The garden in June

Lots of stuff growing, and my new polytunnel

Birthday season

It's just one birthday after another at this time of the year.  First comes Ian's, then Carolan's, mine, Patty's and my mother's.  I know at least 2 people who have birthdays on the same day as myself.  The final birthday of the "season" is Brian's, on 6th April.  Of course we've all spent our money by then, so tough luck!  Actually, he already has a present from me, a pair of Gloven oven gloves that arrived on Friday.  They are amazing as you just can't feel any heat through them.  They can also be used to take things out of the freezer as you can't feel cold through them either.
I bought myself a watch last week.  My last one gave up, or at least had become unpredictable in spite of  a new battery.  So, I decided to buy myself a nice watch with part of a bonus I received.  I set myself a budget (200 euro) and went to a good jeweller in town.  It wasn't a good start as they were out of stock as it was "too close to Christmas".  I'm not sure whether that was last Christmas or next Christmas.  They did have a few watches at prices like 1,000 euro.  Do people really spend that much on a watch?  Is this why they still had them?
Anyway, I crossed the road to the next jeweller and set out my specifications - a watch that was easily visible for reading time, and not flashy, with the aforementioned maximum budget.  The nice lady I spoke to got the measure of me straight away and produced about half a dozen watches that were all meeting specifications and were within budget.  I tried them on, eliminating a few and getting down to 3 possibles.  Then she suddenly remembered that she had some watches that had been reduced to half price a couple of days ago.  To cut a long story short, I ended up buying a watch at my budget price that had been reduced from 400 euro (400 - that is way above what I'd even dream of paying!).  It's lovely - small, with roman numerals in black that make it very easy to read.  There is nothing fancy about it, but the price seems to be related to the Swiss make and the fact that its back is made of gold.  I'm really please with it, as it is rather special.
Gardening has started in earnest at this stage, though the cold weather means that I can't plant much.  My birthday present from Brian was fencing for part of the garden, enabling me to move raspberries across the garden and still protect them from digging dogs.  So far I've planted garlic and onions in the veg garden, and sewn broad bean and salad seeds in the greenhouse.  I've also done lots of digging and weeding.  I discovered that my compost heap had actually decomposed enough for it to be suitable for spreading across the garden, which I have now done.  It was a very satisfying thing to do.
Greetings to everyone!

Plans

The next few weeks will fly by, I know.  I've just been looking up the details of how to drive from Orlando to Tampa, and then Tampa to Jacksonville.  A few days in the sunny part of Florida beckon, in good company.  Then I head on to the annual HR get-together in Jacksonville.
On my return home I just might get to see Ian (and Kristin?), on a mission home to vote.  Two days later Carolan comes home for a few days to check us out.  So, there are lots of things to look forward to that will make February fly by.  March is birthday month so we'll have to see whether anything can be drummed up for the quick succession of birthdays that happen on 7th, 13th, 19th and 21st.  Mind you, the annual 3-birthday festivity for 3 generations all on one day is this Saturday, 5th February.
Yesterday I drove about 570 kilometres.  Most of the driving was on motorways, bringing me rapidly between Cork, Dublin and Limerick.  I had to attend two funerals, one in Cork and the other in Dublin.  As I zoomed along the motorway and saw signposts to places such as Cashel it was odd to see no sign of the Rock of Cashel.  There is such a sameness to the whole road, with barely any views and no villages, hills, valleys or mountains visible along the way.  As a method of transporting from A to B, motorways are great, but they really miss the character of the countryside.
It's cold today again, but the heating has just come on so I'm about to become warm!

I like having some free time

It is very rare for me to have a few free days.  In the summer we go away to the boat as often as possible so it is only during the Christmas break that I get to have days at home.

