I'm off to Dublin tomorrow to extract Ian from his hospital tests. So far he seems to have had lots of visits from consultants and dieticians and the main aim now is to get him to gain 1 pound a week in weight. To do that he has to consume 1,000 extra calories per day. These will be given to him by a liquid that is more digestable than the milk-shake like substance he was trying to us in the last few weeks. The general concensus is that he will gradually get better. If he isn't considerably improved by September the main consultant will do something further.
So, another week is nearly gone by. Summer has gone away and I'm tempted to put on the central heating. With any luck it will come back by the time we go on holidays as I really need to have a bit of warmth as well as relaxation.
I've just eaten a lovely mixed salad - lettuces of various kinds, rocket, nasturtium flowers, eggs, onions, walnuts, salami, tomatoes (not mine yet), anchovies, wild garlic dressing. Now I am going to head to watch Wimbledon on TV and read the Limerick Leader and Irish Times.
Thursday 26 June 2008
Saturday 7 June 2008
Saturday
Woke up 7.20am; got myself a cup of coffee while letting dogs out; went back up to bed and read "Which?"; dressed; dug up potato plants that have planted themselves and replaced them with seedling broccoli plants; talked to tomatoes (they're doing well, but they do need some talking to every day!); opened windows in greenhouse; ate some muesli; did bits and pieces.
10am-ish went shopping; first bought Grauniad in Lees; then disposed of bottles in nearby bottle-bank in new housing estate; Lidl was next, to buy air pumps they had on special offer; Superquinn and health food shop were fairly quick to get through; realised I'd forgotten to buy tickets for The Panel in University Concert Hall so went back there, to find that the ticket office wasn't open; then home at about 11.45. No sign of Szymon, who had promised to be there to sand and varnish the front door at 10am, but he turned up at about 1 o'clock, just as we were about to ring him to give out.
Ian and I walked the dogs at some stage. I had spent some time cutting Goldie's hair beforehand so he looked very neat as he walked along. I picked elderflowers and have made some cordial with them. It has to sit for 24 hours so I don't know how it will turn out yet.
It's been a very warm day, making me feel nice and lazy. Ian is heading into town soon to have a meal with Clare and Rion in Luigi Malones. Clare is off to Oz next week so it is her au revoir meal. b is preparing a salady meal for us with salad freshly picked from the garden. I'm managing to get something out of it every day, even though some days it is just a bit of parsley.
10am-ish went shopping; first bought Grauniad in Lees; then disposed of bottles in nearby bottle-bank in new housing estate; Lidl was next, to buy air pumps they had on special offer; Superquinn and health food shop were fairly quick to get through; realised I'd forgotten to buy tickets for The Panel in University Concert Hall so went back there, to find that the ticket office wasn't open; then home at about 11.45. No sign of Szymon, who had promised to be there to sand and varnish the front door at 10am, but he turned up at about 1 o'clock, just as we were about to ring him to give out.
Ian and I walked the dogs at some stage. I had spent some time cutting Goldie's hair beforehand so he looked very neat as he walked along. I picked elderflowers and have made some cordial with them. It has to sit for 24 hours so I don't know how it will turn out yet.
It's been a very warm day, making me feel nice and lazy. Ian is heading into town soon to have a meal with Clare and Rion in Luigi Malones. Clare is off to Oz next week so it is her au revoir meal. b is preparing a salady meal for us with salad freshly picked from the garden. I'm managing to get something out of it every day, even though some days it is just a bit of parsley.
Monday 2 June 2008
Photos
If you click on the flowers to the right it should bring you to the rest of the house and garden photos, but you may have to endure other photos as well as I can't work how to link only to the ones I want to show yet.
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Watch this space
Later in the day I intend to put up photos of my greenhouse and my growing garden. We have a salad glut at the moment so I'm trying to persuade b that we should eat salads every day. I still have very high hopes for my tomatoes. I've had to move some of them out of the greenhouse as there isn't enough space for them all, and some prefer to grow outdoors.
Yesterday b and I went to Youghal and took a boat trip up the River Blackwater. The trip normally only goes about 45 minutes up the river and then returns. b, however, persuaded him to go the full navigable length so we were on the boat for over 4 hours. He wanted to take photos of quaysides and anything that would be useful for his book. It's an unusual waterway as there are quite a number of huge old houses and castles along it, mostly still actively occupied. The finest is at the end, Lismore Castle, but we couldn't quite reach it in the boat. The houses are currently occupied by either multi-millionaire Irish people, or foreigners who have invested in a pad in Ireland. The river is very wide and ideal for occupations such as waterskiing - there were some people doing this, though generally it was deserted.
