Momentum

The last week has been a whirlwind, and with this weekend shaping up to be an Annual-Report-a-thon, I am grabbing the spare moment while I can!

A friend asked today how my weekend had been.

Me: "Good. Yeah, busy, but good. I learned to woodwork. Made a coffee table. Drove to West Cork to help a friend emigrate. Got shortlisted for a great Vodafone thing, and had to prep a presentation, which was kinda major. Little sleep. Anyhoo, we drove up, made it to the interview in time; he left for a teeny bit of French territory beside Canada this morning..."

Friend: "I knew you wouldn't let me down. I'm off to my office now to think about what I did this weekend. I'll let you know later."

:-)

For those who asked, my little whittled-with-love coffee table looks like this:

I *loved* the wood course - easy-paced learning in an idyllic sunshiney wood, with a young horse called Summer looking on with interest. At lunch we talked pre-Columbian artefacts and I think I actually heard my mind stretch a little :-) *And* while chatting with the other person on the course, I realised that his father happened to be up in Dublin, on my street, working on the cottage opposite mine.

Small world.

The weekend's keywords were emigration and Presentation Prep -- thanks for all who helped, with ideas and care and support and photos and deeeeelicious lemon meringue cake and a variety of coffees. So busy that I didn't even make it to the shore to look for mermaid's tears... And yet, Baltimore cannot but delight: there was a sublime birthday party to share in, and brief-but-lovely catch-up with friends, and a friend's art to explore, and some stretchy yoga to the sound of a beautiful heavy rain shower.

And then we whirled on, to Dublin and interview and Job the First and Job the Second.

I'm tired just typing that!! Time for candles and curling up :-)

Catch Up: the conclusion

Skipping a bunch of other miscellaneous, the other lovely thing in recent weeks was a weekend in Baltimore. Oodles of warm friendship moments - the Drama Group's latest production was stellar; everyone was in rare form; much chilling out and catching up, from Baltimore to Clon. One catch up was brief: a friend paused as they passed by - "You should come down more. This is home, now." Lovely :-)

And I got to lie down at the Beacon on a calm day, and listen to the sea and admire the flourishing of lichens and mosses.

*And* I got to try a baby guinness - which contains no guinness and is not fit for babies :-)

Great weekend :-)

Weathering the weekend

I made a pun!! Chuckle chuckle...

Photos begin on Friday night, when I volunteered at the Food & Wine show. I was working on a charity stall when - amid the purveryors of artisan delights - Mr Tayto himself processed through the RDS :-)

Pretty manky conditions leaving Dublin: sloooow, snowy drive. Beautiful skies though. Once arriving in (a sunshiney) West Cork, it was Catch Up Central. Long conversation with my lovely host - all warmed by firelight - then out for pizza & beers with friends. At one point during the archetypal evening I said 'I feel like I never left!' and a friend said, 'Sure you never really did'. Little sigh. Gorgeous evening.

(Hope the photo selection is okay, Bushes Folk: I went for blurry-but-atmospheric...)

Anyhoo, Sunday began with the perfect porridge, and visitors over breakfast (thanks for the treaty delivery, G&Co.!), then on for more visits and coffees and more treaty things. From wood-turning to knitwear to copperwork - the place is chock-full of talented folk working marvels in their studios!

And then, with one final coffee, it was time to say goodbye to the village. On to Clon, to spend the day with friends, one of whom was appearing in the final night of 'Hairspray'. Lovely day, brilliant night - the young cast had us in tears with their thanks. Then a late glass of wine, as we contemplated the snow that was falling fast, and sticking...

'I should be in work by early afternoon,' I had said. Maybe that was true, in Krayzee Optimistic Land...

Monday morning, with schools closed and buses cancelled, it looked like we'd be snowed in for the day. I figured I'd give it a go, and cautiously set off (thanks for excavating the car, Imy!).

Not the most pleasant of drives, but do-able.