This week it has been so mild that I've even been able to do a bit of gardening.  My project for this winter is to move all the raspberry canes from one side of the garden to the other, thus freeing up space in the vegetable patch.  Today I managed to move some of the canes but have now run out of space to move them to.  What I need to do now is move the heap of compost I bought in the autumn from the front garden to the area I want to plant the raspberries.  It seems like a lot of effort, but it should be worth it when finished.
The other project for this week has been to get started on making a new flag for Knocknagow.  The current one is getting a bit dog-eared as the felt that makes up the lettering hasn't liked the windy and wet weather it has met in the last few years.  Carolan and I made it and I realise what a good job we did when I started to de-construct the current flag.  Now I have to make one that is even better!
Yesterday we went to visit Knocknagow in Ballinamore, where it is waiting to have some work done to it, including putting on a wheel-house that will protect us from the elements when we are steering.  We were a bit anxious that it might have taken on water following the severe frost.  Even though it has been over 9C for a number of days now water must take longer to thaw than elsewhere as the whole harbour was still full of thick ice.  Anyway, the boat is still floating, so that's a relief.

Happy new year, everyone.

One home, two still to come

Anyone reading Carolan's blog will have learnt already of her frustrations at getting home, but she managed to  beat the weather and arrived here safely at 9pm yesterday.  The road from Limerick to Cork got progressively worse as we went south of Limerick.
Tomorrow Andy is due to arrive in Cork so the journey has to happen again.  The trouble is that information on the real conditions is scarce.  Sometimes reports suggesting an area is bad are not accurate, and the opposite is also true.
We've just been chasing creatures around the kitchen.  There is a chewing sound in one corner so we've checked everything near the sound and can't find anything.  We've blocked holes in the skirting board now so hope that if there are little furry critturs around they'll give up trying to get through.  The dogs should ensure they don't have a chance, but I wouldn't be on them.

and 2 more

2 more ice creams made - another raspberry yoghurt, and a walnut coffee ice cream.  It will have to be sorbets tomorrow as I'm running out of cream.

A low record

Minus 13C last night.....

An icy week, and ice cream in the making

We had the dreaded Japan audit this week, and came out with flying colours.  Today we had a visit from one of the most senior people in our big company, and he was very happy with what he saw.  The scary thing is that he was anticipating something totally different from the reality.  However, that's one more convinced that we make good products and run a good show.  That's a relief.
We had at least 30 US and Japanese visitors this week.  They were all as surprised as we were to find ice, and even a bit of snow, here in Limerick.  We got off very lightly compared to other parts of the country.  Mind you, it is worth sticking to the main roads as any side roads are unexpectedly slippy.  The road from Castleconnell to Lisnagry was very slippy this morning, in spite of the non-freezing temperatures.
My exciting purchase today was a new cover for my ironing board.  I can now iron without getting the marks of the metal base stuck onto my blouses.  I celebrated by doing some ironing so am feeling very smug about being ahead of where I normally am at this stage of the weekend.
Christmas is coming, apparently, and that means I'm supposed to have a stock of ice cream in the freezer.  Today I've made chocolate chip ice cream and raspberry yoghurt ice cream.  On the list for making are:
- melon brandy sorbet
- more raspberry yoghurt
- blueberry
- more chocolate based ice cream
Anyone who is going to be here for Christmas is welcome to put in an order for their favourite type if these aren't on the list.
Leavy has a new duvet bed that b bought for her today.  She's spoilt!

Would you believe

I received a letter in the post today with an Tanzanian stamp on it.  Who do I know in Tanzania?  How exciting, I thought.  Well, would you believe but that it was from my "good friend" Charles Taylor (jnr), son of the former president of Liberia.  He writes from a refugee camp in Tanzania and says his father is being held against his will by the UN for "alleged offences of war crimes".  However, his father has confidence in my personality and thinks I can help with a business opportunity.  All I have to do is to contact him by email.  I won't give you his email address as I really have to claim this 30% of $177,000,000 for myself so that I can give up work and live the high life.
It's -2.8C here at the moment, but no snow yet.  They have snow in the north and east of the country.  It wasn't fun scraping ice off the car both on the way to work and on the way home.  A few more days of this is promised.

