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The Freebird Times - Issue 3

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ENVIRONMENT <br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES<br />

ISSUE 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

VIEW<br />

FROM<br />

THE TOP<br />

we talk to Dawson<br />

Stelfox, the first Irish<br />

man to reach the<br />

summit of Mount<br />

Everest<br />

EAT WELL TO<br />

STAY WELL<br />

TRAVEL<br />

WITH US TO<br />

BOSTON AND<br />

BORDEAUX<br />

GET TECH<br />

SAVVY<br />

START TO<br />

APPRECIATE<br />

ART<br />

MEET THE<br />

MAN STILL<br />

FLYING<br />

HIGH AT 73<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

1<br />

freebirdclub.com


THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

LET’S GO<br />

Contents...<br />

Come and join us! 3<br />

Welcome to the third edition of the <strong>Freebird</strong> <strong>Times</strong>.<br />

Beautiful Bordeaux 4<br />

Moira Allan discovers the delights of Southwest France.<br />

GoGoDermo 6<br />

Dermot Higgins cycles into the Guinness Book of Records.<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES<br />

ENVIRONMENT <br />

ISSUE 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

VIEW<br />

FROM<br />

THE TOP<br />

we talk to Dawson<br />

Stelfox, the first Irish<br />

man to reach the<br />

summit of Mount<br />

Everest<br />

EAT WELL TO<br />

STAY WELL<br />

TRAVEL<br />

WITH US TO<br />

BOSTON AND<br />

BORDEAUX<br />

GET TECH<br />

SAVVY<br />

START TO<br />

APPRECIATE<br />

ART<br />

MEET THE<br />

MAN STILL<br />

FLYING<br />

HIGH AT 73<br />

freebirdclub.com 1<br />

View from the top 7<br />

We talk to mountaineer Dawson Stelfox, the first Irish man<br />

to reach the summit of Mount Everest.<br />

READING<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES<br />

Summer reads 10<br />

<strong>Freebird</strong> Club members let us in on their favourite authors<br />

and current reads.<br />

Let’s Cook 13<br />

Niav Halpin shares her grandmother’s recipe for a<br />

“pick me up” dessert.<br />

High flyer 14<br />

Captain Bob Holly is still flying choppers for a living at 73.<br />

Tips for healthy eating 16<br />

A good diet boosts health and wellbeing in older age.<br />

Love art! 17<br />

Volunteer gallery guide, Maureen Dunne, shares some of<br />

her favourite artworks.<br />

Hitting the high notes 19<br />

Why singing is good for you.<br />

Boston has it all! 20<br />

Boston-born Julie Colby tells us about her native city and<br />

Jackie Keady gives us the low-down on the Pioneer Valley.<br />

Tech savvy 22<br />

Top tech tips to improve memory and travel.<br />

Take a look at our easy-to-follow<br />

video to learn how to read the<br />

magazine online.<br />

While most people know intuitively<br />

how to turn pages in a printed<br />

publication, the techniques for reading<br />

a digital publication are a little bit<br />

different. We want to make your read<br />

as easy as possible and have made a<br />

short video to help you navigate the<br />

magazine with a few simple clicks.<br />

If you still prefer to read a paper version,<br />

you can simply download and print it.<br />

See the video below to learn more.<br />

Picture this! 23<br />

How to upload photos to your PC or Apple device.<br />

Club news 24<br />

We have a special discount offer for new members.<br />

2 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


WELCOME <br />

Come and join us!<br />

We are delighted to present the third<br />

edition of the <strong>Freebird</strong> <strong>Times</strong>, the<br />

digital magazine specially designed<br />

for <strong>Freebird</strong> Club members, friends<br />

and fans around the world.<br />

As you may already know, the <strong>Freebird</strong> Club is a<br />

travel-based social network for the over 50s which<br />

allows members to travel and stay with each other as<br />

part of a trusted community of peers.<br />

For <strong>Freebird</strong> travellers it’s a sociable way to see<br />

the world, for <strong>Freebird</strong> hosts it’s a new source of<br />

income, and for all it is a fun and accessible way<br />

to meet new people and enjoy social and cultural<br />

interaction in later life. If you are aged 50+ and<br />

haven’t joined already, there’s no better time to get<br />

on board. We have a special discounted membership<br />

offer on the last page and there is lots of great<br />

reading to be done on the way there.<br />

In this edition we have some fascinating and<br />

inspiring features. Who could not but be inspired<br />

by our very own <strong>Freebird</strong> Club member Dermot<br />

Higgins from Dublin who cycled his way around<br />

the globe and into the Guinness Book of Records.<br />

He is not the only high achiever here, however,<br />

as we also feature the exploits of helicopter pilot<br />

Captain Bob Holly and mountaineer Dawson<br />

Stelfox. For those looking to up-skill with<br />

computers and technology we have some great tips<br />

and tools. Food features strongly in this issue – both<br />

for nutritional value and sheer taste, while art and<br />

music lovers (especially singers) are in for a treat.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are, of course, also interesting travel articles<br />

sure to give you itchy feet all the way from Boston<br />

to Bordeaux.<br />

We continue to benefit from some great press and<br />

media coverage, and even had a video produced by<br />

US media company, ATTN, which went viral on<br />

social media with over seven million views. See it<br />

here http://bit.ly/2K4evOo<br />

We were honoured to be invited to present at two<br />

major international conferences; the Social Economy<br />

Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Innov-Aging<br />

Expo in Ancona Italy. This followed our selection as<br />

a finalist in the global Silver Economy and Ageing<br />

Well Awards. We have also just started re-developing<br />

our website, which will make for a much more userfriendly<br />

online experience for our users.<br />

We are particularly pleased to announce a new<br />

partnership with Australian over 50s digital media<br />

company WYZA who will be promoting <strong>Freebird</strong><br />

throughout their extensive network in Australia and<br />

New Zealand. WYZA provides a digital platform<br />

for people over 50, delivering age relevant content<br />

and products to their 50+ audience (www.wyza.<br />

com.au). We look forward to collaborating with the<br />

WYZA team and availing of their industry experience<br />

and expertise to bring the <strong>Freebird</strong> homestay travel<br />

movement to our friends ‘down under’. Staying with<br />

that part of the world, we are on our way to Malaysia,<br />

as a finalist in the World Tourism Forum Lucerne<br />

Start-up Innovation Awards. We have been selected as<br />

one of the world’s 15 most innovative travel, tourism<br />

and hospitality start-ups, and get to pitch with the best<br />

for the grand prize on September 12th. Wish us luck!<br />

Finally, be sure to check out our own website: www.<br />

freebirdclub.com <strong>The</strong>re you will find warm welcoming<br />

hosts in great destinations around the world. As the<br />

Club is driven by our members, we are always open to<br />

suggestions about what content and features to include<br />

in the magazine. If you are not yet a member we would<br />

love to have you join us. Furthermore why not tell<br />

your friends and family over 50 about us? <strong>The</strong>re’s never<br />

been a better time to spread their wings! <br />

In other news, we have been busy growing and<br />

promoting the <strong>Freebird</strong> Club internationally. In<br />

the Spring we completed a very successful diaspora<br />

engagement project with our friends in the London<br />

Irish Centre, whereby a group of their members<br />

came to stay with <strong>Freebird</strong> hosts in Kerry, Ireland.<br />

Suffice to say the “craic was mighty.”<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