The day had started beautifully sunny and we enjoyed the journey to Youghal via the Vee Gap. Rhododendrons were in flower everywhere, with great purple swathes. I'll post a photo of them too.
Ian stayed at home as he was due to go to see a film, but Clare wasn't able to go as she had to feed her siblings. He walked the dogs, and it was strange to have a day where we didn't have to mind the dogs at every turn.
Talking of dogs, Goldie has got very stiff. He finds it hard to get up the steps on the way back home via the Castle Oaks and has to take it very slowly. He still loves his walks, though, and barks crazily to remind us to bring him.
More, in photos, later....
Yesterday b and I went to Youghal and took a boat trip up the River Blackwater. The trip normally only goes about 45 minutes up the river and then returns. b, however, persuaded him to go the full navigable length so we were on the boat for over 4 hours. He wanted to take photos of quaysides and anything that would be useful for his book. It's an unusual waterway as there are quite a number of huge old houses and castles along it, mostly still actively occupied. The finest is at the end, Lismore Castle, but we couldn't quite reach it in the boat. The houses are currently occupied by either multi-millionaire Irish people, or foreigners who have invested in a pad in Ireland. The river is very wide and ideal for occupations such as waterskiing - there were some people doing this, though generally it was deserted.
The day had started beautifully sunny and we enjoyed the journey to Youghal via the Vee Gap. Rhododendrons were in flower everywhere, with great purple swathes. I'll post a photo of them too.
Ian stayed at home as he was due to go to see a film, but Clare wasn't able to go as she had to feed her siblings. He walked the dogs, and it was strange to have a day where we didn't have to mind the dogs at every turn.
Talking of dogs, Goldie has got very stiff. He finds it hard to get up the steps on the way back home via the Castle Oaks and has to take it very slowly. He still loves his walks, though, and barks crazily to remind us to bring him.
More, in photos, later....
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Toronto and environs
I've spent the last 2 days being brought around Toronto and surrounding areas. I started to say that I had been exploring the area but that wouldn't be correct. Exploring would imply that I was in control and doing what I wanted to do, but this wasn't the case. However, it was good to see what I was shown.
On Sunday a colleague who lives in Toronto brought 2 of us to see around the city. It is a clean place, and there is an unusual mix of high buildings and ordinary-sized ones. Our hotel is located near the university. It has buildings that seem to be modelled on Oxford and Cambridge, which makes the area look very English. Opposite our hotel is a museum that has what Prince Charles would call a carbuncle sticking out of it. The building is old and this sticky-out metallic structure has been built onto it. It is actually quite nice, though it wouldn't have got planning permission in Ireland.
We also saw:
- the CNN tower, from below
- the Distillery area, which is an area that presumably used to be a distillery and is now occupied by craft type enterprises, but has retained cobbled streets around the red brick buildings
- an area called Beach, which is near the Lake Ontario waterfront and has nice lake walks. One woman was walking 6 well-behaved dogs there, and they weren't getting mixed up in their leads. She said that 3 were her dogs, and she was "dog-sitting" for the other three.
- the harbour-front in Toronto city, seeing some nice boats, though not as many as I would have expected to see. A short visit to the Tilley shop was nice, but my colleagues weren't too interested so I felt I couldn't explore it fully.
- China town. This is an amazing area of small shops and there were loads of hippy type people as well as Chinese buying from fruit and other stalls.
- and, we finished at a jazz session in a small pub, with a pleasant jazz group playing Django Reinhardt music.
On return to the hotel at about 6pm we were too tired to go out to eat a meal, so stayed in for one. I was asleep by about 8.30pm.
Yesterday I went with a UK colleague to Niagara Falls. We went on a tour bus. A lot of time was spent travelling, though it was the first time I had done the touristy type of things when visiting Niagara, so was quite interesting. The highlight was the trip on a boat right up to the base of the falls. We were kitted out in plastic macs as it was very wet! The power of the water is amazing, and it wasn't possible to see all of the top of the falls due to the amount of misty spray.
