County Clare soap from a goat is a miracle

A revelation! Cormac McConnell suggests you invest in Celtic Caprine Creations and by Christmas, your family won't know you!

Sincere apologies first for my shambolic piece here last week. After my long break I was trying to be inventive and clever and sure I am neither. It will not happen again and that is my midsummer guarantee.

I will compensate by having the best of good news for all of you this week, especially maybe for the silvery males of my generation but indeed for all readers.

By accident a few months ago, whilst recovering from my brush with death in the Limerick Regional Hospital, I was searching for soap in our Killaloe bathroom and discovered a bar of the most amazing soap which must have been presented to us as a gift last year.

I washed my grizzled face with it for two days and dammit, by the end of the week, looked 20 years younger! Any image ye have of MacConnell over there is now totally out of date, and I'm pleased to say that ye can go the same route immediately.

I've also to state at once that I've no commercial connection at all with the magic little company away up there in the mystical Burren areas of North Clare that produces the very special rejuvenating soap. Because of this accursed malware scare created by the criminals I'm a little hampered, too, in giving ye a connection to obtain your supplies of the product.

However, having checked with the lovely Janice James by phone a few days ago I've been cleared to publish her Facebook details. These are Janice B. James, Celtic Caprine creations, Handmade Goat Milk Soap, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland.

Yes the incredible soap which has transformed my face comes from soap made from the rich milk of Burren nanny goats on Janice's little farm in the heart of the Burren of Clare. It sounds like a fairytale but it isn’t. To deploy a catchphrase I use in writings here in Ireland this is all pure true!

I suggest ye get in touch with Celtic Caprine Creations asap, obtain your face-saving supplies and I swear that the rising generations of your families will not recognize you at all when the family gathers for the Christmas celebrations.

Remember then to utter sincere thanks to Cormac as well as to the nimble little nanny goats of the mystical and mythical Burren. And to talented Janice of course for her unique arts. There is technical stuff about the soap which is beyond my ken but I gather that the PH qualities of the soap are as close as one can get to the PH ratings of our own skin.

So there ye are. That is my good deed for this week and compensation for the darkly shambolic yarn last issue. I want to move on to something else in a moment but, first, one has to compliment Joe Biden, a man so proud of his Irish roots, for effectively putting both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Russia's dangerous Putin in their proper places during his first overseas trip. Well done indeed and we'll leave political stuff aside now for the moment.

Now, speaking of Irish roots generally, I've met a few visitors to Ireland down the years who hadn’t a clue about their ancestry or from which part of Ireland their ancestors fled long ago on the coffin ships of that era. The good news for many of them today is that their surnames provide them with great clues altogether to their family history because, remarkably, the names of the ancient clans are still common in the counties of 2021.

For example, the McGoldrick name carried by our editor is as deeply rooted in Sligo as is Maguire in Fermanagh and O'Neill in Tyrone, Boyle in Donegal, Guckian in Leitrim, Considine in Clare and O'Shea in Kerry. The list is endless and fascinating.

And there are many local historians in every barony who will have the folklore attached to the families down the decades on the tips of their tongues. And all for free too.

That's it for now. It is time for me to wash my face again for the evening. Slan agus Slainte until next time.