5 months of silence

I was looking at Sam's blog and noticed that mine is down at the bottom of the list of blogs he follows.  I'm surprised he hasn't thrown me off by now as it seems that it's 5 months since I wrote here.  The longer I leave it, the harder it seems to get to return, and yet I love reading  other people's musings.
Winter has set in today, and we woke up to a light smattering of snow.  This must be the earliest I've seen snow in this part of the country as we normally don't get any, and last year's was after Christmas.  This time last year we were wading through water and our village was cut in half by floods.
We went on a long walk with some friends and dogs across the frosty fields earlier.  It was lovely going "scrunch, scrunch" under-foot.  We explored the ruined castle at Doonass and watched crazy kayakers who didn't seem to mind turning their kayaks upside down in the freezing water.
Now that our friends have gone away I decided to settle down to a lazy afternoon of watching the repeat of the "Late Late Toy Show", the annual extravaganza of toys that are shown off on the Late Late Show.  I think, though, that something must have happened in the world outside our house (maybe something crazy like the country going bust) as it looks as if the TV schedule in the newspapers does not equal the schedule that is actually showing.  I may have to watch it on iplayer instead as it just isn't done to miss it.
Meanwhile, the dogs are snoring after their long walk.  Pippa has curled up in her little nest and is emitting very loud noises.  Leavy is sitting on her leather chair that now only has 3 legs.  If she stays still it won't fall down.
Now that I've procrastinated enough I'll find my sewing and make some progress on it.  Au revoir.

No visit

The "state" visit is cancelled as my Aunt Elizabeth isn't well and needs minding, so our expected visitor has headed over to Essex.  Unfortunately that means that the cleaning job Ian and Brian were going to do in advance of her arrival is kinda unlikely to happen.  Of course they'll need to do it to be ready for Carolan and Andy visiting next weekend....
I've just been watching that long tennis match between Isner and Mahut.  I don't understand how they can keep going for so long.  I get exhausted just watching them!  I think that what should happen is that the people in the next round should stand down in their favour so that they both get through.  It seems it has so far been the longest ever tennis match in a major tournament.
The Queen is going to visit our President, it appears.  How exciting!

The story of my life at this time of year

It's elderflower time of year.  Ian and I picked loads of elderflowers so I have cordial and champagne in the making.  It smells good!  Here is my champagne recipe, courtesy of "selfsufficientish"

8 litres (2 gallons) water
1.25 kg (2.5 lbs/5 cups) sugar
8 large elderflower heads
4 Lemons
4 tablespoons mild white wine vinegar

Boil the water and pour over the sugar to dissolve it. Cool and add the elderflowers, juice of the two lemons, slices of the other two and the vinegar. Cover with a cloth and leave for a day. Strain with a fine sieve or muslin cloth, squeezing the flowers as you do to release more flavour. Store in screw top bottles.

It will be ready in about 10 days to a fortnight and should be drunk within a month. <-----This is the part I'm at.  Do you think it will be ready in time for Carolan to taste?

Also, in the garden I have mange-tout, lots of types of salad leaves, garlic, scallions and various herbs.   Coming along nicely are beetroot, red onions, peas, broad beans, sweet corn and raspberries.  For some reason my runner beans are struggling with the running bit and aren't getting far off the ground.

Leavy goes head on

Ian was throwing a ball for Leavy and Pippa over at the Castle Oaks field, and the little friendly dog from the nearby houses was joining in the play.  Leavy has this habit of racing straight at people and dogs and stopping just before she reaches them.  However, maybe his little friend also does this.  Suffice it to say, they met head on.  The little dog raced off home.  Leavy looked stunned.  Next thing, though, she was gone too.
Ian hadn't seen her race so didn't even know where to start to look for her, so he decided to head home to leave Pippa there before going off on a search.

The story has a good ending.  Lo and behold, when he arrived home there was Leavy sitting waiting for him, looking very bemused.  Is there any chance that she'll get sense as a result of the incident?  The mind boggles at what would have happened if a car had happened to be passing when she raced across the road, as Leavy doesn't understand cars.

My aunt is wending her way down here the weekend after next.  She is attending a wedding in Glin that is likely to be the talk of the town, so we are the staging point.  She'll be here for 2 nights, and most of 3 days.....  She has only been to our house once before.  I don't think she is too fussy about housekeeping, but I'd better do a decent tidy before Carolan and Andy visit the following week.  I know they're bound to notice everything!

