NorthDownMuse

Pre-Portugal

We left off on Wednesday 21st Feb, when I was going to try to stay in. Haha. A friend invited me to a golf show at the Europa Wednesday night, where we picked up brochures from lots of golf courses in Ireland and entered to win rounds. We ended up

Meet Up

After my Derry sojourn, I did take on the spindles. So far, 18 of 26 painted. Not my favourite job, so very pleased with progress. Am also progressing on my will and giving myself big pats on the back. I find it hard to get beyond the basics (job, walk

The Book of Kells

I have taken this week off work, partly to use up vacation before the 1 April beginning of a new vacation year (I'm using my last week off in March). Partly because the year has been off to a hectic start and I want some down time. But

02

Two highlights of the past week were meeting with a solicitor to work on my will – something that has been on my list of things to do for eight years now. Second was dinner with Eddis and Patricia, two of my favourite people in Belfast. On Friday I had a

Winter golf

Friday night was the Winter League dinner. I'm not sure how our team did overall – Patricia's team won with a very strong group of players. My contribution to the evening was 120 golf balls I picked up on the course in recent years. People can buy

Christmas party postponed

I had a week and a half between my return from the US and a trip to London for a delayed PRI Christmas party. During that interlude, I played golf a few times, met a few work deadlines, cleaned the house, walked the dog – in other words back in the

H2BH2

This is Happy to be Home, part 2. September was part 1. Mom's neighbours, the Moores, drove me to Columbus Thursday morning, then a flight to Newark, then another to Dublin. Flight two was delayed so missed the bus I booked to Belfast. So booked another, then booked

And just like that...

Two weeks fly by. The first few days here, I distributed presents to mom's friends (Nancy, Sandy, Sandi, Connie and Janey) and ran errands with mom. Most of my presents were related to the coronation – something uniquely British. But also socks from the lovely Avoca mill – uniquely Irish.

Out with a bang

Final days in Belfast before the annual trip to the US. Tuesday 12 Dec. we didn't have our final golf outing of the year due to rain. However we still had the best-costume contest. I wore a Brussels sprout hat, which was not enough for victory. But I

Torrents

It has rained every day and every night for the past week. Not the rain-of-no-consequence that lets you go about your daily life unhindered. This is epic, biblical rain that makes you question the safety of driving. Needless to say the golf course has been closed for a week. Which

You better work

As RuPaul would say. Supermodel I am not, just a mere editor. This entry is to memorialise the annus horribilis of the PRI. This year the good people of PWC designed a new model – not a super one – for how PRI works. I was once part of a coherent editorial

It's beginning to ...

Before we get to the Christmassy bit... Thursday 30 Nov. was dinner with Ben and a sustainability talk at Queen's. I was very underwhelmed by the panel's presentation. More posturing than substance. The convener closed by saying how inspiring the panel was and how we were

Thanksgiving 2023

This month, this year – they are fairly flying by. Let's see, highlight of the weekend of 18-19 November was taking the bus to Derry to go to an artisan market, visit with my friend Julie and visit Mary. A festive day. Monday the 20th I finished editing a

Slow weekend

After all the running around to prepare for the party, I took it easy this weekend. I walked Paddy at Redburn forest one day. Another day he got soaked: Mom requested photos of the new sunroom so I took some better ones. This is the hallway from the original house

Autumn splendour

Isn't my street lovely? I've been working in the upstairs lounge to take advantage of the view: Close up of middle window and right-hand window: Close up of middle window and left-hand window: You feel as if you are in a park. The downside is a

Drumroll, part two

Sticking with the chronology: Monday: train trip after work to Derry to have dinner with niece Kate and her husband Andrew, who were visiting the Maiden City for Halloween. It was great to hear about their wedding this summer, their new house, new jobs, and their weeklong tour of Ireland.

Drumroll please

Being a linear person, I have to stick with chronology. On Sunday, 22 Oct., I took Paddy on a 6.5 mile hike with my old hiking club along the River Roe. The golf club has been closed the past week, and today, due to rain, so the river was

Weekends away

The weekend after I returned from the US I drove up to Derry and spent the night with my bestie, Julie. The purpose of the visit was the annual Foyle dinner. Here I am with fellow pupil Cathy Arthur. The speeches were good – yet another teacher hired b/c he

H2BH

Happy to be home. But first I had to get here. Thursday I had researched two things: 1. How to avoid paying Hertz $77 in fees plus any tolls. My research showed I had a $2.70 toll southbound (which I wasn't aware of, toll gates have become

Buttons

Mom and I went back to the Golf Club of West Virginia the next day for a second round, 18 holes this time. It was a lovely course, but so hilly! Like a roller coaster. The following day I played at mom's old club with our friend Sandy.

Slow lane

My last meeting in London was supposed to be from 10-12 on Friday 10 Sept. It started late and our Dutch consultant droned on and on (product playbook! governance playbook! product cycles! transitional strategy! leveraging insights! change management! cross-team dependencies!). I had to leave the meeting "early", at

Pushing the limits

I played golf Sun, Mon & Tues in three competitions and under a hot sun. Did not distinguish myself – in one of the competitions, I missed out on going to an all-Ireland competition. Mon-Thurs I tried to meet deadlines on three projects – signing off on the web and print versions

Refuge

Because construction is noisy and I'm tired of editing amidst the noise and mess, I have decamped to friends' houses a few times. When I was at Christine's house, her alarm went off. So I bunged her dog and my dog in the car while

Progress

Not doing much posting recently because work, golf and construction are all full on. The last two weeks we've had golf competitions on Tuesday and Thursday, instead of just Tuesday. I've also been editing more than 100 pages of content – in the midst of a construction

Friends and Contractors

An odd title, granted. All will be clear. Looking back at the weekend, two things stand out. First is my amazing friends. I visited Ann Friday morning after walking Paddy. I had dinner that night with Eddis after an exhausting day. Saturday a long convo by phone with my friend