Computer has gone weird…I will be off line until Friday
EPISODE 428 alan…Thinking of THE QUIET MAN…COULD THE REAL IRELAND BE THAT CHARMING?
EPISODE 428 COULD THE REAL IRELAND BE AS CHARMING AS “THE QUIET MAN”?
SHORT NOTE TO AIDAN COFFEY
Well…quite a response to your paintings Aidan…and to your email.
How to proceed? I feel best if I start with ‘The Quiet Man’ and the film’s influence on me back in 1960 in a Dublin movie house that had been showing the film since 1953…continuously.
Could Ireland be anything like the romantic interpretation of that film? Not Bloody likely….or so I thought before travelling south to Bonmahon. As things turned out Ireland was just as charming…as warm and friendly…as funny…as human in the best sense. I like to put a positive spin on my life journey…push the dark away.
I will try to tie these thoughts to pictures taken at the time and a little later. Nice to remember.
alan
EPISODE 428 AIDAN COFFEY…PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND IRISH PAINTER SENDS A PERSONAL EMAIL…NICE TINGS HAPPEN EVEN IN OUR TROUBLED WORLD
EPISODE 428 AIDAN COFFEY..IRISH PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND.IRISH PAINTER SENDS A PERSONAL
alan skeoch
Sept. 2021
NICE THINGS DO HAPPEN EVEN IN OUR VERY TROUBLED WORLD.
Right now we are living in a very troubled world. The troubles need not be mentioned here because this story
is about a little village on the south coast of Ireland where I suddenly found myself in 1960. A village that burned
itself so deep into my psyche that I remember every event as if they happened yesterday. And that was 62 years ago.
Earlier in these Episodes I told many stories about Bonmahon and the mysterious abandoned copper mine of Knockmahon whose
abandoned tower broods over the village.
Take a moment and study the painting by Aidan Coffey below. Then read Aidan’s very flattering email message.
Hello Alan,
I’m from Ballylaneen, near Bunmahon, County Waterford. I was fascinated with your photographs from the Bunmahon area from 1960 on your website. I’ve been travelling through your writings about your time there, downloading photos with people in them, and I’ve been getting my mother (now aged 83) to help identify them. I knew Mrs Kennedy, who you mention and Sis Kirwan of Kirwans pub, long deceased. As well as my interest in local history, I have painted many scenes from around County Waterford. I have attached a few of my efforts here, and you may recognise them. I still travel to County Waterford once a week and take my mother for a drive around all those areas you would have been familiar with, photographing as I go with paintings in mind.
I look at your photographs as precious documents of local history. Thank you for taking them (as such a young person in 1960) and thinking to post them on the internet. The attached photo you took of the Bally Inn in Ballylaneen in 1960 is one of my favourites. I remember it exactly like that as a child. The building got renovated in the early 70s and changed a bit, though it still does have the thatch today: it closed recently and is now for sale. I worked there in the bar as a 14-year-old in 1976 – and painted a picture of it in 1981 for the then owner. That’s your car, the unusual one in front? Your photos of the little isolated church and the thatched cottages are also interesting (the area is called Faugheen, a mile from Bunmahon). The cottages have now disappeared, but the little church is still well maintained. I wondered do you have other County Waterford photos not yet posted on your website? I would like to see them and get persons in them identified while my mother’s memory is still good.
I won’t write more here now in case you don’t get this email.
Kind regards
Aidan Coffey
Address etc, etc
Professor Aidan Coffey, BSc, MA, PhD, DSc (NUI)
Dept Biological Sciences (CREATE),
Munster Technological University,
Cork, T12 P928, Ireland.
Phone 353-21-4335486
Email Disclaimer:
Ah yes, John Hogan and I spent one evening in the Ballyaneen pub … frothy draughts of Guinness
coupled with spontaneous outbursts of song. Not done for our benefit. Singing and drinking for the pure joy of
people getting together in a small pub in a small village on the western edge of the County Waterford. Folk songs.
Good time songs mostly …’ When Irish Eyes are Smiling’ —those kinds of songs but more local than that. “Danny
Boy” kind of music with a twist. We were told about the music at this pub by one of our employees. Early in our
job I hired most of the men and boys in the village of Bonmahon. Paid them one pound a day plus a pack of Wilde
Woodbine cigarettes as a kind of tip. They needed the work. Our boss back in Canada wondered why we needed
so many employees…i.e. about ten men. I did not mention that need was the reason. It was partly so. But there were
jobs to do. Deep trenches had to be dug in hope that a copper bloom would be found on the bed rock, A boy had
to guard our motor generator form marauding pigs I needed a man to lift me over the stone fences that bound the tiny Irish fields.
