surely has many more stories to share!
Check out the 'Eye On Nature' photo gallery right here: https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2023/0619/1390040-winner-of-rte-eye-on-nature-2023-photo-competition-revealed/
I review Waterford's local newspapers every Wednesday morning on WLRfm's 'Big Breakfast Blaa with Ollie & Dymphna: https://www.wlrfm.com/shows/the-big-breakfast-blaa
Comments