Don't know where to start, but here goes..

It ironic that I hadn't time all summer to write a post, barely had time to comment, and now that school's back, and band's back, found time! So much to catch up on, better make a start.

Hubby and I had a lovely Italian holiday in June. We had a Silver Wedding anniversary, and coincidentally our flight was that day, and even better, there was a performance of Aida in the Arena in Verona. Yippee! Got a train from Milan to Verona.

It was very little extra to go 1st class, so we did, and free Prosecco was included! yay for Italian trains!

What better annniversary food than pizza. Delicious!
This is where our luck ran out.

As we began to eat our food, the rain began, and did not stop all night.









There was water running down the street, like a little stream.

There was great debate as to whether the opera would begin, and we got all the detail: if it doesn't start, you get a refund, but sometimes it starts, stops a few minutes later, maybe restarts, and so on. In this case, no refund!
We made our way over to the Arena, which was full of excitement, people wondering if it would start.

We waited half an hour, but the rain showed no sign of letting up, so we went back to our hotel.
Next morning, the sun was shining again. The opera had not started. Wise decision to go home!
To be continued....
I'm not sure what Blogger is doing to my pics, will try to rectify this tomorrow!

Upbeat

Sorry that I haven't been around for almost all of February, at least in terms of posting.

It's been a busy month, I've been doing lots of knitting, and I've been eating the delicious stuff that you see in the picture!

Busy month - 2 lots of exams (not for me-yay! Mocks!) eldest daughter was doing Mock Leaving Cert and Son was doing Mock Junior Cert.

School for me has been very busy, with some intense and difficult meetings. To say that we were ready for mid-term break is an understatement!

But what a lovely break! I went to Brussels on Sunday, to visit my friend C and in particular her daughter Ais, who has been very sick for a year now. I wrote about the terrible thing that happened to her here. Ais has been making great progress in the Rehab centre that she is now in, but she still has a lot of breathing problems, and was re-admitted to hospital on Monday with a respiratory infection. She is such a brave lady who works very hard at her recovery. She is inspirational.

But, in spite of that, we had a lovely time for my three days there, I was able to give both Ais and C some little foot massages each day, and we had some delicious meals. The family are great cooks, and they also all enjoy sitting around the table over a leisurely meal. We had long chats, caught up with other mutual friends and some good arguments too!

And on Tuesday, C and I went to a favourite restaurant in Brussels, where the chef is a very talented Irish lady. Little Ais insisted that we go ahead with the planned meal even though she was now in hospital, and we were able to reward her with a takeaway of mixed appetisers and one of these chocolate mousse creations!

And tonight, another Opera!

Eldest Daughter and I have gone to all the Met Live in HD this season, courtesy of the Sunday Times (until tonight- they changed from first-come-first-served free tickets to lottery, and we didn't win their lottery!Boo!) ; we've enjoyed it so much that we were unable to contemplate missing this treat, so we bought two tickets. Placido Domingo and Susan Graham were the leads in Iphigénie en Tauride and both were suffering from colds, but they gave wonderful performances. I think it's safe to say that I'm completely converted to Opera.

And as I sit typing this, the result of our General Election is coming in. There has been a seismic shift in Irish politics, the likes of which we haven't seen since 1915. About time too.

Listening to Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, who will probably form the next Government in a coalition with Labour, I feel some confidence that the country will be able to get out of the mess that Fianna Fail led us into, and that we will be proud to be Irish again. I haven't heard Eamon Gilmore yet, but I'm sure he must be delighted with the huge vote his party got. Looking forward, for the first time in about 2 years, to tomorrow's papers!

So much to be thankful for. Update, with photos, of knitting in the next few days.

Chance Encounter

Went to the Met Opera HD in the local cinema again tonight; this "Don Pasquale" performance was sold out. My usual partner(my 18yo daughter) was otherwise occupied (party), so I had a spare ticket.

To be honest, I had a mini debate in my head around what to do with it. We got the tickets free through a Sunday Times scheme, and part of me didn't want a stranger sitting next to me. But then when I realised it was sold out, I went back to the ticket booth to see if someone would like it.

Initially, I approached two ladies, who looked at me with deep suspicion and a touch of scorn, and informed me that they had booked. But the man behind them started waving at me, a 50 euro note in his hand, very keen to get the last remaining ticket. He couldn't believe his luck when I wouldn't take any money for it, as they sell for 25 euro each!

Turns out, he knew quite a bit about opera, which he willingly shared with me, including a snippet about the lead lady, Anna Netrobko. She worked as a janitor at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. and then went on to audition for the same theatre.

Just goes to show, one good turn leads to another. I appreciated the information and he appreciated the free ticket!

The picture above is one I had in my archives, taken near my brother's house in Kent. I like the light in it, and the rainbow seemed appropriate to this post!

P.S. My 14yo son thinks I was mad not to take the money, and says I could have given it to him if I really didn't want it!

A day of Gifts

It's been a lovely, sunny autumn day here, so in the afternoon we got a bit of gardening done.


In the midst of a bit of weeding, I gasped when I saw this




I only planted the bush in June, and thought it would do well to produce fruit next year! But the weather has been unseasonably warm, so nature has given us this most wonderful bonus bounty.

And then I moved to the other side of the garden, and discovered another stash!




I've already made my green tomato chutney, so I'm leaving these on a plate at the window for a few days, hoping they'll ripen enough to eat. And if not, another little pot or two of chutney won't go to loss!

And tonight we were at the opera. And this was another gift. The Sunday Times has been offering some free tickets to a live HD cinema screening of performances from The Metropolitan Opera.



Tonight's performance was Mussorgsky's Boris Gudnov. A marathon 4 and a half hour performance, which included two intervals: it was brilliant! There were also some lovely behind-the-scenes interviews during the intervals


Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"was the first music I played on my first night in band, so I'll always have a special place in my heart for him.


So, at this late hour, as I'm about to head to bed, I give thanks for a bountiful, beautiful day.