The Rossiters

A Snip It!

This post is an extract from a letter that a friend of mine wrote to our Taoiseach and also posted on facebook.

His name is Mick O' Brien and he has owned  Snip its mens hair salon for as long as I can remember and so has seen many, many changes in trading over the years.Mick is not without his own demons of life at this time and is dealing with them with gusto and a positive outlook.

This letter seems to sum up what all of us are thinking at this very uncertain time in our life and the life of our country and her people. Read it and pause for a while, and if you feel the urge write a letter to our leaders without holding back.

Dear Enda Kenny,

Last night you addressed the nation. You patronised and you downplayed people's very real fears. You deigned to tell people that the mess we're in wasn't our fault. That we are not to blame. We already know this.

You recently suffered the loss of your mother. You expected, and received, condolences from the very people who are desperately hoping hospitals stay open, nurses are kept on the front line, and doctors are available to care for the sick. Thousands of people up and down this country are mourning the loss of loved ones. Thousands more are terrified that they will suffer a loss because they cannot afford the medical care they have a basic human right to access, but ministers like you have decided they can't have access to.

We are a changed Ireland, filled now with different races, cultures and creeds. But we are still Ireland. We are a small but mighty country who have seen tremendous loss in our history and have come out wearing our national pride like the badge of honour it should be. You and other ministers have brought this pride to breaking point. You have brought a country to its knees. But you have done it slowly knowing that had you (ALL of you) been honest about your intentions the fighting spirit of the Irish people would have been woken, and people would not have allowed you to destroy them the way you are doing now.

Instead you have done it slowly, you have brought people to such levels of despair that suicide has become a bigger part of people's lives than it ever had a right to be. Families are living on rations and still you tell us we can survive more. You have emptied people of their spirit, their fight, their confidence and you have done it knowingly and willingly.

You and your wealthy, elitest friends will laugh at the feeble attempts of students trying to fight for their right to education. At working class people who are trying to take a stand against cuts that will make it impossible for them to have a decent standard of living. You laugh because your cronies will not suffer from the future and their children will be able to afford an education.

You laugh because you have created a nation of people who look out for themselves, who you have programmed not to care about others because they can't afford to. But eventually EVERYONE will suffer from the Ireland the governemnts of recent past have created. One day, soon, people will remember that they have a right to have their ministers work FOR and not against them. One day they will decide that they will not take anymore from you. They will remember this small and might country and the legacy left to them from fighters who never took anything lying down.

I hope you are prepared for when that day comes. This is not YOUR Ireland, it belongs not to you, or Germany, or the investors you're so keen to impress but to US to the people who are suffering because of your heartless, soulless fight to the top. But the Irish people will not forgive or forget and they will force a change. One day

Lenora!

Leigh and Gary have moved into Beechlawn and they have the place looking amazing.During their move in a lot of stuff had to be removed which was overseen by Liz of course!!!, a general clear out if you like. 

When Tim retired in 1996 he was presented with many gifts but the one that caught my eye was the framed John Ironside photo below. It hung in the sittingroom in Beechlawn since then and it caught my eye every time I was there.

If you look closely at the boats and the grey painted one in the back left in particular, that is my Dad's cot that I helped build many, many years ago in our shed in Mulgannon. I learned a lot that year and can still smell boiling tar to this day.

He named the boat "Lenora" after Norah and Len his relations from Swansea who moved here in the 80's.

Nanny, Auntie, Uncle and Brats!!!!

Leigh and Gary are out tonight for the final of their Come Dine With Me event and are staying over at their hosts house, so we have Jamie and Jackie for the night, well Liz does.....I will sleep through any awakenings as I did with all our children...ahem!!!!

Its nice to have little stumbling things rambling around the house again but the best part is we can hand them back tomorrow!!!

Love the reflections!!!

Rathwood tomorrow for more fun so expect a post!

 

 

Sam!

The new school term started just a few weeks ago and a sense of normality and structure has returned to Rossiter Mountain after what can only be described as a very turbulent, traumatic, upsetting and indeed life changing summer for us all.

Nathan has a new teacher for a few weeks while Miss Fallon is out sick, her name is Miss Fitzharris and she has come up with an ingenious idea to reward her students......SAM......

