Sustainable post on its way. This could see a rural revival the way things are going with fossil fuels!

Watching some of our adorable swallows return this week reminds me of my dear late mother who unfailingly noted the dates they came & went, left her shed door open for them & knew about all the other Irish migrant & native birds too...

People used protective marks by doors, windows & hearth openings, with symbols like Hexfoils or Daisywheels or the Sawtooth star motif, seen in this Maltese wrought iron balcony & fan light (& lozenge shapes & serpents). Hexfoils were common in Spain & Italy as well as GB & of course Ireland.

HEGSETH CONDEMNS RARE WHALE SPECIES TO EXTINCTION I have a passion for the whales of this planet planet and saving them. It makes me sick to my stomach to read this. I’ve met many whales over the years - they’re truly extraordinary creatures. www.vox.com/climate/4844...

Fascinating to observe various protective hexfoil motifs in the Grand Marshall Palace's Armoury, in Valetta, Malta. Carefully detailed on a c.1700 flintlock gun stock & also, less meticulous yet obvious, repeatedly on gilt copper c.1550 Ottoman armour and shields.

Butter packed & sold in 56lb flat packed pine boxes had tapered bases & lids c.1880s-1970s. @buttermuseum.bsky.social Imaginatively repurposed with textile covers & comfy lidded seats, a woven rush 1 is uniquely good & the skillfully woven basket matches! Have you got one too? @corkup.bsky.social

& on the subject of resourcefulness when I photographed this built-in press I found pencil-sized holes inside the panels: trademark of Naval Shipworm activity, so boards salvaged from the sea often resurfaced as vernacular furniture. This interior's sadly long gone, early oilcloth on the stairs too.

Here's another lovely example of 'natural knee' furniture, but cleverly using most of a tree for an Inishmaan 'thistle' to dry children's clothes by a fire in my latest book @corkup.bsky.social Irish Country furniture & furnishings 1700-2000 (2020) S. Coleman's sketch for IFC @duchas-ie.bsky.social

The same tiny Irish coastal home has ceiling boards frugally rescued from the sea. Deep pencil-sized holes are from Toredo or Shipworm which only burrows in wood immersed in seawater. So this timber was cut after salvage exposing the holes & it's rare to see it despite centuries of paint.

I'm researching wooden things Irish people made from natural tree forms so this strong hook needed no glue or joints & was nailed up to a joist over a hearth for drying things like clothes or salt fish. It's a rare survival of skilled labour-saving choice of a shape, from a tree, in a tiny home.

It's exciting working with Galway Co. Council to discover apotropaic dot & circle marks, on a huge vernacular armchair, with grained paintwork & great potential for conservation, plus many more treasures.

Traditional vernacular kitchen tables frequently had long double stretchers underneath, sometimes mentioned as a place to lay out a corpse, or to place shoes or boots (which can be seen here) but it's rare to find photographic evidence.

I'm looking forward to this IPMAG event in Waterford this weekend. I'll be presenting 'Apotropaic marks & protective graffiti in Irish Material Culture' 11am Sat. Check this out! IPMAG XXVI Death & Superstition in Post-Medieval Ireland - allevents.in/waterford/20... allevents.in/waterford/20...

Centred on a beautiful hexafoil: like so many others, deliberately off centre...

President Catherine Connolly has welcomed Greta Thunberg to Áras an Uachtaráin on a courtesy call. The Swedish activist is in Dublin for a fundraiser for Palestinian relief at Bohemian Football Club this week.

Rome's peppered with hexafoils in mosaic floors @hexafoils.bsky.social even cut into stone drains & and all may be protective like the octagonal graffiti in the Colosseum #RIADawson @antiquaries.bsky.social @corkup.bsky.social #Apotropaois @varchgroup.bsky.social

Spotting historic stone circles in Rome: carved in hands, mosaic floors, and the amazing Pantheon dome...

Hugely enjoyable afternoon with a happy group of wreath making pupils taught by brilliant Ruth Fortune who grows all the organic materials we incorporated (& forages some of the moss etc). Her indoor wreaths (2 here) are spectacular & can be posted out #sustainable #organic #local #creative #craft

www.irishexaminer.com/food/arid-41... It's exciting to see this win again & huge convivial congratulations to all involved! @ria.ie @thebuttermuseum.bsky.social @irishcookbooks.bsky.social

#StaircaseSaturday Breathtakingly lovely. The Palladian 'Tulip Staircase' in Inigo Jones' Queen's House in Greenwich - the first unsupported spiral stair in Britain. Commissioned c.1616 by Anne of Denmark, Queen to James I. Completed c.1635 for Henrietta Maria, Queen to Charles I.

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night for the launch of Irish Dressers and Delph by Meredith Chesson. Our launch speaker Professor Diarmuid Ó Giolláin spoke beautifully about the way communities and individuals make homes out of houses. Out now: www.corkuniversitypress.com/978178205067...

Yet another reminder that the fight for #climate action is also the fight against fascism and genocide. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Red, rounded, autumn tempts me into the damp outside

Projections of U.S. President Donald Trump, Britain's Prince Andrew and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were put on display against the walls of Windsor Castle while Trump was in Britain for a state visit.

Brilliantly inspiring presenters for today's symposium in Uni College Cork, for example Prof Claire Connolly MRIA, Feargal Keane & Eoin Reardon who brought some of his vernacular-inspired furniture: celebrating 100 yrs of publishing by Cork University Press @ucc.ie @ucclibrary.bsky.social @ria.ie

We use a Victorian Gardener's pruning tool called a 'long arm', to cut hard-to-reach brambles etc. Neglecting to store it in the shed, it was lent in a porch where 'swallows against neat gardens' moved in reminding us to continue our rewilding plan, instead! Long arm will stay put til Oct. now...

We need to force the Gaza Legal Case to the top of the national conversation. I just shared this video to get everybody talking about the Gaza Legal Case and the Irish government's role in facilitating genocide. Will you do the same? action.uplift.ie/campaigns/ga...

Gourmand Awards 2025. Best Culinary History Book in the world. “this is a very difficult category, given the higher number of excellent books”. And the winner is…. Irish Food History: a companion 🎉🎉🎉 Take a bow all you wonderful contributors, our brilliant designer Brenda Dermody, and @RIA.ie

What a lively review, it's great the reprint's back in shops, & free online!

One of the best ways to understand a thing, is to spend time drawing it...

Recently I was interviewed about my research 'Joining in Butter' for @rteradio1.bsky.social The History Show, here's a direct link, if you'd like to listen back, go to c.18 minutes in... www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... @ria.ie

I'll be talking on @rteradio1.bsky.social The History Show on Sun 30 March from 6pm, about 'Joining in Butter' (Ch.16 of 'Irish Food History a Companion'); hear how Irish women collaborated to profit from their butter making pre 1880. @ria.ie

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