Best wishes,<br />

Peter Mangan<br />

<strong>Freebird</strong> Club Founder<br />

3


TRAVEL<br />

Beautiful Bordeaux<br />

Moira Allan, positive ageing advocate,<br />

explorer, writer and speaker supposedly<br />

moved to France for just two years.<br />

Several decades later she’s still there!<br />

Here she shares some of the delights of<br />

Southwest France, one of her favourite<br />

regions. Moira’s complete Southwest<br />

France travelogue is on our website<br />

www.freebirdclub.com<br />

and aluminum inaugurated in 2016, in honour of<br />

the wines of the world. <strong>The</strong> eighth story belvedere<br />

offers an unparalleled 360-degree panoramic view of<br />

the city, the river and way beyond to the vineyards.<br />

From Bordeaux, move onto Saint Emilion, also<br />

a UNESCO world heritage site, steeped in 2000<br />

years’ history between man and the grape. <strong>The</strong><br />

climb to the top of the main square will reward you<br />

with a magnificent panoramic view of the region<br />

stretching all the way to Castillon La Bataille, your<br />

next stop 13 km further east.<br />

Cité du Vin<br />

Bordeaux is a good place to start<br />

discovering the southwest. <strong>The</strong> river capital<br />

is France’s 9th largest city. Founded in<br />

300 BCE by the Celts it sprawls along the<br />

banks of the majestic Garonne as it swoops<br />

through the city, and clearly manifests its<br />

merit in earning UNESCO World Heritage<br />

Site status for its centuries old Port of the<br />

Moon, the old Bordeaux, a hub for the<br />

wine industry since time immemorial.<br />

Segway, cycle or stroll through the<br />

Esplanade des Quinconces, Europe’s<br />

largest square, and admire the neoclassical<br />

architecture. You will enjoy your selfguided<br />

tour of the Cité du Vin – it’s a flair<br />

of a building swirling up on the banks of the<br />

Garonne, a contemporary monument in glass<br />

Being inducted into the Ordre des Vins de Castillon is a<br />

serious business and requires a signed commitment to honor the<br />

traditional values.<br />

4 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


TRAVEL <br />

This is a must, especially if you are there in the July/<br />

August holiday period because if you are, you are in<br />

for a medieval treat. It was at Castillon-la-Bataille that<br />

the French defeated the British and ended the 100-year<br />

war and 300 years of English possession of Aquitaine.<br />

I first discovered this town and its exciting historical<br />

pageant in 2003 when I was with friends who were<br />

house hunting. (<strong>The</strong>irs is a fairytale. <strong>The</strong>y found their<br />

dream house and are still living happily ever after in the<br />

Dordogne). Every year, more than 600 local citizens reenact<br />

the Battle of Castillon with an infectious joy and<br />

enthusiasm and keep their audiences enthralled as the<br />

spectacle unfolds over the 7 hectares surrounding the<br />

Castegens Castle within cannon range of the original<br />

battlefield. This intense 90-minute outdoor spectacle<br />

with amazing pyrotechnic effects plunges the audience<br />

into the middle ages with gusto.<br />

Plan to arrive early and enjoy the medieval<br />

exhibitions and excellent local fare at the modestly<br />

priced restaurant. <strong>The</strong>re are 18 performances over<br />

summer and it’s best to book in advance. <br />

Our hosts<br />

CLICK TO<br />

BOOK<br />

CLICK TO<br />

BOOK<br />

Fabienne’s place<br />

BORDEAUX<br />

Loves: Cooking, walking,<br />

swimming, biking, relaxing<br />

in a deckchair in the garden.<br />

Philosophy of life: If you<br />

can not do what you love,<br />

try to love what you do.<br />

Caroline’s place<br />

LIMOGES,<br />

HAUTE VIENNE<br />

Loves: Pilates, reading,<br />

knitting, sewing.<br />

Philosophy of life: Enjoy<br />

and make the most of<br />

every moment.<br />

Bordeaux describes itself as “the world wine<br />

capital,” and the Gironde region produces<br />

more wine than any other area in France.<br />

Many of the estates are now involved in wine<br />

tourism and it has become very easy to visit<br />

their vineyards and wine cellars and sample<br />

their production. <strong>The</strong>y’ve been growing<br />

wine in Bordeaux for over 2,000 years so<br />

they’re pretty good at it…..<br />

If wine isn’t your thing, there is no shortage<br />

of other things to do. Bordeaux is a port city<br />

so there are seaside walks and boat tours to<br />

enjoy and it is also a World Heritage Site<br />

with impressive examples of neo-classic and<br />

French civil architecture.<br />

Planning a trip to France? To see our full list of<br />

hosts, visit our website www.freebirdclub.com<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

5


WELCOME HOME!<br />

GO GO DERMO<br />

WELCOME HOME!<br />

<strong>Freebird</strong> Club member, Dermot<br />

Higgins, battled rough weather and<br />

even rougher terrain to cycle into the<br />

Guinness Book of Records!<br />

Earlier this year Dermot Higgins became the oldest<br />

man to cycle around the globe. Dermot, and his<br />

trusty bicycle, Karolina, started their epic journey<br />

in June last year and arrived back in his hometown<br />

of Rush, Co. Dublin in April 2018 after 29,000<br />

kilometres of tough cycling over all sorts of terrain<br />

in all sorts of weather.<br />

A retired schoolteacher, Dermot undertook this<br />

journey to raise awareness of the UN Global<br />

Goals for sustainability and to raise funds for the<br />

charity, Trocaire. An avid environmental activist,<br />

he is passionate about educating people on ways to<br />

protect our planet.<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Freebird</strong> Club was a proud supporter of<br />

Dermot’s “GoGoDermo” odyssey and its founder,<br />

Peter Mangan, said “we are immensely proud to<br />

have sponsored such an inspirational member<br />

and are thrilled with his outstanding achievement<br />

in becoming the oldest man to cycle around the<br />

world. As he travelled the world our supportive<br />

hosts provided a warm welcome, allowing him<br />

to rest, refresh and recuperate in their great<br />

accommodation.”<br />

Dermot’s adventure took him across Europe, into<br />

Asia via Russia, Kazakhstan and then on to India.<br />

He cycled the length of New Zealand, then went to<br />

Australia and from there to the United States. <strong>The</strong><br />

final leg of his journey brought him back across the<br />

Atlantic to Portugal and Spain.<br />

Along the way he encountered many challenges,<br />

life changing moments and colourful characters,<br />

including his <strong>Freebird</strong> Club hosts! From homecooked<br />

meals with Lyudmila in Kazakhstan,<br />

meeting his musician heroes in Los Angeles with<br />

host Gaili, relaxing poolside with Kelly in France,<br />

to a final stop off in Washington - where he enjoyed<br />

lively chats with environmental scientist, host Dean<br />

– Dermot truly lived the ethos of the <strong>Freebird</strong> Club<br />

which encourages those over 50 to get on their bikes<br />

or into trains, planes and automobiles to explore the<br />

big wide world that awaits them <br />

6 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


COVER STORY <br />

ON TOP<br />

OF THE<br />

WORLD<br />

Dawson Stelfox approaching<br />

the 2nd step on Everest’s<br />

North Ridge, 27th May 1993.<br />

Photo by Frank Nugent.<br />

When you’ve made your mark as the<br />

first Irish person to reach the summit of<br />

Mount Everest it must be all downhill<br />

after that? Not at all! Now 60,<br />

Dawson Stelfox looks forward to new<br />

adventures in the hills in an exclusive<br />

interview with John Stanley for the<br />

<strong>Freebird</strong> <strong>Times</strong>.<br />

Dawson Stelfox’s paternal grandparents were one<br />

of the earliest influences on the man who would<br />

become the first person from the island of Ireland to<br />

climb Mount Everest and, as a dual passport holder,<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

the first British person to complete its challenging<br />

North Ridge route. <strong>The</strong>y were both botanists and<br />

when his grandfather, Arthur, retired as a curator in<br />

Dublin’s Natural History Museum they moved to<br />

Newcastle in Northern Ireland.<br />

As a regular summer visitor the young Dawson was<br />

brought out walking and plant hunting. “That was<br />

probably my earliest introduction to the outdoors<br />

and I loved it,” he recalls. His mountaineering<br />

career began around age 10 and when he tried rock<br />

climbing at 15 he was hooked.<br />

One of the motivations for mountaineering is<br />

escape from normal, every day life, but Dawson<br />

says he had an added stimulus. “I was one of the<br />

7


COVER STORY<br />

generation that grew up during<br />

the troubles in Belfast. I was<br />

at school in the centre of the<br />

city at the height of the IRA<br />

bombing campaign. Getting<br />

away from it at the weekends<br />

was also part of the motivation<br />

for me, both as a teenager and<br />

as a young adult.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> mountaineering club at<br />

