Lockdown II I will remember Lockdown I for the upstairs hallway that I painted yellow (and the white trim and the grey stairs) and for mom's Shutterfly photo album, capturing nearly 60 years of our lives together. Mother's Day present, natch. Then I had my July trip to
Western Greenway A railroad line converted to 42 kilometres of bike path. Brilliant idea. This is how I chose to spend my first full day in Westport. I took a van from Westport to Achill Sound and then cycled back to Westport. This photo, near Achill Sound, has a Paul Henry quality
Achill Island I follow a group on Facebook that celebrates the Wild Atlantic Way. Someone posts loads of photos of Achill Island, so I spent a day exploring it. I wasn't disappointed. On the drive to the island, I stopped at Mallaranny for a lovely shot of Clew Bay. Mallaranny
Croagh Patrick On my last full day in Wesport, I started off with a swim at Old Head Beach. I was proud of myself for doing this without Ann as my fellow paddler. She's the braver of the two of us. The water was slightly warmer than in Belfast Lough
Westport getaway I went to Westport for a long weekend Sept. 17-21. It was a perfectly timed trip, thanks to gorgeous weather. And my need to get away from house projects and work. This is very hard for a linear person to do, but I'm going to post backward. These
The wrath of grapes The house came with a grapevine that ran the length of the conservatory. For the past few years the grapes and leaves have been covered in a white powder mold. The only way I found to eradicate it was with a fungicide, which I'm not eager to spray
An Outing! I was meant to play golf with Marian in Ballycastle today, the summer bank holiday. However my shoulder is in a bad way. I've been icing it to relieve the pain and taking lots of Aleve. I had arranged for David to walk Paddy today. Since I couldn&
Things are going swimmingly I've started swimming in Belfast Lough with my friend Ann. The water temperature is in the mid 50s. I've been in six times so far--going twice a week. I'd say my tolerance of the cold has already increased. We have tea afterwards, natch. It&
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