NorthDownMuse

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

Puppies!

Down the street lives a couple called Leslie and Stuart Porter. They own Dolly and Doogle, two Irish soft-coated wheaten terriers. The breed, the progenitor of the wheaten terriers known in the US, almost went extinct. The Porters are among a small group of people bringing the breed back. Here’

Caseys

Today was my fourth and final golf lesson. Afterward, I went up to the clubhouse for tea with a few of my fellow students, all very nice women at some stage of retirement (working part-time like me or fully retired). To my right were three women whose maiden name was

Kentish Town

When I walk back and forth between the tube station and Carolyn’s, I get to peek at some lovely gardens. Here’s one: 6-9

Tabloid trash

Left at 6:10 am and got home around 1 pm after two tubes, one train, one flight, and two buses. The sad thing is I repeat this in two weeks. Today is election day and I was horrified by the tabloid press coverage. The front page headlines described Labour

Getting my geek on

I’ve been to investing conferences in the past--a lot of alpha males chasing alpha for their greedy clients. I’ve also been to many spiritual retreats and self-improvement workshops, with a lot of visioning and hugging and experiential learning. I’ve learned a lot at both. The Responsible Investor

Lost in London

My conference began at 9 am. I left the house at 8:10 for what should have been two six-minute subway trips and two short walks. But I decided to walk rather than take the second subway. I’ll be sitting all day so a 15-minute walk would do me

Full day

Before catching the 1:30pm bus downtown, I went swimming, cleaned the house, planted three geraniums that have been sitting in the backyard for more than a week, did some writing and editing for Preventable Surprises, and edited an annual report for the refugee women’s integration project. Then I

Attempted bookishness

So today I read through all 72 events that are part of the Belfast Book Festival. Almost all of the events sound good. I narrowed the list to 14. I go online and book the first six events, paying 35 pounds. The first two events are on Thursday of this

A perfect day

First: golf lesson. Which was really instructive. I wouldn’t say I’m getting better but that I understand better why I’m not getting better. Second: happy hunting. I’ve probably been to six auctions in the past two months looking for a desk for my office and maybe

Pity the refugee

Before and after work this week I have been editing a 150-page guide for refugees and asylum seekers. It covers everything from accessing health care, education, and food pantries to Northern Ireland’s political and cultural history. Many chapters cover the tortuous process of trying to gain refugee status. There

Utility Week

This week my main accomplishment was writing a blog for Utility Week, a British trade publication, about a conference Preventable Surprises co-hosted with PwC on 5 May in London. Here I am (on the left) studiously taking notes: On my right is a credit analyst from S&P and

Bank Holiday

Today is a bank holiday, just a few weeks after another bank holiday. Not sure what the origin of the bank holidays is, but the atmosphere is festive. Everyone’s pretty chill. David and I went for a bike ride to Daft Eddie’s on the Ards Peninsula. You sit

Photo finish

At some point months ago, I documented the transformation of the hall from an icky beige to a bright yellow. To complete the look, I wanted to have a gallery of photos all in black frames. I got off to a good start in February when my mom gave me

Nails

They never tell you that your nails are the first to go. I’ve had a split nail for many years on one of my middle fingers. As in there’s a permanent split that requires me to keep the nail trimmed down very low. Now I have two more

Continental Market

While I should have been off today, I spent a lot of time trying to get interviews with two utility executives. I managed one, but I never reached the other one, despite an agreed-on time. Whatever. I didn’t understand much of the interview, so we’ll see whether I

Low tide

Missing Maysie messed with my head all day today. And things aren’t going well at work. And my estranged sister and I have been having an e-mail fight. So I’m just going to put up a photo I took a while ago in the Glens of Antrim: 5-25

$SO AGM

I was kind of lucky in that Southern Company’s AGM was today. Southern is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the U.S. and a high priority for us during AGM season. The good nuns of New Jersey placed a resolution on Southern’s ballot requesting that the

Grimness

This is what I put on Facebook: If I had a terminal illness and were wasting away, with the quality of my life slowly declining, I’d want to be put out of my misery. What a blessing. Yet when I do that for my dog, I feel like a

Updates

In no particular order. I didn’t get the job with the European Climate Fund, but they want me to do articles for them on a freelance basis. I’ve been sending letters and e-mails, tweeting, and blogging--calling out BlackRock and Vanguard on their past voting records on climate resolutions

Lady Nicholson

During the spring and summer, different private gardens are open on some weekends as a fundraiser for the National Trust. Yesterday we went to one such garden, an estate with 60 acres owned by Lord and Lady Nicholson. The gardens from the house: And the house from the gardens, down

Girls

Today I took a golf lesson at Belvoir Golf Club, where one of my choir mates was Lady Captain last year. The pro was probably in his late 30s. The students were all women in their 50s and 60s. He called us all “girls.” That really annoys me. I mentioned

Tully Castle

After lunch we visited Tully Castle, site of a horrendous atrocity. The Maguire clan ruled Fermanagh prior to 1600, while the O’Neils and O’Donnells ruled other parts of Ulster. King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth the First were determined to gain control of Ireland and, through numerous battles

St. Mary's

“Rather unusually, Devenish was shared by a very ascetic group of secular clergy, the Culdees, and by Augustinian canons who founded their own priory here in the twelfth century and built St. Mary’s church near the top of the hill." My photos look fine when I open them

Devenish

So today I toured County Fermanagh on a bus with 50 people from the Women’s Common Room Club at Queen’s--members are Queen’s graduates, faculty, or faculty spouses. It was organised by Carol Bardon, whose husband, Jonathan, is a published historian. From Wiki: "Bardon is best known