NorthDownMuse

Google

I spent part of the day reading a white paper published by Google about its efforts to source 100% renewable power to run its server farms. Or data centres. Or whatever they’re called. Google has operations around the world and this year it will reach its goal of purchasing

MLK & DUP & SF

MLK day not really a thing here. Instead we had the spectacle of the Northern Ireland government collapsing. I wrote earlier about the Renewable Heating Initiative, in which businesses and homeowners received 1.60 pounds for every pound they spent on wood pellets if they converted to a pellet-burning boiler.

It’s not nice to not be wanted

I’ve started working on my 81-page visa renewal form. I don’t know how much I wrote about round one in the summer of 2014, which granted me a 2.5-year limited leave to enter visa as a spouse of a U.K. citizen. Let’s just say it

Our wee country

You see the above on murals such as this one, celebrating N.I.’s football prowess: “Norn Iron” is amazing in the talent it produces. David and I went to a BBC arts show taping at BBC studios tonight which featured: A guitar player who reminded me of Rodrigo y

Dancing the night away

Tonight I went to my third Out to Lunch event. O2L has expanded to include night-time events, this one a popular DJ. It takes some nerve for an introvert such as myself to go to a dance club by myself. But it worked out very well. The first two hours

The Importance of Being Oscar

Today I went to a warehouse and collected a car full of food to take to NICRAS, the refugee agency. My friends who usually do it are out of town for two weeks. Then I went to the Duke of York for a pint to kill time before I went

January blues

Here are all the things I’m trying to get done this month: 1. Seven quarterly performance files for T.Rowe Price funds. 2. Three days/week for Preventable Surprises, for whom I’m trying to develop a new website. 3. Research and write a freelance article on shareholder resolutions

NHS

As part of the Out to Lunch festival, I went to hear a comedian at, duh, lunchtime, riff on the NHS. He’d been a doctor for 30 years before doing stand up. He was very entertaining and shared some amusing anecdotes. Most of his act was about all the

Birds III

Before I load the last three photos from the hike, I’ll share something I heard on the radio this morning on the way to the pool. A survey of 29 of the world’s richest industrialised countries found Dutch kids are the happiest. The United Kingdom came 16th and

Bird Mountains, II

Today was church followed by cooking and cleaning followed by having David and Stuart over for dinner. David did the cooking and I did the cleaning and we both cleaned up the kitchen. It was a long day, due to our still being tired from yesterday. But it was nice

The Bird Mountains

Today we hiked with our hiking & photography group. It was a really nice mixture of people, lots of interesting chat about biking, kayaking, birding, architecture, photography, our high schools, etc. David is not much for conversation so I go crazy when I’m around people who enjoy a good

Cell hell, part 2

I met a woman for tea this morning to discuss a volunteer opportunity. I said let’s meet inside the door to the cafe. I sat facing that door for a half hour when I got a call from her. She was sitting three tables away and had been for

Cell hell

This will be a curmudgeon post, an ode to Bill B’s tetchy side. Everyone wants you to do business on your cellphone. Your bank, your credit card, Facebook, taxi cabs--everything is set up for cellphone users. I never made the transition to cellphone culture. I can text, but that’

The Road to Little Dribbling

Today was book club. Everyone liked Bill Bryson’s book. I thought it was interesting that people liked his tetchy side, tetchy meaning irritable. He can be cutting and curt with shopkeepers for instance, usually due to bad service. I think people enjoy that side of him because we all

Out to Lunch

I’ve ignored the last six or seven festivals in Belfast because I haven’t had time to focus on them (film, music, human rights, C.S. Lewis--there’s always a festival on). I sat down today and looked at the 54 events that comprise the Out to Lunch festival.

Back to the Lagan

For nearly two years I’ve had people tell me I should join the Belfast Dynamos, a hiking group within MeetUp. I joined it maybe six months ago. Today I went on my first hike with them. There were about 40 of us on the hike. Here are our pace

Day One

Today was also a down day with the exception of painting a wall. The hallway project continues. In another file, I will write something I’m thankful for each day--a good habit. Today’s entry was gratitude that my mom is in good health and enjoys a full life. She

Me & Graham

Today was a down day. Other than reading, I’m not sure if I did anything. I made no New Year’s Eve plans. It is impossible to get a taxi home on NYE and who wants to drive? Plus, loud crowded parties are not my scene. So I watched

M&S

There are so many ways in which I’m a bad hostess. The guys don’t like the instant coffee I have so they walk two blocks to Spar every morning for coffee. I should buy a coffee press and proper coffee, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

Mr. Bogle

I drove the lads to Derry today and dropped them in city centre with instructions to take the tour of the city walls, the Guildhall and walk across the pedestrian bridge. They would take the train back to Belfast--a scenic journey that begins along the coast. I shopped for my

Castle Day

One of the great things about having Joe and Carlos as guests is they love Maysie. So she’s getting better walks than usual. This is me and Joe and Maydog at Stormont. Sorry for the orientation. Today we went to Killyleagh Castle, which was wrapped in scaffolding. So I’

RUA

The Royal Ulster Academy has an annual art show at the Ulster Museum. We went there in the morning--it was an excellent show. Amazing that this little corner of the world produces so many talented artists. I’m fond of this one: We also went through some of the galleries

Hiking for a cause

I apologize for my silly headlines. We went to the Giant’s Causeway today--lame excuse for a lame headline. Anyway, I generally feel underwhelmed by the Causeway. There are so many fantastic professional photos--sun rising, sun setting, a ballerina posed on a rock mound--that the real thing somehow seems less

Friendly Christmas

Christmas with friends is strange--none of the family traditions, which is good and bad. I usually spend Christmas with my mom but for the first time in 20 years she spent it at my sister’s. Which is nice for my nieces and nephews. I’m going to see mom

It was Christmas Eve babe...

... in the drunk tank. An old man said to me “Won’t see another one.” And then he sang a song--The Rare Old Mountain Dew--I turned my face away and dreamed about you. The above is a lyric to an old Pogues song that remains very popular here, I hear