Queens University Belfast introduced Stelfox to<br />

climbs across Ireland, Scotland, the Alps and further<br />

afield. Like a few other sports, mountaineering<br />

has always been an “all island” activity that unites<br />

climbers beyond the boundaries of nationalism<br />

or sectarianism. On the successful 1993 Everest<br />

expedition, for example, it was neither an Irish<br />

Tricolour nor a British Union Jack that Dawson<br />

planted on the summit but simply the pennant of<br />

the “First Irish Everest Expedition.”<br />

“Back in the 1980s it was an exciting time with a<br />

strong pioneering element to it. Opening up new<br />

crags and putting up new routes was a big element<br />

of the motivation and even at the height of the<br />

troubles you would find climbers coming up from<br />

the south to climb in the Mournes or at Fair Head<br />

in Antrim,” he recalls.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re was an important<br />

social aspect to the<br />

sport too. Dawson met<br />

his wife, Margaret, at<br />

the university climbing<br />

club. “Luckily, she is<br />

also a mountaineer<br />

and we’ve done a lot<br />

of travelling together.<br />

We’ve two boys, so there<br />

was a period when she<br />

was doing less because<br />

she took the brunt of<br />

raising them, but we’ve<br />

had lots of good trips<br />

together.”<br />

Shortly after university<br />

Dawson discovered<br />

another passion -<br />

conservation. “I trained<br />

It’s whatever<br />

you plan to<br />

do next that’s<br />

important<br />

”<br />

“<br />

as an architect but fairly<br />

quickly became interested in<br />

the conservation of heritage<br />

buildings. That’s been my<br />

specialisation, and my passion<br />

really. I find it enormously<br />

satisfying to bring historic<br />

buildings back to life.”<br />

Over many years Dawson has<br />

been one of the leading lights<br />

in Ireland’s climbing world. He is Chair of the<br />

Mountain Training Board and a past chairman and<br />

current board member of Mountaineering Ireland.<br />

And although he is a qualified mountain guide<br />

and instructor, his personal preference has been<br />

to remain an amateur climber. He now considers<br />

that the Everest expedition of 25 years ago was<br />

one of the last of the amateur big peak expeditions<br />

“before commercialisation took hold.”<br />

Everest is the obvious pinnacle of his climbing<br />

career. Requiring “three months of unrelenting<br />

hard work and lots of suffering,” it was the<br />

culmination of “a huge amount of effort and<br />

teamwork.” However, he readily admits that many<br />

other expeditions were more personally satisfying<br />

including one to a remote area in Greenland, where<br />

Dawson and Margaret<br />

Stelfox at Phuelli Bal Vatika<br />

School, built by the Irish<br />

Nepalese Education Trust.<br />

8 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


COVER STORY <br />

Dawson and<br />

Margaret on their<br />

way up Mera Peak,<br />

Nepal 2013.<br />

only one expedition had been before and only one<br />

mountain climbed. “Seven of us were dropped<br />

off by a ski-plane and picked up three weeks later.<br />

In that period we’d climbed 16 peaks for the first<br />

time.” Another personal highlight was a long,<br />

complicated Alpine route, the Peuterey Integral<br />

done with, a long time friend and fellow member of<br />

the Everest expedition, Robbie Fenlon.<br />

Dawson is a great believer in looking forward. “Really,<br />

it’s whatever you plan to do next that’s important,” he<br />

says. Now in his 61st year, he will be going to the Alps<br />

this year with another Everest expedition member,<br />

67 year-old Frank Nugent. It’s a special climb of the<br />

Eiger to mark the 160th anniversary of its first ascent,<br />

which was led by an Irishman from County Wicklow,<br />

Charles Barrington. <strong>The</strong> 2018 team includes two of<br />

his great grand nephews, young climbers Joshua and<br />

Mathew Barrington.<br />

“I think one of the fantastic things about<br />

mountaineering is that even though you get a bit older,<br />

a bit weaker and a bit more unsteady you can always<br />

pick challenges to have a new adventure,” Dawson says.<br />

“<strong>The</strong> whole trick is to pick something which is difficult,<br />

so you get a sense of achievement, but not too difficult;<br />

there’s a fine line between easy and impossible. And that<br />

to me is at the heart of what mountaineering is. <strong>The</strong>re<br />

always has to be an uncertainty about the outcome to<br />

give it that edge of excitement.”<br />

Earlier this year Dawson stepped down as the lead<br />

partner in his architectural practice to become a<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

consultant, which gives him more time to go into<br />

the mountains. “ I’m looking forward to the next<br />

10 years of a bit less architecture and a bit more<br />

mountains and travelling. But I still see myself as<br />

working in conservation for some years to come.”<br />

Typically modest about his lifetime commitment<br />

of “giving back” to the sport and to his community,<br />

Dawson still has strong connections with Northern<br />

Ireland’s Tollymore National Outdoor Centre, which<br />

introduced him to rock climbing 45 years ago. He is also<br />

the chairman of Outdoor Recreation Northern Ireland,<br />

an organisation established to improve access to the<br />

countryside. He and Margaret continue to be involved<br />

with the Irish Nepalese Education Trust, a charity that<br />

had its origins in the Irish Everest Expedition.<br />

Dawson is a great believer in the benefits of the<br />

outdoors. “Everybody benefits from being able<br />

to get outdoors, to take exercise and enjoy the<br />

countryside, to appreciate nature,” he says. “ You<br />

don’t need to be climbing mountains to get out,<br />

there’s lots of good low level and medium level<br />

walks and treks. And I think electric bikes are a<br />

fantastic invention in terms of getting people out<br />

cycling, they take a lot of the sting out initially,<br />

at least. “<strong>The</strong>re are huge opportunities and huge<br />

rewards from getting outdoors and it doesn’t have to<br />

be at the extreme level. <strong>The</strong>re is so much potential<br />

at whatever level you want. People find that once<br />

they get a bit of fitness they want to see new places<br />

and start to meet other people – and before they<br />

know it they’re doing treks across Europe!” <br />

9


SUMMER READS<br />

One<br />

for the<br />

books<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is nothing like settling down with<br />

