NorthDownMuse

What I’ve been ‘up’ to

This is the ceiling of what had been the master bedroom. I'm turning this into an upstairs sitting room because it has the best light in the house. Step one was to remove the wallpaper on the ceiling, which had been painted over many times. Step two is

Isle of Lismore

I am in the land of Argyll and the Isles. Not only that but I'm staying in the home that once belonged to the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. My choices today were to climb a Munro (mountain of more than 3,000 feet--there's a

Up Day

So I did a roughly 12-mile hike today up to the Blackwater Resevoir, roughly 1000 feet ascent. Near the dam (seen on the right) is a graveyard for some of the navvies who died building it. At first I thought it sadly ironic that they are facing the thing that

Down Day

Today was a consistently rainy day. There are some days with a fine misty rain that won't stop you from walking, and then there's days like today when you're in the soup. We visited two craft shops, a tea shop, and had a look

Kinlochleven to Alltshellach

Cathy and I took the bus this morning to Kinlochleven, which is at one end of the lake on which our hotel sits. We took the West Highlands Way trail together for a bit then went our separate ways--Cathy to do a loop to Mamore Lodge and me to do

Hogwart’s Express

I've never read a Harry Potter book or seen a film But today I spent a lot of time with HP fans from all over the world, my traveling companion being one of them. As a primary school principal, she's duty bound to share photos with

Devil’s Staircase

HF Holidays offers three levels of walks. Easy, leg stretchers, full on. Today I did an 8.5 mile leg stretcher. It was a perfect start to my holiday. Not too high but 8.5 miles of highland gorgeousness. After the drive yesterday, I was so eager to spend some

18 July: Ferry hungry

Today began with furious packing as yesterday I worked until 3pm, played golf for 2 hours, then worked until 9 pm, then researched routes on Google maps, writing down directions b/c I don't trust my phone. All packed by 9 a.m.,  I took Paddy for his

Slieve Donard

It's been almost a month since I posted! We are mostly out of lockdown so I have more opportunities on the weekend to join friends for walks, meals, etc. My life is the 9-5 with Climate Action 100+ mon-fri, plus getting Paddy out for swims/runs, plus golf

Murlough Bay

Some of the people from the hiking group I used to hike with invited me to go hiking today. So hiking I went--something that was rare even before lockdown due to Paddy duties. I've hiked Fairhead many times but this time we came from a different angle, beginning

Goofing around

During lockdown, Shandon Park Golf Club very generously opened to dog walkers. Paddy was in 18 holes of squirrel chasing heaven. In early June, it reopened to golfers and closed to all but the earliest and latest dog walkers. So I joined the club. I've played 3 times

Wall Update

I no sooner finished painting the ceiling and the yellow walls than I decided the spindles and stairs needed to be painted. So this job will never bloody end. Here's where it started--wallpaper removal. Then scraping and scrubbing the walls clean of glue then filling in cracks. Then

Ards Peninsula

I have not written in the blog for a month! I'm going to do a few random posts. What I learned from mom's photo album is the blog is a good resource for recalling  the past, particularly the fun bits. Here's another of my

Gutted

This is a word we use in Northern Ireland when we are really disappointed. "Fiona was gutted when the wedding was canceled due to the lockdown." That kind of thing. I think it was Sunday May 17 and lockdown reached a new phase for me. I ended up

Garden Glory

Given that we are all meant to keep within a pretty tight radius, I have really appreciated my garden this year. Whether I've brought flowers indoors or I'm admiring them in their natural habitat (OK, a garden is a woman-made habitat, but you know what I

Titanic Quarter

This is the Sam Thompson bridge from Victoria Park to an industrial area of Belfast that's great for cycling. Wide flat road, no traffic, and it leads to the lovely coastal path. We've had such amazing weather that I have been out on the bike twice

The Wall

The last big project in the house is the upstairs hallway. Three walls, one ceiling. I've decided there are 13 steps. Strip wallpaper Scrape glue and clean walls Spackle Sand Vaccuum Repeat (=3 steps) Paint ceiling once Paint celing twice Prime walls Apply first color coat Apply second

Clap for the NHS

A music teacher lives across the street from me. Cars come and go all the time discharging young people for music lessons. Now that we clap for the NHS on Thursday nights, my neighbour and her husband, Jacquie and Neil, come out with a keyboard, speaker, and microphone, and play

Quarantine report

As the weeks have gone on, I've been more adventurous. Like bike rides a few times a week. And now I've taken Paddy to Belvoir Forest twice, about four miles away. And I've been to the coastal path with Paddy once, also about four

Re-cycle

Since I can't run yet, due to rib issues, I'm cycling a few times a week. I've taken the Comber Greenway twice now, heading for Daft Eddy's, about an hour's ride. So far I've made it only 45

Feeling great at 58

Well a bit of an exaggeration, given the rib situation. However I find I'm able to cycle, so today I rode through Titanic Quarter to a part of the city I'd never visited near the port, ending up in Holywood on the coastal path. I got

Paddy

Despite very sore ribs, I've been working in the garden, digging up and replanting turf to widen my borders. Not wise as I think it has set me back, rib-wise. But we have had week after week of gorgeous weather so it's hard to stay out

Memory Lane

So the following weeks I focused on a photo album for my mom. I went through thousands of photos. Some were prints taken out of shoe boxes. Some were digital images, pulled from cards used in digital cameras. Some were from CDs. Some came out of this blog. Some were

Easter Burny

Not bunny but burny. On Easter Sunday, I was out running with Paddy, my irrepressible Springer Spaniel. To my left, a creek cut deep into the banks. To my right a duck pond. Paddy was running up the creek out of sight as I ran parallel to him on a

Scavenge

I am writing posts a month on from the posted date. I came back from Donegal, the UK went into lock down, I worked Mon-Fri as usual and on the weekends undertook a home improvement project. I scraped wallpaper off three walls, then the wallpaper glue, then began spackling cracks.