Marty

Fingers crossed for you, as well, Val

Hope it isn't as bad as they are forecasting, dughlas. *Fingers Crossed* I'm reading reports here in Ireland of at least eleven deaths due to tornadoes hitting Mississippi yesterday. Stay safe, my friend. And look after mum.

Good morning, all Shaping up to be a beautiful day here in the northwest of Ireland. Likely I'll spend very little time in the house itself. Hope everyone else has a wonderful Monday.

Hi, Drew

Thanks, Page

Rather than reply separately to all of your individual wishes, let me just wish each and everyone of you a happy Easter. "Old English Eōstre continues into modern English as Easter and derives from Proto-Germanic *austrōn meaning 'dawn', itself a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root *aus-, meaning 'to shine' (modern English east also derives from this root). Writing in the 8th century, the Anglo-Saxon monk Bede describes Ēostre as the name of an Old English goddess: "Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Easter

Morning, all! Another nice day here. I'm planning to play Easter Bunny shortly, and head up to a friend's house about 15 miles away with some Easter eggs. Well, the Health Minister did say a few days ago that the Easter Bunny is classed as an essential worker... Hopefully I don't get turned back by the gardaí (the Irish Police) before I reach my destination...

Because of the restrictions?

Beautiful day here. T-shirt weather. There's about 3 hours of daylight left. Heading back into the garden!

Now here's an interesting piece of research... Specialist sniffer dogs to be tested to see if they can detect coronavirus. Let's hope it proves successful.

Hi, Gary I'm finding that most of my talking these days is through the medium of WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, or just on the plain old phone. Strangely, though, I'm probably talking more to certain people than I normally would do in the past. Previously I would have often decided to just wait until we actually met to have a chat, even if that might not have been for weeks, or perhaps months. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if others are finding this to be the case as well; but a friend's son told me during a Messenger call last night that he's also noticed it. He says that, when this is all over, he has a feeling that people are going to be kinder to each other. I sincerely hope he's right about that.

Hi, Albert. Can't stay long. Almost too beautiful a day to stay inside.

I know exactly what you mean, Albert. Every death is totally sad. And it is sad that anyone's death should just be classed a merely part of some statistic. I'm reminded of John Donne's "No Man Is An Island":

Some people maybe don't get it, but it will eventually end. There will probably be more deaths than otherwise because of a few people acting stupidly. And the restrictions may also stay in place a bit longer for the same reason. But a vaccine or a drug to treat the symptoms (or both) will eventually be found. It may take six months, or a year, or possibly 18 months, but the "plague" will eventually come to an end. Nil desperandum, my friend. Do not despair. Never despair. This too shall pass.

I hope you know a nephew is for life, and not just for Christmas...

Good to hear!

The Irish Government has extended restrictions on movement and other measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, that were due to end at midnight on Easter Sunday, until at least May 5th. https://www.thejournal.ie/restrictions-extended-coronavirus-ireland-5071098-Apr2020/ This had been well flagged for most of the past week, and is a good move as far as I and almost everyone else are concerned. In the meantime, here's my second of my proposed 52 (one a week for a year) black-and-white photographs:

And, for the foreseeable future, I am unable to go. But I console myself in the knowledge that they will still be there when these present difficult times are behind us all.

Hola, joven Alberto! Hope all's well with you and yours.

Hi, Page! Thank you, my friend

Aw... Tell mum thanks! ❤️

Okay, you've convinced me. Fish and chips it is. (Sorry, Page. )

She probably did consider me such a gift, but I suspect she knew by that time that it wasn't because she was the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary... Although I was born exactly a week before my elder brother's birthday. Mothers were kept in the maternity hospital a lot longer in those days than today. So when she came home carrying me in her arms on my brother's fourth birthday, he asked "Have you got me a birthday present, Mam?" My mother held me out to him and said "This is your birthday present." He still jokingly (I think) says it was the worst birthday present he ever got!

They haven't really seen it yet, due to the lockdown.

I'm still deciding what to have for dinner... Toss up between spag bol, or ringing the local chip shop and asking them to prepare fish and chips for me...