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
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
Arkadi Monastery In the morning we walked around Rethymnon. On the left of this shot are three water spigots. This fountain dates from the 1500s, when Crete was part of a Venetian empire. It was later part of the Ottoman empire. Crete is a mountainous island and our habit has been to
Thomas Cook David and I have never done a package tour because he's very good at putting together wonderful vacations on his own. However, the cheapest way to do a week in Greece is with Thomas Cook package holidays. For 800 pounds, the two of us will fly to Crete
Unpack, pack We leave for Crete tomorrow so today was about tidying, doing errands, packing, showing the neighbours the ropes re. cat & fish tending. A few more harvest photos then I'll try to get some Crete photos up before I lose battery: There also was a flower arranging competition:
Dancing at Lughnasa (I'm backdating some posts. Photos below if you prefer photos to verbiage :-) I met a man at church this morning who is an excellent songwriter--a friend had told me of his music and I had read some of his lyrics online. After chatting a bit about my
Back to Belfast As I leave Buncrana headed to Derry, my view is of Lisfannon Beach. My first stop was An Grianan, a hotel near Grianan of Aileach, of which Wiki says: a group of historic structures atop a 244 metres (801 ft) hill in County Donegal, Ireland. The main structure is a
Dunfanaghy Day Another perfect day. Pictures then words. This church is just outside Buncrana. This is Marble Hill Beach in Dunfanaghy. Donegal is a series of peninsulas jutting out into the ocean. I stayed on Inishowen Peninsula but spent today two peninsulas over visiting friends. Same angle later that day: I took
Lake of Shadows Today was a perfect day. It didn't start well. Lots of e-mails/texts/calls as I tried to set up meetings with friends. I also needed to schedule a facial and a four-course meal--both included in my spa package. And I wanted to go for
Driving to Derry I decided a three-day getaway to Donegal was in order. This morning I drove to Derry, which takes me through the lovely Sperrin Mountains. None of my photos do justice to the beautiful two-hour drive. I will never tire of looking at hills covered in a patchwork of
My Big Day The last week leading up to today's deadline have been stressful. My dissertation weighed in at 17,350 words; 70 pages using 1.5 space for the six chapters and single space for the references. In the final days, I spent many hours checking and formatting 110 references,
European Heritage Day I have finished my dissertation. I will write more on 9-15, the day it was due. I'm backdating a few posts to include some photos over the past week. "Today" (the 9-12 date posted even though I'm writing on 9-17) was
Queer comedy and kickass bluegrass A few things from the past week. There was the movie 45 Years about a couple that is about to celebrate their 45-year anniversary when the husband receives upsetting news from his distant (and secretive) past. The incomparable Charlotte Rampling stars. It was our kind of movie because it
Yahoo! I have a yahoo e-mail account, which apparently means I'm to automatically receive a daily Yahoo news round-up. Today I unsubscribed, which gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I don't know what algorithm Yahoo uses, but it seems to think I give a
For the record I had a post about how much I love Ireland followed by a post about the insanity of Stormont, where politicians are paid very handsomely to sit around and argue while doing jack for the people who live here (other than maybe whip them up in opposition to each other)
Van the Man Van Morrison celebrated his 70th birthday today with two concerts on the street he immortalised in his songs--Cypress Avenue, which is about a 10 minute drive from our house. Tickets were $140 each and sold out immediately. People came from California, Australia, you name it, however most of the
Mela So today was Belfast Mela, when we get to hear singers and watch dancers from a range of global traditions. My favourite was the Bhangra dancers Ankhile [http://2015.belfastmela.org.uk/entertainment/world-stage/ulster-youth-choir/] --an interesting name since I would break my ankles if I tried
A storm at Stormont Today was exciting. I met a friend for lunch at the Northern Ireland Assembly, where she works. I went into the lobby to meet her and found a few dozen reporters and camera crews. Apparently there was about to be a big announcement. So you don't get only
Altan The East Belfast Arts Festival is on now, as is the Brian Friel Writers' Festival, and the Belfast Mela is this weekend as well as the Tennent's Vital concerts. Since there are 100s of things to choose from, we try to at least get out to one
