(Remember the summer? This is from August.)

I have a lot of things to catch up on, now that my studying is over. So today it was time to ring about the house insurance. My call went straight to hold. Normally it’s not that much fun waiting on hold, but today I was laughing.

(This is July)

This insurance company has a television advert with the Tipperary comedian, Pat Shortt singing a jingle of their phone number. While being an enthusiastic (if not melodic… or tuneful) singer myself I like to keep an eye out for tunes that are impossible to get wrong and since I spent my formative years in Tipperary I can easily “do” the accent. Not everyone likes to hear me sing (possible jealousy issues?) but I have found a captive audience around  the poker table and Pat’s jingle has become my winning theme tune……

(July again)

Anyway, today on hold Pat Shortt was telling me about the great deals I could get, finishing with, “Sure, aren’t you glad you called?” And I was glad.

It’s good to laugh, Mairead.

PS In case you’ve never seen it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWsTpHnCUIY&feature=player_embedded

(sigh….)

It’s late, I’m tired, it’s time for rest.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.—Howard Thurman

What makes you come alive? Mairead.

(Thank you for the beautiful heart)

Just bumped into another friend today that I hadn’t seen for years (Hello Mary! Wave, Wave! Thank you for the coffee and yummy scone!). It’s my first day back at coffee shops and I’m in Avoca. There are beautiful things to buy but at the knitting and stitching show I bought the makings of most things here so I’ll be getting ideas not buying (note to family – it’ll be handmade this Christmas….. again).

(Thank you for the buttons under glass)

Lots of people come here to meet friends but some also seem to arrive on their own. There’s a man reading the Irish Times, the paper version. There’s a woman writing on paper, no computer – which is an advantage. I notice she has left, but her pen and paper are still on the table and her coat is on the chair. She might be getting another coffee. Her advantage is she can leave her stuff behind, unworried by the possibility that someone may steal it. I, on the other hand would have to pack up all my worldly electronics under my arm and then risk my table being taken (well not exactly my table..)

Oh, she’s back with a new coffee and glass of water. I think she may be writing her christmas list…. good idea. No, she’s writing thank you cards! She has a big pack of them and every now and then she lifts her head to consider what to write next. I wonder what she is thankful for? Birthday gifts? Good wishes for recovery from illness? Friendship? Retirement? New grandchild gifts?

(Thank you for the cute label)

This lady and her thank you cards have just reminded me that today (Thursday) in Ireland is Thank You Day, in aid of the Hospice. (And also Thanksgiving Day in America.Happy Thanksgiving, Kate!) What am I thankful for? Health. Contentment. Electronic equipment (!). Energy (mine and electricity). Family. Friends. Completion of my course. Coffee shops. Life. Irish Weather (really!).

What are you grateful for? Mairead.

Ps technology hasn’t been working so well for me this week, maybe better next week.

(Sun Light)

I was getting ready for our NLP course tonight in Bray. We always start with a relaxation and this week we’re including a quote from Marianne Williamson that Nelson Mandela read on the day he was freed from Rodden Island. Thought you might like to read it too……

(Let a little light shine for every year you’ve been here)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Go shine your light, Mairead.

(Beautiful Killruddery)

I was very busy on Saturday. So busy. Very, very busy. Doing loads. Couldn’t stop for a break, much too busy. Loads to do. But Liam and Kate were going to a Christmas Fair in Killruddery gardens….. Well… no… I couldn’t possibly…. too much to do…. maybe I could take a little break? Just for forty five minutes? I could get back to doing some more of the loads of things to do.

(The back of the house and bit of the garden)

Two hours later we were on our way home. It was so beautiful in the gardens and there was food… and I met a friend I hadn’t seen in years, we sat on a bench and talked and talked. I never did see the Christmas Fair. When I came back, it only took a few hours to complete everything. Turned out the fresh air and good conversation speeded everything up.

(Lunch – ham, cheddar and relish crepe – yummy)

So now, except for a few tweaks I will not be complaining about assignments or projects or exams, it’ll all be over next weekend and I will have so much free time I won’t know what to do…… unless “free time” and “busy” are figments of a demented mind…..

Sometimes it’s better to take a break, Mairead.

