NorthDownMuse

Curtain time

I believe I mentioned that I have new curtains. And here they are: Also one on the side window: While I'm at it, here's the dining room, with lovely roses from Hillary. 11-9

Remembrance

Today was Remembrance Sunday, when wreathes of paper poppies are laid at cenotaphs throughout the U.K. commemorating those who died in the First and Second World Wars. I spoke to a man at church this morning who has attended the Remembrance service at the Queen's University cenotaph

The very best kind of day

My high school friend Julie was in town today for a workshop and came by for lunch. Then we walked the coastal path for hours, and sat on a sea wall and talked for another hour, past sunset. One of those intense conversations that you don't want to

Lanyon and on and on

I was on Queen's campus today so I couldn't resist a few shots of Lanyon, my favourite building. It has to be the most photographed building in Belfast--tour groups stop by all the time. You also see lots of parents taking photos of their kids and

One year

We bought our house one year ago. Hard to believe, probably because we didn't move in until March. Today I went down the street to visit a neighbour, a widow who I've chatted to a few times. She told me a few stories about her recent

3 X 18

Soliana & Ian caught the Thursday morning bus to Dublin, from where they caught a flight to Rome for a week's holiday with Sol's family. I spent Thursday and Friday mostly avoiding my job search efforts. My analysis of Why I Am Procrastinating So Much has

Wednesday at Winterfell

I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, but I guess Winterfell is the place where it is based? Today we drove up the beautiful Antrim coast and stopped at a harbour we hadn't visited before, one that is a GOT location. It is called Ballintoy

Tuesday travel

We took Ian and Sol to Giant's Causeway. They were pretty impressed. The sun kept trying to break through, but at least we didn't have rain. We walked the loop along the water, up the hill, and back across the top field. Then we went to

Monday meetings

David's son and daughter-in-law, Ian and Soliana, arrived today for short visit before going to Italy for a week. They napped for part of the day then David took them to the Titanic museum. I had lunch with one of my favourite Queen's students, Felicity de

Hike=Like

Today we hiked in Kilbroney Forest, which borders the Mournes on the south side, not the north side, where Newcastle is. To our south is Carlingford Lough, with the Republic on the other side of the water. To our east is the Irish sea. From this vantage point you get

All they will call you will be...deportee

That is a lyric from a sadly beautiful Sweet Honey and the Rock song. I spent all day at a conference on refugees and asylum seekers. Twelve speakers from government, trade unions, academia, and civil society. In sum: U.N. and E.U. law provides automatic protections for anyone claiming

Two worlds

I spent part of the day at Queen's job fair. It was mostly London-based firms looking for law students willing to do a two-year training stint in various aspects of corporate law, at the end of which they could focus on M&As, securitisation, contracts, or other

Job search

I've been a bit slow getting the job search off the ground because I've had enough distractions to keep me busy. But now I'm getting focused. And I'm finding it daunting to do a job search in a place where I know

Lagan meadows

Last week I met the daughter of my mother's friends, the O'Dwyers. She has had a fascinating career as a field accountant working in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Romania, and, most recently, South Sudan. Her next contract is in Nicaragua. She works for nonprofits, making sure the books

Discipline

Lest you worry that I've fallen into a post-thesis stupor, I'm currently juggling deadlines for quarterly fund commentaries, petsitting for the neighbours, volunteering, and doing the odd household chore. I haven't really dug into my job search yet because I want to bring more

This hike has it all

Today we hiked with a group of people up Slieve Gullion, which Wiki tells me "is the eroded remains of a Paleocene volcanic complex. It is surrounded by a ring dike known as the Ring of Gullion." At its summit is a burial chamber dating to 3,000

Getting out

Now that school and the thesis are over, I have to make an effort to get out of the house. Spending a year in the ivory tower didn't do wonders for my social life, so I have to figure out how to get out and meet people. My

GBBO

Today was the final show of the Great British Bake Off, which is a major deal here. Everyone watches it. The ultimate winner, Nadiya, was the popular favourite because of her goofy facial expressions, her sense of humour, and her humility--self-deprecating humour is quintessentially British. Nadiya's parents are

A week later...

Hard to believe we've been back a week. I spent so much time uploading photos from Crete that I think I've gone off the blog project. My guess is posts will be occasional in the future, not daily. I think in the early days there was

Parting shots

Our flight leaves at 9:30 tonight so we packed in a full day before saying goodbye to Crete. We went swimming in the ocean before breakfast, something we should have done every day we were here, however it's hard to get up early, walk 10 minutes to

Imbros Gorge

The famous gorge on Crete is Samaria Gorge. It was closed today due to heavy rainfall the night before. We hiked Imbros Gorge which, for some reason, dodged the rain. Also, Samaria is 20 km and Imbros is 8 km, much more manageable. You walk along a very uneven riverbed,

My Big Fat Greek Vacation

Before we left on holiday, David bought a scale to weigh our bags so we didn't exceed the weight limit. I bravely weighed myself and was horrified to learn I weigh 150 pounds. I knew I'd put on weight during my year of studying. I'

Santorini!!

We have slept through every sunrise since we've been here, however today we had to get up early for the boat to Santorini, so here's a Rethymnon sunrise. And here is the marina: One more: About three hours on a fast ferry and we are on

"It's all Greek to me"

I understand this saying now that I've spent a little time in Greece. The Greek alphabet is impossible to make heads or tails of. Your basic street sign has Greek lettering first, second is the Greek word represented using the Latin alphabet. Sometimes a third word is listed,

Gorges

Today we explored Mili Gorge, not far from Rethymnon. I didn't take my camera so I'm uploading a few more shots from yesterday. There are 80 kinds of cheese produced on Crete. Which is why there are goats and sheep all over the place. Yesterday we