Meet Sam, an 8 inch cuddly teddy bear who sits on teachers desk from Monday to Friday watching the behaviour of the class and their performance and achievement's through the week. Come Friday Miss picks "The Student Of The Week" and Sam gets to spend the whole weekend with that child as a reward!

This week just passed Nathan was honoured as student of the week and so Sam came home with him on Friday.Nate was adamant that he wanted loads of photos of him and Sam,  and Sam with the family before he was handed back on Monday to preside again on Miss's desk and pick a new student of the week.

Sam came with a waist band of Wexford colors plaited from wool, so, because of the weekend that was in it Liz went and bought the Kerry colors and plaited Sam a waist band in the Kerry colors!! Unfortunately Kerry lost the match today by 1 point to Dublin.

Sam is tucked up in bed now with Nathan who is a bit upset with the thought of handing him back in the morning but I promised him I would give him this blog address so he could give it to Miss to see the photos of Sam's great weekend on Rossiter Mountain.!!

We are going to miss you Sam, just as much as The Kingdom will miss Sam Maguire!!!! Come back soon and well done Miss Fitzharris on an inspiring way of encouragement!

Wexford Weekend

WOW, what a weekend we have just had!

We have not long finished licking our lips after a well deserved Chinese as a treat to finish off a few great days, well there was no time to cook so a take away in the current economic climate was well justified, ahem!

Wexford County Council decided to make Saturday 25th, Wexford Day allowing free access to many, many if not all of the counties attractions all for free to anyone who donned Wexford colours, what a great idea and huge Bualadh bos to them for doing this.

Our Saturday began with a big breakfast before we set off with a plan to visit 3 places.The standard picnic was foil wrapped and carrier bagged and loaded up with a wardrobe of jumpers and raincoats....in June....! It was wet and windy and quite miserable really as we left the house, so the plan to visit The Heritage Park was set aside in favour of driving more south to The Hook Lighthouse, good call Liz.I have had a long family association over the years with the Hook and Slade etc and I find it a great place to come back to, in fact the best time to visit is on a wild and windy winters day when you have to drive through 4 to 5 feet of foam created by the waves crashing against the roadside rocks to get to the lighthouse.

In all these years we have never been up the lighthouse but this month Nathan has been up twice as he had his school tour there last week.If I go into detail about this history soaked place that dates back to 1201 you wont go and visit, so I wont. Go and see it it is well worth a visit and the view from the top is just spectacular and gives a different camera view to what we are used to!

After a quick picnic we headed for Ducannon Fort. I have worked in Duncannon 1 day a month for the last near 13 years and passed by the Fort without even considering going in, not because I wasn't interested in its history but that I was always rushing to be somewhere else.

As you drive in the main gate and turn right for the wooden draw bridge an uncertainty comes over you whether to drive over it or not until the BIG SIGN that says max 4 tonnes puts the mind at ease and on you go, mind you not before you do the whole " I know my car and its weight" thing when really we haven't a breeze about this stuff!!

Greeted again, as we were in The Hook, by the girl in reception with a huge  "welcome Wexford family" ( the jerseys gave it away) we met our guide a very young man perhaps on summer holidays from secondary school but well informed and at times in his rush to get the information out he stumbled a bit but forgiven he was all the same. As with The Hook go and see it and listen about history on our doorstep that is overlooked. Here's a quote  " blessed be the hands that laid them, cursed be the hands that remove them"! Off you go now.

By now the sun was beating down as we drove away from Duncannon only to stop and look at the kite surfers on the strand of which there was as many lying on their backs "training" as there were out at sea. I did remark how it looked like Ocean Beach in SF which set off enough memories of good times with great people in my head to take us the long journey to The Heritage Park.

Maura Bell, the ever smiling and wise cracking manager greeted us and assigned Ronan as our guide. Ronan has been working in the park since it opened in 1986 so who better to lead us around. His job was made a bit difficult by the bored very young children who were screeching ( not ours!!!!)  above his level as he passionately delivered his knowledge of this park and indeed Irish heritage.Some parts were under reconstuction and as a result anyone who visits is given a free pass to come back again when all works are completed, score!! As before, get yer ass there and check it out.For me it seemed to rekindle some of what we learn in primary school about our past and where we come from. Ronan had my full attention and a hand shake promise that we will return!!