A couple of line cutting survey crews had to be trained, Lots of reasons. Good public relations. Intead of being
regarded as intruders we wanted to be loved as pseudo-Irish.
WHAT WERE WE DOING?
Just a quick explanation for those who did not read the Earlier Episodes. I was a second year student at the University of Toronto
who has been trained in the operation of a Turam Electro-Magnetic Mining survey system on a job in western Alaska the previous
summer. Good luck. So I was sent to Ireland in the summer of 1960. I wanted to do a good job for my Canadian boss,
Dr. Norman Paterson who trusted me. We were a team of three. Dr. John Stam, a geophysicist…John Hogan, a geologist
with Denison Mines and me, a young 22 year old venturing into the world like Voltaire’s Candide. I was designated as a
‘Field Man’. My job was to get the magnetic readings for Dr. Stam to interpret and John Hogan to oversee as the
contractor’s rep. Let’s not overstate my role. I was the grunt…the guy who got his hands dirty. Or better stated
I was the guy who had to pick the ticks off his body after work each day. The grunt. As a result I got the closest to
the Irish who lived in the village. And I still remember them. Even the village priest got involved, or so I thought, when
the boys pointed him out standing on the road sometimes watching.
Our project held the promise of reopening the abandoned Knockmahon copper mine last open in the 1870’s
Everyone hoped we would do that. I wish we had been successful but we were not.
Here is Aidan Coffey’s painting of the Mahon River spilling into the Atlantic Ocean. In the distance is the Catholic Church
where i attended Sunday Mass and tried to avoid the Holy Water that the lads tried to hit me with knowing I was a
Presbyterian. Bridey, our maid, ripped the covers off my bed on my first Sunday and announced it was time for
Mass. Got to really enjoy being part of this tiny village community.
This is Bonmahon as it appeared in 1960 and as it appears today. See the house on the curve. We rented the
top floor in 1960. Mrs. Kennedy and her family lived below us somewhere in the rambling building part of which was
the only store in Bonmahon. Mrs. Kennedy was a powerful woman who kept a close eye on us because a previous
group of Canadian mining men had raised hell in the village. She grew to like us because, initially, we played pinochle at night
Even our drinking was restrained. Down towards the sea there are two buildings …two pubs.
The pub on the left was the Anglican (Church of Ireland) pub and the pub almost hidden by trees is Kirwin’s pub
which was the watering hole for the Catholics who were the great majority. We drank in Kirwin’s with our employees.
The Mahon River weaves its way to the sea (top left) and far in the distance stand the old mine workings. The black
cliffs were not black…coloured with mineral stains. Here and there along the cliffs were old adits…horizontal mine
holes which Barney Dwan, my main man, took me on adventures many evenings. Crawling on our stomachs at times.
Doing the kind of things that 22 year old single males adore.
This is the Kennedy family. Wonderful people. I got to know their son Gerald best of all because he tended to follow me around quite
a bit along with his guardian, an aged and long suffering Labrador dog that Gerald sometimes tried to ride.
Here are some of our employees flanked by Dr. John Stam on the left and John Hogan on the right. The young man in the middle
in the checked shirt is Barney Dwan who became a close friend leading me into the bowels of the earth in evening explorations. I called
him Bandy for a long time because the Waterford accent was so different. That made everyone laugh each time I said it. By the end
of the job they were all calling him Bandy.
One curious thing about Bonmahon was the fact that no one was the descendent of a miner even though there were once over 2,000 people
living here in the 19th century. Miners are nomadic because mines are finite. Once the ore is gone, the miners leave. Many of the
Bonmahon 19th century miners came from Cornwall and moved on in mass to mines in the Unied States. Another curious fact was
that many were Methodists. The Catholic Church was once Methodist I seem to remember discovering. The presence of Methodists
played hell with the numerous pubs that were once present.
Hell is a word that should not be forgotten. Mining in Bonmahon was the closest thing to hell I have experienced. Low pay Dirty dangerous
work in the darkness of the earth with just candles and little else to light the way. Before closing the Knockmahon copper mine had
tunnelled under the Atlantic Ocean. Think about that. Think about climbing up and down long wooden ladders in a darkness so black
that sight was useless.
