By Peg Prendeville
What a lovely weekend we all had with the sun shining and warmer temperatures. It puts everybody in good form. Our family were blessed as we attended the wedding of my son Seán to Bernie Small from near Dungannon in Tyrone. Who would have believed that we could sit outdoors in the warm sun eating and drinking in the Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan for the weekend? Congratulations to Seán and Bernie who return to OZ this week tired after all the celebrations.
The cuckoo is singing, the turf machines are announcing the start of the turfcutting season so let’s hope for some more days of sun. The countryside looks so much better after the bit of heat and I enjoyed the different landscapes as we travelled up and down to Tyrone; from the boglands and forests to lush green fields to the rolling hills of Cavan and Monaghan.
Lots of locals went to hear Ed Sheeran at the weekend and were also blessed with sun and music. Nobody enjoyed it better than young Katie Massey who has been looking forward to it for months now.
Congratulations and best of luck to James Woods, who is one of a team of four farriers picked to pit their skills against the best of their trade in Europe. A total of sixteen teams from across Europe will compete against each other. The Irish Master Farriers’ Association is keen to maintain the old skills as far as possible. Some of the team tasks will be to make two horseshoes from scratch and put one of them on a horse all within sixty minutes. Jer Woods, who was James’ grandfather, must be happy and proud watching from beyond the veil.