coffee

Fear and Lightening on the way to Niagara Falls.

| Mairead

05 9e

(Treats at Tim Hortons)

We set off for Niagara Falls this morning (Tuesday). Denis went to pick up the hire car while I packed enough for the two days away. Something lovely happened when he got home. You remember Doris’s mum Bobba? Well… long story short, just as Denis arrived back with the car Doris and Bobba pulled up to the house with umbrellas (it’s raining today and well… Doris thinks of everything!) and a package. Bobba, knowing I love to crochet had crocheted me a blanket! I feel very special.

05 9d

(Sat-Nav)

After lots of hugs and kisses we set off but we hadn’t gone far when we realised we had to stop the car – Denis couldn’t pass Tim Hortons (it’s only been a week but Tim Hortons has got hold of him.) So just ten minutes down the road we stopped again. Everyone out for coffee and Danish. Everyone back in and power up the Sat-Nav. To make sure we got the most out of our trip to Niagara, Grahame (who lived and worked in Niagara for many years) typed up an itinerary for us and yesterday Moira programmed the Sat-Nav with all the locations so we were ready to begin. In spite of my dislike for planning, I do appreciate when someone else does it!

05 9g

(Gone a bit dark over here)

We got onto the 401 (highway south from Barrie) easily enough but just as we were getting close to Toronto we hit a thunder and lightning storm with torrential rain. The rain was so loud we couldn’t hear the little voice on the sat-nav and so heavy we couldn’t see very far in front. Something we’ve noticed about the drivers on this road – they like to drive close together, possibly something to do with slip streaming and saving petrol? Whatever it is, it’s very scary, especially in the rain. We passed two accidents where the car behind could not brake in time!! As I’m a nervous passenger at the best of times I was prepared with my crochet (very calming) and the storm soon passed (as they always do…) and we arrived safely.

05 9f

(More rain – yippee)

I’m sitting writing on one of the two ginormous beds in our hotel room. We’re on the 9th floor and have a great view… well it would be great except for the mist and heavy rain, but I’m not complaining I have a new sense of respect for rain (yes Isabel!) – it’s cooling and there are no biting bugs. I’ll be consulting Grahame’s itinerary soon and we’ll go for a walk in this soft Canadian rain.

From an Irish-looking Niagara Falls, Mairead.

Happy Labour Day and Happy Birthday Bro!

| Mairead

03 9b

(The famous Timmys)

Today is Labour Day – a holiday here in Canada, almost everyone’s off work and all the shops are closed. We will be resting mainly because we’ve already had a packed weekend. On Friday we left Barrie about 8.30am to drive to Sault St. Marie (pronounced Sue-Saint-Maree) for the weekend. It was billed to be an eight-hour drive and it fulfilled its billing. You may remember Doris and our trip to Toronto? Well, Doris’ husband Grahame was the driver this time. Only the just arrived Irish thought driving for eight hours was very odd, to everyone else this is what you do. Afraid we might miss something we tagged along anyway. We were glad we did.

03 9d

(Pit stop coming up)

The weekend will probably span a few posts because quite a lot happened, not least of which was the preparation for travel. Coolers with water for hydration and chocolate for energy, electronic devices for boredom and connection and first stop Timmy’s for breakfast, ensured smooth running of a finely tuned vehicle – Grahame. Well… to be honest we all benefitted.

03 9f

(That’s just selfish… Grahame)

This is probably a good time to tell you about Timmy’s, a nickname for Canada’s favourite coffee shop – Tim Hortons. Tim was a successful hockey player who started the business in the 1960’s selling coffee and doughnuts (also spelled donut here in Canada) and when he died his young wife sold up and the new owners grew it to what it is today –  a love affair, an addiction, possibly a religion, and definitely a way of life. Unlike Starbucks, there are no comfy sofas, the main attraction is the price  (low – you can get a coffee for little over a dollar) and it’s Canadian.

03 9c

(Spotted at the servers station of an Italian restaurant)

Since we arrived here I’ve spotted traces of Timmy everywhere. Not just the shops – there are 3,326 of them. I’ve seen the empty takeaway cups on shelves in Wal-Mart (the supermarket), Michael’s (art and craft supplies), in the library, on the bus (in someone’s hand.)

03 9e

(On the train)

It’s my little brother’s big birthday today, he fell under the spell of Tim Hortons when he visited in July so I hope the pictures bring back happy memories. By the way, Timmys trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange… just saying….

Have a great Labour Day wherever you are and have a great birthday Lar, Mairead.