The publicists of County Waterford now call the region around Bonmahon “The Copper Coast” in the hopes that it will become
a mecca for tourists. Lucky for Bonmahon the skeletal remains of the Knockmahon mine still towers over the community giving
the area a charm not to be forgotten. I remember the open main shaft here because it had been used as a garage dump with
all kinds of treasures particularly a whole truckload of glass milk bottles. Seems the milk was being packaged differently or
the bottle style was obsolete. I never had the nerve to crawl down that sloping mass of waste in search of treasure.
That is Dr. Stam and John Hogan going for a stroll along the Copper Coast Highway.
MUCH MORE TO COME…BUT FIRSST WE NEED TO CONSIDER
‘THE QUIET MAN’…REMEMBER THE MOVIE?
alan skeoch
Sept. 2021
EPISODE 427 RETURNING … FROM MOVIE TO THE BARN SEPT. 9 2021 … create the story in your mind
EPISODE 427 RETURNING … FROM MOVIE TO THE BARN SEPT. 9 2021
alan skeoch
sept. 12, 2021
While I am waiting for permission to send surprise email from Bonmahon, Ireland,
I send this filler … just an attempt to document the nature of a movie return to our barn storage.
Boring? See if your imagination can suggest the story line in the movie.
EPISODE 426 WHAT DOES THE WORD ‘PROCEDURE’ MEAN? I SOON FOUND OUT
EPISODE 426 WHAT DOES THE WORD ‘PROCEDURE’ MEAN? I SOON FOUND OUT
alan skeoch
Set. 2021
“Come into the office on Sept. 9?”
That was all I heard. The word ‘procedure’ may have been used by the doctor
but that was all Greek to me. So I carried on as usual.
“Marjorie we have two trucks coming
to the farm today ,both delivering things of ours from Erica and Naomi…then at 2.30 I have a doctor appointment
to look at my head…bump that’s been there for 40 0r 50 years..
Busy day lugging beautiful objects from the back of a five ton truck. A plow, sap pails, electric motors.. Marjorie sometimes uses
the word ‘junk’ which grieves me even if she might be right Second truck had big things…work benches
a pile of ladders, broken grind stone, large mobile racks. For five hours we unloaded.
Hard work. Near completion Marjorie set out coffee, bagels and cream cheese for the movie
people.
“Have to rush. Doctors expect promptness Wants to take a look at the bump…my brain is so big
it is expanding.”
So we rushed back to Mississauga. I changed clothes…even put on a new (used) pair of shoes
we got at the Salvation Army Thrift store. Then I zipped over to the medical place. Took ages
to get through the door. Like a space capsule. Then the receptionist cross examined me for Covid 19.
Mostly verbal. Made me wonder if people lied when asked. I was cleared . Took a seat. Alone.
I do not remember anyone who used the word ‘procedure’. Then Nurse Stephanie welcomed me
and ushered me down a long hallway lined with perfect sheets of mahogany. Quite a spiffy
place. What is a plastic surgeon? Attractive nurses for sure.
A door opened to a room in stark white with all kinds of mobile things attached to the ceiling.
“Take off your shoes, please, and sit on the bed”
“How will I get the shoes back on … no shoe horn..must they be removed?”
“Yes, afraid so.”
I sat on a bed that was really a gurney.
“Will you lie on your back.”
“Is that necessary…I would rather sit.” (How the hell would I get back up if flat on the gurney?)
“Yes, necessary to do the procedure.”
(Procedure?…that word again)
Bright lights on my head. Closed my eyes. Then my head was covered with a disposable sheet
with a hole for the ‘procedure’. And another cover was over my eyes. Any air I could get came
from under the sheets and then through the goddamn face mask. This was no joke…this ‘procedure’
business. My forehead was rubbed with some goop, perhaps alcohol and the doctor began some
fast cutting. Hurt but not screaming hurt. This was not what I expected.
“Are you OK?” asked one of the nurses.
“I am beginning to feel like Frankenstein.” (Remember his head with the wires and cuts?)
Someone may have laughed. Nor sure anyone was listening to me. They…I counted four voices…were
chit chatting and talking about the incision…the scarring.
“Will this raise or lower my I.Q?”
“How does that feel?”
“How does a kick in the arse feel?” I responded honestly if a little impolitely.
