It’s been some time since I’ve written about particularly good books for small kids, and I must apologise (especially to Kim) for being somewhat remiss in this area during the last few months.
For me, there is something very gratifying about sharing a compelling book with my kids. It quickly brings me back to my own childhood years by helping me relate to my children on their level. This book ticks all these boxes.
There’s No Such Thing as a Ghostie (Cressida Cowell and Holly Swain)
“But when they turned round… THERE WAS NOBODY THERE”
In this book, a young queen and her best friend do battle with the arrogant Sergeant Rock-Hard of Her Majesty’s Guard as he leads them through the castle in an effort to convince them that there’s no such thing as a ghostie. Little does he know… It’s full of delightfully poetic snippets: a Prime Minister that bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain 1980’s British PM; regular alliteration – “ghostly, ghastly feet”, “creepy, creaky staircase”, very accessible colourful drawings, and (of course) plenty of ghosties hanging around in the background. Near the end of the book, the reader is enjoined to open a trunk bearing an alarming secret. It’s one of those books in which you and your kids discover something new every time you re-read it for them.
If you know of other children’s books that really deserve a read, please let me know.
Passive Impressions 
Hi from New Hampshire,
Just thought I would let you know that I finished reading your entire blog (well, this one) just now. I’ve been reading for the last 3 or 4 hours, from most recent to earliest. Dumb. I always do this.
But I really enjoyed reading and couldn’t stop. I learned a lot of new things about Ireland and got to hike a huge amount of the country with you. (I actually arrived here looking for pictures of Ardmore [don’t ask why]{now you probably know why}]). I should tell you my story about being “recruited” by Mormons, but it’s much too late.
Back to checking on Hurricane Gustav . . .
Slán agat.
Hi from Cork!
That’s quite an achievement, going through all my posts: I think I have written 127 entries since I started in 2006. As you can gather it’s a bit varied… I’m still looking around for a tagline that describes the blog.
Please tell me about the Mormons. It’s not too late at all.
Thanks for checking in,
Colm
Don’t laugh.
As far as a tagline, as a person from another country reading your blog, I think what struck me most was how much you love your country, the new as well as the ancient. I thought of you as primarily a “native modern Irish trekker.” Trekker is probably not the right word, but hiker (U.S. word I think), hillwalker, doesn’t seem to quite cover what you do. And I really like using the word native, it says so much to me. I am a native (insert state name here), and proud of that. How about “native modern Irish patriotic rover?”
I said don’t laugh. 🙂
It’s 5 a.m. and I haven’t slept in 48 hours, so this post is going to be all over the place.
Loved the phone caller concerned about interbreeding between deer and cowzzzz. 🙂
Your dilemma in the case of Kilkenny and Waterford is far more complex than I first thought upon reading the post. There are agencies in certain U.S. states that have the Commissions you are talking about to oversee newly created districts – I know them by the name of Local Agency Formation Commissions. But now you are increasing governmental agencies which won’t be popular.
But where the U.S. counterpart is annexing parts of cities into others or the reverse, we aren’t dealing with the complex histories going back centuries between “neighbors,” and that would be a nightmare.
Oh, do you use the acronym NIMBY there? It means “not in my backyard.” It just struck me reading something else, sorry to be so vague.
Lots more that struck me about so many posts, but zzzzzzzzzzz. I’ll post my Mormon story back on that thread when I wake up.
Thanks for your welcome. 🙂
PV
An English guy called Tony Hawkes wrote a hilarious book called “Around Ireland with a Fridge” some years back – maybe I should think about a play on that perhaps? I’m hard to categorise, I think.
What has you up so late? Isn’t it a holiday in the US today? We’re all paying attention here to Hurricane Gustav. It’s been the top news item for the last few days. (Sarah Palin is the next biggest news item…)
NIMBY is a common word here. Ireland is very much a NIMBY country. Nothing gets done without someone, somewhere, raising a stink.