NorthDownMuse

How does your garden grow?

This post is mainly for mom. I try to keep her on top of all matters of importance, like what is blooming in my garden. First I need to share the latest addition to my kitchen: The end of my counter has always been a bit sloppy--too many bits and

Picturesque pup

When I'm bored at work--often--I take a minute to photograph my gorgeous dog, who often is imploring me to throw his ball. Or lounging in the spot I thought would be my favourite nook in the house. He came in one day with a forget me not on

Donaghadee Match

Ever since I recovered from Covid, I have spent much of my spare time either playing golf or practicing at the driving range to prepare for inter-club team match play. Tuesday of this week was the regular  ladies competition at Shandon--I didn't do well. Then Thursday was the

Love where you live

Saturday was my fourth round of golf since Monday and it was a killer--4.5 hours on a very long, hilly course with lots of bunkers. I was playing at Donaghadee with a neighbour. We are both vying for a place on the Challenge Cup team. I thought we were

Good golf

As I mentioned, I won Monday's round, I think partly because it was a holiday and there weren't many entries. I took Tuesday off work to recover my equilibrium from the long weekend. I played in the weekly competition at 4pm on Tuesday and scored enough

Surprise!!!

Sunday I got Paddy out for a very early walk, then met a fellow Shandon golfer at the golf club at 9:30 a.m. We drove to a neighbourhood near the marathon route then waited about 45 minutes until the two runners on our two relay teams appeared. On

Ireland v Scotland

We'll get to that (the six nations women's rugby final). This is the first of two posts about a marathon weekend--in more than one sense. Monday is a bank holiday so this post is Fri-Sat. Next will be Sun-Mon. I'm glad we got that

Sixty, the new 40

What can I say, I don't feel 60. I should qualify that--my knees feel at least 60. But the rest of me hasn't bought into this entering a new decade concept. I took the day off and went for a hike with three neighbours. Valerie drove

Golf golf more golf

Thursday April 21 I suddenly felt better after a week of mainly lethargy. I celebrated by going to a driving range and hitting balls. Friday I tested myself and I was negative. I celebrated by playing 12 holes before work--David walked Paddy. Saturday I did a bunch of chores then

A hopping Easter

Only in a very literal sense--I have had ups and downs. I felt a bit brighter on Saturday, and maybe did a bit too much--mainly mowing and weeding. Followed by making a difficult lasagna (Liza Tarbuck was on so I wanted to cook while listening to her, but the strength

My turn

Tuesday was Pretty in Pink day--our weekly golf competition doubled as a fundraiser for breast cancer. I played with Ali and Paula (on the right). Paula is my golf coach's wife and it is interesting to watch her play because she does everything I'm supposed to

Lockdown legacy

On my phone there's a Google feature showing me photos I took a year ago, two years ago, five years ago. The ones that popped up today documented my highly productive Early Lockdown period. Here's two years ago: I stripped painted wallpaper off the two-story wall

Wapping

On my last day in London, I went for a great run around Wapping. I didn't have time to go back with a camera to capture what I saw. Wapping is a former docklands full of warehouses converted into housing. I passed Tobacco Docks, Cashmere Quay, and other

ToL

My hotel was near the Tower of London and, since I brought running gear, I had a great time exploring areas along the Thames. On Thursday morning I ran around London Docks, St. Katherine Docks, and the Tower of London. I was so impressed by what I saw that, on

The Boss of 90

Yesterday while I was gallavanting around London, my mom celebrated her 90th birthday. I'd rather have been with her, however I thought she'd be doing something with my sister. As it turns out, my sister is moving house this week and by the time I realised

Boris bikes

I flew to London Wednesday, worked in the office during the afternoon then out for drinks with co-workers. Thursday after work Rachael and I went to see a play. Rachael is a cycling activist--in Edinburgh she lobbies for better biking routes to decrease the use of cars. So she suggested

Bouquets and books

My neighbours Fiona and Eric are having some major remodeling done to their house, so I had them over for dinner on a Saturday night. I made lentil bolognese for the first time. I was a bit underwhelmed by the result. Apparently I should have used two veggie stock cubes

Rachael

I work on a team of four editors, one of who saw the film Belfast and decided she needed to visit. Here are Rachael and myself in the Cathedral Quarter--a pedestrianized area full of restaurants and pubs. I think we hit six pubs over two nights. Duke of York, Henry&

Illumination

Derry has had an Illumination Festival on for two weeks, so I decided this was a good time for an impromptu visit. I drove down Saturday afternoon after ticking off a long list of chores in Belfast. I looked around the shops in city centre, although my main destination--a group

Toy

I don't lavish Paddy with toys because they don't last. Feb

A record!

It's been more than a month since I posted! Partly because I've had difficulty uploading photos from phone to Google and then downloading onto my laptop. But also maybe winter doldrums. I am pretty listless at night. Although now the days are starting to get longer

Full gallop

That's how it feels since I've been home. I got home Monday morning (10 Jan) after 20 hours of travel. The first 1.5 hours of the drive to DC was in and out of heavy fog. Most of the next 3.5 hours was during

Time warp

When I'm at mom's I fall into a time warp. It's such a different life to Northern Ireland--no 9-5, no dog to walk. It's a bit disorienting. But I stay very busy and the time slides by too quickly. The largest categories

Very vegan Christmas

I was in charge of Christmas dinner. Which was a 'meatloaf' made with lentils, mushrooms, nuts, sweet potatoes and Worcestershire sauce. With a side of Brussel sprouts, butternut squash, nuts and crainsins with maple syrup and cinnamon. Big hit. And Sainsbury mince pies. This is the 8th Christmas

Killer muffins

At 7 a.m. I catch a shuttle to the airport and immediately another shuttle to the rental car agency. I'm in my car and exiting the airport by 7:30 a.m. I had stressed a lot the previous night over the first half hour of this