Friday Five Blog Hop

Came across this blog hop, and maybe it's cos I'm on mid-term with time on my hands, or maybe I'm looking for a way to commit to regular posts.
Anyway, Jessee suggests a wrap-up of the week as one post, so I will go with that.

It's been a quiet week. Normally, my mid-term is for catching up with friends, housework and odd jobs. Because of having been sick, I decided to keep things quiet, and didn't make any arrangements. I did cleaning and some organisation, some walking and yoga, but nothing like the usual "tearing around".
And my body is thanking me for that.
This is a lovely soup I had on Monday in town in Avoca (oooh, one of my favourite shops, great food, fab clothes) just look at that lovely multiseed bread

and I haven't quite figured out the picture below, is it one person or more?

Each of the figures moved parts of themselves at different times, but there's no way it was 5 people!
Hope to see you over at the Friday Five Bloghop!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Here in Dublin, spring has come! It's a blue sky, sunshine (though cold!) day, and it finally feels that winter has come to an end.

"COMES THE DAWN"        Veronica A. Shoffstall

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong,
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn."

Cleaning up my laptop this morning, I came across this little poem, that seemed apt for today. And I had noticed the first rose still blooming in the garden, it has lasted through all the winter months. I love it, even though it is old and a bit withered. It has lived, it has learned.

This second one is a new bud...aren't flowers amazingly brave; they push through, even when days have been grey, dark and gloomy, then they surprise us with this beautiful colour. It's a bit blurred because it was waving in the wind.

Have a lovely day, everyone! We will be having just a normal, quiet dinner at home, then I will go to band practice!
On Saturday, my cousin is singing in The Marriage of Figaro in the National Concert Hall, and we have got tickets for that for our Valentine celebration. Looking forward very much to that!

Mid-term and Horses

Just a quick few thoughts and news.

I'm feeling much better now, and went back to yoga tonight, which was really lovely.
We're on mid-term now, which means no school for a whole week! I do have some admin work to do, but that won't be too taxing. Must get back to knitting too.

A huge controversy has broken here over the use of horsemeat in some burgers and frozen lasagne. Apart from the obvious issues such as that suppliers and the public were conned,  and the fact that we still don't know if there was any of the banned veterinary drug “bute” in the horsemeat, I fail to see what the big deal is. I would love to know where they got the horses from and the logistics of how they disguised the meat, but I do not agree with using the word "contaminated". People must have eaten these products and not noticed any difference; I'm with AA Gill, who thinks that rather than concentrating on the 70% horsemeat, we should try to find out what the remaining 30% was.
ugh, the 30% doesn't bear thinking about!  I know in chicken products it can include toenails, skin, feathers etc.and still be called "chicken" (which, technically, it is).Ugh, ugh and ugh!
For me, I like to know where my meat came from, have it unprocessed and naturally reared, and I don't mind eating less meat and paying a bit more to achieve this. Good farmers work very hard and they deserve to be properly paid. I think our drive for constantly cheaper food (much of which is wasted), processed by multinationals, far removed from its source, is causing these problems.
Let's get back to basics. 
What do you think?