NorthDownMuse

More golf

From championship golf on Friday to rank amateur efforts today. I played nine holes at Belvoir Golf Club, where I joined for the summer after taking lessons there. Mom rode along in a buggy, giving me tips. It was a lovely day. As usual, I forgot to take photos on

Belfast Bound

Today we went to mass at the Chapel Road church where we attended service when we lived in Derry. Then to Mr. Bigger’s. His wife died a few years ago and I visit him when I’m in town. Then back to Belfast, where preparations are underway for the

Saffron

Today was a 100% social day. As an introvert, these days wear me out but I’m very fond of the people I spent the day with so that certainly helps. We started on a failed quest to find an antique dealer mom used to buy from. Our hotel was

The Irish Open

Today we took the train from Derry to Coleraine and then the shuttle to Portstewart, where 165 golfers were duking it out to make it into the final. Tomorrow only something like 60 players would remain. We were able to walk across the fairways of holes 18 and 17 to

Lough Erne

Two final shots of the hotel: I’ve never seen this kind of decoration on the exterior of windows (above). I was rather taken with this barrel ceiling. So today we took the Lady of the Lake, a boat that cruises among the islands in Lough Erne--supposedly 365 islands. It

Betty @ Belleek

Yesterday’s weather was not lovely, today’s is lovely. I posted some of today’s photos yesterday to spread the wealth. This is the foyer of the Manor House: Also the foyer... Today we headed for Belleek, where we took a tour of the factory. It was really interesting.

Forgotten Fourth

We pretty much forgot that today was the Fourth. We had places to go and things to do. I did chores all morning while mom slept then we hit the road for Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. First stop was Castle Coole, where we took part of the tour (the part that

Belfast City Hall

Today’s highlight was a tour of Belfast City Hall--something I’ve always wanted to do but saved until I had a visitor. We were a bit early so I took a photo of mom in front of city hall with a statue of Queen Victoria. The city hall opened

Afternoon Tea

We went to mass at Clonard Monastery, which is a gorgeous Cathedral-scale church in West Belfast. It looks like this: Then we checked out a few pubs in the Cathedral Quarter, named for St. Anne’s Cathedral. The Duke of York is one of the most famous pubs in Belfast:

Hampstead

We had a lovely visit (tea and scones) with Ann and Rick, our former neighbours in Crawfordsburn, with whom we stayed when we were in Naples, Fla.--their half-year home. In the afternoon we saw the movie Hampstead with Diane Keaton, which I really enjoyed. I thought the dialogue was

Betty comes to Belfast!

Today my mom arrived for her third visit since I moved here. I drove to Dublin and collected her. I got to Dublin and back without getting lost, which is no mean feat because the M1 becomes the A1 then the N1 then the M1. There’s an exit off

The Exxon vote

Last week I had an article published in Utility Week, a trade publication for the British utilities industry. It was about the conference we co-sponsored with PwC in May. Essentially saying that utilities and investors are further along the curve than regulators in transitioning to low carbon models. This week

Photo finish

Mom arrives Friday and I work Tues-Thurs so today I tried to finish the photo gallery project. In recent months, I’ve been through two suitcases full of photos, two SD cards, five CDs, David’s iPad, and the photo files on my computer. Here’s a random photo extracted

Orwellian Orbit

I’ve been in London two weeks out of the past three so on this last trip I took my running gear. It is so hard to get in shape at my age that I don’t want to miss two runs. Each time I went running in Kentish Town,

A Motet in Forty Parts

When I’m in London I stay with Carolyn Hayman, OBE, who founded and for many years led an organisation called Peace Direct. She is active in her Quaker meeting, she serves on many NGO boards, she’s an excellent cook, she cycles all over London, she plays violin in

Online Dialogue #5

I have spent three days in London managing an online dialogue. We have six sessions per day and my role is to contribute to the discussion in each session, cull “key takeaways,” write daily summaries based on the key takeaways, and manage surveys. We have 67 participants in time zones

8.5 hours

Door to door Cherryvalley Park Belfast to Lawford Road, Kentish Town. Ridiculous when the flight is an hour and 10 minutes. But two buses in Belfast and a bus and two tubes in London. It adds up. I usually take the train into London from Gatwick but the bus is

Fashion faux pas

I just want the record to reflect that I do not (and will not) own any shirts, jackets, blouses, or t-shirts with circles cut out of the sleeve where it sits on the shoulder. Someone decided this would be an interesting fashion development and women, in true lemming fashion, fell

Birthday bouquet

Today is David’s birthday. We celebrated by spending the day in Enniskillen, first going for a two-hour hike at Florence Court, where we toured the lovely walled garden. Then we visited a garden on the National Trust open day tour. It was spectacular. I mentioned to David that some

Simon Dickey

Simon Dickey died at age 21 in a 2003 car accident. He was a member of the Garvey Silver Band, which holds an annual concert in his memory. Simon raised money for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in honour of a friend who lost her sight in the

Goofing

Last night six women who took lessons with Michael, the pro at Belvoir Golf Club, played one hole with him. I had missed the first two classes in a six-week session so a lot of the “refresher” was new to me, particularly on putting. So today I played with two

Politix

Since I can’t vote here, I don’t follow politics as closely as I might. There was an election last week called by Tory Prime Minister Theresa May, who expected to be the beneficiary of a landslide, given the perceived weaknesses of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. It didn’t

Massahhhge

The woman I used to go to for massage had a baby in October, so she took a proper break. She returned to work last week (she works from her home, so returned to work is not geographical) and I went to see her today. I get pains in my

Full on

I’m working full-time for Preventable Surprises right now, which is stressing me out because so many other projects are on hold (I book up my evenings partly to get out of the house after working there all day). I don’t have time to: * Look for a job * Finish

Book Festival

Saturday night I went to my first book festival event (an underwhelming sketch comedy affair). Last night I went to hear four poets do readings. I’d say only one of them suited my taste for subject matter, style, and delivery. Tonight I went to two events, only one of