(Fred enjoying a game of chess)

Since the rainy season began the stray cats seem to be settling into their new home with us. There’s a small problem with fighting, though. Only small, because they seem to have the hierarchy sorted. My favourite, the black and white one who arrived with the diamond studded collar (not real diamonds…) is the bottom of the pile… and she knows it. She moves out of the way when the other two come close. Difficult to continue eating when another cat is biting your back but she manages.

(Diamond stray… really shouldn’t be on the table)

The competition for top cat (remember Top Cat?) is still raging between our original cat, Fred and the other stray. (By the way we still haven’t given the strays names, because we haven’t checked with all neighbours in a kilometre radius.) So, back to Fred and the black stray, I think Fred has a slight lead, and it might be because of his very advantageous ability to growl – he sounds very like a dog.

(Black stray having a sleep after long play with his teddy)

We’ve had cats since we got married so we understand that they are all different but having three at the same time really makes it clear. Fred is haughty and doesn’t like to be picked up and will meow loudly and scratch and bite if you try. He also doesn’t like to sit on my knee (he will sit on a visitor’s knee but only if they have previously mentioned that they don’t like cats…..) My diamond stray loves to be picked up and will stop meowing loudly when picked up. She also loves to sit on my knee. She also loves to play for long periods (five minutes is long for a cat) with a plastic cannon ball. The black stray loves to play with a teddy Ciara brought me from Harrods, he’s the only one who likes it, he also likes dry cat food which diamond stray won’t touch.

Anyway, I was thinking, we’re all unique, even cats, we don’t have to be like anyone else.

Celebrate your uniqueness, Mairead.

(On table in Avoca cafe Dublin)

I finally got to bring the recycling to the recycle centre. It’s been three months, there was a lot…. We do get our recycling collected with the normal rubbish but they don’t take plastic. So we store it in the larder and once a month go to the recycling centre. Until today I considered this a chore, but today I noticed how satisfying it is to have the floor space.

(Jellies)

And that made me think about the grocery shopping…. I also always think about grocery shopping as a chore but recently I have had to fit it in early in the morning or at the last minute when there was no food left in the house. And it’s just dawned on me that treating grocery shopping as an afterthought is not much fun. (Fun? How could grocery shopping and fun be even in the same sentence?)

(Beads… like jellies but less fat)

I’m not too sure where this is going but it might be time to enhance my attitude to the grocery shopping. There is a lot of creativity in it….. the route around the shop, packing the trolley and the bags, minimising the number of car trips by making a list. Even the list could be very creative, colour coding, meal coding, shop coding……

Have fun with your groceries, Mairead.

(My notebook…. not finished yet)

At the knitting and Stitching Show last weekend I learned how to make a notebook cover from scraps of old material. I have always liked patchwork quilts and one of the reasons is the different materials. So I was drawn to this project. And I loved it.

(The stitches aren’t even…… and that’s ok!)

The teacher is a textile artist and I was hooked from the moment she said, “you can measure the material by eye”. Nothing after that was difficult… I couldn’t get it wrong…. I could look at the material and at the notebook and snip away at the material until it felt  right for the notebook. With patterns you usually have to measure, then there’s all the adding of something called the seam allowance and the keeping it square and generally a lot of boring stuff before the sewing starts. And the sewing (along with the finishing) is the best bit, I want to get straight to that.

(There’s a button to keep it closed…. look at the coloured thread in the button holes….that was accidental)

So now I’m thinking that if I can do everything I do by eye it might be useful…… no measuring, no comparing…..

Feels good to me, Mairead.

(Breakfast on Friday morning…. coffee)

There’s bits and pieces of paper everywhere. There are magazine articles piled high. There are books, half read, half open in bundles on the floor. I’m coming to the end of my course and there’s just a few more things to do, to write, to validate, to record, to print, to collate. What have you learned, what do you know, what will you do with what you have learned and what you know?

(Work in progress….)

It’s too soon to answer completely but I do know some more things about myself….. I like writing every day and I miss it when I stop. I love to make stuff and it’s good for me. Deadlines are really horrible but really useful….. from now on I’m going to set my own. And finally….. I can’t wait to get back to the coffee shops!

Almost done, Mairead.