whistle + Whisper
Objects
My Cup of Tea
A package was delivered to me one morning a few weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting anything. It was from a friend and arrived a few days after my birthday. Now I have all but stopped exchanging birthday gifts with friends except on significant birthdays or if I happen to come across something that I know a person is looking for or has admired. It’s all become a bit haphazard. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting a gift so when this package arrived, I was genuinely surprised. And upon opening it, the contents were even more unexpected. They were a cup, a saucer and a plate.
read post
Restorative powers
I think I mentioned in a previous blog post that I bought a little sketch at one of the online auctions a few weeks ago. I hadn't intended to buy it, in fact I hadn't even noticed it when perusing the catalogue but as I was waiting for some of the lots that I was actually interested in to come up, I was keeping an eye on the bits in between and suddenly this little sketch appeared. It's by Mildred Anne Butler, a very well-known late 19th/early 20th century Irish artist, and the simplicity of it and of course the subject (a cat stalking some crows) appealed to me so I bid on it and got it.
read post
No Cash No Attic
Having been able to do very little over the past year in the way of travel or eating out or going to concerts, theatre or cinema, and not even spending very much money buying new clothes or shoes, I jumped on the laptop last week and thought I'd have a little fun bidding on a couple of small items in an online auction.
read post
The certainty of chance
I don't know whether it's just lockdown messing with my head or whether there's something more spooky at play but there have been just a few too many coincidences in my life recently.
read post
Old Style
I've been fortunate enough to inherit a lot of old books from relatives and I admit that many of them simply sit on my bookshelves gathering dust. Let's be honest, I'm unlikely to ever need to know about the anatomy of the frog, to take an example of a book that I came across recently. Interestingly, that particular book belonged to a former President of Ireland who was in university with my grand uncle and of course there's a story to go along with it, so indulge me for a minute while I go off on a bit of a tangent.
read post
Occasionally Perfect
As a child, I was always impressed by the love and care that my mother put into occasions, beautiful gift-wrapping, incredible birthday parties, hand-painting posters for an art’s group that she was a part of to advertise events they ran, creating exceptional fancy dress costumes for an annual fancy dress ball that my Dad’s Rotary Club held for charity each year. The list goes on. Each task was undertaken with such flair, imagination and attention to detail. The phrase “It’s good enough” was never in my mother’s vocabulary.
read post
A Glass Act
During our first lockdown my middle daughter discovered a series about glass-blowing on Netflix and thought I might like to watch it. We did and we were both completely captivated. I love competitions –the Great British Bake-off, the Great Sewing Bee...
read post
My Santa List
I’ve been hosting a 10-day Instagram challenge this week where people put up photographs each day that fit the day’s theme. I came up with the challenge because I am interested in people and in what makes them tick and of course I was also hoping that some of the items would have an interesting back story. One of the themes I chose was ‘favourite kitchen implement’ and one of my friends posted a photograph of a dough scraper...
read post
Celebrating Style Instagram Challenge
We all have our own individual tastes, we all appreciate different things, we all notice different things, and all these combine to give each of us a unique style. That’s what makes us interesting and that’s what Whistle + Whisper is all about.
read post
Shed some light
On my bedside locker, I have what I originally thought was an ancient candle-holder but that it turns out, after some research, is what is known as a wax jack.
read post
Red letter day
Call me old fashioned but doesn’t everyone like to get a nice, colourful envelope in the post? Emails, whatsapps and snapchats just don’t cut the mustard at all. Similarly, a Zoom call is hardly a substitute for meeting someone in person.
read post
Cut From The Same Cloth
Many years ago, two great friends joined forces to protect one of the Boyne Valley's traditional crafts, weaving, by saving the Irish Tapestries factory. One of those friends came from several generations of skilled weavers...
read post
Pen people
Pens are much like people. Give me a good, honest one that won’t let you down, that does what it says it will do, that you don’t need to shake for it to work, that doesn’t run out of ink halfway through your signature or, worst of all, leak in your bag or pocket.
read post
