31 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in blogs
I would just like to wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that 2016 brings all that you wish for. And since I have several wishes of my own – some are actually more like demands – I hope that 2016 will grant me mine too.
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.
Poet Rainer Maria Rilke
30 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Christmas
Today I spent some time taking down Christmas. It all started with the tree that I needed to un-decorate, as it was losing all its needles. And since I am leaving for Germany first thing tomorrow morning, there was no other time than today.
However, It did take longer than I thought, those branches were putting up a good fight, but I won in the end and I even disposed of the sorry looking heap. As I then began putting away all of my shoe Christmas tree decorations I decided to put away most of the other decorations as well … now all that is left to greet me when I return are my stars in the window. But since stars are not just for Christmas I thought I could give them some more time to shine.
So, between running all of those last minute messages (for all you Americans out there that is what the Irish call errands) and frantically packing I am still up and won’t be in bed for another while – even though I do have to get up at 4am to catch my flight.
And while taking down Christmas is always a little bit sad getting ready for a New Year’s adventure is the best reason to do it for! I just hope I get a chance to nap because I don’t want to greet 2016 with rings under my eyes.
29 Tuesday Dec 2015
Posted in Christmas
The tree is still up the New Year is a few days away and I have somehow succumb to the post-Christmas haze. I think it may a combination of nearly a week of too much good food, hours spent at home in front of the fire knitting and reading, meeting friends and bringing another friend and her sick kitty to the vet.
I have somehow lost track of what day it is, but then who can blame me when someone has renamed them all to Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Stephen’s Day and yesterday was a Bank Holiday (I think maybe today is one too). But looking at the calendar I have realized I only have two days left in Dublin before I head out to Germany and panic has set in.
Most of today will be taken up with a wedding and the list of things left to do is longer than my arm so I doubt that I will manage it all. After all one day (tomorrow) of rushing around just will not be enough – especially since the haze has got me in it’s grip.
However with all that said I have had a lovely Christmas and expect no less of the New Year. So with the words of Taylor Swift I will just have “to shake it off” and get my lazy butt into gear – after I’ve enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and a hot shower that is!
22 Tuesday Dec 2015
Christmas Eve is only a few days away so I decided it was finally time to decorate the tree. I bought my tree at the weekend and I have to admit it is not the prettiest. But since I was limited with funds and space I really had the one choice. So I decided to pick the runt of the tree litter and just hope my decorations can distract from its oddness.
So, yesterday (after leaving the tree to stand for a day) I finally decorated it and I have to say it isn’t looking too bad – although I am wondering how green it will be on Christmas as it is shedding needles like there’s no tomorrow.
But since I will be leaving for Germany to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in Berlin I think I may just leave the tree up until I leave. That way I won’t come home to just a pile of needles and empty branches.
For now the tree stands pride of place and the gifts under the tree are waiting to be distributed over the next few days. And I am really looking forward to meeting up with friends and getting into the Christmas spirit. Sadly the temperatures aren’t really christmassy so no white Christmas in sight this year and I will just have to hope that Germany may deliver a sprinkling of snow.
18 Friday Dec 2015
Posted in Christmas
Tags
books, Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards, christmas, parcel of books, reading, Rick O'Shea, Rick O'Shea's Book Club, Sara Baume, spill simmer falter wither, spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume, Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Book Selection, winning
A few weeks ago – nearly a month now – I entered a competition, and as luck would have it I even won. It was run by the wonderful Rick O’Shea from RTE and his Book Club in conjunction with the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards, so the prize was a parcel of books and it arrived yesterday in the post.
It was such a lovely surprise and I had no idea what the selection would be – there were different categories and each winner of each category got a different one. I won the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year, so all the books in the parcel are from new Irish writers, and what a wonderful selection it is.
spill simmer falter wither by Sara Baume won the prize in the end, but I have heard lots of good about all the other nominees. And an added bonus – I haven’t read a single one of them yet.
So, by the looks of it that is my Christmas sorted, hours dipping in and out of foreign worlds in front of the fire looking up at the tree sounds like the perfect way to spend this Christmas Season.
16 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in home
Last night I sat in front of the fire, knitting and watching some TV. I was minding my own business when suddenly a cactus attacked me, it literally jumped me and I bear the scratches to prove it.
Maybe I should explain how I even got myself into the position of being attacked by a cactus as I am not really a cactus fan – I find them quite ugly and I have never really owned one.
