NorthDownMuse

Parkrun

I almost didn’t do Parkrun today. I took a few months off running and am not yet back up to form. But I have to treat Parkrun as a fun group run--not an opportunity for a PB. I’m so glad I went because I ran into Louise, Christine,

Blur

Tuesday through Friday. Hmmm. There was much dog handling, entertaining, cleaning up after. I played golf with two neighbours on Thursday. I kept meaning to get to a film or swing dance lesson but I hate to leave little Paddy. I am trying to give him time in his kennel

A bit nippy

Today I went in for a breast exam. In and out in less than 20 minutes. No pink gown to change into, no bins full of pink gowns to be laundered, no locker to put your things into. You walk into the X-ray room, whip off your top, do the

Armistice Day

It has been 100 years since the “Great War” ended. The radio and TV have been filled with tributes to the nearly 900,000 from the UK who fought and died in the war. It has been a sombre day. Nearly 210,000 from Ireland joined the war effort; 35,

Musical tables

This post is mainly for my mom’s benefit. She missed her calling as an interior decorator. When I make major changes to the decor, I try to get input either beforehand or, in this case, afterward. Living room before. Tables on either end of the sofa from my mom,

Christmas cred

I am not the kind to decorate this early but I do like to get shopping done early, particularly if I’m to get things to the US by Christmas. I bought my first Christmas present today, a book for my mom. I was meant to go to the publisher’

The Mac

I took the bus into the city to attend Ross’s auction, where I successfully bid on two tables. I had downloaded a few This American Life podcasts onto my phone and I started listening to one of them on the bus into town--all proud of myself for being that

GOTV

Many of my friends in America worked the polls yesterday. Sounds like turnout was HUUUGE, as the orange one says. Looks like Dems kicked butt in the house, but the senate--the House of Fraser of US politics--remains in the GOP’s grip. I hope the new women of Congress are

Festival feast & famine

In the past two months I've missed the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast International Arts Festival, QFT 50th Anniversary festival, and the Belfast Open House Festival. All had their 40- to 60-page programs, each filled with tempting descriptions of 100s of events. I’m probably missing out on

Stag do

Last week, police shot and killed a stag that was running around East Belfast. That doesn’t happen every day. I was driving home from the pool--I finally went swimming!!--and I saw a large body on the Comber Greenway, the rail-to-trail path David uses to cycle to work. Police

Internment

My education on Northern Ireland’s horrible history continued today, when Sophie & I went to see another documentary. This one was about the scores of women interned in Armagh Gaol during the Troubles. I knew nothing about this. When I was a teenager, like my peers, I paid little

Don’t fence me in

Today was mostly chasing after a puppy and a cat--letting them in and out of different doors. I take Paddy out A LOT to encourage outdoor peeing and pooing. I let Isabelle in and out of various rooms to keep her away from my needle-toothed buddy. She’s hissed at

Puppy love

OMG he is such a bundle of energy. When you try to fold clothes, he jumps up and bites the legs of the trousers and the arms of the tops. When you try to pick up poo, he’s bouncing around your hands--and stepping in the poo. When you sit

Happiness is a ball of fur

I had a frustrating morning dealing with five documents from PRI (employment, health insurance, beneficiaries for pension and life insurance, new employee form). I was meant to scan all 28 pages (which would take forever on my printer) and then figure out how to assemble each set of pages into

A harried Halloween

Nine holes with Marian and Eileen was good crack. We are all well matched and it was very relaxed. I feel under a lot more pressure at Belvoir for some reason--bigger course, golfers more intent on improving. Marian used to be a large animal vet. Now she’s a fish

Golf Guilt

I had this idea that golf courses were a benign use of land. They aren’t as highly manicured here as in the states, so I thought they’d be a carbon sink and possibly provide habitat. When I played at Belvoir last week I noticed two things. A LOT

Bake a Building

I went to St. George’s Market today for an event put on by the Ulster Architectural Heritage society. It invited people or groups to bake cakes shaped like famous historical Belfast buildings. This is Stormont House: This is Queen’s University: This is Castle Ward. And the bakers who

The Patriot Game

Today I went to see a documentary with my friend Sophie. It was by a man from New Jersey, Arthur MacCaig, who was living in Paris in the late 60s, early 70s. He was so moved by the deplorable conditions faced by the people living in Catholic ghettoes in Northern

Shawcross @ Titanic

Today I parked near the Harland and Wolff shipyard and walked to the Titanic Museum. I passed a fairground. It’s in the 50s now, so fairgrounds seem a bit out of place. However, it is half term, so I guess you just bundle up and go on the rides.

I got the job!

As dutifully reported, I had a good interview with PRI last week--Principles for Responsible Investment. The job is actually working with the ClimateAction100 campaign, but PRI will provide staff (campaigns often don’t have their own staff but borrow from member organisations). Around 5 pm I got a call from

Shankill Road

Twenty-five years ago, two members of the Provisional IRA entered a fish shop on the Shankill Road. The plan was to force customers out of the fish shop and detonate a bomb, killing the leaders of the Ulster Defence Association meeting above the fish shop. The UDA was a unionist

The Greens

So we had about 45 people at tonight’s Green Party meeting. The first speaker, a Queen’s lecturer on the green economy, was supposed to talk about investing in the green economy. The third speaker, the head of Friends of the Earth in N.I., was meant to talk

The Park

Today I worked on my speech for tomorrow night’s Green Party event. So today’s entry is a photo I took recently of Cherryvalley Park, where I live. It’s lovely this time of year. 10-23

Mrs. Robinson

Mary Robinson was president of Ireland from 1990-97 and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from then until 2003. She has a new book out called Climate Justice and last night she spoke to a packed audience at Ulster University. She is a wonderful speaker, charming, gracious, very committed

The passage of time

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mostly involved me sleeping or moping about. I canceled golf on Friday and I didn’t go to Derry on Saturday for an environmental rally. The nice thing about being sick is I take all pressure off myself to be productive. On a normal day, I