Jug

"We live in an old coastguard house just above a rocky strand on Sherkin Island in Co. Cork. One day my son was clearing land at the side of the house with a pickaxe when he came across a blackened object buried in the ground. He dug it up and I removed all the black tar-like stuff from its surface and discovered it was a jug covered in fine line cracks. Miraculously, it had survived the pickaxe! Beige in colour, the jug has what looks like a harebell design and the handle is representative of a pruned crab-apple tree branch. I kept it on a cupboard shelf for several years until the big storm in January 2014. That year, for the very first time, a wave entered our house, causing havoc at floor level. The cupboard fell over and all the contents fell out. When the wave retreated, I recovered the articles and discovered that everything had been broken or destroyed by the water, except for the little brown jug! I stood the cupboard upright, replaced the jug and started bailing the water because the tide was going out. However, about fifteen minutes later another freak wave bounded up the beach, entered the house and knocked the cupboard over again. Somehow, the jug survived this time too. It now has pride of place on our dresser as a much treasured item."