a good book so we asked <strong>Freebird</strong> Club<br />

members to let us in on their favourite<br />

authors and current reads.<br />

Daphne Dhimitri,<br />

Perth, Western Australia<br />

I like to read all sorts except horror. I am currently<br />

reading Inspector Pitt e-books by the author Anne<br />

Perry, (published by Headline Publishing UK) a crime<br />

novelist writing in the 1800s onward. Basically about<br />

crime in that era and how Inspector Pitt conducts<br />

the case, at times with the help of his wife and her<br />

sister (though he does not ask for their help). <strong>The</strong>y<br />

are interesting as they give an insight into how things<br />

may have been in that period. One of things I do<br />

find distasteful is reading<br />

about how men conducted<br />

themselves then. I doubt<br />

I would have survived<br />

five minutes! My other<br />

recommended reads are<br />

<strong>The</strong> Seven Sisters, a series of<br />

books by Lucinda Riley. I<br />

love to read Clive Cussler,<br />

Matthew Reilly and Oliver<br />

Bowden and I can keep<br />

going…..<br />

Kay Davis, Cuenca, Ecuador<br />

My greatest joy in retirement is being able to read<br />

as much as I want for as long as I want. I not<br />

infrequently read an entire book in a day. I read<br />

historical novels, historical romances and mysteries<br />

based in the past as well as those by living author,<br />

James Lee Burke. My favourite current author<br />

is E.A. Allen, a man with an amazing personal<br />

history. Allen’s series of Edwardian mysteries<br />

feature detective Gerard de Montclaire, the French<br />

equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. In fact, the two<br />

meet in one book! Both are deeply flawed (as<br />

we all are), but Montclaire has an even darker<br />

side than Holmes. I’ve read so many mysteries, I<br />

usually figure out ‘who did it’, but Allen can keep<br />

me guessing far longer than<br />

most writers.<br />

James Lee Burke remains<br />

one of my favourite living<br />

authors. His writing is more<br />

poetry than prose. Some of<br />

my early years were spent in<br />

South Louisiana USA, and<br />

he evokes memories of the<br />

sights, sounds and smells<br />

of that special part of the<br />

world.<br />

Judit Bujdoso, Eastleigh, UK<br />

I enjoy all kinds of mystery books and often read<br />

late into the night, as the suspense grows in the<br />

story.<br />

I am currently reading <strong>The</strong> Goldfinch, by Donna<br />

Tartt, an American author. I love the plot and how<br />

it weaves a lot of art-related facts into a story of loss,<br />

love and mystery. It won the Pulitzer award in 2014.<br />

(Published by Little Brown & Co.) Gone Girl by<br />

Gillian Flynn is another great read (published by<br />

Crown Publishing Group). Amy goes missing on her<br />

wedding anniversary and the “gone girl” brought me<br />

10 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


SUMMER READS <br />

on a journey through her marriage and her life. It was<br />

slow to get started, but worth the wait.<br />

I also recommend “Before I wake” by Robert<br />

Wiersema. (Published by Random House.) A<br />

shocking accident leaves a young girl in a coma<br />

with apparent miraculous<br />

healing powers. This brings<br />

many problems for her<br />

parents and those who visit<br />

her bedside, hoping for<br />

cures. Different, exciting,<br />

lots of twists and turns and<br />

a very enjoyable read. So<br />

many different personalities<br />

and problems we all meet<br />

in daily living. I couldn’t<br />

put it down for long!<br />

Jan Hively, “Age Friendly” Yarmouth,<br />

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA.<br />

(Jan is a social entrepreneur and activist for<br />

positive ageing. Read more about Jan’s work here<br />

www.passitonnetwork.org)<br />

I’m a “big picture” issues person seeking fresh ideas<br />

about how people can share their strengths and<br />

create community. I am currently reading Sharing<br />

Cities: Activating the Urban Commons, 2018, edited<br />

and published by shareable, www.shareable.net. Here<br />

is a brand new, optimistic guide about Sharing with<br />

100+ case studies and model policies from 80 cities<br />

in 35 countries.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Gifts of Caregiving, and Wisdom from Those in<br />

Care, by Connie Goldman, published by the Society<br />

of Certified Senior Advisors. This pair of books tells<br />

the stories of caregivers and those who are being cared<br />

for and asks questions<br />

for readers to mull over<br />

in relation to their own<br />

experiences with caregiving.<br />

My “must read” book for<br />

older adults is <strong>The</strong> Mature<br />

Mind: <strong>The</strong> Positive Power<br />

of the Aging Brain, by Gene<br />

Cohen, published by Basic<br />

Books. It’s an easy read<br />

that transforms our ageist<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

assumptions and shows how our personalities, creativity,<br />

and psychological “selves” continue to develop in later<br />

life through four developmental stages: midlife reevaluation,<br />

liberation, summing up, and encore.<br />

Sue Baxter, Steyning,<br />

West Sussex, UK<br />

Having spent my working life trying to teach the<br />

classics of English Literature, I now, in blissful<br />

retirement, prefer well written and translated, “scandi<br />

noir” murder mysteries. Having begun with Henning<br />

Mankel and Wallander I now devour as many scandi<br />

crime writers as I can find. Favourites are anything by<br />

Anne Holt or Jo Nesbo. Currently I’m just starting<br />

on another novel by Clare Mackintosh. <strong>The</strong> first one<br />

I read was “I See You..” <strong>The</strong> book is a slow burner,<br />

but the final scenes have a terrifying twist. Women<br />

are being followed on the<br />

tube after a website posts<br />

details of their commute.<br />

It’s the ordinary made<br />

frightening, as in all good<br />

murder mysteries. (I See<br />

You by Clare Mackintosh<br />

published by Sphere and<br />

available on Kindle). I<br />

would recommend any book<br />

by Anne Holt, but Modus,<br />

featuring the police profiler<br />

Johanne Vik, is a good start.<br />

Sean Lawlor, Belfast,<br />

Northern Ireland<br />

I enjoy books about real life stories and in particular,<br />

where people overcome obstacles. I also have a<br />

deep interest in books that explore the spiritual<br />

aspect of life and again<br />

offer a perspective that is<br />

positive. I am currently<br />

reading “On Tuesdays I’m<br />

a Buddhist” by Michael<br />

Harding - expeditions in<br />

and in-between worlds<br />

where therapy ends and<br />

stories begin. This book is<br />

such a personal story of the<br />

everyday stuff of the author’s<br />

life and I particularly enjoy<br />

this story as he combines<br />

11


SUMMER READS<br />

wit with very real life experience.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is also a lightness and a<br />

non-serious look at just how<br />

life is. Definitely worth a read. I<br />

particularly liked the story about<br />

him and the Russian man climbing<br />

the monastic site. Makes me want<br />

to travel more myself and meet<br />

interesting people.<br />

Conal Hegarty, Dublin,<br />

Ireland<br />

I enjoy both fiction and nonfiction<br />

plus documentary style<br />

books. Currently reading Swimsuit<br />

by James Patterson (Random<br />

House). Fictional detective story<br />

about a serial killer. It has a<br />

different twist to it as the killer<br />

is identified at the beginning of<br />

the book and continues the nasty<br />

deeds as the story unfolds.<br />

I recommend any Clive Cussler<br />

book if you like an adventure<br />

story, Andrew York is great for<br />

a detective read and both Bill<br />

Bryson and the Ross O’ Carroll-<br />

Kelly series by Paul Howard<br />

make me laugh out loud. Ross<br />

O’ Carroll Kelly’s “Game of<br />

throw-ins” is a must read for<br />

those of us who dreamed of<br />

playing rugby during our midlife<br />

crisis. Great fun, lots of<br />

laughter and family members we<br />

can all identify with <br />

Current reads<br />

Rula Atalla, Jordan:<br />

<strong>The</strong> Ministry Of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy.<br />

Peter Mangan, Dublin (founder of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Freebird</strong> Club):<br />

Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou.<br />

Page turners<br />

Ask an Astronaut, Tim Peake.<br />

If you’ve ever wondered how an astronaut prepares<br />

to go into space, what kind of food they eat when<br />

they’re there or what all the different parts of the<br />

Space Station are, this is the book for you. It’s also<br />

a handy one to have to hand if the small people<br />

in your life start asking tough questions like “is it<br />

noisy in space?’ or “does space smell?” Tim Peake is<br />

a European Space Agency astronaut and a test pilot<br />

who served in the British Army Air Corps. He is also<br />

the author of Hello, is this Planet Earth?” – a book of photographs taken<br />

from the International Space Station which won the British Non-fiction<br />

Lifestyle Book of the Year award in 2017.<br />

Elon Musk, Ashlee Vance<br />

Outspoken and volatile, South African-born<br />

entrepreneur, Elon Musk, is rarely out of the<br />

headlines. But whether you approve of Musk’s<br />

unorthodox style or not, there’s no denying he’s a<br />

visionary thinker, a highly resilient and determined<br />

businessman and a force to be reckoned with<br />

in the transport and space industries. Journalist<br />

Ashley Vance’s biography of Musk is a pacey read<br />

that gives an insight into Musk’s manic energy<br />

and charts his rise from his early days with PayPal<br />

to the launch of his electric car company, Tesla, to his grand plan<br />

for space travel and ultimately colonising Mars through SpaceX<br />

exploration which he founded in 2002.<br />

A lifetime of writing –<br />

British author Penelope Lively<br />

is still writing at 85 and her<br />

novel, Moon Tiger, has just<br />

been nominated for the 50th<br />

anniversary Golden Man Booker<br />

award. Lively started out writing<br />

for children and didn’t publish her first adult novel,<br />

<strong>The</strong> Road to Lichfield, until her mid 40s. One of her<br />

great passions is gardening and she has written a<br />

wonderful book that is part personal and part history<br />

that is sure to appeal to literary garden lovers everywhere. Life in the<br />

Garden is published by Penguin.<br />

12 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


LET’S COOK <br />

Just like Grandma used to make<br />

Grandmother’s Orange Cream<br />

Niav Halpin<br />

writes about<br />

the pick-me-up<br />

pudding her<br />

grandmother<br />

taught her how to<br />

make.<br />

OK, so you are feeling<br />

under the weather, not<br />

sure what you want<br />

to eat but know you<br />

should eat something.<br />

What you need is my<br />

Grandmother’s Orange<br />

Cream. This recipe has<br />

been handed down<br />

through generations<br />

in our family and is<br />

the ‘go to’ dish for<br />

anyone who is just not<br />

themselves. It is a tasty,<br />

nourishing, refreshing<br />

jelly that goes down<br />

easily and you will feel<br />

just a little bit better<br />

and a little bit loved<br />

after eating it. Of<br />

course, you don’t need<br />

to be feeling under the<br />

weather to make it, this<br />

is delicious any day of<br />

the week. In fact, it is<br />

my daughter’s favourite<br />

dessert! You can make<br />

it in one large bowl or<br />

in smaller individual<br />

bowls or glasses just like<br />

you would with jelly.<br />

6 servings<br />

Preparation Time:<br />

10 /15 mins to make plus chilling time in<br />

the fridge -5/6 hours or overnight<br />

Ingredients<br />

• 1 x 12g sachet or 3 teaspoons of<br />

powdered gelatine*<br />

• 500mls / 1 pint / 2 Cups of freshly<br />

squeezed orange juice<br />

• 2 free range egg yolks (beaten)<br />

• 70g / 2½ oz caster sugar (quantity<br />

optional depending on how sweet the<br />

oranges are)<br />

*(For vegetarians use 2 tablespoons agar flakes<br />

or 2 teaspoons of agar powder & follow the<br />

instructions on the packet although it may not set<br />

quite as well as with gelatine)<br />

Nutition Facts<br />

Servings: 6<br />

Amount per serving<br />

Calories 108<br />

% Daily Value*<br />

Total Fat 1.6g 2%<br />

Saturated Fat 0.5g 2%<br />

• Dissolve the gelatine according to the<br />

instructions on the packet remembering<br />

not to use boiling water to dissolve it.<br />

• Stir vigorously until clear. (If it doesn’t<br />

dissolve fully, sit the container in a bowl of<br />

hot water and stir until the liquid is clear)<br />

• Put approx 100ml of the orange juice into<br />

a saucepan with the sugar (if using) and<br />

heat gently until the sugar is dissolved<br />

i.e. grains of sugar no longer visible at the<br />

bottom of the saucepan.<br />

• Add the dissolved gelatine mixture into the<br />

saucepan, then add the rest of the orange<br />

juice and whisk in the beaten egg yolks.<br />

• Bring the mixture almost to the boil (until<br />

bubbles appear around the side of the<br />

saucepan).<br />

• Pour into the dish or dishes and leave aside<br />

to cool.<br />

• In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to<br />

a froth and fold into the orange mixture<br />

gently - they will form a white fluffy layer<br />

on top.<br />

• Leave to cool for 5 or 6 hours in the fridge<br />

to set.<br />

Cholesterol 55mg 18%<br />

Sodium 24mg 1%<br />

Total Carbohydrate 20.9g 8%<br />

Dietary Fiber 0.2g 1%<br />

Total Sugars 19.1g<br />

Protein 3.5g<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

13


PROFILE<br />

High Flyer<br />

International correspondent, Karin<br />

Holly, writes about her father, the<br />

high-flying Captain Bob.<br />

Meet Capt. Robert F. Holly. He’s 73 years old and<br />

works as a helicopter pilot on contract for the U.S.<br />

Navy. He’s currently stationed in the Middle East<br />

on a supply ship. From there, Capt. Holly launches<br />

his Puma SA330 helicopter to make deliveries to<br />

other military vessels. Quite often the ships are far<br />

out at sea and have no way to obtain supplies of<br />

food, fuel and spare parts in a safe harbour.<br />

Capt. Holly and his colleagues deliver everything<br />

ordered by the men and women living on board<br />

these ships at sea. Most appreciated are deliveries of<br />

mail and ice cream. <strong>The</strong> pilots pick up sling loads<br />

of the supplies to fly them to the vessels and have<br />

to contend with tremendous heat, sand storms and<br />

strong winds. His job also includes the occasional<br />

medical emergency airlift where an injured crew<br />

member is flown to a land-based hospital for help.<br />

<strong>The</strong> work requires a lot of training and my Dad<br />

spends several hours each year in a flight simulator.<br />

Here he practices worst case-scenarios. He also<br />

had to train to become a fireman, as well as be<br />

submerged in a pool to practice freeing himself if<br />

an aircraft goes down. <strong>The</strong> U.S. Federal Aviation<br />

Administration also demands regular written tests as<br />

well as a medical exam every six months.<br />

Robert Holly was born and raised in Connecticut.<br />

He started flying helicopters during the Vietnam<br />

War. After his tour there he was transferred to<br />

Germany where he met his wife. Dad then decided<br />

to continue his flying career in the private sector<br />

and took a job in Iran. Since then his adventurous<br />

career that has taken him around the globe and he<br />

has spent many years working in Chile, Borneo,<br />

Trinidad, Afghanistan and Nigeria.<br />

14 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


PROFILE <br />

Among one of his favorite<br />

assignments was flying geologists<br />

in Greenland where they were<br />

conducting mineral surveys. At the<br />

time, he and his crew lived on an<br />

ancient wooden boat which early<br />

explorers used.<br />

“I also flew geologists in Nigeria.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y were doing survey work to<br />

design and plan the new capital<br />

city in the Federal Territory. <strong>The</strong><br />

new capital is called Abuja, which is<br />

located in the geographical center of<br />

the country, uniting the different<br />

tribes that make up the area’s<br />

population,” he says.<br />

Off and on Robert Holly spent<br />

nearly 30 years working in<br />

Nigeria. At 65, local laws forced<br />

him to retire. However, he wasn’t<br />

ready to hang up his flying suit.<br />

“When I started my career, many<br />

pilots had to retire at 55. But we<br />

all get medically evaluated every<br />

six months. As long as you’re<br />

healthy and still enjoy what you<br />

do, I don’t think you should be<br />

forced out of your job,” he says.<br />

“<br />

As long as<br />

you’re healthy and<br />

still enjoy what<br />

you do, I don’t<br />

think you should<br />

be forced out of<br />

your job<br />

”<br />

<strong>The</strong> U.S. Navy was searching<br />

for contractors and signed my<br />

Dad. With more than 22,000<br />

hours in the air, high security<br />

clearance and experience<br />

in flying this type of Puma<br />

helicopter, he was a perfect fit.<br />

<strong>The</strong> work is hard. <strong>The</strong> hours<br />

are long and yet Dad calls it<br />

his perfect retirement job.<br />

“It’s great to be needed and<br />

challenged,” he says.<br />

At the same time my Dad<br />

is aware that he is truly<br />

fortunate to be healthy<br />

enough to work at such a<br />

demanding job. He has a<br />

lot of support from his wife<br />

and family during the long<br />

months he’s out at sea.<br />

But a lot comes down to good<br />

genes as well.<br />

Dad feels that retirement is a<br />

very individual choice.<br />

“It really depends on your<br />

health. And by that I mean<br />

both your physical and mental<br />

health. Working longer isn’t<br />

for everyone. But it was the<br />

right thing for me,” he says<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

