tempus fugit ...

... or, as one might say, doesn't time fly when you're having fun!

And fun we were having - good craic! We started our Irish sojourn in Dublin - where else? Another lifelong ambition realised. It was great fun. Sadly our camera decided to burst its one button, so we could take very few photos, for fear of destroying it completely.

But we managed to get round a good few things in our two days in Dublin, starting with Trinity College, and the Book of Kells. Oh glory, how wonderful it was. And Trinity College too. We had a wonderful tour guided by a student, who made it both interesting and amusing, not least by relating and then conforming to various superstitions in order not to jeopardize his exam results.

And then came, of course, Molly Malone (with Trinity College behind her):



My father used to sing Molly Malone and many other Irish songs whilst shaving, and there was a myth that there was Irish in our background - with not much foundation, I have since found. Although he, three of his brothers and his sister certainly had a celtic look about them, being small and wiry, with black wavy hair and piercing blue eyes. I grew up thinking/wishing/hoping that I might somehow be connected with that romantic land, and now I am - but only through my grandson Finn's Irish mother. Strange how our dreams can come true in ways we never dreamt of!

Then a swift visit to a hero of mine, James Joyce (and yes, I have read Ulysses, which puts me in good company, Marilyn Monroe, frinstance! And I saw Joseph Stick's film, when it first came out in 1967 - and scandalous it was thought too! Ah, sweet innocence, all gone now.):



Sadly, the Floozie in the Jaccuzzi (check out this website for some other equally scurrilous examples of Dublin humour in renaming their famous landmarks), i.e., the statue of the spirit of the Liffey River, Anna Livia, has had to make way for the Millenium Spire, but we were reliably informed a new space will be found for her soon.

Our next port of call was maybe more prosaic, but every bit as interesting: the Guinness Brewery or, as they now call it Guinness Storehouse. Oh my, oh my! The place is huge, the exhibition fantastic and, best bit of all, it ends high up in the new Gravity Bar with a free pint of the black nectar itself! And the view over Dublin is unsurpassed, especially through the bottom of a glass! ;)




Now, don't be misled by this next picture into thinking that my dearly beloved was converted from his wine-bibbing. It's all a ruse:


In fact, I had to make the ultimate sacrifice, and drink both pints. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it ...

And before I left Dublin, I just had to have a picture of these wonderful - what, exactly? Sea horses? Mersteeds? Any information/suggestions will be gratefully entertained.

More soon, I promise. Including knitting update - there has been quite a bit still.

And I think I can nominate three beautiful things: Guinness, the Book of Kells, and the Mersteeds!!

Rowan 30th Anniversary Workshop

I'd like to say, I had an absolutely fabulous w/e, and I did - eventually! The journey to Yorkshire from London was already proving horrible, taking much longer than usual because of a) roadworks, b) heavy traffic and c) even heavier rain. Then disaster struck, the clutch went as I was trying to change down coming out of the outside lane, and I had to coast onto the hard shoulder across three lanes and the slip road on to the M1 just north of Sheffield. Three hours later we were recovered to our destination, late, cold, grumpy, and (me) having missed the reception at the exhibition. :(

However, our wonderful landlord and landlady, Andy and Linda at the Castle View Country Guest House, were so welcoming, providing us with dinner at 9 pm, and looking after us all over the weekend, including an extra day while we waited for the car to be repaired at great expense (don't ask! P is still recovering, and I am having to accept that my birthday present this year was a clutch!!), that it more than made up for it!

As for the workshop, it was just fabulous. Just a couple of pictures for now, to provide a foretaste (I forgot to mention the other disaster, my camera broke, so I shall have to borrow Peter's to take pix of my work, but I did manage to take some of the workshop):

Rowan Anniversary w/e

Shan't be blogging over the w/e - for my birthday, I treated myself to the Rowan Anniversary w/e seminar in Yorkshire, ticket purchased a long time ago. Then I wasn't going to go, because I didn't think I could face the driving, after my recent bout of illness. But my darling husband saved the day when he offered to take me there and treat me to the hotel stay, so off we go! And if the weather improves, we might even get a bit of walking. The scenery's lovely up there, I'll try to get some photos. And because Peter's driving, I can knit and sleep en route!;) In the meantime, here is the completed 'back and fronts' of Finn's Aran. I think it looks a bit like a crown, which is perfectly appropriate for my little king!

Moth - or as Inspecteur Clouseau would say: meurth ...

this summer in England has, apparently, been very good - or very bad, if you are a lace knitter - for meurth. :( seemingly the warmer weather, and especially the lack of cold winters to kill off the little blighters, has led to them breeding in ever greater numbers, needing ever more supplies of food - and guess where they find it? :/ this has reached such a pitch that even no less hallowed a source than The Times featured the problem this week. i actually already knew about this, because my youngest daughter (mother of ellie, and knitted textiles BA student at Central St Martin's) had a mega-infestation in her (also mega-, but she's got a better excuse that me ;) ) stash earlier this year. she spent a long time picking out the good stuff from the bad and deep-freezing it, whilst cleaning out all the horrible little blighters and their leavings. - heartbreaking ;(

anyway, as i have caught two of the wretched little things in the past two days, this has led to me waging a great campaign to have all our sweaters, suits, jackets, etc, and especially my precious stash, out to check, clean and put back (at great expense, according to Peter, as we had to buy cedar thingies, until i pointed out the comparative cost of replacing even one of his lovely handmade suits!). we are using lavender, cedar balls and hanging cedar blocks. anybody else out there had this problem and/or got a patent remedy? all the dreadful chemicals that were so effective have now seemingly been banned. and a good thing too, i dare say. in any case they were a) smelly, and b) dangerous.

my second daughter once (aged 5), annoyed because all the attention was being centred on my newish boyfriend's 21st birthday, went upstairs, found a mothball (not easy, because i had hidden them really well, i thought), and ate it. she came downstairs spitting wildly because it tasted awful. nonetheless, we felt it prudent to take her to the hospital, where she was fed ipecacuhana and kept in overnight, resulting in our spending the rest of the birthday in casualty - result (for her!) but not for us, because the gourmet dinner i had planned in celebration was ruined - not the wine, though. so we drowned our sorrow! ;)

on a happier note, my Sarah Don, The Art of Shetland Lace turned up today. i am saving it to read on the very long car journey to Ullswater tomorrow. we are off for a few days R&R. i must say, i am seriously impressed with Lacis, from whom i ordered it only last week, result - for me! ;)

sundays closed ... (said with a strong French accent)

Probably not many people will get the reference, but there used to be a comedian in France who was pretty rude about the UK, (just the one? you ask ;) ) and one of his 'insults' was the fact that everything, incl the pubs, was closed on sunday, the implication being that this was a benighted land, with little to commend it. i suppose that in today's London , with its constant claim to be a 24/7, vibrant city, you might be tempted to think that all that had changed. well, not really. for ordinary people life on Sunday can still seem
pretty slow. which is just a long way round of saying that although of late work on the phd has been progressing, and i have had a bit of a social life lately, life is pretty slow today, sunday. so by way of entertainment, i offer a couple of pictures of my husband, Peter - 'i don't do babies', caught in positions which bely his words! ;)

i have also added a list of my projects and projected projects, after the reading of which i thought i maybe ought to and lie down for a spell, it seemed so ambitious. having said which, other people's lists seem much much longer, so i guess i'm still an amateur! ;)