 

It was closing time as we were leaving and Maura was still smiling and made a point of making a fuss of the kids by giving them certificates, posters and fridge magnets and thanking them especially for coming!! Well done Maura.

A ham and lettuce roll doesn't keep you going too long so home we headed to put on the spuds at 7.30!!!! an unprecedented time to start cooking in our house so you can imagine how knarly the kids were!! Bellies full so bed was easy to get the tired troopers into with the promise of another great day tomorrow.

Saturday 8am: Flanagan's for the ingrediants for the full Irish.6 breakfasts, 6 showers a quick run for the 2 dogs who looked at me as a stranger by now and we were off again.

 

Croke Park, what a place.I feel I have to confess now as I did to Jack Goldsmith after following him the whole way to Dublin and to The John Cussack Pub after he passed us out on the way up.Quite simply I am the worst directional driver in the world and I had no idea how to get to Croke Park, the first plan was to park in the Red Cow Luas car park and get to Connolly Station, but when Jack overtook us I put the boot down and followed him.40km's later I sent him a text hoping he was, in fact, going to croker!!! which he was, thankfully.Back to the confession, the last time ( and possibly the first time )  I was in Croke Park I was a bit tipsy to say the least and Garth Brooks was playing!!!.

Today Wexford were playing against Carlow in the senior football semi final. Liz won two adult tickets for the Hogan Stand so we bought 3 more for the Davin Stand which was all that was left for Jordan, Nathan and me, Aaron put on the jersey for the photo only as he stayed at home with his grandparents/friends for the day.From our cheap seats we were still close enough to wave and smile at Lauryn and Liz.So, Wexford were 1/10 while Carlow were 7/1 this puzzled me some because with Wexford such a short price the support for them in the park was very poor, Carlow however had tremendous vocal support??? Liz explained that Carlow had got to this stage by some miracle hence the support. Bad show Wexford fans!! We didn't stay for the Dublin/Kildare match which Dublin won and now face Wexford in the final on the 10th of July, SCREEN SUMMER STREET PARTY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Liz and Lauryn entered the stands at tunnel 329 and us at 323, but we all went through 329 to sit for a moment and have our photo taken. I hung back a bit as they all went up the steps to see the delight and amazment on the kids faces as the full glory of Croke Park caught their eyes, priceless!

Nathan was shouting "come on Ireland" constantly and I was bleating from the side of my mouth WEXFORD, but I gave up when the kids in front took it upon themselves to correct him at every wrong shout to which Nathan replied "I know, I know". Jordan watched and enjoyed the game asking discreet questions about the game play. Lauryn was swealtering and becoming very bored until the second half when there was more action. Full time score was 4-12 to 10 points in Wexfords favour.

Match over we headed back to the car and with my guide, Jack, nowhere to be found I had to bluff my way from Amiens Street home which I did as home is where I find myself writing this post a long time after I started whith a rumbling belly and the after taste of Chinese food long since gone and everyone in bed hopefully with a few good memories of a weekend in June 2011 when WEXFORD was the the theme of our weekend.

CUM ON DE YELLA BELLIES!!

Dave. 

 

I sit here and watch my Son on the opposite sofa, slouched with his laptop on his chest with headphones in listening to his stuff. What a tall and handsome 15 year old he is.

Lauryn.

On the 26th of March 2003 myself and a very heavily pregnant Liz left Leigh at home in the White House looking after Aaron and Jordan while we set off to Curracloe for a walk to try to get baby moving.

Firstly, The White House was the name given to the first house we built when we moved out of town and it got its name from Aaron, Jordan and Leigh because it was one of 3 places we lived in while we built where we are now. The house was unpainted hence the White House. We also lived in The Pub and The Hovel!!!!( work it out youself).

So, we set off walking from Curracloe intending to only go a small bit as it was gone 5.30pm and light was fading and I was panicking about delivering a baby on the beach. We lost track of time and walked a long distance but made it back home safe and with no extra passenger!!. Dinner was had and a tipple or 2, for me nerves of course, and then bed.