Thanks to my fabulous hosts this weekend X

And now, life is all about the Flumping :-)

The Sunshiney Wedding of Sharon Rose and John

A weekend of two halves :-) I travelled over to Cork early Saturday morning, stopping in Clon for a lovely breakfastey catch up with the Fabulous Baking Lady (left camera in the car - doh!), then on further west. After a few days of disasterous weather and much checking of forecast, the sun had come out; the puddles were drying as I approached Baltimore.

First stop was with my very lovely hosts, featuring the warmest of welcomes (and more coffee). It was a pretty tight schedule for the day, and the choice was (a) Pamper Central to get ready for wedding (including, you know, showering) (b) Lunch at The Glebe, allowing 20 mins for change/hair/make-up.

Lunch it was :-)  Sunshiney Glebe with friends - does life get better?

Then the Twenty Minute Prep, plus photos in the back garden before I headed off - it felt kinda like I was off to the Debs!

At the church, I got to catch up with both familes: much happiness all around. The groom was ready; the bride was stunning... it was a gorgeous service with a beautiful sermon. Blink blinkey tears. Saoirse (daughter of Bride & Groom) woke in time to make a grand entrance at the end of the ceremony, and got her own round of applause from the congregation. Then photos photos photos.

The party retired to the Square, where I ducked out of the wedding group proper to have a pint in Bushes with friends. I ended up minding Saoirse's shoes (as you do), and it appears that photos were devoted to the shoes rather than Aisling, Tom G, Petra & Allie (sorrr-eeeeee).

And then on to Casey's: gorgeous meal, fabulous speeches and kick-loose Afters. And after-Afters, featuring a traditional Baltimore-esque late-night conversation. Left Casey's, taking a moment to take in the starry night sky. A day to be treasured.

Then to bed briefly, and on the road again. Along the journey to the airport I chanted 'Tiredness kills. Tiredness kills...' which kept me wide awake. Home was Flump Central, featuring naps, lovely catch up with Sara, and fourteen hours of sleep.

And now to start sorting things here: last things to see, stuff to pack, little sigh...

To Sharon Rose and John: wishing you both a lifetime of happiness. It was a privilege to share the day :-)

From Commonwealth to Cake

Rounding up from Friday: Sara & I met up with the Lady of Enigma for a pub quiz in the basement of the Commonwealth, which was great fun (and two of us, when faced with difficult questions, had the fall-back position of: "Hey, we're Irish. If you haven't thrown over your colonial oppressors yet, that's your problem").

So, flumpy Saturday was followed by busy Sunday: Dartford for major catch-up with friends (it's been 12 yes 12 years) & gorgeous Birthday lunch with fabulous children, then The Duke of York's Theatre for Ghost Stories, a play done by The League of Gentlemen folk. Very very well staged; great control of audience's anticipation and fears, and several jump out-of-your-seat moments.



And as for the Birthday Day proper: brownies from the Fabulous Baking Lady arrived in the post, complete with candles! High caffeine & sugar morning, followed by afternoon tea. Note from the photo that the cream is atop the jam and not vice versa, which means I'm Devonian and not Cornish. And underneath the dollops of cream and rasabee jam is butter, lovingly curled with my butter curler, which travelled over here with me. Because we are not animals :-)

Speaking of which, an incident involving the cream and the kitchen floor, ahem, unified the cats of the house in clean-up duty :-)



Tonight, the city beckons. I may have time to squeeze in a birthday nap, which comes highly recommended after a glass of fizzy.

My humble thanks for the well wishes and cards and treaty phone calls XXX

Exotic Medley

Another stellar weekend.

Friday evening - following the Intervention of the Ladies of the Glebe - was hosted by a local artists' collective in Skibbereen, in their lovely studios, night-lights twinkling as dusk approached: the fabulous Leanne O'Sullivan, who read a selection of her poetry old and new. I hadn't heard her before, and blinked tears at the beauty of many of her sentiments and phrases, that have their roots out in the Beara peninsula. Then musicians and poets and writers - entirely eclectic mix of styles and approaches to the word, spoken and sung. It was my first time attending, and I was made to feel most welcome (and contributed my bit along with the rest).