Pause…. now, have a look at that thing you did….

| Mairead

30 7a

(Seagull, taking a pause in Bath)

I was digging in the garden yesterday and my project is very close to completion. You might remember the garden was overrun by weeds and I wondered how I might clear it? Turns out clearing it one step at a time works! At the moment though it looks very bare and I almost miss the green of the weeds… There’s a layer of weed control membrane and pink-grey stones, soon it will need some pots and colours, but not today. Today my body is aching and it may be a little time before I return to the land. In the meantime I can enjoy just looking at the stones…

30 7b

(Taking a pause looking at the sea in the ferry)

This looking got me thinking about all the times I’ve completed something and I didn’t take time to appreciate it or me for the completion. Take something as simple as cooking dinner, when it’s cooked we eat, we clear away and we go onto the next thing to do. When I finished school I went straight into exams and then worried about getting into college. Last night I had a dream that I was back doing those exams! When I finish posting this blog I will get my breakfast and go straight to my to-do list.

30 7c

(Pausing to look at the coffee in 3fe, Dublin)

Maybe not today. Today, I will remember something I learned a long time ago on a mindfulness course. It was about pausing between tasks. When one thing is done, pause, before beginning the next. When you do this there’s a chance you notice you have done something and you prepare yourself to begin something new. Noticing that I have done something gives me a sense of completion. Completion is nice!

You’ve come to the end of reading, pause……. Mairead.

Happy Birthday Mammy!

| Mairead

Coffee

(This way. This way.)

It’s a bank holiday weekend in Ireland so we celebrated and had our lunch out and now we’re having coffee (for him) and green tea (for me) as well. My sister-in-law (Hi Helen!) thinks I spend all my time in coffee shops and I can see why she might think that – I talk about them a lot. But this week I’ve only had coffee (or tea) out twice. Considering it was a busy week for me that’s probably a lot!

Julie s Garden

(Julie’s favourite garden at Bloom)

When I was littler, maybe about ten, the big treat in our house was for my Mum and me to go on the bus to a town fifteen miles away called Clonmel. I used to think we were there all day but I now know the bus dropped us off at midday and we had to be back on board and heading for Cashel by 3pm. Our town didn’t have the great shops they had in Clonmel. Years later when I met my friend Frieda she told me that she and her Mum used to do the same thing. Except she lived in Clonmel and drove to the great shops in Cashel!

Pepsi Can Eagle

(Pepsi Can Eagle in the Rehab garden at Bloom)

We never left without a visit to the coffee shop. It was in a little room behind a bakery. There was a small window and the chairs weren’t very comfortable, but to me it was luxury. Spending time with my Mum, being treated like an adult eating salad sandwiches and cake. No wonder I love going to coffee shops. We were still making that trip when I was a teenager and much later when my children were toddlers their favourite game with their granny was The Bus to Clonmel, where the sofa was the bus!

Mum and Helen

(My Mum, my sister-in-law Helen and my very embarrassed brother, Lar)

Today (Tuesday) is my Mum’s birthday, she shares the day with the Queen’s Jubilee, but the Queen can’t make it to Cashel this year, maybe it’ll be quieter for her next year. I’m remembering all the nice things my Mum did for me including teach me the value of taking time off to go to the coffee shop.

Thank you Mum and Happy Birthday! Mairead.

Believe it or not…..

| Mairead

(There were lots of statues of bears like this around Berlin)

Unbelievably, four days later and I’m still at the coffee shop. Remember yesterday, I told you about my belief of being a failure? And the day before about how one situation can have many different ways of looking at it?

(TV tower with rotating restaurant, Alexanderplatz, Berlin)

There I was, finished with college at nineteen and no parchment to frame. Nothing to show for my time in the world of Electronic Engineering. Or had I? Well, with the benefit of hindsight and a different belief it turned out I was on a different course altogether…..

(Nice trees at the Palace)

I was on the “Find a Smart Husband Here” course! I got the (marriage) parchment (never did frame it). He was from Cork, I was from Tipperary, we met in Limerick, in the library. He had really interesting things to say, I was a good listener. There was no formal test. But it’s been more than thirty years now so I think I passed.

I like this story better than the failing one. All that I needed was to know that I had a story and then I could decide to pick one I liked better.

What story do you want to believe? Mairead.

A belief is only an opinion we think is true…

| Mairead

(3fe Abbey Street Dublin)

Still here at 3fe, it’s very busy but they haven’t asked me to leave…yet! So yesterday, I was talking about tying ourselves to a belief. I have another belief to share.

