From Flat Mrs Donnelly and Eva and Maeve- sent by Izzy.
Hi Izzy thank you for sending Mrs Donnelly to us in Ireland.
Hurling is the big sport in Kilkenny so Shane taught Mrs Donnelly a little bit about it. It’s a bit like hockey as the aim is to get the ball into the net to score a goal. A goal is worth 3 points. In hurling you can also score a point for putting the ball over the bar between the uprights. The winning team is the one with the most points over all. If Shane’s team scored 2 goals and 7 points they would have a total score of 13 points.
You can hit the ball, it’s called a Sliothar (slit-ter) on the ground with the Hurl (stick), or you can roll the ball with the hurl to rise it up into your hand. You can’t pick the ball off the ground. Once in your hand you can hit it like in tennis, but the ball will go a lot further.
This man is
the goalkeeper for the Kilkenny county team, he is from our parish of Glenmore. 
He can hit the sliothar almost 100meters. Kilkenny have been the all-Ireland
champions in Hurling more times than any other county in Ireland.
Hurling is
a very fast game, the players are usually sprinting flat out,
Hello to RHPS from Central New Jersey!
First off, let me tell you a little about where Flat Jacob is visiting.
He arrived here, safe and sound, on the east coast of the United States. That
tiny red dot on the east coast where the arrow is pointing? That's where we
are.
The town is called Woodbridge, and it's in the State of New Jersey. Flat Jacob
has been having some adventures here in what is called the Garden State. It's
one of the smallest but with a LOT of people!! Of the 50 states, New Jersey is
fourth smallest -- only Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are smaller. But
we have almost nine million people living here, which makes us the 11th biggest
when it comes to population.
We also have a rich and deep history with a native population called the
Delaware. They were the first people to live on this land at least 10,000 years
ago. An explorer named Giovanni de Verrazano became the first European to
explore New Jersey. He was working for the Dutch so he claimed the land for the
Netherlands, including an area the first settlers called New Netherland. You
know it today as New York City!!
That area is on the east side of the Hudson River. New Jersey is on the west
side of that river. The Dutch, Swedes, and Finns were the first European
settlers here. In 1664, the British pushed the Dutch out of the area, and my
side of the river was split into two provinces: East Jersey and West Jersey.
The capital of East Jersey was just one town away from where I live; it's
called Perth Amboy.
The town where Flat Jacob is visiting -- Woodbridge -- was settled in the early
fall in the year 1664. King Charles gave it a royal charter in 1669. This is
one of the very first places settled here. East and West Jersey then got
combined into New Jersey in 1705, and we declared our independence in 1776.
So Flat Jacob is getting some history lessons while he's here. First, of
course, he had to meet his housemate, Clancy. Jacob was impressed; I'm not sure
Clancy was -- but then he's a cat! They're never impressed.
Then Jacob took a tour of the neighborhood and met a new friend. This is an
Eastern Gray Squirrel, very common here in this part of the United States. It's
native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly
portions of the central provinces of Canada. The head and body length is from
23 to 30 cm, the tail from 19 to 25 cm, and the adult weight varies between 400
and 600 grams. (We had to look that up -- Jacob said I couldn't use inches and
ounces the way we do here instead of centimeters and grams!). It's a
scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches that it goes to later
when it's hungry.
We walked down to the local elementary school (for students in grades
kindergarten through fifth grade, ages 5-11), one of the oldest in this town,
so Jacob could see it too.
Right now it is the height of summer in New Jersey -- day time temperatures are
around 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 29-32 Centigrade, and it cools off at
night to about 70-75F or 21-24C. Because it's summer, we are getting lots of
fresh fruits and vegetables plus lots of flowers. Jacob has gotten up close and
personal with a sunflower, some corn, and some of our big juicy tomatoes.
The weather is supposed to be good this week, and Jacob is hoping we can go to the coast to see some of the birds we have here. They're not as colorful as the ones you have there in Australia, but we like them! We also hope to get to New York City so Jacob can see some of that too.
We are being very careful, the way you are, because of the virus. Jacob will have to wear a mask if we are anywhere near other people, even outdoors.
Thanks for sending Jacob for a visit!!
The wildlife area is called the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is in a place called Brigantine, in the southern part of New Jersey and right on the Atlantic Ocean. Jacob was excited for the chance to see out over the wetlands to the ocean. The refuge is right across an inlet from Atlantic City. Yes, where all the casinos are! Jacob was disappointed when I told him he was too young to be allowed in to gamble.
But he felt a lot better when we turned the corner into the refuge and he got to see some of our wildflowers right away. We're pretty sure the first one has a funny name -- hairy agrimony. The second one is a marsh rose. The next is a woodland sunflower, and the last one is called a butterfly milkweed. Flat Jacob was sure he hadn't seen any just like these at home.
Then we went out into what's called the marsh to see the birds. A marsh is an area that's always wet and can be underwater when the tide comes in. Even in the winter most of the water doesn't freeze up because it's salt water from the ocean.
Most of the birds at the refuge are either water birds or birds that eat a lot of fish. Some are songbirds that like the forests around the marsh. These are just a few of the ones we saw:
The goldfinch is a small songbird, only about 10-13 cm in height and weighs between 11–20 grams. It eats berries and other plants. This one is a boy. You can tell by the dark black cap and the bright yellow color. (Yes, we spell it “color” in the United States -- Jacob tells me that's wrong, it should be “colour.”) We found him munching on the dried seed pods on the plant he's sitting on. He sings a pretty song and doesn't like to be in the water.
