For lovers of music, poetry, and the Crack-that most Irish of nouns. Quotidia is that space, that place, where ordinary people lead ordinary lives. But where, from time to time, they encounter the extraordinary.
Reading the feed…
Bertie McKnight- he was the mandolin player of the group- died last week and, oh, by the way, did you hear that Tony Fitzgerald-Tony was our main singer- had passed away up in Queensland just before Christmas last year? Uh, no, I didn’t know, I replied. And before I could help myself, I continued- I suppose this means if we intend to get the band back together again, it’ll have to be as a trio!More
I am reminded that unsung heroes are everywhere- except of course within the frenetic media circuses that infest our communications channels where blowhards and bloviators bray and bellow, elbow and belly one another aside as they jostle to occupy the limelight at the top of the heap. More
We often have images of groups of chanting people being set upon by wild beasts in the Colosseum as the Roman crowd roars its approval and do you perhaps see, in your mind’s eye, lines of screaming human torches blazing along the Appian Way as punishment for the dastardly sect’s setting fire to Rome. More
Gradually, I learned to make a shining virtue out of dire necessity by quoting a Catholic saint who said, of any difficulty faced, this is the path to heaven, and I even found a quiet pride in doing the various tasks well and mastering new skills as I went along.More
Every time I am tempted to sit back and read a book, do a crossword and maybe potter about in the garden as the sum total of my remaining life, I recall that Paul Klee, when confronted with approaching death from the autoimmune disease, scleroderma, reacted by creating 1253 drawings and images in 1939More
...aren’t we gleeful when we witness the crashing collapse of those people who hold themselves above the common herd and crow about their magnificence. The Christian tradition also has examples of hubris: have a look at Gustave Dore’s depiction of the fall of Lucifer into Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. More
The gravitational pull of family prompted our return to Northern Ireland where the hunger strikes of 1981 in the Maze prison near Lisburn occurred 10 years after Internment without trial in 1971 More
The enemies of Jesus called him a drunkard and glutton because He and his disciples wined and dined with tax collectors. But then, of course they had also lambasted His cousin, John the Baptist as a lunatic because he fasted and abstained from alcohol. More
The mistake too many human beings make is thinking that they can negotiate with the forces of darkness and come out in front. Soul for sale anyone? Best not, eh! More
Sharing a birthday drink with my brother-in-law, he told me about a mate he worked alongside with for many years who, learning he has terminal cancer, has arranged a neat end. He has approval for voluntary assisted dying and has said farewell to his family and friends as well as having ordered his affairs. He is not in pain, but he intends to bow out this weekend. More