I was afraid that my mange-tout plants were turning out to be sweet peas, but they now seem to be developing the correct shapes, with the bonus that there are flowers at the top of the plants so that the garden has a small bit of prettiness in it.  At the moment the fare on offer from the garden includes loads of different kinds of salad leaves, and some spinach is ready for eating.  Red onions are coming on well, and garlic will be ready for Carolan's visit.  It is very pleasant and mild at the moment, taken with a salad.  Tomatoes are beginning to show themselves in the greenhouse, but the plants are mainly growing like triffids.  I have to breathe in when I walk into the greenhouse so that I don't knock something down.

Oh - and I planted some bedding plants in the shower base, locating it in front of the shed near my car.  The colours on the flowers aren't very nice but at least it makes the shower base look as it if is meant to be there.

It's elderflower time, so the next few weeks will be spent making cordial.  Unfortunately the local places I used for cutting the flowers last time have all been pruned back in the last year, and even the tree near the Meeting House has been cut, so I'll have to go further afield.  The blossoms are coming along nicely, though are later than last year.

Off to the boat now, heading for Rossmore.

In shame

Carolan is putting me to shame with her artistic and creative blogs.  I'm making progress, though, with my tapestry of a canal boat that she gave me for my birthday.  Appropriately enough, I've been doing most of it while on our boat.  I'll bring it on our holiday next week.  It's great therapy.

Leavy is looking out the window with suspicion.  She doesn't trust anyone any more.  You should see how fuzzy her hair is from the wash she had earlier today.  Leavy and hair-driers don't match so she ended up staying wet.  Pippa was also washed and is sleeping off the exhaustion of it all.

Gerry Ryan

I'm watching the Late Late Show.  They've put on a show that is a tribute to Gerry Ryan, who died suddenly earlier today.  It's amazing to discover who was really friendly with him.  Pat Kenny seems to have been particularly close to him, which is a bit surprising.

Ian did it!

This time last week Ian was sure he wouldn't make a deadline for handing in his dissertation for this coming Thursday.  Today he handed it in, two days ahead of schedule.  Brilliant!

I intended to stick to my schedule of cycling to work twice a week, having started up again only last week.  It was zero degrees this morning, though, so I'm afraid I'm not going to make my twice this week as I need the car tomorrow and Thursday.  I chickened out on Monday as I was too tired from my trip to Dublin in the early hours of Sunday morning to catch a ferry.

The poor seeds in the garden and greenhouse are likely to suffer from the cold nights.  If the volcanic ash falls on us maybe it will be warm enough to heat them up again.  Or, maybe not.....

My thought for the day

Here is what I ended up saying to Yearly Meeting (well, approximately):

I was asked to speak at the first of an open series of evening discussions that we held in Limerick, and spoke under the title “Quakerism – development of thought and action”.  I found I needed to prepare carefully, reminding myself of the Quaker history I have been steeped in all my life.

This reading, and the discussion series, led me to further reading on the people and history of Quakerism.   I realised that early Friends came up with some amazing ideas and practices that have stood the test of time.  Listen to the peace testimony as presented to Charles II in 1660……..

We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world.  The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again to move unto it; and we certainly know, and testify to the world, that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, not for the kingdoms of the world.

Would we come up with something like that now?  The words may be old but the spirit shines through.

Over the years our Quaker brethren have come up with all sorts of innovative thought and action that was ahead of their time – in my profession of human resources management I particularly feel we owe thanks to the Quaker businessmen of the 19^th C who thought of the welfare of their workers and introduced pensions, healthcare and the concept of holidays, items we now take for granted. 

That brought me to wondering whether we are set up to support new and creative thinking that challenges our current ways of living.  We seem to spend a lot of time doing business.  Does that sap our energy?  Do we step lightly to business meetings knowing that we will change the world?  I suspect not.

Having said that, I have always loved our business practices – the way we carefully consider items such that we can move on together.  I wonder, though, whether we need to re-think how we carry out our business, and harness our spiritual energies, in our new age of electronic communications.  How should we harness the benefits of technology in communications?

