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?

Recovering

I am still not right since I got this virus.

I went back to work on Monday, because there were a few meetings that I didn't want to miss. Each evening, I've been just relaxing, to gather strength for the next day, but still in a bit of pain with sinuses, still have the vertigo and tinnitus that accompanied that virus.

Then today, two people mentioned that Neurofen is magic for sinus pain, so on my way home I stopped off at the pharmacy and stocked up.
 yes! Happy to report it is magic!

 So, with a bit of luck and a little more time, I will be fully mended. I hate being sick, and luckily it doesn't happen very often because I'm a terrible patient: totally impatient. I make an even worse nurse! 24 hours, that's it, can't stand any longer!

I have since knitted another two of the Haruha scarf, one for myself and another red one for a friend from school who stood in for me at two events while I was sick. Friends like that are invaluable, and I was thrilled to return with a little gift for her.
I found a small ball of this green alpaca, just enough for a tea cosy for my one-cup teapot. Good match too, though I think it would benefit from a few more crochet flowers. What do you think?

Scarves and Viruses

Scarves first!
I finished the white silk and cashmere mix one, and gifted it to a friend as part of her 60th birthday present. She was thrilled with it. I was also thrilled with how it turned out. It's so soft and silky! Didn't have the patience for blocking, so I just pressed it. I know blocking would have been better, but a cool iron, lots of water spray with a drop of lavender oil added, and a tea towel to protect, and here it is.

  I was so thrilled that I decided I would knit another with some lovely pure alpaca that I've had in stash for years. And that was a younger friend's part-gift for her birthday.

The indoor photo doesn't quite do justice to this lovely rich red, but going outdoors was out of the question.

Now to viruses. Oh my, I have been sick! A bad virus, this one, wish I could name it. I had my first meal in 6 days today, and spent a good bit of the day out of bed. Yes, that bad.
 There's an upside to everything though. I lost some weight that I wanted to lose, and I got reacquainted with my sitting room!

Part of the virus is a "swimming pool" head, dull headache and all noise seems loud. Oh, and the constant sound of a fan whirring, not too bad but I'll be happier when it goes. So, the sound of TV and chat is too much for me, and I've decamped to this room, which often goes unused. I bought new cushions before Christmas and they make for a very cosy space.

With the fire lit, and ignoring the Christmas decorations that still remain (blurred photo is good, doesn't show too much!), it's perfect for recuperation. That's grey bag daughter's tuba under the piano, not a bag of decorations!

Some Park pictures

I've been trying to go walking each day during the holidays, and mostly succeeded.

This glorious sunset greeted us as we rounded a corner in our local park one evening. I'm never up on time to see a sunrise, so I really do value a good sunset!

It helps having 2 separate friends to walk with, and Hubby has been on holidays too, so I've roped him in some days too.
I don't mind walking on my own, sometimes I quite like it, but I walk further if I'm with someone, and the time goes much more quickly.

(does this look like a ghost story pic? same park, different time!)

It has paid off, to some extent. I haven't put on any weight with all the Christmas eating, and believe me there has been a lot of food around here, much of it of the sweet variety.

And the same park again, but same evening. Tomorrow is almost "back to normal": I've got band practise, the kids don't. And then Monday, we're back to school/work, only the college students get this week off.
It has been a lovely Christmas, and a great break.

I deleted a post by mistake!

I had just finished a New Year post last night, and clicked on the delete button instead of publish! Damn!

Happy New Year all, hope 2013 is great fun here in blogland. And healthy for us all so we can blog!

This is a photo Hubby took in the centre where we ate and went to the movie last Thursday night. It looks so festive!
I've been very busy, but in a really lovely way, doing projects that were put on hold before Christmas due to lack of time.

 One is this marmalade: I bought organic oranges in July, didn't have time to make the marmalade so froze them. It was a blessing, when I defrosted them, the skin was so easy to cut, and the inside seemed to be all juice and no fibre! I just chopped up the 5 oranges, added a mug of water, simmered for 15 minutes, added same weight of jam sugar, boiled 6 minutes, and DONE! I love the jewelled colour, especially at this time of year!
I often think about how foods and smells trigger memories. Saw a can of grapefruit segments in the supermarket and had to buy it.

When I was little, we always had grapefruit segments for Christmas morning breakfast, followed by a fry-up. The diningroom table was set, with best linen and china, and when I eat these, I still feel the excitement that I did as a kid. Many foods that we had at Christmastime, we didn't have the rest of the year, so it was very exciting, not like now, when all foods are available all year round.

I completed a knitting project, a hat for daughter for rowing.

It's a beautiful chunky alpaca, and she's gone off to the lakes wearing it. I had the tiniest bit left! See!

I'm still working on the lace scarf, hoping to get it finished before I return to school on Monday.