15


LIVING & LIFESTYLE<br />

Tips for healthy eating<br />

Eating properly can be a challenge<br />

as we get older but don’t get ‘stuck’<br />

eating the same things and cooking<br />

the same meals every day says food<br />

lover, cook and blogger, Niav Halpin.<br />

Eating well as we get older is just as important as it<br />

is when we are babies. It helps us feel good, gives us<br />

energy to do things and should be enjoyable. Also,<br />

unlike many aspects of our health and wellbeing,<br />

what we eat is totally within our control. A good<br />

diet can help decrease the risk of heart disease, high<br />

blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol and<br />

can help greatly with recovery from illness or injury.<br />

Think of your food as medicine as well as one of<br />

life’s great pleasures!<br />

Top tips to keep eating well<br />

• Plan your meals and don’t skip a meal.<br />

• Pack in the protein. We all lose muscle mass<br />

as we age and not getting enough protein can<br />

be detrimental to your health. Try to include<br />

some protein at each meal if you can. Eggs are<br />

a great source of protein and are the original fast<br />

food - scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and<br />

wholegrain toast can be made in five minutes and<br />

is the perfect way to start the day. Lean meat,<br />

turkey, chicken, salmon, sardines, tuna, beans,<br />

pulses or nuts are also great sources of protein.<br />

• 5 a Day. Fruits and veggies are packed with<br />

important nutrients. However, eating five a day<br />

can be difficult. Remember these can be fresh<br />

or frozen and eating a variety is important as<br />

is colour. If you find this difficult try making<br />

smoothies. Many fruits freeze well and can be used<br />

straight from the freezer e.g. bananas, mangos,<br />

raspberries, strawberries or blueberries. Spinach<br />

added to a fruit smoothie is an excellent way to get<br />

those super green leafy vegetables into your diet.<br />

• Eat fibre-rich foods like 100% wholemeal or<br />

wholegrain bread, porridge /oatmeal, brown rice<br />

and brown pasta. A high-fibre diet can lower<br />

the risk of developing many chronic conditions<br />

including heart disease, obesity and some cancers.<br />

• H2O - drink lots of water. Ideally you should<br />

drink 8 glasses / 2 litres a day as getting<br />

dehydrated can make you feel tired and<br />

sometimes dizzy.<br />

• Avoid empty calories. This means limiting or<br />

avoiding processed foods like ready-made meals,<br />

sausages, cold meats, biscuits, cakes, savoury<br />

snacks (crisps, peanuts), sweets. <strong>The</strong>se foods can<br />

be high in calories, fat, sugar and salt and low in<br />

nutrients.<br />

• Fermented foods are super for digestion, gut<br />

health, reducing inflammation and for boosting<br />

the immune system. Many of these can be<br />

made at home such as milk kefir, kimchi and<br />

sauerkraut. You can find making instructions on<br />

You Tube. <strong>The</strong>y are also available to buy in many<br />

health food shops and online.<br />

• Bone broth is a great source of protein and is<br />

good for joint and bone health. It can be drunk<br />

on its own or used in soups, stews or casseroles.<br />

You can make it at home if you can source the<br />

bones from a good butcher or it is available to<br />

buy in many good food stores and can be ordered<br />

online.<br />

• Double up. If you are cooking something for<br />

dinner today double the amount and it will<br />

provide dinner or lunch tomorrow.<br />

• Cook from scratch as this way you know what<br />

you are eating with no hidden sugars, salt or bad<br />

fats. It doesn’t have to be complicated. With good<br />

ingredients the simpler the better.<br />

• Spice it up - try adding more herbs and spices<br />

such as turmeric, ginger and cinnamon to add<br />

interest ad flavour.<br />

• Running out of ideas? Check out cookery classes<br />

or courses in your area or look online for new<br />

recipes and great tips. <br />

16 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


LIVING & LIFESTYLE <br />

Love Art!<br />

Maureen Dunne studied History of Art<br />

and Architecture/Ancient History and<br />

Archaeology at Trinity College Dublin as a<br />

mature student and now thoroughly enjoys<br />

working as a volunteer with the National<br />

Gallery of Ireland.<br />

Working on the information desk in the splendour<br />

of the National Gallery of Ireland surrounded by<br />

the paintings of the greatest masters in the world,<br />

I am constantly reminded of just what is meant by<br />

“art appreciation.” Not all art is contained in the<br />

grandeur of such establishments. Art is everywhere<br />

in plain sight.<br />

So, what do we mean when we talk about art<br />

appreciation? Well, just that. Appreciating art in<br />

all its forms from its creation, composition and<br />

space to the medium used, the colour palette and<br />

the style, form, function and context. We are also<br />

talking about its subject matter and what it says to<br />

the viewer as he/she stands and studies it.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is no “right” way to appreciate art. We should<br />

just let a painting embrace us as we rejoice in the<br />

storyline or the depiction unfolding before us. We<br />

should envelop ourselves in the tones, hues and the<br />

use of space within the canvas and if possible ‘enter’<br />

the space and feel part of it.<br />

When visiting a gallery it is easy to just walk along<br />

and glance at the line of paintings as you pass. But<br />

I would recommend taking it more slowly and to<br />

dedicate a period of time to studying say three or<br />

four paintings in an afternoon. Such focus can open<br />

up a whole new world.<br />

You don’t have to travel far to appreciate the art<br />

around you. Start by getting familiar with your local<br />

gallery and your local artists and wallow in what is<br />

on offer. Appreciating art is a meandering and very<br />

rewarding journey….bon voyage! <br />

Three of my favourite artworks in Dublin<br />

<strong>The</strong> Book of Kells<br />

Dublin’s Trinity College is home to one of the earliest and most beautiful<br />

artworks ever produced - <strong>The</strong> Book of Kells. Written by monks in<br />

approximately 800AD, the delicacy and fineness of the iconography<br />

depicted in the gospels is unequalled. It is adorned with lavish script,<br />

decoration and paintings of the Evangelists – all for the glory of God.<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

17


LIVING & LIFESTYLE<br />

Caravaggio<br />

‘<strong>The</strong> Taking of Christ’<br />

Housed at the National Gallery of<br />

Ireland in Clare Street, this is a story full<br />

of sorrow. <strong>The</strong> sombre mood is depicted<br />

by the chiaroscuro/darkness. However,<br />

there are definite light sources that draw<br />

the eye of the viewer to take a very<br />

close look into the painting and study<br />

everything surrounding Christ, whose<br />

face is visible to us, as he is taken away<br />

by the soldiers.<br />

Vermeer ‘Woman Writing<br />

a Letter with her Maid’<br />

This painting is also part of the collection<br />

at the National Gallery of Ireland.<br />

Dutch painters of the 17th century<br />

“Golden Age” thrilled us with depictions<br />

of everyday life. In this painting the<br />

maid is seen taking centre stage – most<br />

unusual as normally maids and servants<br />

were hidden. But from this painting<br />

we can assume the maid was totally in<br />

the confidence of her mistress as she<br />

writes her letter. <strong>The</strong> maid looks out the<br />

window awaiting her chore of delivering the letter. But to whom? What is the letter? A love letter to her<br />