·         Imagine being able to have a meeting without moving location. 

·         Imagine doing this and retaining our Quaker discernment and sense of the meeting in decisions.  European Young Friends hold their committee meetings on Skype.

·         Imagine holding Meeting on the web.  Some isolated European Friends already do this.

·         Imagine being inclusive of all those younger members who find business meetings difficult, or don’t find them practical to attend.

·         Imagine putting our annual epistle into 140 characters on a Tweet and sending it around the world. Would it be read more than our current epistle, and what message would it hold?

·         Do any of you enjoy the Quaker discussion groups on the web?  Or, visit our web site that has so much care and attention given to it? Or, use the Quaker resources on line to find something, or for inspiration?

·         Imagine having a query that dealt with electronic communication?  What would it say?

      Do we think carefully before sending an e-mail, considering the impact on those who will receive it?

      Are we inclusive in our communications, arranging within our Meetings for those who do not have access to e-mails to receive the communication?

      Is everything we send necessary for the receiver?

      Is this the best way to communicate, or should we speak first?

Many meetings send minutes around to everyone by e-mail.  At a recent meeting in London they were looking for e-mail buddies to ensure those without e-mail don’t miss out on communications. 

Some may say that use of new technologies will exclude older Friends, but I believe that we currently exclude younger Friends by not using them.  

Of course it doesn’t make sense to do everything electronically.  We need to meet.  We need the camaraderie and the sharing that happens person to person.  Our whole being centres on the presence in our Meetings.  Something stirs when one or two are sitting in the presence of God.

Maybe, though, our occasions for meeting could be freed up a bit more from business if we used electronic processes more for the routine. 

What would we do instead when we meet?

Our meetings may then be free to consider matters of overall policy and thought, and new ideas.  I particularly enjoyed a recent session in MQM where Cork Friends arranged for us to talk to each other in groups.  I’ve been attending MQM for years and still hadn’t had a chance to have discussions with Friends from other Meetings, always going to QM to attend to business or listen to someone talking to us. 

I thought it would be worth considering what the “Tweet” would be for what I’ve just said – so no more than 140 characters:

Early Friends were inspirational.  Would new technologies free us up to let the spirit shine through?  Are we ready to meet this challenge?

Has spring sprung?

We are warned of a cold week ahead.   I planted all sorts of things this weekend and my greenhouse is almost overflowing with seeds.  I'm going to have to find blankets to wrap up the pots if the promised freeze arrives.  The weekend was so nice and mild, and fresh growth is showing all over the place, so it will be a terrible pity to go  backwards.  I suppose, though, it gives me an excuse to postpone, yet again, returning to cycling!

I really ought to be working on my "thought for the day" for delivering at Yearly Meeting.  There's always tomorrow..

My new car is cool

I had a great weekend in London with Carolan, and visit to Ian in Bristol.  We packed a lot into the weekend.  "Oliver" was great, and I highly recommend it if you are in London.  I made it to the theatre with 1 minute to the start.  That was pretty good going considering that I left Shannon at 5.15pm and flew to Heathrow.  The show started at 7.30pm.

Anyway, on my return home I had to go to a meeting in Cashel in Monday.  I managed to end it early on discovering that my new car had finally arrived and was available.  It is hard to believe that it has green credentials when you look at its size, but I've just bought a tank-full of diesel and the dashboard tells me I should get 1,100 kms from that fill.  We'll see!

Yo to London

I'm going to London tomorrow and am really looking forward to it.  Carolan and Ian, here I come!  Timing is tight as I'm attempting to get from Heathrow to Drury Lane in under an hour, and that's assuming the plane arrives in on time.  I hope to make at least some of the performance of Oliver.

Saturday is Carolan's birthday, and we are going to visit Ian in Bristol.   I've just discovered my "feeds" aren't working and that there was a treasure trove of Carolan's blogs from this week to read.  What fun!

My new car is still not available.  It's next week now, hopefully on Monday evening.  I'm looking forward to getting it.  It's a Skoda Superb Greenline, and is much more eco friendly than my current Honda CRV.  I've enjoyed the Honda, though.