slate house sign

This is Mauricio’s latest creation.  He was asked to make a house sign.  The white really stands out against the black colour of the slate.

www.heartworks.ie

the big five Oh-No

It’s one thing reaching the forties but its quite another when you hit the half century mark. It was easy back 10 years ago, you felt on top of the world, untouchable, mature (enough).  Life was relatively uncomplicated, all things sorted out.  Lots of energy, no pains or aches, feeling good about yourself.

 

Not that your life is a mess now; it’s just that you don’t feel quite so complacent or so comfortable in your zone.  For instance,  you’e not quite so confident of the results of those recent medical exams you went for .  You’re not so hot, at least you don’t think so.  Stiffness creeping into them joints.  A glass of wine too many can set you back for days, must get your beauty sleep every night or you’ll be cranky the next day.

 

Have I got you right?  I wouldn’t know.  I’m just turned thirty.  The clock has managed to go backwards for me.  So in another ten year’s time I’ll be sweet twenty.  Yipeee!!!! Roll on the years!!!

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

My sister Edel was home recently from Denmark and was looking in our Heartworks workshop at our slate products.  This is a picture of her through one of our oval mirrors(not the best picture of her, mind you).  We had a bit of a laugh about the photo which my other sister, Jane, took.  Out of the three sisters which of us would the mirror choose as the fairest of them all.  A difficult question to answer!! Just as well mirrors can’t and don’t have to tell the truth, they just show it.  But none of you can see the other two beauts so you can’t give an opinion.  And those of you who do know me, know what the answer is, right? SO WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THE THREE SISTERS???

Heartworks clock hands

Here at heartworks even the hands of our clocks get careful attention.  Here in this photo they appear to be hanging out to dry but really they are lying flat on the table drying after being hand painted.

a gaggle of geese.

My father, God rest his soul, was always afraid of geese and he ended up being buried next to a field full of them.  Mind you, they couldn’t touch him then, not when he was 6 foot under.  Then along came the tullamore by-pass and cut the geese off from the cemetery so he can now surely rest in peace.

I can’t say I blame him either for his fear.  They, geese, can be troublesome and feisty sometimes, espcially the males when there are females around to show off to.  They have so much to prove to the fairer sex so whenever they can “seem” to be gallant and strong and show off their bravery they do so.  Along comes an unsuspecting human and they come at them, wings as if ready for take off, and the high pitched deafening screech that they produce, it’s enough to set anyone fleeing in the opposite directions, running for their life.

So although the term gaggle of geese might get a good giggle, they are fearsome creatures to be avoided.  But remember this, it’s only all an act with them.  They are just as afraid of you as you are of them.  And if instead of escaping from them, you were to stand your ground and even feign attack, it’s them that would be running a mile leaving their poor female featherd friends to fend for themselves

Slate Plate?

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that we at heartworks are never going to make a slate plate.  No, I’m simply saying that it’s hard to see a slate plate work in your mind’s eye.  

 

The other day a man came into our workshop asking if we made slate plates.  He had been up in Donegal the weekend before and in this fancy hotel restaurant had eaten his “juicy” (his words) steak off a slate plate.  Now at this stage, here I was  and Mauricio too wondering how you could possibly keep the juice that would come out of the steak on your plate.  You see slate simply doesn’t curl upwards and because its to do with food you couldn’t possibly have a lip stuck all around the edges of  the plate with glue (glue being highly toxic, if you get my meaning).  I also couldn’t help thinking about the state of the table cloths in this fancy hotel restaurant.  It doesn’t bear thinking about the amount of stains that must be on them.  Then I started imagining how you could eat black beans with rice (my favourite dish)off of a slate plate.  You would definitely have to make a wall with your rice and plonk the beans in the centre and hope that the rice kept the liquid contained.

 

So you see the predicament we’re in.  We tend to make things that actually have a function.  For example, our clocks are guaranteed to tell you the right time.  Our mirrors don’t lie when you look into them, unfortunate for some, lucky for others.  If we make a bookshelf, it can hold books or ornaments.  You can play chess on our chess table.  The pot stand will take the heat of the saucepan and not scorch the wood underneath.  You can present cheese on our cheese boards.  But a slate plate.  Now we can’t vouch that it will do its job, nor can we guarantee that we will pay all the laundry bills for the forseeable future.  They won’t come with a stain remover package thrown in.

 

 If anyone can solve how to eat goulash or such things off a slate plate please let me know

RAIN RAIN COME BACK FROM SPAIN!!!

Is it ever going to rain again?  That’s what a lot of us are wondering? It’s a phrase on the tip of many a tongue, on our lips, but we daren’t utter it out of a vague sense of guilt or inappropriateness.  After all, we, irish,  loathe our dampness, we curse every single wet day that comes along.  The only reason we dont go out en masse and do a rain dance is that we dont see ourselves as north american indians and therefore it would be inappropriate (there’s that word again).

But the truth of the matter is that we could do with a bit of rain right now.  It hasn’t rained for at least two weeks and this is the time of year when we’re planting potatoes, carrots, peas, lettuce and whatnots and the soil is getting parched.

So dare I say it.  Where are you rain?  Pour your lovely moisture on us, just for a day and then go back to Spain or wherever it is you go when you’re not here with us.  Just for a day, mind!!!