London 2012 Part 1

London was a blast!

We arrived on Thursday night, my brother picked us up at Gatwick and brought us to the apartment where we were staying. We were originally supposed to stay in his caravan at a site near Gatwick, which he assures us is really good, but then we realised we'd be travelling all across London each day. So, with 2 days to go, I searched every website I could find, and picked the scrapings of the pot.
It was grand, very central, clean and plenty of space.
Friday morning we walked 20 minutes from the apartment to Lords Cricket ground for Archery.

The concentration of these guys was amazing.
I couldn't believe how disrespectful people could be- announcements were made at least 10 times asking people to stop taking flash photos, and still it went on. Each time, it was explained that these athletes have trained for 4 years for this moment, and a flash in their eyes could ruin everything. Arrgh!
The Cricket Ground is a fabulous place!

 What really astonished me was the distance these arrows travelled, and the accuracy with which the athletes could hit, even though sometimes a wind would start up just after they took their shot. I'd have no sense of that from watching it on tv.

After the Archery, we went off and had brunch, then went to Hyde Park, where there were big screens with events, and a stage with bands, and magically, although there were clouds, most of the time the sun shone. And we had no rain!!

There also was no trouble of any kind, I saw nobody drunk or showing signs of drugs. A great security job.
There were lots of interesting things for kiddies too.

We listened to the Clemson College Symphonic Band from the US.

 and then we watched that very long tennis match between Federer and Del Potro.

And we got some cute Cadbury Gold Medals! More on that later!

My family are completely nuts, and we also had many laughs, including in this picture of us pretending we had won!  Ireland didn't even have ANY medals at this stage, but we had 4 Gold ones!
 The rest of London 2012 follows tomorrow. Before the Katie Taylor boxing match Final (fingers crossed for her!)

Birthday Boy

Sorry that I haven't been around to visit for the past few days- I was away at a birthday celebration, here:

My brother turned 50 at the weekend, and the family gift to him was a get-together, and a game of golf (his favourite) here:

While the golf was on, my sister and me walked and walked all around the estate, then had a coffee in the Manor drawing room. A lovely treat.

The four of us, 2 brothers,my sister and me, stayed in nearby Limerick.

What I love most about these get-togethers is that from the minute we meet, it's laughing, joking, good-natured teasing, fun. We know each other so well, for such a long time, that we are all completely relaxed in each others' company.

But the sad part comes when we have to say goodbye, and I hate that part. I always part with a horrible feeling that sometime it will be the last time that we'll all be together and the magic will be broken. And I hope so much that this is not that time. I hope that with all my heart.

On another note, for anyone who missed it, here's a link to my interview in the Sunday Roast over at Eddie Bluelights. Eddie has a very funny blog, and he does a superb job of the Sunday Roast, so if you have a minute, please, please pop over and leave a comment. I was really worried when Eddie told me that, inspired by my French Horn, he got "creative" with this roast, but in fact, I had such a laugh at it that my sides are still sore. LOL Eddie!!

I'll be round to comment again tomorrow, till then, hope you're all well and having a good summer.

Music and gifts

Sorry that I haven't posted much recently. My back has been sore, and I've had to limit my time at the computer. I decided that commenting was a higher priority than posting.

But here are a few snippets from the last week or so..

Hubby and I were supposed to go to a Christy Moore concert in January- the tickets were a birthday present. But on that afternoon, we had a very heavy snowfall, buses were not running, and, very reluctantly, we decided not to go. I was very disappointed.

But, being the darling that he is, Hubby was on the lookout, and got tickets to a Christy gig last week. And the icing on the cake? It was a fundraiser for Haiti. It was a real privilege to be there- great music from Christy and Declan Sinnott- I almost felt guilty when John O'Shea of Goal thanked the audience for helping. That's Christy on the far right, singing his heart out, for Haiti. What a guy!

Then a friend invited me to this concert

on Saturday night- wonderful! Most of the music was well-known, but there was one newly-composed piece that I didn't like at all. When it finished, I was just about to lean over to my friend and say "that was just weird" when the composer was called on stage- from the seat right in front of me! Thank goodness that, for once, I didn't put my foot in it!

Friends came over for lunch on Sunday, and one of them brought these lovely flowers. I see from google that adding a tiny bit of bleach to the water helps them to last; I hope it works.

So it was a week of many blessings, and I'm thankful for that.

Hope you're all having a lovely week- it's stopped snowing now, and everywhere looks more spring-like.

Tonight at midnight, younger daughter gets back from her school trip (Spain) and tomorrow night my brother and family arrive for 5 days! Busy times ahead!!