Busy time

Things are busy round here!
We had a lovely relaxing Christmas, but since then it's been all go.

 Eldest has gone to Berlin to a debating competition; she will be there for 10 days. 

Middle Girl is going to Blessington Lakes for a rowing camp next week.

And Son is busy partying! He had a Murder on the Orient Express (paraphnelia bought online!) Thursday night.

So we cleared out for a few hours.

These pics were snapped in the centre where we ate and then went to Pitch Perfect.

I'm knitting a scarf!! It's called Haruha, which apparently is Japanese for Leaf.

Lace knitting is not really my thing, I'm more of a cables girl, but so far it's going ok. The yarn is a beautiful silk/cashmere mix, so it helps that it feels so beautiful in my hands. I will post a pic when it's finished and blocked (not sure what that is, but I'm sure youtube will have some videos!)

Happy Christmas!

Wishing you all a very happy, peaceful, fun Christmas!
I was "in town", as we call Dublin City Centre, today, looking for one ball of yarn to finish a scarf for my daughter for Christmas, so I snapped a few pictures with the iPhone.

The yarn shop was closed! What kind of shop in a city centre (even though we call it town, it is a city!) closes 2 days before Christmas?
I had to go to plan B, got other yarn in a suburban shop, and will knit a complementary cowl, and finish the scarf for the New Year.

Unfortunately, daughter is going to Berlin on 27th, and the scarf that was going to shield her from cold weather will have to stay in Dublin!

The weather here is unseasonable warm; it's really very pleasant, and lovely for some daytime walks.
This next shot is looking up Grafton Street. It was busy, and that was nice to see.

We lit the fire tonight, using a couple of logs sawn from our Christmas tree of 2011. This is a tradition I came across online a few years ago, and I love it!

We've kept 2 for tomorrow's fires.

Happy Christmas!

In the run up...

I've been having a very busy but fantastic run-up to Christmas.
Lots of all the nice things; friends, fun, food and music!

2 really lovely surprises this week.

This first one was knitted by a fellow French Horn player! I've hung it in my car, with a few drops of my Christmas Burner Oil dotted on the red, and sometimes when  it twirls I get the most delightful waft of cinnamon, orange, clove, frankincense!

This other surprise arrived by post from Brussels, with a note that said "this was made for you!".
My dear friend, Cee, sent it.

Hope you're all keeping well, warm, and looking forward to some good celebrations (if you celebrate).

Exciting!

I have 5 minutes to write this post; then it will be 1.30 in the morning, so I really will have to go to bed.

But I have the most exciting news and I want to share it with you, my dear blog friends.

I have performed my first solo!

The venue was fabulous; a church in Dublin, St. Michans, which has mummies in the basement and the organ on which Handel practised for the first performance of The Messiah.
There it is: technically it was soli, as there were two of us. I still can't believe I actually did it! felt so good afterwards to have conquered those nerve demons!

Thanks to the people who've dropped in and emailed asking if I'm ok. I'm great, and really sorry to have been absent from posting for so long. I've been practising and working hard, and blogging was the ball I couldn't keep in the air. But I have so many exciting things to share, and now that I've discovered you can write a post in 5 minutes, I'll be back!
see y'all soon!

A hat!

I finally got back to a little bit of knitting!
I had seen this pattern on Stephanie's blog, Hookin', Knittin' and Livin', and thought it looked fun and, more important, quick to knit. Then daughter, out of the blue, asked would I knit her a hat. Lickety split, I pulled out 2 balls of alpaca and began, before anything could intervene. The double strand was to (almost!) tie in with the yarn used in the pattern (I knew it was still slightly thinner, so I adjusted the number of stitches), but also, as she will be wearing it for rowing practice, I figured the extra warmth will come in useful during these winter months.

The colour doesn't look as good here as it actually is, but these days the motto is "just do it", because there are too many things intervening and if I wait until conditions are better, chances are it won't get done!

Back soon, hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Autumn

So much for doing a post each Saturday, that didn't work very well! Life has been incredibly busy, there are so many things that I had planned to blog about, and so on.
But here's a little glympse into a few things that have happened, all good!

Son was away at a Model United Nations gathering in London. He was very organised with his shirts and ties all laid out the night before.

And I can't understand how he got to be "MAN" size overnight! But he brought a Spiderman suit so there must have been some light-hearted activity, Hallowe'en related too!

We went to the band competition in Armagh, and won! It was a great day, so interesting to be back in Armagh, where the centre is exactly like it was when I was a child!
We've had a couple of concerts recently, which means that I've been practising lots. I'm becoming more relaxed (or less frazzled!) about playing in concerts; they're becoming a normal part of being in the band. We recently had an Annual Mass for deceased band members, and I was the only Horn who could play. Nervous moments, "how will I come in at the right time?" "nobody to follow or hide behind". And the conductor on the day is a principal horn player, also arranger of one of the pieces we were playing! Talk about pressure! Glad to say I survived and felt happy with my playing. So, another milestone crossed!

And finally, a picture from a recent Autumn walk in the park.  Hoping to get some more of this in the coming week.

And younger daughter got a wonderful award at her (former) school prizegiving. I blogged previously about the trouble at the school, and how it impacted badly on her and on her Leaving Cert. exams. We wondered if the school management would leave them out of the ceremony.
So we were surprised when she got a letter awarding her "Most helpful Prefect" .
Then a bigger award came. They present a Rose Bowl to the girl who makes the biggest contribution in her 6 years there, to school life. Students and Staff have a vote each and Zoe got that award!
 I am so proud of her, and when I saw the video of the presenter's speech about her various contributions in sport, charity events, debating, Model United Nations, President's Award, orchestra,  I was bowled over! She hasn't received the Rose Bowl yet, as her name is being engraved on it. Her name will also go on a Honours Board in the school hall.

Back with random pics.

It has been a very busy few weeks, but lots of exciting things have happened.

First up, and most recent, was Zoe's Debs. The guy in the photo is a friend from band. She had been to his debs the previous week, so they were old hat at posing for photos! Don't they look lovely?

Can you see the bruises on her legs? She has started college, and is cycling to and fro. She was knocked off her bike on Tuesday morning by a taxi. He did stop, but I don't think he really took responsibility, and tried to convince her it was at least half her fault. I don't agree. Luckily, she was wearing a helmet, PHEW. But her poor legs and one elbow are badly bruised. I know that insurance probably advises drivers to get away and stay away, but it would have been nice to get a phone call to double check that she was ok. That is how (i think) it would have happened in my days of cycling, but all that has changed now, and it's all about not admitting liability. She is doing fine , and is back on her bike.

In other news, it's been hectic at school. I've got some new projects going on this year. One is called Dissolving Boundaries, and for that one we link with a school in Northern Ireland, do a joint project, some videoconferencing, and bring the students to meet each other. Should be exciting! The kick-off meeting for that was last Wednesday night and Thursday, though I only made Thursday cos of the Debs.

Hubby and I had a lovely lunch out at the end of summer, and this picture is the dessert I had. It was so yummy! i just found the picture when I was uploading from the camera, and it brought back the lovely memory of a happy afternoon.

One other happy afternoon, spent at a local beach, yielded this picture, and again, it reminded me of that lovely afternoon when I uploaded it.
I'm going to try to do a post each Saturday from now on, as I feel I have neglected my blog, and discarded so many photos that I simply didn't have time to upload. We'll see how it goes!

Band is busy again; we are going to a competition in Armagh soon, so lots of practice scheduled, but tomorrow we have a day off as there is a replay of a football match that ended in a draw last time. There is too much traffic and not enough parking in town on those days. Part of me hopes tomorrow is another draw!!!