I find this ABC Tales website a warm and welcoming community where writers of all abilities can share their work in the knowledge that it will be appreciated and encouraged. But what makes the site particularly special for me is that a close friend from long ago was a popular member here, regularly posting poetry and prose years before I joined. Julia Macpherson (ABC username Overthetop1 ) left this world far too soon, and at a point where too few had recognised the high standard of her writing talent. Following her death in 2016, her mother Coral (ABC’s seashore ) and her sister Sarah worked with Cerasus Poetry, and with the support of ABC members and the MIND mental health charity, to publish a compilation of her work. I lost touch with Julia in the mid-1980s, but found her again through ABC Tales and the pages of her book, Waiting For Another Velvet Morning .
Gaïa
Posted on Tue, 03 Mar 2026
I don’t know how shih tzus would survive without human interference. We have to wash Gaïa’s face every day because she gets so much food (and worse) stuck to the hair on it. We take her to the groomer every six weeks most of the year but in...
Read full commentPosted in When Your Snow is Deeper Than Your Dog
Colin and the Banshees
Posted on Sun, 01 Mar 2026
The Banshees of Inisherin is a peculiar film which some people say is mad and totally unbelievable. But we were on holiday in Mayo when it was released. We saw it at the cinema in Westport so, as we recognised so many of the film locations, it...
Read full commentPosted in On Achill Island
Oileán Acla
Posted on Sun, 01 Mar 2026
Achill (or Oileán Acla) is only an island by the skin of its teeth as there’s a short road bridge crossing Achill Sound (the one Claire Keegan mentioned in the book) but that bridge is the only way in and out and it’s only been there just over a...
Read full commentPosted in On Achill Island
Fluff
Posted on Sun, 01 Mar 2026
He also has a bit of fluff
Her name is Saucy Suzy
So it’s not just the anaesthetic
That leaves him feeling woozy
Read full commentPosted in Teeth Tales – a Song For My Dentist
Lovely news
Posted on Sun, 01 Mar 2026
That's lovely news. Thank you very much IPFN. You've made my Baba Marta.
Read full commentPosted in On Achill Island
Sinéad
Posted on Sun, 01 Mar 2026
Oooh Kat, I’m flattered.
If I’d only heard Sinéad O' Connor say my name I’d have been on a cloud for the rest of my life. I saw her perform live on stage once at the 2014 WOMAD festival near you. She was brilliant. I can’t say she was my...
Read full commentPosted in On Achill Island
Guide dogs for the deaf
Posted on Sat, 28 Feb 2026
I’ve been living with the French lady for almost seven years and I’ve never seen her using hearing aids. Together we speak a combination of English, French and Bulgarian coupled with a few words from the language of whatever country we might be...
Read full commentPosted in Lost in Translation
Cracking
Posted on Fri, 27 Feb 2026
Perhaps we should spend a little less time talking about Aston Villa in these comments as every time I start to read something you have written I automatically assume that it’s set in Birmingham. I’d got through a fair few paragraphs of this...
Read full commentPosted in Prophesy: The Immortal Witch (12)
Cracking cheese Gromit
Posted on Fri, 13 Feb 2026
I’d be interested to know what you think of the Polish kashkaval. Where possible we’ve stopped buying food from supermarkets as, although not incredibly unhealthy, their cheese will probably contain preservatives. We buy cirene from a small shop...
Read full commentPosted in Manchego
Say kashkaval!
Posted on Fri, 13 Feb 2026
Actually, kashkaval’s a bit rank. It’s like Edam that’s been left out of the fridge a couple of weeks. We only really use it for cooking or filing down the goats’ hooves. And they say 'say kashkaval' when they want you to smile for a photograph...
Read full commentPosted in Manchego
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