NorthDownMuse

Downings Beach

Monday, the last day of our getaway, we headed to Downings Beach in the morning. It's across the estuary from Creeslough on the road to Carrigart, for those  keeping score at home. There's a boardwalk through the dunes to the beach. Hard to get Paddy to

Ards Forest to Ards Friary and back

Sunday I did the loop hike I meant to do yesterday. I have no idea how many miles it was--a lot. But it was a gorgeous day and I could have spent the entire day on the coast. First we walked a very long drive from the main road to

Surprise outing

Paddy and I are up early and I can't keep him waiting too long before we hike. First, the view from the house in Creeslough, taken yesterday afternoon. So off we went to Ards Friary for a swim at Monk's beach this morning. On the way,

Creeslough

This week I was meant to go to America, first for a Florida break with my mom, then for a conference in NYC. The conference was canceled and a few weeks ago mom and I realised it might not be smart for either one of us to travel. So I

Castlewellan

Today I went for a 7 mile hike with my old hiking group--again the fruits of being back in rude health. Paddy probably did three or four miles to my one mile. Plus he went swimming. Here's the castle. And here's a window in a Moorish

Dark Waters

Because I am enjoying being heatlhy, I've been out to dinner two Fridays in a row, first with Eddis then with Jenny and Nick. And I saw the above film with Marian. It was very upsetting. My dad spent his entire career at DuPont and was the construction

Crawfordsburn

Paddy and I were back at Crawfordsburn Glen for a stroll. Well, he swam and I strolled. I'm writing well into the future so I don't remember much about this weekend. I do remember feeling privileged to have such a lovely place to walk my dog.

Walk of Shame

I walked Paddy at Stormount recently, where there's a boardwalk through a bog. Along the way are giant bugs with informative signs. In mid-Februay, I went to the Environmental Gathering in Derry, when activists from all over N.I. gather to compare notes and spur each other on.

A lost month

I 'came down with a cold' on 13 January. The cold quickly turned into violent coughing. Three weeks in, I went to London for work. When I returned, I went to the doctor and he put me on an antibiotic (I'd already been through boxes and

BlackRock is in the house

Work has been very intense so far this year. I have mild panic attacks on Mondays feeling like I just can't do this anymore. There's so much to do, so much technology to keep up with, so many irons in the fire. The steering committee chair

New Year’s Resolutions

... clearly didn't include: keep up with blog. LOL My main goal is to get back in shape. Before I got Paddy, I stopped swimming because I didn't like the pool where I swam. After I got him, I stopped running, hiking and swing dancing. The result

Donegal break

Boxing day morning I drove up to Creeslough, where I stayed for three nights at the home of Christine and Andrew Davidson. Here's the view from the house of one of the many estuaries lacing the coast. I turned the heat on in the house, unpacked the car,

It was Christmas Eve, babe

...lyric to a famous song by the Pogues. So my choir sang Night of the Father's Love at Gilnahirk Presbyterian. It was lovely. Then we adjourned to Susan Cooke's house across the street for the annual choir party. I didn't stay too late as

Walkies

The other great thing about having two weeks off is I get to take Paddy for long walks--Belvoir Forest, Stormont, Billy Neil playing fields, see below. He is tireless, which is tiring. But I can't complaing too much about 'having' to go for another walk, when

Friendly festivities

One of the great things about being in town for Christmas is having the chance to connect with friends – lunch with Jenny, dinner with Ann and Shaun recently – and attend holiday parties. Seven this year! My company dinner, the book club party, brunch after walking the dogs yesterday at the

Dec. 21

As if singing at Sainsbury's, dancing at Victoria Square, and singing at church didn't provide enough Christmas cheer, I also got to spend the afternoon with my friend Aelish. That's us in the bathroom at the National, where we had lunch. Aelish, originally from

Dec. 19: Choir II

No photo for this one, but on Thursday night my choir, more than 30 strong, sang at Shandon Park Golf Club, which is close to my house. We sang a 30-minute song cycle called Night of the Father's Love. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EI6MjTcJiY] We weren&

Dec. 17: Swing Dance

And on a Tuesday night, I joined Swing Belfast at Victoria Square, a four-storey mall downtown. I hadn't seen the Swing Belfast dancers in a long time and really enjoyed catching up with them. We raised something like 240 pounds over three hours for Brain Injury Trust. Several

Dec. 14: Choir

A few posts to document that this has been a great Christmas season so far. My choir spent Saturday morning singing carols at a grocery store. We put a bucket out and raised 140 pounds in an hour for Habitat for Humanity. The choir is made up of members from

Rowallane

My weekends revolve around Paddy. Saturday morning at Stormont with the neighbourhood dog walkers. Saturday afternoon at dog training class. Sunday mornings at Belvoir Forest, where I enjoy walking around the fields and through the woods and along the river, occasionally meeting dogs for Paddy to play with. This past

46 years

Is how long I've had passports. Specifically these passports. I just got my newest one. They used to let you smile. Ever since they said you couldn't smile, my photos are horrible. David said my last passport photo (I was wearing a hoodie and a grim

The Career Trifecta

I've been thinking lately about the three things you want in a job. You want to have respect for the organisation you work for. You want to like the people you work with. And you want to have work to do that you enjoy. I'm not

Fly Maybe

I took the Docklands Light Rail early Saturday to London City Airport to catch my FlyBe flight, also known by the title above for reasons that will become obvious. On the way to the airport, I was admiring how, when fog shrouds a city, it conceals the rough edges and

Death of a Salesman

Fast forward to November 26, when I flew to London for my first visit since late September. Dinner at Effe's, a Turkish place I like on Brick Lane. Then to my garret bedroom at the latest AirBnB. The last two were tower blocks, which I didn't

Steam trees

It rained without cease on Saturday. Sunday was sunny (see yesterday's photos). I was enthralled by the trees on my street yesterday morning. They were steaming! There was a swirl of steam radiating from and encircling each tree on the park (a tree-lined street is called a park--my