" What is she doing" I thought when I was awoken at about 2am to hear Liz in the bathroom beside me shuffling up and down." Are ye alright " I asked, "yea grand " was the reply which was codeword for panic stations in lay mans language.This went on for half an hour or so until down on floor Liz went with the head of our unborn child peeping out at me. I had been present at the births of all the kids but in the pressence of the wonderful midwives and doctors of WGH so I had no reason to worry, but now what do I do, this sort of thing only happens in crossword magazines to fill up pages, we didn't even have google to give me some advice, what do I do, aaaggghhh.

Leigh came in crying so that was the slap in the face I needed to ring for an ambulance.Now, trying to explain to an english man at the end of the emergency line where we live is a very difficult thing to do but he dipatched one all the same so the easiest thing to do was to ring Tim, Liz' father,  and we got him to park on the road between Ballymurn and our house with his hazard lights on so the amulance would see him. This practice was wrought with its own dangers as Tim probably had a bellyfull of Black Bush,  but he did it anyway.

Up the stairs came the stretcher and Liz was strapped in and we sped off to the hospital.On the way in at great speed some of the questions that were asked made me and the other 2 men on board laugh, but Liz was not impressed!!!! The doors of the hospital opened at 4.30am and Lauryn Elizabeth Rossiter was born at 4.45am!! Piece of piss really!

So today as we celebrate her 8th birthday I recalled this story and thought I would share it with some photos.

Cheeky girl!!.

Some gob on her.

Lauryn's Christening with Godparents Declan and Theresa.

First day at Big School.

In San Francisco with her Auntie Annie.

Flower Girl for Leigh and Gary.

 

7th Birthday.

Her cousin Kaylin celebrated her 7th Birthday on the same day.

Long may the laughter continue!.

All her pals.

Happy Birthday Lauryn, we love you lots.

 

 

"Jordan Gecko"

Today we welcomed 2 new members to our family, Treelo and Squee who are a pair of female Leopard Gecko's.

Anyone who knows Jordan knows of  his love for animals.He is still a fanatic about dinosaurs and even had his own business cards printed to go with his nick name, Dino Boy. He watches programmes like Deadly 60, Venom Hunter and Bear Grylls and takes it all in and just by looking at him watching these shows and seeing him smile I know he will be involved with animals at some professional  level when he gets older.

His birthday falls on the 21st of May and we asked him is there anything he would like for his birthday, (forward planning in recessionary times is a must!!), and he said he would like a pet for his room...DING A LING A LING A LING.... went the alarm bells straight away with the thoughts of what he wanted. The list was a snake, a tarantula, a bird or a turtle.With this list Liz went into shopper mode and found a pair of Gecko's and asked Jordan what he thought, and he loved them staright away from the photos.

So this morning we had a big fry before we set off on our journey to Campile to pick them up.Not quite like hacking through the Amazon to find a rare breed of something but a nice road trip all the same just the two of us!! 

So, in Jordan's room they now reside and we all find ourselves down there for any excuse to hold them including Lauryn but excluding Liz!!!.The problem I have is with their food.......live locusts, they freak me out more than the Gecko's.

So thats it for now, only to say that Nathan now wants for his room a Shark, a Crocodile or a thing from Monsters Inc that disappears and you can only see its eyes(Cameleon)!!!

Dave.

 

P.S after reading this or any post I do follow this link and add your photo as I would love to see you!!

2010 In Pictures.

2010 has come and gone and it threw up the usual obsticales as was expected, but it also brought a new word that our, and your, children will come to know so well....IMF.My rant is not for now but keep posted because I am at exploding point, not for what it will do to Liz and I, we will get by as always and give the kids all they need, but for the kids when they grow up and have to deal with the the mistakes that the "LEADERS" of this country have made and sealed their fate............tbc...........

 

The Late Late Show is on ( boring) and Liz is babysitting for Leigh and Gary so I thought I would try give a quick snap shop of the year that was.

January:

Started with a disaster in Haiti to which the whole country responded to by doing fund raisers.80's For Haiti in Freddies Bar Screen was our contribution which yielded over €3,300.00.