(How long was this going to take…what if I throw a panic attack? No one
said anything about stitching up my head. No one needed to. I felt the needles
work. No big pain though. Best not to think about it. I thought of my brother
getting his throat cut to have his thyroid removed. Far worse. Of course he was not
awake like I was. Also thought of my high school friend Kaye Donovan who just
spent two months in a hospital bed. I would be off the gurney soon..and out of here
in the outdoor air with no need for the mask.
Then some tape was applied and a bandage of some kind. Gently.
“And now for your chest, Alan.”
(God. no! Damn close to my heart. Had the little red spot for 30 years Why did I tell
Dr. Maharchand about it? Stupid.)
“More cutting and stitching?” I asked. careful not to stutter or use bad words.
No answer. They probably feared I would use the F word.
“There, all done…and look what I found?”
Don’t tell they took out my heart.
“See?”
And nurse Stephanie held up a shoe horn and proceeded to put my shoes back on.
“Thank you. Don’t know how I would have managed.”
“Anything for a patient, Alan.”
“Can I go now?”
“Yes, follow me. Now remember only take showers.”
“I like my bath tub.””
“Only showers for the next three weeks. And no strenuous activity.”
“My business involves physical activity…need to work.”
“What business?”
“Movies. We provide sets and props. People need to be entertained.”
“How interesting.”
“This place would make a good movie. Lots of tension.”
( I did not say horror movie but thought about the time Dad took me
to the Doric theatre way back in 1949 where evil doctors were selling
corpses…that movie terrified me so much that I could not go to the
Doric for ages.)
“Thank you Stephanie, were you the person who stitched me up?”
“One of the persons…there were two of us doing that.”
Somehow a ,mental image of Scarface took form.
Then “Click!” I was out the door. Different door than I came in … just
like the doors in the 1949 horror flick.
Later the nurse phoned and got Marjorie.
“Alan had no idea he was to be operated on today. You know
he is deaf…hard of hearing. He probably never heard you say
the word procedure and just nodded.”
“Really?”
“Marjorie, I heard the word ‘procedure”…I just did not know what it meant.
Now I know.”
RE EPISODE 426 I GOT A SRPRISE
RE episode 426 I GOT A SURPRISE
Well events have caught up with me. Computer went nuts…scrolling, flashing, buzzing. A friend brought his 15 year old son, Michael to help. Great person. Has the world waiing for his entry. No luck. Then the problem disappeared. “Sometimes computers heal themselves”, said his father, Robert.
Then another thing happened. I did not know the meaning of the word ‘procedure’ and got quite a surprise which will be my next story coming late today.
alan
EPISODE 425 MEET A PORCUPINE…BUT STAY YOUR DISTANCE, more than 30,000 quills
EPISODE 425 MEET A PORCUPINE…BUT STAY YOUR DISTANCE, 30,000 quills quills
alan skeoch
Sept. 2021
A car had stopped in the middle of the fifth line yesterday. Unusual and a bit dangerous even if the road was gravel and
not that busy. I was heading same direction on our ATV. Then I noticed the reason. Some creature was in the middle of
the road. Maybe a groundhog of which there were not many anymore for some reason. Not so. It was a creature I had not seen
in the wilde for several years A porcupine…maybe young one.
Little button eyes stared at us. Apparently porcupines have weak eyesight but this one poses for my camera. Look beside
the eyes…..quills even close to eyes. 30,000 quills per porcupine. The quills are really hairs that have evolved into needle life
detachable weapons. Chemically dangerous tips…some toxic substance. Since these animals are a bit clumsy they often
fall out ofd trees and inject the poison on their quills into their own body. No problem. They carry the antidote in their skin
because they fall so often.
They are not endangered in Canada even though their reproduction rate is limited. One baby per female.
Amazing how the porcupine becomes almost invisible in the long grass…after waddling about tenet he or she could no longer be seen.
The driver of the car had no idea where the porcupine wanted to go. Nor did I. We both knew enough
to stay away from the tail. Best defence a porcupine has is that tail which is flipped in the face of an
agressor. Looks like this one has already flicked a couple of hundred quills into some unsuspecting aggressor.
After circling a couple of times the porcupine waddled to the nearest ditch and disappeared.
In order to save huge veterinary costs I notified the neighbours to keep their dogs on leash
for a couple of hours…dogs hit in the face by porcupines are not happy domestic animals.
I wonder if coyotes know enough to stay away from porcupines?