When I was eighteen and making my career choices, I hadn’t a clue what to do. I didn’t want to go to college, but I also didn’t have another option. So I took my career counsellor’s advice and started an Electronic Engineering course. At the time I liked to knit and my big dream was to become a Mom, but none of that appeared on my Leaving Certificate results so it didn’t count…..

(Above ground station on the underground railway, Berlin)

The course lasted for four years… I lasted just over a year. I failed. That was my belief. Added to that was a belief that I could not study, and I was inferior to people who could and who had successfully attained their degrees.

After that in every situation where I would be tested on my ability, I froze….. In case it’s not obvious, freezing in a test situation is not conducive to passing the test. Oops.

(Railway art… detail from previous picture)

So…. self-fulfilling story.

Naturally, I did my best to stay away from test situations….. well… who wants to fail? But the funny thing….. the thing that was guaranteeing my failure was me and my story!

Choose a useful story, Mairead

The stories we believe…..

| Mairead

(Beauty in the eye of the beholder)

So… I’m still here at the coffee shop and I’m thinking about the stories we believe about ourselves. When I was a new Mum, with a little baby that cried a lot, I believed I was a bad mother. It was an easy story to believe. Nothing I seemed to do would stop that crying. When I looked around at other mothers they seemed to know what they were doing, their baby wasn’t crying, that’s what makes a good mother……

(Room with a garden)

Unfortunately, when we believe a story, everything we see from then on fits into our story. We make it fit into our story. But the truth is, any situation we find ourselves in can be looked at in numerous ways. For the baby crying we can say…. bad mother, new mother, sick baby, bad food, painful allergy, high temperature, ill-health… which one is true? Who knows? Maybe all, maybe none.

(The east German walk man)

The “bad mother” can’t see the good things she’s doing, she has tied herself to a story. But a story is only something we believe about ourselves and a belief is only an opinion we think is true.

Maybe it’s time to pick up a new story, Mairead.

Coffee shop writing…..

| Mairead

(Coffee Time)

Since I’ve been sitting on the sofa resting for the past four days, I’m a bit stir-crazy. So today Denis dropped me to the door of a coffee shop in Dublin and I can get back to my “coffee-shop writing”. He was going to Maplins, his craft shop, so I’m nearby on Abbey Street at 3fe. Strange name for a coffee shop? It stands for third floor espresso. There’s a story….

(Big lizard outside Berlin aquarium)

This guy, Steve, used to work in banking or the stock market or something and he gave it all up to become a world-class barista. True story… He set up a training room in his  apartment (on third floor) and within a year he had entered the world barrister finals in the US and had come in a respectable fourth. Now he sells coffee in different ways using very geeky gadgets. He and his team also sell very nice sandwiches and very yummy muffins.

But it was the story that got me to have coffee here. Well of course it did, he gave up everything to do the thing he wanted to do? I’m in. Now that I’m here I’m ready to notice what’s different about this coffee shop? And it is different. It’s not squeaky clean, the colours are very bright, the shelves are like granny’s kitchen, not completely square, not exactly fitting and not plastic.

(Close-up of zebra stripes)

So that means it’s not exactly perfect either. Surprise, surprise. If it didn’t have a story I wouldn’t be here. Stories are really attractive to us and they are also really useful. The stories that lulled us to sleep as children. The stories we watched at the cinema or on the TV. The stories we believe about ourselves.

What do you believe about you? Mairead.

Ok we’re home now….

| Mairead

(Charlottenburg Palace)

Right, let’s get a few things straight. I will want you to remind me of these if I mention another holiday.

So pay close attention:

1. Irish-type weather suits me, even though I love sunshine…. it’s not my friend.

2. My delicate constitution is allergic to insect bites…… always bring bug spray….. and use it.

3. One museum a day is quite enough.

(Walk along the river Spree)

4. A rest in the afternoon is essential if I wish to go out “clubbing” (my word for going outside after dark).

5. Early morning starts help no one, all alarms should be set for a time after 10am.

6. Stick with the packing policy of just enough clothes, it’s working…… but maybe some more shampoo would be good.

7. Factor in some all alone time…. no comment.

8. Go for longer.

(Pink flamingos in the zoo)

Ok that’s it, my recipe for a happy holiday. I did have a great time, loved Berlin and the museums (I think we did five?) and the jazz clubs and the symphony orchestra and the zoo and the palace at Charlottenburg and the market and Unter den Linden and the cafes and the people and the history and the street theatre and loved, loved, loved the Segway! Possibly did a bit too much in five days though?

And so to sleep, Mairead.