I’ve always had a house full of them. Long limbed lads with soft chocolatey eyes and too many plans for wild escapades.
Knotting up the house with twine, wool and bits of wood. Getting under upturned tables and chairs and dragging their stuff in there. Breeding mice and guinea pigs and keeping them in their pockets. Sleeping with a hound who ate a hole in the wall and a cat who gave birth to four kittens on top of one who was trying to sleep…..
Scampering through the fields, even during the night when we never knew they were out. Liberating caged birds and protecting a family of foxes from the hunt. Creating endless film footage of Action Man meeting some unfortunate end, of cars and trucks going off the edge of a cliff, of fireworks going off in slow motion.
Tousled heads conferring while carefully setting up scenes with small clever fingers. Imaginary friends with strong opinions on who was to blame for accidental breakages, usually “Mr. Nobody.” The sweetest precious cards and pictures drawn and painted to a virtual running commentary. (One in which I was depicted as a mother rat (!) perfectly and lovingly drawn, feeding a babe….)
And of course running around after any kind of a ball in a whirl of excitement.
Laughing, messing and playing football on a misty wild beach…….oblivious to everything and everyone……….the lean sure movements of lads playing football……. just brought me right back……..
Happy seaside atmosphere where usually money can't exchange with.
Yes Simon you can't beat a day at the seaside, one of the pleasures of an Irish summer, even in the mist:~)
I love these photos! They're like paintings by Sorolla or Cézanne.
The upside of a misty Irish day!
Beautiful photos your words bring back memories of my son growing up, how fast those days fly by!
Sarah x
All over 6 feet tall with bristly beards now!! Thanks Sarah
I love the title of this post, Lads, could of course be Pups too 🙂 Your first sentence is pure poetry. I've one of these guys in my house at the moment, and you've described him perfectly.
That's funny, I always think they are exactly like hairy puppies when they swim with us. But I think you might have meant Pups in another way, which I could also resonate with!
Animated and emotion filled pictures with beautiful text.
Thank you so much Lucy, you are very kind:~)
Lovely post Catherine
Thanks Lorna that means a lot:~)
Thank for you your lovely blog. I live in the US now but I'm more and more homesick and you give me little breaths of Ireland that I inhale greedily. I have three and a half year old twin boys and I can see them already as young men playing on the sand. It makes me excited for them and the future to imagine them in your vision.
Life must be pretty lively in your house Karen. Thank you for taking an interest, there is so much going on in Ireland right now that I escape here myself to remember the good things, big hug from Waterford:~)
Your photos capture youthful exuberance just perfectly. With just one lad I've only got a fraction of your experiences
but they still ring true.
Thanks for that Mairead, that's great to hear:~)
As a mother of 2 (grown up) boys and now a Nana to a grandson, I truly appreciate your descriptions of "lads": they are energetic, playful, sympathetic as well as loving and protective of their Mamas that love them so. Thank you for your wonderful pictures and "spot on" observations!!
Lucky you congrats on the Grandson! I suppose we spoil them alright, but sure why not, it passes so fast:~)
My boys are 17 and 16 , 6ft1 1/2 and 6ft1 ! Becoming men so suddenly. But they never loose that little boy or "lad" – it's in their core.
How true, they never lose it, just take a look at their Dads!
I have 2 sisters, but there was only one lad growing up, my brother, so we had lads playing around the house and I loved playing with them. I played with dolls and played house but I also climbed trees, played cowboys and cops and usually ended up as dirty as the lads…we have no children, but lots of nieces so no lads still…so as a teacher you can guess I was drawn to working with and helping the lads as they seemed to have more fun and less hassles..as an adult, I am still drawn to the lads in conversations and at parties or events…maybe one day we will have a grand nephew!
We were actually all girls at home, and we loved any chance to play with boys. So having sons was a treat and so much fun. Not sure now where I got the energy from, like you I am looking forward to a new generation of any gender but between the whole lot of them, not a sign of it:~)
What a lovely post … I have to say, this is rather like what I imagined having a house full of boys would be like! 🙂
Thank you for that! It varies in intensity I would say, but it's never dull:~)
Love, love, loved this post!
Brave boys to be out on the beach in shorts! lol.
Lovely words. It sounds like your boys had a wonderful childhood.
WONDERFUL!Great shots full of that energy they have and lovely writing too. Thanks Foxy:)
Utterly delightful.
Love these joyous 'boyhood' images. Reminds me of mine..and the house that was once full of their male-infested energy. Thank-you for this today!
Beautiful images, simple happiness, energy and light. Maire x
Lovely words Maire. X