The North American porcupine has a long gestation period relative to other rodents, an average of 202 days.[37] By contrast, the North American beaver, which is comparable in size, has a gestation period of 128 days.[38] The eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has a gestation period of just 44 days.[39] Porcupines give birth to a single young. At birth, they weigh about 450 g, which increases to nearly 1 kg after the first two weeks. They do not gain full adult weight until the end of the second summer about 4.5 kg. Their quills harden soon after birth.
Female porcupines provide all parental care. For the first two weeks the young rely on their mother for sustenance. After this they learn to climb trees and start to forage. They continue to nurse for up to four months, which coincides with the fall mating season. They stay close to their mothers. Mother porcupines do not defend their young, but have been known to care for them even after death. In one case, when a baby had fallen to its death from a tree, the mother came down and stayed by her offspring’s side for hours waiting vainly for it to revive.
Life expectancy[edit]
North American porcupines have a relatively long life expectancy, with some individuals reaching 30 years of age.[40] Common causes of mortality include predation, starvation, falling out of a tree, and being run over by motor vehicles.[41]
Porcupines and humans[edit]
Porcupines are considered by some to be pests because of the damage that they often inflict on trees and wooden and leather objects. Plywood is especially vulnerable because of the salts added during manufacture. They also often injure domestic dogs who inspect or attack them.
Their quills are used by Native Americans to decorate articles such as baskets and clothing. Porcupines are edible and were an important source of food, especially in winter, to the native peoples of Canada’s boreal forests. They move slowly (having few threats in their natural environment) and are often hit by vehicles while crossing roads.
Porcupines are infamous among backpackers and backpacking publications[42][43] for their love of salt, especially eating road salt-covered boots left outside of tents overnight. They have a similar reputation among forestry workers of all types for trying to eat sweat-soaked gloves and wooden handles on tools.[44]
Conservation status[edit]
Globally, the North American porcupine is listed as a species of least concern.[45] It is common throughout its range except in some U.S. states in the southeast part of its range. For example, it is listed as a species in need of conservation in Maryland.[46][47] As of 1999, 15 remnant populations remain scattered throughout north-central Mexico. These live in riparian forests, mesquite scrubland, grasslands, and thorn forests. They are threatened by hunting and habitat loss. As of 1994, the animal was listed as an endangered species in Mexico.[48]
Species: North American Porcupine
Scientific Name: Erethizon dorsatum
Status: common
Description: The north american porcupine is famous for its quills and Canada’s second largest rodent (after the beaver). These mammals have more than 30,000 quills, which are actually modified hairs. Quills are hollow, with a pointed at the tip and have some tiny barbs that help it embed into their predators skin. Quills are darker at the base and become lighter, to a white hue, at the tip. Contrary to what most believe, porcupines are not able to “throw” their quills. Instead, when attacked, they will lower their head (as most quills here are more hair like and not used for defense), and swing their tail at their attacker. The quills will swell an expand once in the skin of the attacker which makes them even harder to extract. As with most mammalian species, the male is larger than the females. These rodents have small eyes, sharp claws on their front paws and short legs.
Habitat: Porcupines are found in a wide range of habitats including coniferous, mixed and deciduous forests. Porcupines do not hibernate during the winter, but will remain close to their dens, feeding during dry weather throughout both day and night. In the summer, they become more nocturnal, and will feed further from the den.
Breeding: Many people question how these prickly mammals are able to reproduce. Porcupines reach sexual maturity around 1.5 years of age. Mating season in Ontario is in late fall, where males will follow females around and serenade them with grunts and hums. Females are in heat, or sexually receptive, for a maximum of 12 hours and will be the ones to initiate courtship. Once ready to mate, the female will relax her quills, and moves her tail to the side to allow for the male to mount her. Females are pregnant for 30 weeks and babies, usually a single porcupette, are born between March and May. Baby porcupines are born with soft quills, which harden a few hours after birth. These babies will nurse up to four months, but are able to start eating green vegetation within a few weeks of birth.
Diet: Porcupines are herbivores. They will eat buds, twigs and bark. During spring and summer they enjoy catkins and elder leaves, poplar and willow. They will also eat currents, roses, dandelion, clovers and grasses. During the colder months, porcupines survive on the inner bark of trees. They prefer beech, white pine, and hemlock.
Threats to species: These large mammals do not move quickly. Although their quills are a great defense against animal predators, their slow locomotion makes them vulnerable to strikes by vehicles. Additionally, some predators have learnt where to bite a porcupine without suffering any pain from the quills by biting their head or neck. Common predators of porcupines include lynx, coyote, red fox, bear and great horned owls.