The snowy egret is a much bigger bird who eats a lot of fish and is usually found around water. They live in both North and South America. This one is about 60-65 cm in height and was sitting just above one of the water channels looking for fish.
The osprey is about the same height, has a really big set of wings (as much as 180 cm) and lives on the coasts just about everywhere -- including in Australia. Sometimes it's called a sea hawk or a fish hawk. There were lots of these birds in the refuge and all of them were fishing from perches like this one that the refuge workers set up for them.
We saw whole bunches of little water birds that we just called peeps -- because they're all really small, all look alike and the noise they all make is “peep”.
We stayed all day, had a picnic at the refuge picnic table, and then watched the sun go down over the marsh.
He tells me you would like to know about Christmas the way we celebrate it here. He says it's very different where he lives because it's summer for your Christmastime and it's winter here.
Here in New Jersey we usually get some snow every year. Most of the time it's no more than about 7-14 cm. Sometimes it's a lot more. One year at Christmas we had 91 cm of snow in a big storm. Once when I was about Jacob's age, a huge snowstorm buried us under 150 cm of snow. Schools closed down for more than a week and we built an igloo at the side of the house by digging into a big snow drift. It was very cold, but a lot of fun.
My name is Alice, I am a 29 years old French woman. I
have lived in Paris, the capital of France, since the past seven years.
· I love France
for many reasons. One of them is for its culture. Wherever you go, there will
always be a century-old castle, an old church or a huge and beautiful monument
to visit. You can learn so much about the history, as if you travel in time and
go back to the past! We also have lots of museums, full of incredible pieces of
art. In Paris, you have many famous museums, such as Le Louvre, Le Musée
d’Orsay, Le Quai Branly, Le Grand Palais and many others all around the
country. There is so many artistic pieces, you will need days and days to
discover all the paintings and statues in only one museum!
· I also love
France for the food of course! You can find many different varieties: Cheeses,
breads, pastries, cooked meat, drinks... Ratatouille, croissants, crêpes,
hachi-parmentier, tartiflette, quiches, cassoulet, fois gras, pot au feu,
magret...... It is infinite, and I can spend hours to talk about this topic! I
love to cook every day for myself and my boyfriend, but also for my friends and
family when they are visiting our home. Food is important in my family, it is a
way to share a good moment together.
· You can also
found many different landscapes in my country. Sea to swim, ocean to surf, huge
mountains to ski, forests to walk... it is so rich and so different from one
region to another! All those different weather, geographic locations and
borders with other countries explains why we have so much different food and
specialties, a huge and rich cultural heritage and many different accents too,
according to the region!
· Paris is full
of history, different cultures and good food. It’s also called “the city of
love”! One of the biggest reason that I love to live in Paris is because of its
cultural life. I often go to visit a museum, see a musical, a play, a ballet, a
concert, or visit a monument. What I prefer is to walk the streets of
Paris, because you feel the history and you see it everywhere! It can be very
magical during the night to watch the sparkling Eiffel Tower, beautiful bridges
over the Seine, and Notre-Dame de Paris enlightened.
· Paris is
organized in 20 neighborhoods called « arrondissements ». The 1st is
the in the heart of the city, and then it turns like a snail shell till 20.
Mine, the 19th, is in the north-east of Paris. I love my district because it is
popular and culturally diverse. I live next to the Canal de l’Ourcq, a huge
basin when there are plenty of cafés and bar to have a drink and little boats
that you can rent for a few hours. Many people are running, cycling or having a
picnic with friends around the canal. It looks like you are not in Paris anymore!
It is nice. Ten minutes walking away, you have two big parks, Le Parc de la
Villette and Les Buttes Chaumont. You also have many different restaurants and
a lot of cafes with outside space to enjoy beautiful weather during the summer!
And it’s not a big touristic place, which is nice.
· Every morning
I take the subway or a bike and I go to work in the 9th district, twenty-five
minutes from where I live. I work for a French company named Fragonard, which
is mainly doing perfumes, but also fashion and decoration. I’m a drawer and
textile designer, and I work for the fashion and decoration’s part. I
absolutely love my job and the team I’m working with. Our office is full of
inspiration, pieces of art from all around the world and we have big windows
overlooking on one of the most beautiful monuments of the city, L’Opéra
Garnier.
· My apartment
is not big, because Paris is expensive, but I really love it. It is full of
decorations, painting that I did, memories from other countries, photos and
plants. I never stop filling it! I also love colorful furniture, with
prints, flowers, colors... ! But I’m also happy to spend my holidays out of
town, in the south of France. Ever since I was young, I share my holiday time
between the south-east of France, and south-west. Agay is a little city in the
south-east where my mother’s family come from, in a region named La Côte
d’Azur. Our house is next to the Mediterranean Sea, and next to beautiful (and
big) mountains with red rocks named L’Esterel. Sometimes, it looks like
landscapes that I saw when I was in Australia! During summer, we swim a lot in
the sea, we go scuba diving and we are doing paddle and boat rides. During
winter, we go walk to the mountain, where you have a beautiful view of the
coast. You have a lot of little villages to visit too. In the south west, where
my father’s family comes from, our holiday house is very different. It’s a very
big yet an old house, lost in the middle of the woods and the lands. It is
quiet and peaceful. There is a lake when we can swim or using our canoe.
· I moved a lot
since I’m little, every three to four years, so I feel at home in those two
places. All my childhood memories are in those two places. Even today I’m happy
to go there to relax and to take some time with my family and friends.
Here are some photos taking Flat James around Paris:
