Trying to catch my breath
It's been awhile since my last post, and I feel like I've barely paused to catch my breath.
There's been lots of working - though nowhere near as much working as before - I've managed to stop working by lunchtime in Vancouver each night, which was a minor miracle. Work is still busy, with potential for some very exciting and busy times ahead.
I turned 30, and the sky didn't fall in. Nor did I magically turn wrinkly overnight. In fact, apart from a couple of really fun evenings and some lovely gifts, not much has changed. On the day I had a surprise cake at lunch, then a surprise dinner with lovely friends at the only restaurant in Dublin to do a decent tiramisu. (I know this because I always have the tiramisu when it's available, and it's always rubbish.) Then last weekend we had people over for cocktails to celebrate again. (It sounds very glamorous, but a blender was involved. Still, good times all round.)
We went to the Electric Picnic again - and it was great. David's blogged about it already, so I will only add that camping is for fools when B&Bs are so close & cheap; if a wide selection of delicious, moderately healthy, and vege-friendly food can be available at a freakin' festival with only 100K people, perhaps it should be available in a large city with 10x that population; and Chaiwallahs continue to make possbily the best chai I've ever had, please open a shop in Dublin, preferably downstairs from us, and I will have my wages direct debited to you.
I should also say, the knitting was great. The men took a lot of teasing to bully them into trying, but they were susprisingly good. David learned to purl, and was one of the best male knitters there, in spite of his lack of experience. I am one proud teacher!
My knitting protegee/colleague has been coming on apace - she's completed a couple of scarves and is ready for her first project with shaping and stuff in it. We're going to knit the same top at the same time, so she will have some support - though I suspect she will make great progress and put me to shame. Thanks to her lovely boyfriend in the US we've ordered yarn that apparently "feels like knitting a kitten", so it should be fun.
Before that, however, I have a mammoth birthday/Xmas present for Reiko to complete (yes, Reiko, it's for you, and hopefully you'll love it!), a capelet for an almost-niece to find buttons for, and a little top for myself to complete. And then I need to get on with my winter wardrobe, since the cardi I made for myself is not the size it is supposed to be (damn blocking). Instead, Katie gets a lovely warm merino cardigan, all ready for summer. Bad timing, but it's still a pretty good deal I think!
We've had some friends leave here, and another friend announce she will be leaving in November, which has been sad. It's hard to meet people (unless they're knitters, in which case it's easy), and we're going to miss them very much.
The last - and most exciting - bit is, of course, that we've booked our Xmas trip: Japan, Auckland, Whitianga, Sydney, and Vancouver. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare working it all out, but we have almost everything booked and I've started planning all my to-do lists. Sushi, brunch, Ken Yakitori, Roasted Addiqtion, salmon rissoles, Phoenix chai, and Ricochet figure highly on my list so far. Feel free to leave a comment with your list suggestions.
We're off to Amsterdam next weekend, armed with lots of travel tips (no taking pics of the hookers, or they throw your camera in the canal!) and a serious desire to chill out. I haven't had a whole week off work since we went to Tuscany last year, and it looks like I won't be able to take one till we're off on our visit, so we're grabbing a 3-day weekend while we can! In the gap between trips I hope to be able to catch up with everyone, since they've all been off travelling while I've held the fort here.
We had a really summery day today, but the summer - such as it was - seems, on the whole, to have finished. There's a real bite in the air, and it's getting dark awfully quickly. Time to wrap up warmly, drink a pint of Guinness, eat some cheesy potatoes, and hunker down. Roll on Xmas...
There's been lots of working - though nowhere near as much working as before - I've managed to stop working by lunchtime in Vancouver each night, which was a minor miracle. Work is still busy, with potential for some very exciting and busy times ahead.
I turned 30, and the sky didn't fall in. Nor did I magically turn wrinkly overnight. In fact, apart from a couple of really fun evenings and some lovely gifts, not much has changed. On the day I had a surprise cake at lunch, then a surprise dinner with lovely friends at the only restaurant in Dublin to do a decent tiramisu. (I know this because I always have the tiramisu when it's available, and it's always rubbish.) Then last weekend we had people over for cocktails to celebrate again. (It sounds very glamorous, but a blender was involved. Still, good times all round.)
We went to the Electric Picnic again - and it was great. David's blogged about it already, so I will only add that camping is for fools when B&Bs are so close & cheap; if a wide selection of delicious, moderately healthy, and vege-friendly food can be available at a freakin' festival with only 100K people, perhaps it should be available in a large city with 10x that population; and Chaiwallahs continue to make possbily the best chai I've ever had, please open a shop in Dublin, preferably downstairs from us, and I will have my wages direct debited to you.
I should also say, the knitting was great. The men took a lot of teasing to bully them into trying, but they were susprisingly good. David learned to purl, and was one of the best male knitters there, in spite of his lack of experience. I am one proud teacher!
My knitting protegee/colleague has been coming on apace - she's completed a couple of scarves and is ready for her first project with shaping and stuff in it. We're going to knit the same top at the same time, so she will have some support - though I suspect she will make great progress and put me to shame. Thanks to her lovely boyfriend in the US we've ordered yarn that apparently "feels like knitting a kitten", so it should be fun.
Before that, however, I have a mammoth birthday/Xmas present for Reiko to complete (yes, Reiko, it's for you, and hopefully you'll love it!), a capelet for an almost-niece to find buttons for, and a little top for myself to complete. And then I need to get on with my winter wardrobe, since the cardi I made for myself is not the size it is supposed to be (damn blocking). Instead, Katie gets a lovely warm merino cardigan, all ready for summer. Bad timing, but it's still a pretty good deal I think!
We've had some friends leave here, and another friend announce she will be leaving in November, which has been sad. It's hard to meet people (unless they're knitters, in which case it's easy), and we're going to miss them very much.
The last - and most exciting - bit is, of course, that we've booked our Xmas trip: Japan, Auckland, Whitianga, Sydney, and Vancouver. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare working it all out, but we have almost everything booked and I've started planning all my to-do lists. Sushi, brunch, Ken Yakitori, Roasted Addiqtion, salmon rissoles, Phoenix chai, and Ricochet figure highly on my list so far. Feel free to leave a comment with your list suggestions.
We're off to Amsterdam next weekend, armed with lots of travel tips (no taking pics of the hookers, or they throw your camera in the canal!) and a serious desire to chill out. I haven't had a whole week off work since we went to Tuscany last year, and it looks like I won't be able to take one till we're off on our visit, so we're grabbing a 3-day weekend while we can! In the gap between trips I hope to be able to catch up with everyone, since they've all been off travelling while I've held the fort here.
We had a really summery day today, but the summer - such as it was - seems, on the whole, to have finished. There's a real bite in the air, and it's getting dark awfully quickly. Time to wrap up warmly, drink a pint of Guinness, eat some cheesy potatoes, and hunker down. Roll on Xmas...
Nice to hear from you again! Hope you have / had a good time in Amsterdam!