NorthDownMuse

Sixty with Style

I have a friend from church, Sheena, who invited me to her 60th birthday party, which was tonight. I snagged a photo off of Facebook of her with her three kids. L to R: Courtney, a symphony conductor in the U.S.; Cara, a doctor in London; Sheena; and Adam,

Lagan Again

We’ve had gorgeous weather all week so yesterday I got out on my bike and cycled to Lisburn on the Lagan towpath. That was about 25 miles roundtrip and I was done for when I got home. But I succeeded in my quest. I bought two Ulster Weaver tea

Election

Yesterday and today I stuck to my knitting regarding my job search. Also lined up B&Bs for my mom’s visit in June. Today was election day, when 18 people are elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent 1.8 million people. Ulster residents are also represented

Refugee day

Today I put together a newsletter for Nicras, the agency serving refugees in Northern Ireland. I trimmed 11 pages of copy provided to me down to seven pithy pages. I think Northern Ireland and England/Wales (but not Scotland) have the same approach. Deny asylum to most applicants, which means

Apple 1.0

Ardress started life as a simple farmhouse in the early 1600s, but was upgraded with a new facade (note the wings on either side of the chimneys) in the early 1800s. Here’s an internet photo: We took a tour of the apple orchards. Ardress is in County Armagh, which

The Argory and Ardress

David and I joined the National Trust a year ago so our membership is about to expire. We went to two NT properties today that we haven’t seen before, both just south of Lough Neagh, which is in the middle of Ulster. The Argory looks like this: This is

Fooling around

I missed what was on offer at the Belfast Film Festival--some 130 films and events. The catalog was just too overwhelming. How many films can you read about? All the ones I read about sounded good--so I went to none. Today I went to the Festival of Fools--another catalog of

Paycheck

The article I wrote for Responsible Investor about the Edinburgh conference was published yesterday and they did a direct deposit of my freelance fee into my bank account today. How cool is that? White stag sculpture at Mount Stewart: I have a thing for mature trees. This is one of

Rhodies

Mount Stewart is famous for its collection of rhododendrons. Here’s a few: I love the creamy colour of this variety. And the salmon pink petals of this variety: Did I say I wondered around for two hours? There’s so much to see--so many kinds of gardens and so

Yo shorty

...it’s your birthday, we’re gonna party like it’s your birthday, and drink Bacardi like it’s your birthday... I started the day with a run along the Lagan River at Belvoir Park listening to the dawn chorus. Just a lovely outing (I usually run in my neighbourhood

Thinking ahead

I had tea today with my fellow choir member, Monica, before we went to a debate on the Brexit vote, where four economists spelled out what a disaster it would be for Northern Ireland, the only place in the United Kingdom that shares a border with an EU country. One

Battered but not beaten

I made cookies today for the first time since I moved out of the states. My neighbour Marshall meets with one group of retired men on Mondays and another group, who call themselves the Caledonian Smoothies, on Tuesdays. One of his buddies is a keen gardener and he stopped by

Weighing on my mind

At the beginning of the year, I weighed 148 pounds, about 10 pounds above my weight when I left the U.S. (15 above my pre-accident weight when I was training for a triathlon). My goal was to shed 10 pounds this year. I watch what I eat, I consume

Dark Hedges!

David’s sister Susan flew in today from Sheffield for a one-day visit. In making our way to the Antrim coast, we drove through the Dark Hedges, made famous by the Game of Thrones. I have seen spectacular photos of this road. Mine is not one of them. Next stop

Honest labour

I’ve worked two solid days producing two conference summaries and my last quarterly performance summaries. I was at my desk all day for two days straight. The last two days have been gorgeous outside, but I didn’t get to enjoy the weather at all. I did get to

Don’t fence me in

It was a gorgeous morning yesterday as I walked around Edinburgh. Then I took a bus to the airport to head home to Belfast. I was in a really bad mood and it took me a while to figure out why. When you are in an airport, you are a

Monumental

Edinburgh has lots of monuments.This guy was a physicist. Not sure about the higher guy. One of the things I like about Edinburgh is most of the statues I saw memorialised philosophers, writers, and scientists. You don’t see a lot of guys on horseback brandishing swords. In Ulster

Networked

I came, I saw, I took a lot of notes, and I networked. Good conference overall. Yesterday I got a rejection from ShareAction (not enough campaigning experience), so I didn’t walk into today feeling super confident. Rejections take their toll. I’ve applied to most of the organisations represented

The Royal Mile

After a deliciously short flight from Belfast to Edinburgh, I walked around the city. This is an absolutely beautiful city. Everywhere you look you see stately architecture hewn from grey sandstone. And lots of statutes. This is the 5th Duke of Buccleuch on the Royal Mile, whoever he was. Most

The sands of time

(more pictures below) Now that I’ve moved into the study, the next priority is for David and I to each sort through paperwork. Piles of paper accumulated during our year in Crawfordsburn and our year here (phone contract, utility bills, bank statements, health system info, Queen’s info, etc

Fore!

Yesterday it was beautiful outside, but I spent it unpacking boxes of books. I was really excited about having the study done and I wanted to “move into it.” The weather was beautiful most of the week, but I had too many indoor priorities to enjoy it. Today, David and

A gig

Yesterday I learned about a conference in Edinburgh on responsible investing next week. Today, I successfully got the 150 pound conference fee waived and I got Responsible Investor to agree to hire me to cover it as a freelancer. The RI gig will pay my hotel and airfare bill. So

Musical chairs

Remember the study? I picked the colours for the room long ago and got the painting work done. After weeks of my trying and failing to find someone to hang the wallpaper, David and I hung it a few weeks ago. We put the shelves in the room that I

An outing

This week has mostly been about freelance work, writing up performance summaries for American mutual funds. It has also been about organising my mom’s trip to Ireland in June. And I read a 60-page study of fossil-free investment options aimed at institutional investors. The study was done by Mercer.

Book club

On Sunday night we discussed Belfast writer Glenn Paterson’s book The International, about a hotel in Belfast and the characters who frequented its bar in the months before the Troubles kicked into high gear. Tomorrow night we will discuss The Children’s Act by Ian McEwan. The first book