Taking the sting...

out of last night’s posts, I feel I have to re-phrase and clarify a few things.

But first, I would like to start out with something I observed this morning during breakfast:

Two guys, slightly past their prime were sitting next to each other eating breakfast. One of them, eating his toast, didn't have a knife next to his plate. So, wondering how he buttered his toast, I noticed, he also looked the very slightest way having Down's Syndrome. While I was eating my breakfast, I noticed, how the second guy put butter to a toast cut it in half and put it on the other guy's plate.

With every kid my wife was pregnant with, my first question was whether the baby was okay, meaning, is it healthy in every sense of the meaning. Basically, it wouldn't matter. My wife and I decided early in our marriage that no matter what, we would not abort. My concern was primarily doubting my own patience with a special-needs kid: would we, as parents, and especially I have the strength care for that kid for the rest of my life? And what, if my wife and I was no more? Would that kid be able to live on its own, would the siblings care for it or would he/she have to enter a special institution with questionable care?

Well, we are blessed with three awesome kids. They are so healthy, they in times drive mom and dad nuts.

No better feeling than coming home after work to be greeted by currently 2 rug-rats chasing for the door and giving hugs and telling about their day (2 rug-rats, because #3 is still slightly immobile due to the very young age of  today 5 months- HAPPY BIRTHDAY:))

To The Oaks Of Glencree 

My arms are round you, and I lean

Against you, while the lark,

Sings over us, and golden lights and green

Shadows are on your bark.

There’ll come a season when you’ll stretch

Black boards to cover me;

Then in Mount Jerome I will lie, poor wretch,

With worms eternally.

by Edmund John Millington Synge

Okay, to take the sting out:

it is a fact, parks serve as green lungs for cities. It also is a fact, that grass in an effect called Albedo reflects a lot of sunlight. Forests have an albedo of between 5 and 15%, grassland between 10 and 20%. The percentage indicates the ability to reflect light; the smaller the percentage the better.

Now, it could be argued, that ice and snow reflect a lot of sun, so let's get rid of it. It's not quite that simple, because ice and snow in the polar regions are natural and excessive use of grass is not.

Ultimately and simply put, it means that grassy surfaces are significantly warmer than areas covered by trees. Well, of course there is shade under trees, but the foliage itself is able, due to a darker surface and complex shapes, to absorb a lot of the sun's radiation.

 The result is fresher, cooler air and less need for AC, reducing the need for electricity and lowering energy bills.

The capability in heat absorption and radiation could be observed on a hot summer's day on exposed pavement compared to shaded pavement. .

I like, how parks are accepted and utilized in Ireland. If I was seeking coolness, though, the parks I've seen in Dublin, with the exception of St.Stephen's Green must, to a certain degree disappoint.

An additional benefit to green spaces in cities is, they reduce the stress level of city dwellers which manifests in fewer visits to the doctor. And that reduces strain on the health system.

So, there are multiple benefits of having parks in the city, if done right.

As I said before, I do understand the British influence on Irish landscape management. But as was pointed out by some Irish, they are very different to the British.

Why not REALLY show it?