NorthDownMuse

UU

After I took mom to mass, I tried to go to Marietta for a Unitarian Universalist service. After many days of rain, the Ohio River had jumped its banks and the road and bridge I needed to get from the West Virginia side to the Ohio side was underwater. I

Early impressions 2

Why are the TV ads dominated by lawyers, doctors and hospitals? None of those show up in ads at home. I think it’s kind of creepy for a hospital to tell me about their equipment or their specialities. Ditto for doctors and lawyers. If the Tories manage to gut

Early impressions

I met two men at the hotel (one was on the shuttle from the airport, the other was at the front desk) who both seemed in the same situation. One was a long haul truck driver whose rig was in the shop. He was very nervous about this because he

17 hours

That is roughly the time it took today to get a taxi from my house to city centre, get a bus to Dublin airport, fly to Toronto, fly to Columbus, and take a shuttle to a hotel. Where I collapse into my nice firm bed. On the flight I watched

The good guys

I was on a conference call this week run by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Many years ago I went to an event they put on in Philadelphia. I so wanted to work there, but it meant working in NYC, which didn’t appeal to me. Anyway, the call

Oh Canada!

I am not good at logistics and navigating travel websites. I’ll just admit that up front. I leave in two days for a two-week trip to America to see my mom. It’s taken me weeks to buy my roundtrip bus ride from Belfast to Dublin airport; my RT

More Irish history

I’ve also learned about the Magdalene laundries, nine of which operated around Ireland for 100 years, not closing until mid 1990s. If you were unmarried and pregnant, unwanted, “wayward” or in some way not conforming to the Catholic church’s expectations of women and girls, you’d be sent

History lessons

This weekend was mainly about sitting around reading the paper and a good book. Just what the doctor ordered. My cold came back after Edinburgh, natch. Not as bad, but I’m taking it easy. I’ve probably mentioned before that I love the Irish Times. The writers are excellent

MOT

This morning I took the car in for the Ministry of Transportation test--dreaded because it can result in very expensive repairs. You make an appointment well in advance and then you go to a state-run testing centre. At said centre, you sit in the passenger seat while a mechanic drives

Petro state

This chart pisses me off. The US recently pumped 10.25 million barrels of oil per day, a record. While Europe and China are rapidly decreasing their reliance on fossil fuels by turning to clean alternatives, what is the US doing? Cracking open the foundation of the country to squeeze

Teething problems

Early last year I went to the dentist and complained of tenderness in two of my teeth. I worried about needing to have a filling replaced or, dog forbid, a crown. She advised me to switch toothpaste to Sensodyne to see if that helped. I did and it did. The

Emma

Today’s class focused on the work of TV and restaurant critic A.A. Gill, who died a little over a year ago. The assigned book was The Golden Door, about his travels in America. I haven’t read it yet, but the class gave me a taste of what

Sir Walter Scott

Here he is within his 200 foot tall memorial. From the brochure: "Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was widely regarded as the greatest writer of his day. His popularity stemmed from his books and poetry, his enthusiasm for public causes, and his work as an advocate, judge, and legal administrator.

Flashback

Today I took the lovely tram to the airport to fly home. The Edinburgh-Belfast flight is only about a half hour. You can’t even read much. I went home, made a fire, and started catching up this blog. Way back in Barcelona, when I was writing about the black

St. Louis Shag

I had three workshops again today and then the final social. I left one of my classes early, the St. Louis Shag, because it was just beyond my abilities. A lot of bouncing and one of my knees provided a warning jolt: “Stop NOW or miss the rest of the

Dance hall days love

(title courtesy of Wang Chung) I danced all day--three workshops followed by a social. The teachers are excellent. Here’s my favourite teaching couple (from Sweden) dancing [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdOFotyWwy4] at another event. They are both so expressive--I’d love to dance well enough to look

Dancing Days Deux

Thursday (yesterday) I worked then traveled. Today was sightseeing then registration and a social (i.e. a dance). My roommie Rhoda and I walked up the Royal Mile to the Castle. This is taken with the castle at my back looking at one of the lodges near the entrance. The

Dancing days

Today I flew to Edinburgh for a weekend of swing dance workshops. So let the Edinburgh photos begin! West Bow on the way up to the Royal Mile. In a shop window was a wedding dress which I thought was lovely. View of Edinburgh from the Castle. 2-1

The March

Today I attended my global literature class. It was on a book called The March by E.L. Doctorow, published in 2005, about Sherman’s civil war march through the South. Did you know there was another book about the civil war called “March” published the same year and written

Castle Ward and lots of art

I’m catching up the blog well in the future and forgetting what I did when. Despite the dates below, I now recall that on Jan. 20, a Saturday, I attempted to rejoin the human race by going for a long walk with David at Castle Ward, where a lot

Brideshead Revisited

I heaved myself out of bed to go to the global literature class today, which I missed last week. I can’t say I really enjoyed the book--the first I’ve actually read for this class. Gorgeously written but the characters are unappealing and I ultimately don’t understand some

Couch Potato

In my convalescence, I’m watching a lot of TV on my MacBook via BBC’s i-Player and YouTube. These shows include: Men Behaving Badly starring a young Martin Clunes of Doc Martin fame. Black Books, written by the same guy who wrote Father Ted and the IT Crowd The

Sick bed

When I returned to Belfast on the 9th, I spent most of the next two weeks in bed. I put in my three days a week for Preventable Surprises. Sort of. In addition, I had three files due for my quarterly performance writing gig the day after I got back

Parting shots

So this building: Up close looks like this: How can you not enjoy walking around a city with so many surprises? One of the downsides of the trip was that Dara’s three friends were extroverts. After a period, I find extroverts exhausting. Living with three of them for a

No shoes for you!

One day I went for a long walk to find a shoe store. Not any shoe store, but one that makes shoes for swing dancers. On the way, I called into this shop and bought a book for Dara on transgender activists in Catalonia. She has some very niche interests.