husband or a letter to a secret lover – let your imagination run riot …….<br />

<strong>The</strong> Book of Kells can be found at Trinity<br />

college Dublin, click below for details:<br />

Carvaggio’s ‘<strong>The</strong> Taking of Christ’ and Vermeer’s ‘Woman<br />

Writing a Letter with her Maid’ can be found at National<br />

Gaery of Ireland, click below for details:<br />

18 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


LIVING & LIFESTYLE <br />

Singing is health enhancing at any age<br />

In 2016 I did something I had been<br />

considering for years - I joined a choral<br />

society! It has proved a remarkable<br />

experience and I’m only sorry I didn’t do<br />

it a long time ago writes Des O’Neill.<br />

<strong>The</strong> choir I joined was incredibly welcoming but also<br />

had a fantastic forward impetus and work ethic. With<br />

little previous experience, I found myself singing<br />

a moving Beethoven oratorio, a sublime Schubert<br />

Mass, three performances of the Messiah, and a<br />

delightfully arranged Christmas concert over a period<br />

of six months. Since then I have experienced Rossini,<br />

Jenkins, Liszt, Gounod, more Handel, and have now<br />

sung twice in the marvellous lunchtime ‘Handel in the<br />

Street’ concert which takes place in Dublin’s Fishamble<br />

Street on the 13th of April every year to celebrate the<br />

world premiere of Messiah in Dublin back in 1742.<br />

I have also discovered and joined a new ‘event’<br />

choir, the Irish Doctors Choir. It rehearses for a<br />

few weekends and then performs. To date we have<br />

sung in Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony and<br />

Rachmaninov’s deeply spiritual All-Night Vigil.<br />

<strong>The</strong> rehearsals for both choirs are as important<br />

as the concerts. I find myself looking forward to<br />

Tuesday evenings when all else is cleared from my<br />

mind as I concentrate on the score allied to the<br />

pleasure of singing together.<br />

In addition, there is the constant proximity to the<br />

beauty of the music. As a race we are not given<br />

to discourse on aesthetics in our personal lives,<br />

but aesthetics feature in Maslow’s hierarchy of<br />

needs as the penultimate step in self-actualisation,<br />

a truer understanding of who we are. It is also<br />

notable that many choirs focus on religious music<br />

and in a secular/pluralist society we rarely dwell<br />

on and articulate the hugely important themes of<br />

suffering, love, death and redemption encountered<br />

in these texts with their impact magnified by the<br />

deeply moving and powerful music. <strong>The</strong> aesthetic<br />

experience is unbelievably heightened when<br />

performing in one of these masterpieces, almost as<br />

if one becomes a living character in a great novel<br />

or in a celebrated painting like Rembrandt’s <strong>The</strong><br />

Night Watch, moving from observer to embedded<br />

participant.<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

<strong>The</strong>re may<br />

also be health<br />

benefits to<br />

singing!<br />

Support for<br />

this suggestion<br />

comes in a<br />

recent Irish<br />

study from the<br />

University of<br />

Limerick which<br />

examined the<br />

topic with 1,779<br />

choral singers<br />

from around the globe. <strong>The</strong> results suggested an<br />

overwhelmingly positive perception of the health<br />

benefits of choral singing.<br />

While the health aspects are undeniable, these may<br />

be overplayed relative to the importance of how it<br />

helps us to rethink and reshape our world, experience<br />

pleasure and companionship, and connect to<br />

something deep inside through text and music.<br />

Most choirs make strenuous efforts to encourage<br />

membership and provide support for novices,<br />

including supportive recorded material, and there<br />

are also online sites which provide similar help, so<br />

you should not feel daunted by approaching a choir<br />

for the first time. <strong>The</strong>re are many avenues, and if<br />

not through one of the mainstream choirs in your<br />

area, consider also the tried and trusted route of the<br />

local religious or community choir, often avid for<br />

new members<br />

Professor Desmond O’Neill is a consultant physician<br />

in geriatric and stroke medicine<br />

and co-chair of the Medical and Health<br />

Humanities Initiative of Trinity College Dublin.<br />

For a contemporary take on choral music,<br />

the hauntingly beautiful compositions<br />

of US composer Eric Whitacre are worth<br />

a listen. For a classical experience try<br />

the powerful Ode to Joy with words by<br />

German poet Friedrich Schiller from<br />

Beethoven’s 9th symphony.<br />

19


TRAVEL<br />

Winter, Spring, Summer<br />

or Fall – Boston has it all<br />

Boston-born Julie Colby gives us<br />

a whistle stop tour of her favourite<br />

aspects of her native city.<br />

With an abundance of historic sites, utterly<br />

charming neighbourhoods, beautiful public parks,<br />

a variety of museums, and delicious dining options,<br />

there are plenty of things to do in Boston. It is one<br />

of those cities where each season brings a variety of<br />

new things to do and see.<br />

Go on the Freedom Trail and get a glimpse into the<br />

history of the USA. You can take a guided tour or<br />

go on your own with map in hand. It’s a journey<br />

that will take you through churches, graveyards,<br />

meeting houses, a ship and if you follow the painted<br />

red line every step gives you a glimpse into the past<br />

and the beginning of the American Revolution. <strong>The</strong><br />

entire trail is 2.5 miles but you can decide what you<br />

want to see and make it shorter.<br />

If art is your thing then <strong>The</strong> Museum of Fine Arts<br />

should be on your list of places to go but my top<br />

recommendation – and make sure you leave a whole<br />

morning or afternoon to go and see it - is <strong>The</strong><br />

Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum. This collection<br />

of art, tapestries, furniture, and an old Roman<br />

sarcophagus all housed in this palatial Venetian<br />

designed palazzo complete with a great courtyard<br />

is where the Gardners used to live and is now a<br />

museum where you can get up close and personal<br />

with the collection.<br />

Perhaps you’ve heard about the great heist of<br />

1990 when 13 works of art were stolen worth an<br />

estimated 500 million? This happened at the Isabelle<br />

Stewart Gardner Museum when the artworks were<br />

cut out from their frames. <strong>The</strong>se empty frames<br />

are still hanging on the wall in the hope that they<br />

will eventually be reunited with their paintings.<br />

<strong>The</strong> guides here are incredibly passionate and very<br />

knowledgeable.<br />

If you are more into the great outdoors just strolling<br />

through Boston Public Gardens is a pleasant way to<br />

spend a bit of time and you can take a short Swan<br />

Boat ride in the park. And of course, you are only<br />

a stone’s throw away from the famous Cheers pub–<br />

where everybody knows your name! A must do is to<br />

eat dinner or just go and get some pizza and have<br />

a cannoli for desert in the North End. <strong>The</strong> city is<br />

really easy to get around by foot or on <strong>The</strong> T run by<br />

the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority <br />

20 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


TRAVEL <br />

Visit the Pioneer Valley<br />

Amherst is a just a short hop from our host Christine’s<br />

house in Belchertown and nearby resident, Jackie<br />

Keady, gives us the low-down on her local area.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Town of Amherst, located in the lovely Pioneer<br />

Valley of Western Massachusetts, is a diverse,<br />

inclusive community offering numerous outdoor,<br />

educational and cultural opportunities. Host to<br />

Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the<br />

University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst<br />

enjoys a tradition of quality education, support for<br />

open space and agriculture, and respect for its history.<br />

Nature enthusiasts, lovers of culture and the arts,<br />

sports aficionados and foodies will all find plenty<br />

to enjoy in the “happy valley” as it is affectionately<br />

referred to by residents of western Massachusetts.<br />

Nearby Northampton, MA (8 miles) is home to<br />

Smith College and Mount Holyoke College with<br />

additional parks, shops and restaurants. Amherst is<br />

also two hours from Boston and an hour to southern<br />

Vermont for those who wish to explore further.<br />

Some suggestions for every type of visitor would<br />

include:<br />

OUTDOOR RECREATION:<br />

• <strong>The</strong> Seven Sisters<br />

• Quabbin Reservoir<br />

• Manhan Bicycle Trail<br />

• <strong>The</strong> Charlemont Gorge<br />

• Look Park<br />

• Mount Tom<br />

• Bridge of Flowers<br />

CULTURE AND ARTS:<br />

• Forbes Library<br />

• <strong>The</strong> Emily Dickinson Museum<br />

• Mead Art Museum at Amherst College<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