EPISODE 424 HOW TO GET BABY AND CARRIAGE TO SECOND FLOOR WHEN TRHERE IS NO ELEVATOR
EPISODE 424 HOW TO GET BABY AND CARRIAGE TO SECOND FLOOR WHEN TRHERE IS NOT ELEATOR
alan skeoch
Sept. 2021
THERE is no elevator in our barn so getting a baby and carriage from first floor to second floor
required some ingenuity and brute strengtht. All went well.
EPISODE 424 HOW TO GET BABY AND CARRIAGE TO SECOND FLOOR WHEN THERE IS NO ELEVATOR
You may wonder why baby and carriage would want to get up to the second floor. Well, that is where we keep
the horse. Babies like horses.
EPISODE 423 BILL BROOKS RETIRED TWO MONTHS AGO…NOW BUSIER THAN EVER…WITH CATS
EPISODE 423 BILL BROOKS RETIRED TWO MONTHS AGO…NOW BUSIER THAN EVER…WITH CATS
alan skeoch
Sept. 2021
“Bill, how is retirement?”
“I will never know.”
“Marjorie and I drove into Bill Brooks machinery yard while he was rubbing the feral Tom Cat that
keeps the yard full of kittens and limits the possibility that a mouse could survive.”
“Alan, that kitten is so cute…maybe Woody would like a companion.”
“What kitten…no kittens here.”
“Keep looking…they see you but do not know if they can trust you yet.”
“Imagination”
“Bill, now that you are retired maybe you can get this old blacksmiths forge back
in running order. Just a Little job.”
“Funny thing , that’s what everybody says. Look around at all the little jobs
that have landed here at my workshop…tractors, front ned loaders, road graders…
little jobs.”
“Put our little job at the bottom of the list.” Deep down I knew he would not do that.
“The cats live under and inside the machines…their home…feral cats that
knew enough to stay clear of visitors. That’s why the coyotes never get them.
Take a look at the one I could get near enough to snap.”
“Alan, look at the big one nuzzling Bill Brooks…that’s the male. Not many
of those around any more…Tom Cats…love Bill but thinks we are intruders.”
“I wonder who dropped off this machine for repairs…sort of like poor old Humpty Dumpty.
“Only Bill Brooks could make sense of this beauty.”
EPISODE 421 A VISIT TO THE “SALLY ANN”
EPISODE 421 A VISIT TO THE ‘SALLY ANN”
alan skeoch
sept. 2021
Now here is something we all might need. I am talking about a visit to the ‘Sally Ann” better known as
the Salvation Army Thrift Store. There is one in your neighbourhood.
Marjorie knows how to have a good time without going overboard. She gathers up things we do not need or do not wear anymore
and takes them down to our local Salvation Army Thrift Store. Then the fun begins. She shops in the store buying other people’s
cast off clothing and other pieces of bric a brac. Some people are too proud to do this. That is really too bad because “Thrift” shopping
benefits so many people. And it is so much fun.
We get lots of laughs doing our shopping. I come along often but not as often as Marjorie would like.. Last week I bought a nice shirt…took it
home…tried it on and it did not fit. Marjorie took it back as an exchange item. This week I was shopping at the Thrift Store and bought
the same damn shirt. Dead loss but amusing.
Here…take a look at Marjorie shopping and being warmly greeted by the store manager.
Some collector will spot this shirt signed by the whole team.
Reminder of the Great Flood that made Noah build his Ark. If that happened. Perhaps it did. The oceans are rising as the ice cap melts.
I wonder why not one has bought these?
I JUST love the Salvation Army books…and I recently was rewarded with one of the best books
I have read lately. The title is COAL.
COAL was written by Babara Freese in 2003. It is a frightening and fascinating book documenting the role of coal in
our western civilization and terrible results that followed the coal roll in the Industrial Revolution
Without coal there could not be an industrial revolution in 1800. No civilization as we know it today. But coal is a mixed blessing as anyone with black lung
can testify Coal burning has released so much carbon into the air that our civilization is under threat of collapse.
Not a happy book but it sounds one word loud and clear. ALERT ALER ALERT.
LET’s not get so serious There are hundreds of fine fiction novels to be found on the Sally Ann shelves
if you need relief after reading COAL. Escapism.
And, oh yes, there is a nice brown checked shirt on the Extra Large shirt rack…please buy it so I don’t buy it for a third time.