Today meetings start so I don't think I'll get to do the shopping in Tilley's that I would like to have done. However, you never know - maybe if I can escape this evening.....
On Sunday a colleague who lives in Toronto brought 2 of us to see around the city. It is a clean place, and there is an unusual mix of high buildings and ordinary-sized ones. Our hotel is located near the university. It has buildings that seem to be modelled on Oxford and Cambridge, which makes the area look very English. Opposite our hotel is a museum that has what Prince Charles would call a carbuncle sticking out of it. The building is old and this sticky-out metallic structure has been built onto it. It is actually quite nice, though it wouldn't have got planning permission in Ireland.
We also saw:
- the CNN tower, from below
- the Distillery area, which is an area that presumably used to be a distillery and is now occupied by craft type enterprises, but has retained cobbled streets around the red brick buildings
- an area called Beach, which is near the Lake Ontario waterfront and has nice lake walks. One woman was walking 6 well-behaved dogs there, and they weren't getting mixed up in their leads. She said that 3 were her dogs, and she was "dog-sitting" for the other three.
- the harbour-front in Toronto city, seeing some nice boats, though not as many as I would have expected to see. A short visit to the Tilley shop was nice, but my colleagues weren't too interested so I felt I couldn't explore it fully.
- China town. This is an amazing area of small shops and there were loads of hippy type people as well as Chinese buying from fruit and other stalls.
- and, we finished at a jazz session in a small pub, with a pleasant jazz group playing Django Reinhardt music.
On return to the hotel at about 6pm we were too tired to go out to eat a meal, so stayed in for one. I was asleep by about 8.30pm.
Yesterday I went with a UK colleague to Niagara Falls. We went on a tour bus. A lot of time was spent travelling, though it was the first time I had done the touristy type of things when visiting Niagara, so was quite interesting. The highlight was the trip on a boat right up to the base of the falls. We were kitted out in plastic macs as it was very wet! The power of the water is amazing, and it wasn't possible to see all of the top of the falls due to the amount of misty spray.
Today meetings start so I don't think I'll get to do the shopping in Tilley's that I would like to have done. However, you never know - maybe if I can escape this evening.....
Friday 2 May 2008
Since then...
We've been to Wales and had a lovely weekend, C has been offered a job in the Civil Service fast stream, and now I'm off to Toronto tomorrow. I'm sad to be missing a nice long weekend at home but will make the most of it by using the free day before business starts to explore Toronto. We might even get to Niagara Falls on Monday as one of my HR colleagues is keen to go there.
I know it is hard to believe but this week I have been home every evening - no committees or other commitments, just a nice trip home to b and I. The weather hasn't been superb so I haven't made great use of the evenings, except for watching Heroes yesterday! I came home promptly today and did some gardening. The men of the house are under instruction to water plants and to pick up the dogs' unmentionables while I'm away. I must take photos of the greenhouse and post them here. I've managed to grow lots of seeds successfully and hope to have almost too many plants to set out. Today I planted out runner beans that had grown nicely in the warmth. Tomatoes are doing well, though I'll keep them in the greenhouse to ensure a good crop.
Other seeds that are growing in the greenhouse include leeks, broccoli (there is a great crop of purple sprouting broccoli to eat from last year's sowing at the moment), lettuce, peas, sweet corn, courgettes, herbs.
b is off exploring canals with various people who have travelled down in their barges to Limerick today. We'll probably go out for a meal when he gets home.
That's it for now.
I know it is hard to believe but this week I have been home every evening - no committees or other commitments, just a nice trip home to b and I. The weather hasn't been superb so I haven't made great use of the evenings, except for watching Heroes yesterday! I came home promptly today and did some gardening. The men of the house are under instruction to water plants and to pick up the dogs' unmentionables while I'm away. I must take photos of the greenhouse and post them here. I've managed to grow lots of seeds successfully and hope to have almost too many plants to set out. Today I planted out runner beans that had grown nicely in the warmth. Tomatoes are doing well, though I'll keep them in the greenhouse to ensure a good crop.
Other seeds that are growing in the greenhouse include leeks, broccoli (there is a great crop of purple sprouting broccoli to eat from last year's sowing at the moment), lettuce, peas, sweet corn, courgettes, herbs.
b is off exploring canals with various people who have travelled down in their barges to Limerick today. We'll probably go out for a meal when he gets home.
That's it for now.
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