February:

Annie arrived home when Tim was given some bad news and was diagnosed with cancer.He was later given the all clear after 6 months of Chemo, woo hoo!!!

 

A Birthday party was held for Annie too and her two favorite nephews gave her some Irish kisses!!!

March:

Our little girl turned 7 this year.Boy is she growing up!!

April:

Our boys turned a huge corner this month, graduating from purple belts to brown belts and a change of suit from white to red was made too.Very proud is all I can say.

May:

A project that Aaron and Jordan and I started finished this month just in time for some more guests from satateside.

May is a busy month for Birthdays with us. This year Evelyn (my bestest ever mother in law) turned 72, John turned 40 and Leigh 22.

Jordan celebrated his 10th Birthday this month too.

Please add your own comment at the end for this photo!!

June:

Our Nate, the whirlwind, is now a 5 year old and he makes us laugh every day.

I was wingman for Ronan this month too when he married the beautifull Elaine.I got to be The Best Man after all these years!!

 

As a community we packed the village of Screen for the second year running for the Street Party.This I am very proud of and hope it continues for years to come.

July:

BBQ season really kicked in this month as we enjoyed some of the best Summer weather we have had in years, and we took full advantage!!

"Jordie and Ellie sittin on a swing, k.i.s.s.i.n.g"!

My cousin Karen married Emmett ( Disher) this month and waht a day it was. Liz was unable to walk with knee ligament damage so I had to dance for both of us....on and off tables!!!!

August:

Our big man turned 14 and made me realise that time doesn't stand still.As I write this he is on his last night in Bormio with the school ski trip and we spoke to him every day and he loved it.We can't wait to see him on Sunday'

August brought another Wedding, Jack ( my boss) and Noelle ( my cousin).I was in nappies when they started going out together, so it was some session when the big day came about. Oh, and yes, there was dancing on tables!!

Traditions are what memories are made of and what makes people look forward to something. None more so than Declan and Theresa's August B/H weekenk BBQ.We love it and hope it continues for years to come like the drink in Dick and Kathleen Ferguson's on Christmas morning.

The next day in Declans has now become known as Rossiter Soup Day, when all the kids jump in the hot tub!!!

Mr.Edward Rossiter....CEO of Limelight Magazine. Well done Ed!

August does this to a man too, no he is not having a poo but grinding the lock off the toilet door in Declans during the BBQ weekend from the inside.....don't ask!

September:

Baby Cian Timothy Galvin invited us all to Clonard Church to celebrate his Christening this month.He brings to 4 the number of kids in the Templogue Galvin Family.

Aaron started his own business this year too, cutting grass.He wanted to go skiing with the school in Jan 11 so the deal was if we pay for his trip he earns his own spending money for the trip during the summer. Boy did he do that.Here he is opening a sealed can Liz bought for him to put his earnings into, and to much fanfare he opened it to reveal €624.00.Go Arnie!

October:

Leigh and Gary's 2nd child, Jackie, arrived this month. A little girl to give them a gentlemans family. Now all the need is the Gentleman!!, sorry LOD!

Always with the phone.

 

Great Grandmother Evelyn.

We had visitors from Australia this month too.Eileen and Tony came over for Olives Funeral as did Pam from New York.It was, under the circumstances, great to see thm all and we had a good time.It was like we just picked up where we left off 25 years ago.

This is Eileen holding her Mothers ashes outside the church in Kilrane.A funny thing happened as Tony brought this through customs in Dublin, which I will share later.

November:

Our annual trip to Dundrum to see Santa in Dundrum seemed to come quick this year.We very nearly didn't make it as the snow came very early.But made it we did and spent the night with the Templogue Galvins before a nerve racking drive home the next day in some of the worst snow we have seen ever.

December:

Liz turned 42 this month..........................................................

......................................and I turned 40! BBQ in the snow, what a night!

Christmas Morning 2010 about 6.30am awaiting Jordan.

So there it is, a quick look back on a year in the life of us. Like a Christmas Poo, I will do a Christmas blog during the week!!!

To close off I want to share with you the best text we ever recieved. It was from Aaron on New Years Day 2011 at age 14!

"Hi, I just landed in Milan, talk later".

Stay tuned,

Davey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 Cent!

