CREELS My father spent hours trimming the edges of the newly cut sally rods, to make creels for taking the turf over the soft soil of the bog, so that the horse and cart could bring it home for the winter time. I watched how he scalloped the edges, tightly tied and intricately weaved the freshwood. He was making tools, repairing them. Busy with his hands, he wasted no time, took no holidays, or trips away, except once a year, cycling to Mohill for the Manachan Day Fair with my mother. When they got home, the sun was a low ember, the cows milked. SNOW MORNING I walk to work along the Shelbourne Road, after the Christmas holiday Inches of snow cover over the gardens; on the trees each branch looks like a stroke of artist's white paint, and lilies laden with delicate meringues form fairy designs. Bunches of red fruit on the cotoneaster give a warm glow to the cold day. Hedges, stifled from constant trimming, bear spheres of whiteness,squashed into the tight branches; the grass is covered in a cotton carpet, and sleet drops mark out a pattern, reminding me of the farm after a snowfall, when the hens criss-crossed the garden outside the kitchen window. -- Posted by permission. Mary was born in 1942 in Kiltoghert, Co. Leitrim, one of a family of seven, her childhood spent on a totally self-sufficient, organic farm. She began to work with Leitrim and Sligo County Councils, moved to Dublin, but eventually left Ireland at different times to live and work - Sydney, Tasmania, the Channel Islands and Oxford. Throughout a life of participation within the arts, she has published poetry and fiction and is also an accomplished photographer whose work has been exhibited in a number of locations. Her photography of rural Ireland formed a postcard series available in Ireland during the 1980s. Some of her photos and reminisces are included in her little softcover books of poetry - "Perfume of the Soil" (1999) and "The Road to Gowel." (2000). Some verses in the latter volume also speak of modern Ireland and life in the city. Mary has won awards for her poetry, which has appeared in a number of literary journals. She has been a me! mber of the Rathmines Writers' Group, some of her longer poems have been broadcast by RTE and Anna Livia Radio. Mary has also participated in cultural exchanges with Boston. Her observations, emotions and sheer ability to go straight to the heart of a subject make her work popular and celebratory. Living in Dublin, she continues to work and write with frequent trips back to visit relatives in Leitrim.