Anyway, a good friend of mine bought a house this year and since she is still doing it up and no one, not even a cactus, can live in the house in the moment she has found a bed-in-a-shed at her boyfriend’s house and has asked me to cactus-sit. And I have been – dutifully ignoring it (which is not that easy as it is 180cm tall and very prickly) and watering it from time-to-time. And yes, I have even given it a name – Fred.
So, Fred and I have been living side by side, peacefully enough, and every now and then he will pull my hair or prick me if I come to close. Until yesterday that is – for no reason what so ever, no provocation or to-close-cleaning, Fred decided to topple on top of me. No warning, no ‘timber’, just a silent, slow topple.
Luckily, I was able to ward off the attack with my right arm, and while I am now quite badly scratched – looks like I’ve been in a fight with a very large and angry tom-cat – Fred stayed mostly intact, all he lost was a tiny little ‘branch’ (no idea what they are called in cacti lingo).
Now I am truly looking forward to the day Fred will move out – no hard feelings but I don’t like prickly pranks
14 Monday Dec 2015
Posted in Christmas
‘Tis the season to be jolly, go out and spend money too! And I did this in the best way possible, with a good friend at a few Christmas markets.
It was a miserable start to the third of Advent, grey skies and rain forcing the sun to disappear. But my C. and I decided to brave the weather and head out to the IFSC ‘I Believe’ Christmas anyway. After cups of coffee, some mulled wine and yummy twisted chips (yes, the Irish have figured out a new, delicious way to eat potatoes) we found a few last gifts for friends and the rain even stopped.
Then we headed out to the Point and the Dublin Flea Christmas Cracker Market and I am so glad we did. Not only were there more stalls than we could visit but the atmosphere was wonderful and I found a few cheap and unusual bits and bobs.
Happy, I walked home, my bag swinging at my side. On the way I bought some turf and as soon as I got home I lit afire and began wrapping my parcels and gifts. Now I have a basket full of little ‘somethings’ for friends and a few parcels ready to send to family. It truly was the perfect way to spend a pre-Christmas Sunday!
parcels ready for the postman
a bag full of gifts for friends
12 Saturday Dec 2015
Posted in photography
Tags
christmas, decoration, Oops, photography, photos, Santa, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Oops
Oops Santa is bald – when I came downstairs this morning Santa had lost his hat and his bald head greeted me.
My uncle made him for me more than ten years ago and for most of the year he lives in the back of my wardrobe. But as soon as the Christmas season arrives he moves out of the closet and on to the stairs where he stands and lights the way.
To make sure he doesn’t get a cold- after all there are still nearly two weeks to go until Christmas morning – I put his hat back on.
My Santa has a cold head
11 Friday Dec 2015
Posted in Christmas
Christmas is less than two weeks away and I still have so much left to do. I still have a few parcels to pack and a few things to make and a lot of cookies to bake – and don’t get me started on Christmas cards.
However this morning my first Christmas parcel arrived all the way from Germany. A friend seems to have been more organised than I have and this morning the postman delivered a brown package to my doorstep. Now the parcel is the living room, lying in wait and taunting me.
But I will be good and not unwrap until the big day has arrived – no matter how much i wanted to know what is hidden beneath the wrapping. After all delayed gratification is the best and I don’t want to deny myself the joy of unwrapping a gift on Christmas day.
Don’t open before the 24th – it is a German parcel after all
09 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in ACD &Masters, writing
Yesterday I handed in my pre-Christmas assignment for my novel writing class (8000+ words) and somehow that created the strange sense of weekend within me. And I don’t know why.
It’s not as if there still isn’t lots to do, I still have to edit and grade my students magazine work, I sill have two to three short-stories to hand in by the 20th and I have a whole list of other things to complete before the week is out.
Nevertheless, yesterday I somehow ended up sitting in front of the fire indulging is some afternoon TV and knitting socks. And today I still can’t shake that weekend feeling, that sense that it’s a Saturday and I can do as I please.
Maybe it’s because I lost my weekend to writing and now my mind is demanding some time to relax. Or maybe it’s the windy weather outside that is making the indoors so attractive.
Either way, after finding myself reading the same sentence over and over again (not taking it in) or gazing out of the window at nothing one too many times I have decided to cut my losses. And since I do have a few books I still need to read (I am calling it ‘research’ for my masters) I think my afternoon will be spent curled up on my armchair with a cup of tea and a story.
And who knows maybe that will help inspire me and I’ll get some writing done later – after all the day isn’t over yet.
The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it
Journalist Sydney J. Harris
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