FOODIE HAVENS, RESTAURANTS AND BARS:<br />

• Blue Heron<br />

• Bistro 63<br />

• Judie’s<br />

• Amherst Brewing Company<br />

• Northampton Brewery<br />

• <strong>The</strong> Lone Wolf<br />

• Black Sheep Bakery<br />

• Atkins Market and Bakery<br />

• Amherst Farmers Market - April thru November<br />

SHOPPING:<br />

• Yankee Candle Company<br />

• Thorne’s Market<br />

• Silverscape Jewellery<br />

• Artisan Gallery<br />

• Downtown Sounds<br />

• Pinch Pottery<br />

• Zanna Clothing<br />

Our hosts in Massachusetts<br />

Thomas’s place,<br />

Roughly 3 hours North of<br />

Boston.<br />

CLICK TO BOOK<br />

Lea’s place<br />

Chestnut Hill<br />

A suburb of Boston.<br />

Christine’s place<br />

Belchertown<br />

Roughly an hour and a half<br />

West of Boston.<br />

Jeanine’s place<br />

CLICK TO BOOK<br />

CLICK TO BOOK<br />

Nantucket Island<br />

Roughly a four-hour road<br />

trip followed by a ferry ride<br />

but faster using the high-speed ferry from<br />

Hyannis. Boston to Hyannis is roughly an<br />

hour and a half by car.<br />

CLICK TO BOOK<br />

21


TECH SAVVY<br />

TOP TECH TIPS<br />

Michael Redmond Jr. chooses his top<br />

tech picks to improve your memory and<br />

make your travel experience easier and<br />

more enjoyable!<br />

Our Top Three tech Tools<br />

1. Elevate (available on both Android +<br />

iOS): https://www.elevateapp.com/<br />

Lumosity (available on both Android<br />

+ iOS): https://www.lumosity.com/<br />

I have tested both of these “train your<br />

brain” applications. Both are easy to sign up for<br />

and start using right away with no verification of<br />

identity needed. Both have free and paid versions<br />

available. <strong>The</strong> paid versions aren’t that expensive and<br />

offer a lot more “in game” exercises. <strong>The</strong> prices vary<br />

depending on the type of membership desired.<br />

Personally, I liked Lumosity more than Elevate because<br />

it gives you a score for how you performed relative to<br />

others in the same age bracket. <strong>The</strong> user is limited to<br />

three free games per day and I feel this a good balance<br />

as you can have experience with the app but not become<br />

addicted to it as the next set of games won’t be available<br />

until the next day. Elevate doesn’t seem as challenging<br />

and doesn’t feel like I’m exercising my mind as much.<br />

Try both for yourself and see which you prefer.<br />

2. Ever found yourself wondering how<br />

you know if someone is visiting or<br />

what’s coming up in your day? A free<br />

app, Prompt by Memrica for iPhone<br />

and iPad, combines a visual diary with<br />

notes about your history with people and places. It’s<br />

really straightforward to use and is a great reminder<br />

service for those moments when you just need a<br />

‘Prompt’ to remember! http://memricaprompt.com<br />

3. How-To Resize Photos, a Step-by-<br />

Step Guide is available at: https://<br />

www.wikihow.com/Resize-an-<br />

Image-in-Microsoft-Paint<br />

Handy Help for Travel<br />

a. Travel Phrasebook | Translator<br />

(available on both Android +<br />

iOS): https://www.apple.com/<br />

ie/ios/app-store/ https://play.<br />

google.com/store?hl=en<br />

b. Travel Gadget:<br />

Tile Mate is a bluetooth “finder<br />

app.” Attach to your keys, wallet,<br />

suitcase, etc. and download the<br />

app. Can locate your missing<br />

item! https://www.thetileapp.<br />

com/en-eu/store/tiles/mate<br />

c. Xiaomi Mi Power Bank Pro<br />

(portable charger) – handy to<br />

have if no socket is close by.<br />

https://amzn.to/2Lkmnji<br />

d. Universal Adapter - https://www.<br />

tripsavvy.com/best-travel-adaptersto-buy-4136335<br />

e. Mini Portable<br />

Phone Fan<br />

(available for<br />

Androids and<br />

iPhones) – This<br />

little gadget attaches<br />

to your phone and<br />

keeps you cool on<br />

warm days.<br />

Apple: https://<br />

amzn.to/2LiHHpr<br />

Android: https://amzn.to/29QPgA1<br />

22 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018


TECH SAVVY <br />

Picture this!<br />

Michael Redmond Jr. explains how to upload<br />

photos to your PC (Windows) or Apple devices.<br />

Uploading to PC<br />

1 Connect your device (e.g., phone, camera, tablet,<br />

etc.) to your computer using the USB *cable it<br />

came with. This is done by plugging the smaller<br />

end of the cable (Micro-B or Lightning port) into<br />

your device and by plugging the USB (bigger end)<br />

into your computer.<br />

*This will be the same cable used to charge your<br />

device.<br />

2 Open your File Explorer from the start menu and<br />

locate your device on the left hand side-bar. Double<br />

click on your device’s name to open its files.<br />

3 Now that you can see your devices files, Select<br />

the folder you saved your picture under on your<br />

device. For most devices, this can be seen in the<br />

Photos folder already setup on your device.<br />

4 Now that you’re in the folder where you saved your<br />

photo, locate the picture you’d like to transfer.<br />

5 Once you’ve located this picture, Left click and<br />

Hold on the image’s icon. While still holding<br />

the image, Drag the image over to the desired<br />

destination *folder.<br />

*to ensure you’re over the correct folder, the folder<br />

will be highlighted and little note will appear<br />

saying “→ Move to [folder name]”<br />

After 2 seconds of hovering over a folder, this<br />

message will disappear and the folder being<br />

hovered over will open up so that you can place it<br />

in a subsequent folder if desired.<br />

6 Once you are sure you are over the desired<br />

destination folder, Release the left click and this<br />

will Drop the picture into that folder.<br />

7 To ensure this was done successfully, left click<br />

on the destination folder and locate your image<br />

file. If you are able to see it, then this was done<br />

successfully.<br />

Uploading to a Mac<br />

from your iPhone or iPad<br />

1 Connect your device (iPhone or iPad) to your<br />

computer using the USB cable it came with. This is<br />

done by plugging the Lightning port (smaller end of<br />

the cable) into your device and by plugging the USB<br />

(bigger end) into your computer.<br />

*This will be the same cord used to charge your<br />

device*<br />

2 Once your device has been connected follow the on<br />

screen instructions to allow your Mac to access your<br />

device. This usually involves agreeing to allow access<br />

on the Mac and then typing in your password on your<br />

device to allow it to Trust this computer.<br />

3 Now locate and open your “Photos” application<br />

on your Mac. It should be located on your dock<br />

but if not, search for it using command + spacebar<br />

button combo to open the spotlight feature and<br />

search for it.<br />

4 Locate your device on the left hand sidebar and<br />

click on it to open it’s contents.<br />

5 Click the checkbox next to Open Photos and<br />

select the desired location where to upload in the<br />

“Import to”: dropdown.<br />

6 You should be prompted to Unlock your device,<br />

but if not, still just unlock your device and leave it<br />

unlocked. You will now be able to see your device’s<br />

photos on your Mac.<br />

7 Locate the photo(s) you wish to upload and click<br />

on the desired one(s). You will now see the Import<br />

# Selected button made available to you at the top<br />

right hand corner of the screen. Click this button<br />

and the photo(s) will be uploaded.<br />

8 Your photo(s) will now be accessible for upload to <strong>The</strong><br />

<strong>Freebird</strong> Club website by navigating to this photos file<br />

when you are choosing where to upload from.<br />

THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018<br />

23


CLUB NEWS<br />

NEW MEMBER’S OFFER<br />

€25.00<br />

YOU PAY<br />

€10.00<br />

USE PROMO CODE: SUMMER2018<br />

Join <strong>The</strong> <strong>Freebird</strong> Club NOW for just €10.00 (Usual joining fee is €25.00)<br />

AND<br />

Enjoy an additional 15% discount on all trips WORLDWIDE<br />

booked before 31st December 2018.<br />

JOIN THE FREEBIRD CLUB NOW<br />

Terms & conditions apply<br />

Follow us on:<br />

1) Offer valid until 31/12/2018 only.<br />

2) <strong>Freebird</strong> Club booking must be confirmed by 31st December 2018 and travel completed before 30th June 2019.<br />

3) This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount code or special offer.<br />

24 THE FREEBIRD TIMES – ISSUE NO. 3, AUGUST 2018

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