Driving around the place

I got C insured for driving my car today so we went for a lesson. She did stops and starts all around the nearby university campus, doing very well and maybe better than she did when she last drove 15 months ago. She also exercised in the university gym while I went to Maplins to seek "stuff".

More about Cuba is gradually going up on the Knocknagow site, but it's laborious work.

I'm moving lots of music onto my new mp3 player that I got for Christmas. It'll soon have loads of listening material. I've also put some photos onto it, though it's not a great place to view them if you want to see them clearly.

Blogging and raspberry canes

I cut back all the raspberry canes this afternoon, discovering in the process that large chunks of our neighbour's pine tree were deposited in our vegetable patch when the tree was lopped recently. B cut large branches off a tree that is just outside our gate and getting in the way. Now we need to find a way of disposing of the branches, a laborious process as we have to chop them up first.

I've typed in lots of C's Cuban diary, reminding myself of all the things we learnt on our trip in the process. There is now a link to the blog on this site.

Cuban blog starting up

For those interested, go to my Knocknagow blog to see the 
beginnings of  Carolan's diary of our Cuban trip.  I'm going
to put it up there gradually over the next few days.

The sun has just come out so I don't have any excuses
to avoid going out to do some gardening.  I'd better get
out there while I can...

I got into blogger at last!

I've been problems getting access to the new blogger system but I've now worked out what
was wrong so am back in action.  

It's Christmas Eve.  We managed to get a Christmas tree today.  This may seem late but we've been looking for one since Friday afternoon when Carolan cycled to meet me at work so that we could go choosing one together.  We went to all the normal places where there are usually trees aplenty, but this year there was no sign of any.  It seems that there is more money to be made selling trees to other European locations so there is a shortage of them in Ireland this year.  However, all's well that ends well and it is now decorated and looking good.  The fire is lit as well.  The twigs the birds collected to make a nest in the chimney earlier in the year are beautifully dry and helped to get the fire going nicely.

I hoovered the front garden today.  Lots of polystyrene baubles are still on it and gradually making their way into the house so this was the only method I could think of to get rid of some of them.  They are amazingly persistent and I'll have to make a few more forays with the hoover before they are completely gone.

Great concert

As usual, it was a great concert last night, with lots of variety. The school chamber choir has some superb sopranos. The star of the show was, of course, Ian, who sang a BellX1 song and amazed a lot of people who hadn't heard him sing. I might be a bit biased on him being the star ;>), but he certainly did us all proud.

The drive down to Waterford and back was very foggy, and therefore slow. On arriving home it looked as if we had had hailstones around the house, but on closer examination I discovered that they were polystyrene beads. The insulators came and injected them into our house yesterday, so we should have a cosy Christmas. I'm not sure whether it was my imagination but I felt that the house was warmer this morning when I got up than it usually is, yet is was freezing outside.

I'm off to our department party this evening. Better remember to bring the credit card.

Christmas letters

I love receiving Christmas letters, particularly if they have been written directly to me.  I got a long hand-written one from my best friend from school with all the news about her family.  Her eldest daughter is getting married at the end of June and preparations are well in train for a good country wedding.   Then 
there is the letter from another friend saying how delighted they are that their daughter, who has just graduated and is in the middle of a masters course, is due a baby.  I suspect that delight isn't quite the right word.  Yet another friend wrote to say that she is taking early retirement from her public sector job in which she has worked extremely hard over the last 30 years.  She is going to do a masters degree in history, a well deserved change.  

Now I am feeling very guilty that I haven't yet written to them and I've tried to start letters without any success this evening.  However, I console myself with the fact that I can respond to 
their news and make the letters more personal.  Some of our specially designed Christmas cards arrived today.  They have a photo of Knocknagow on them, looking very splendid, though not very Christmas-like except for the red hull.

Tomorrow is Christmas concert day at Newtown and Ian is singing a solo, accompanying himself on his guitar.  I'm looking forward to it.  It's a pity that term doesn't end until Friday as it means two trips to Waterford this week.  Roll on next weekend!

Back from Cork

Well, we've made it to Cork and back and had a good day of wandering and shopping.  There are a lot of interesting shops and I know that my favourite daughter would love some of the clothes shops.  I reckon a trip there after Christmas during the sales would be a good idea.  It would even provide some driving practise.

We ate at the Farmgate café in the English Market.  It is located on a balcony above the market stalls and is a popular place for eating.  We decided to treat ourselves.  B has this strong conscience that says that when he is in a particular place he must eat the food from there.  Luckily I don't have any such notion as he felt he had to eat tripe and drisheen and didn't find them particularly interesting.  He says they were bland.  They were served in a white sauce.  I had lambs liver and bacon, which was very tasty.

Goldie and Pippa stayed at home so are very lively now.  I had brought them for an early morning walk before we left for Cork but they have long forgotten that.  The river continues to rise.  I must take photos of it tomorrow as I don't think I've ever seen it so high.  Next week is due to be dry and cold so it may be at its highest level now.