NorthDownMuse

A Man’s a Man For A’ That

Tonight we celebrated Scottish poet, rebel, activist, ladies man Robert Burns. There were songs, poems, whiskey, bagpipes, haggis, lots of men in kilts. It was great fun. Several of the performers read in the Scots dialect, which was lovely but incomprehensible. We started with the piping in of the haggis,

Daily delights

One of the things that has helped me heed Sendak’s advice is being unemployed. I’m not in a Monday-to-Friday crush of commuting and deadlines and responsibilities and office politics and tiredness. So there’s time to read and take in cultural events and generally notice the life around

The Magnificent Sendak

While the amount of time I spend on Facebook is criminal, I sometimes receive a gift that justifies the hours of mindless scrolling. Below is an excerpt of an interview Maurice Sendak did with Terri Gross that showed up on my feed the other day. I was once a buddy

Last Resort

Two days ago Eagles singer Glenn Frey died. I loved Hotel California, I think because it gave me a glimpse into a grown-up world I didn’t understand but was terribly curious about. I remember feeling the same way about Lou Reed’s Take a Walk on the Wild Side.

You’ve Been Trumped

The British Parliament yesterday debated a motion to prohibit Trump from entering the U.K. This was after nearly 600,000 people signed a petition demanding same. MPs heaped scorn on him with relish. I heard a journalist interviewed on the radio yesterday who made a documentary called You’ve

Bibliophilia

Last night I attended one of the two book groups I’m in. Each of the 17 people present suggested a book for next month. I was the only person to have not read the book I suggested, H is for Hawk. And the group decided to read that book.

More Mournes

The group we hike with is called the N.I. Hiking and Photography Group. The beauty of this is I can steal other peoples’ photos, which are invariably better than mine. One of the hikers, Anna Smolinska Howie, is a particularly talented photographer. Here are some shots from a Mourne

Slieve Bearnagh

The Seven Sevens in the Mourne Mountains refers to seven mountains that are more than 700 metres high. We climbed Slieve Donard last year and today we climbed Slieve Bearnagh, which is 727 metres/2,385 feet high. We encountered snow, ice, hail, driving winds, but were not to be

Haystack needle, Part 2

I’ve taken a week off blogging in my attempt to stay focused on my job search. To give you an idea of how tedious the search is, I spent parts of three days on one application. The job is with the Public Interest Litigation Support Project, whose office is

Needle in a haystack

That is what my job search is looking like. I am not qualified for the vast majority of jobs at the organisations I’m targeting. For instance, I don’t want to oversee an agriculture program in Yemen for Oxfam or a micro loan program in Cambodia. Nor do I

Hating on Google again

I bought my Handmaid’s Tale on Google books and read it on my MacBook. I couldn’t get Chapter 15 to open. Then I couldn’t get chapter 19 or 20 to open. I went to the Google Play website that hosts My Books, and found a phone number.

Two book reviews in two paragraphs

Tonight was book club at church. Just before I left for the states, I attended a MeetUp book club for the first time. Here are my thoughts on the two books: A Narrow Road to the Deep North. A very grim book based on the true story of Australian POWs

Five film reviews in five sentences

I saw three films on my two cross-atlantic flights, one with my mom, and one tonight. I will dispense with them quickly: {Flight to US} Bridge of Spies: I love films that unearth a forgotten chapter in history, as this one does with a surprising amount of nuance--which country treated

Deck the halls, 3

Said grandfather’s hands poised above the Christmas cards. I got more cards than I expected, given foreign postage and all. I also decked out a floor lamp as New Year’s Central. Today’s the first Monday of the New Year. I spent it unpacking and getting on top

Deck the halls, 2

Artificial tree in the bay window: Hobby horse made by my mom on the mantle. The piece of furniture below used to be in the foyer covering the electrical panel with all the breakers. The new radiator cover (yesterday’s photo) hides both that panel and a radiator we added

Deck the halls (belated)

I spent bits of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday visiting with David and Stuart, Michael and Faye, and Marshall. When you call in for tea and a catch up, allow 2-3 hours. In lieu of text, the next three days will feature photos of the house decorated for Christmas, photos which

How not to begin a year

Traveling. Ugh. However, I must say it went smoothly. Mom took me to the Parkersburg airport at 11:30 a.m., extra early for my 12:50 flight (it’s a tiny airport). My second flight left two hours late out of Dulles but I still arrived on time in

How to end a year

Get a massage. It’s been nearly two months since I fell at Stormont. The lasting damage has been to my shoulder, which did not respond well to taking so much weight on impact. I went for a half hour massage this evening to see if the masseuse could shake

Run around

So many things to do in my final days here. Get a new pair of running shoes. Make sure I have presents for my cat caregivers. Make sure I have snacks for the plane. Pack and repack and weigh bags and repack. Say goodbye to my lovely Parkersburg friends. Mom

Aretha!

Today’s highlight was watching the Kennedy Center Honours. The best part was Aretha Franklin’s performance of "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" in honour of Carole King. It looks like the clip isn’t available online anymore, or I’d post it. Aretha is

HGTV

My mom is a big fan of shows where people go around looking for houses to buy. What struck me was how humongous the houses were and how, reliably, the wife would say it wasn’t big enough. She wants a bigger bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, family room, yard. One woman,

Bobbi

The day after Christmas is a blur. Two days after Christmas, David drove to New Jersey and I drove an hour north to Ohio to meet a friend who was driving from Johnstown PA to Indianapolis. She used to stay with me regularly when I lived in Pennsylvania and we

Poker face

After opening presents and having our Christmas breakfast, we had a great time playing poker and Trivial Pursuit. I don’t ever recall spending Christmas playing games. David is from a games-playing family so we borrowed TP and Scrabble from a neighbour and got to work. It was such a

Midnight Mass

...is at 10 pm and over by 11. Go figure. Today we went to Marietta, Ohio, to do some Christmas shopping. David is heading to New Jersey after Christmas to see his kids, so he bought a few things at a cooking shop we like. We were stunned to see

Time warp

When I’m at my mom’s, time moves differently. We eat, we shop, we watch TV, we visit mom’s friends. And that’s about it. It’s lovely. I have no responsibilities. No deadlines. I don’t have to follow databases to see if jobs are posted. I