This is a quick post but something I wanted to record. Last Sunday after dinner we went to Freddies as usual with Tim and Evelyn for a few pints.

A quiet Sunday it was so there was only 6 of us and maybe 4 more at the bar.Nathan asked me for some money so I gave him 10cent, because I am generous,and off he went to the snug of the bar where there was no life at all.

He perched himself on a high stool at the hatch of the counter and began to wait for the barmaid, Aileen, to notice him.After a while Liz went in and asked "what are you waiting for Nate?" and he replied "I want to buy my own drink with the money Daddy gave me". Liz told me all this, so I sneakily  paid Aileen for a Cidona and asked her to take Nathans order and give him a drink as he had imagined and take his 10cent as payment which she did.

Drink in hand and a smile as wide as Christmas he came back to us and said "it worked, I got a drink".

While I was in work the next morning I got a text from Liz saying "our next trip to Freddies will be interesting, Nathan has just taken 3, 10cent coins from his money box because when we go to the pub again he wants to buy 1 drink for Lauryn and 2 for him"!!!!

 

Nathan, I love the way you think!!

 

Camping 2010

Holidays this year were destined to be a calm affair for the Rossiter Mountain 6 for a couple of reasons.

Reason 1..... Liz and I had 3 weddings to attend in a 7 week time frame. The first was my Brother, Ronan,  to the beautiful Elaine on the 18th of June which I was best man, so no pressure then!!!

Next came our cousin, Karen, to Emmet which was the 23 of July at which I completly went mad dancing while my poor knee injuried wife sat and watched me dance the night away, mostly on tables I am told!!!.

7th of August came and we attended the wedding of my boss, and friend I have to say for many years.I knew Jack as I grew up in Killinick and he married my 2nd cousin ( I think) Noelle Halligan.

So there's the weddings dealt with.

Reason 2....big son,Aaron, started in St.Peters last year and the note was brought home about the Ski Trip.Straight away Liz and I said yes without considering where the money would come from, for we felt this is something he should do!Bit by bit we found the money and our little big man is off to Bormio on New Years Day for a week of fun with the school....go Aarnie...! Part of the deal was that he earned his own spending money for this trip over the summer. This he did with gusto!!.Liz bought him a sealed can in May and every penny he earned from the job he set up himself cutting grass went into it. It would be rude to say how much he earned but we were shocked, and happy!!!

 

So, when we checked our pockets we found a few bob and headed off to .......................Clondalkin......yes the Dublin one!!!!!!!!!

I was worried to say the least, I had visions of skangers coming home from, De Nite Klub, and flicking lighted fag butts at the tent with all my care sound asleep inside!!! I worried for nothing.The campsite was off the main road and as myself and Liz checked in for 3 nights the guy behind the counter reassured us no end about safety and campsite courtesy as he went out to some young campers and told them to keep it down!! We were in Doolin last year, and I have to say, I would go back to Camac Valley before Doolin any day, honestly.

So, what do you do when you have put up a huge tent in Clondalkin and furnished it with as much comforts that you can carry in an Opel Zafira????......thats right , you head over to Templelogue and borrow your brother in laws gas BBQ.Liz'  brother, John, and his wife Geraldine live only 10 mins from where we were  staying so it was handy, we were like yuppie campers with a gas BBQ. It didn't work mind you so we looked like tool's!!! But we managed to cook up some great grub on my parents 2 ring Campinggaz stove which cooked grub for our family 30 years ago while we camped in France.

I am so glad we did this camping trip because we got to see parts of Dublin that are not noticed while driving through it.We did an open top bus tour of the city which I am still talking about and boring people with, the history this country has is amazing and the truth be known Dublin was built and formed by the English, check it out!!

Our trip to Dublin was great and we will do it again next year maybe many weekends you never know.

We ended up staying and extra night because the kids were having such fun and it was relaxing for me and liz to sit off drink a glass of wine and wait for the spuds to boil, thats it!

I did, however, go to Tallaght to buy the groceries one evening and very quickly popped into The Green Isle Hotel for 1 quick pint on the way back , when who did I meet only Ian Hearne and Karen and all the kids, so they came to the campsite and we had a good old drink.

Camping, ......ye can't beat it!