Saturday was TEDx WestCork: the theme was 'Moments of Astonishment'. And there were a few! Great mix of speakers, thoughts, calls-to-action, poetry (Leanne Treat #2), ponderings on landscape and sense of place (though when one speaker said "I moved to Dublin and felt lonely and isolated..." I chose not to meet the knowing smiles!). David Puttnam was the sole speaker who was defeated by the Ash, but he sent a film that made his point instead. Then onwards for sunshiney (and duskey) pints with the locals, all loving this weather.

And so began the Safari. Sharon Rose had done a beautiful 'Nosey at Fota' colouring picture, and we set up books and hats and crayons and glitter gel tattoo pens :-) We were kept busy for hours! Lots of lovely children and adults. And Nosey took a little time to explore the animals...



:-)

Heritage Weekend

Ah, it was fabulous. Storytelling on Friday night with Ellen Walsh and Neily Bohane, with tales of messages in bottles and holy wells and kings with horses' ears. I was dazzled. Then bee-tales on Saturday morning with the infectiously enthusiastic Tim Rowe: I loved all the evocative language around bee-keeping - hollow trees and virgin queens and princesses. I was idling around 'princesses' for a children's story, when Tim said 'and then the princess kills all the other princesses by stinging them through the side of the cell'. Sheesh.

Skib's play on Saturday evening was a fast-paced farce 'A Wake in the West'. Packed audience, belly-laughing throughout. Extra applause for our own Donagh, who was especially great :-)

The Craftey Market yesterday was a blast: gorgeous maps and metalwork and art and sausages and treaty cakes and coffee and Nosey Rosie and wool and of course, lobster pots :-) I was totally enchanted by the unspun hand-dyed wool (from the sheep of Inish Beg) that was being teased into yarn on a traditional spinning wheel, and I was given a selection in gorgeous colours (soon to appear in a textile hanging near me - thanks, Sandra - so generous!). All the ladies got a delivery of ice-cream (thanks, GP - Paddy was a smidge doleful!), and the Fabulous Sharon Rose gave me a hat-decorating lesson - I was *so* absurdly delighted with myself.

Then sunshiney pints and dinner and late-night pints.

You know that whole 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone' tendency? Well, I rarely suffer from that - I tend to treasure stuff as I go along, from the joy of having a good hot shower to not having a toothache. So I've appreciated this community throughout, but coming up to leaving, its delights are especially moving. Glisteney, in a Paula Marten-shimmery-sequin kinda way :-) Over the weekend there were social invites to sing-songs and writers' sessions, and conversation kept weaving back to me, leaving. Range of reactions from a strident 'And what about the Drama Group's Summer Production???' (thanks, D) to 'This is very sad. The end of an era, really' (thanks, G). And gentle suggestions about alternatives, if I decided to stay. And slagging. And much support.

Photos are gonna take a while, but this'll get us started :-)



Thanks to all, for a fairytale weekend. Quite magical.

Weekend Round Up

Another bank holiday put to bed...

Well, our little Munster clique (in the midst of Leinster supporters) ran the gamut of emotions on Saturday: 'they-always-take-a-while-to-warm-up' confidence; sympathy at some unlucky bounces; then bewilderment at every play being just a tiny bit off...

Distressing.

Still, there was some great rugby played; bets were won and lost; and consolatory pints were drunk.



Meanwhile in Baltimore, I'm reliably informed by Our Man on the Ground that the 'Lunsters' were painting the village blue. All's quiet again today; the only movement is the Fiddle Fair marquee going up. Which means two whole days of peace & serenity before the next onslaught...

And in other news (although this was an evening thang), this may be how the working week should start. Before you switch tubes, just nip above ground, sing your heart out with 13,500 other people, and you're ready for Monday.



I know I know: it's sponsored, and therefore pretty much an ad, and therefore eeeeevil (sorry Tara, but you know it's true); however, if we all promise that our mobile arrangements remain unaffected, then we could just enjoy the moment without feeling... tainted.

I defy anyone not to smile :-)