The weather forecaster tonight said we have had 50% more rain than average since mid December, and that we have had 7 storm systems passing over Ireland in that period also.
Luckily, where we live, we have not been affected by flooding, but there have been many people affected by floods in Lmerick City, 20km away, and more people affected in Cork city, in County Clare, in Galway, and in seaside areas, as well as in many towns with rivers flowing through them... It must be horrendous to have your house or business flooded and to have to clean it all up and try and live in the house again.
Me, I am not a fan of storm force gales, and I sincerely hope we have seen the last of the storms for a while now.
Today I went for a walk, and spotted daffodil shoots coming up, and when I drive past my gran-aunts house I see the snowdrops in full bloom under the hedge.
There are already 3 daffodils in bloom outside a house I pass on my way to school.
I braved the elements last Friday to drive to the other side of Limerick to look at a spinning wheel, and yes, I bought it! 3rd wheel, and the reason I bought is was because it is an Ashford traditional, from circa 1985, and it was in great condition. I was told by an experienced spinner: You can always get an Ashford Traddy to work! It's true, in this case anyway. I had to improvise a drive band with kitchen cotton twine, from tesco, and the wheel needed oiling, but then, she spun just fine for me.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
internet connection not good these days
Living in a house on a small country road in rural Ireland has its charms. Strong internet connections, however, are not one of those charms...
There is gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair here regularly, as the modem stops working and the websites we would like to view, open very slowly, if at all.
We do not have good enough internet access on the telephone lines yet, so we have a plug in modem, which gives us wifi, if you are sitting in the right place and if the Gods of the Web are smiling on you at that moment. Often it would appear that those Gods are carousing elsewhere and we resort to disconnecting and re-connecting, using the trouble-shooting options, resetting network adapters on laptops and unplugging and replugging in the modem over and over again. Suffice to say that it is unsatisfactory in the extreme.
On the other hand, if we had perfect wifi all the time, nobody would do anything, or talk to anybody else!
I am sitting here with a head-cold, which will get worse before it gets better, if my husband's cold is anything to go by. I do not need this cold this week, I have to meet parents for parent-teacher meetings on 2 evenings this week, and on a third evening I have to go the Parent-teacher meeting for my second daughter. This week I need to be on top form, but it's not looking too good right now.
Has anyone else had a problem with the cursor suddenly hopping to a totally different part of the page as one types a message online and continue typing in that spot? and even highlighting and deleting words. phrases, whole sentences ? I have to watch this cursor like a hawk, it jumps all over the place. rather annoying.
Heading to bed now, plenty to do tomorrow, so I need my sleep now.
Good night to all, stay warm, stay well!
There is gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair here regularly, as the modem stops working and the websites we would like to view, open very slowly, if at all.
We do not have good enough internet access on the telephone lines yet, so we have a plug in modem, which gives us wifi, if you are sitting in the right place and if the Gods of the Web are smiling on you at that moment. Often it would appear that those Gods are carousing elsewhere and we resort to disconnecting and re-connecting, using the trouble-shooting options, resetting network adapters on laptops and unplugging and replugging in the modem over and over again. Suffice to say that it is unsatisfactory in the extreme.
On the other hand, if we had perfect wifi all the time, nobody would do anything, or talk to anybody else!
I am sitting here with a head-cold, which will get worse before it gets better, if my husband's cold is anything to go by. I do not need this cold this week, I have to meet parents for parent-teacher meetings on 2 evenings this week, and on a third evening I have to go the Parent-teacher meeting for my second daughter. This week I need to be on top form, but it's not looking too good right now.
Has anyone else had a problem with the cursor suddenly hopping to a totally different part of the page as one types a message online and continue typing in that spot? and even highlighting and deleting words. phrases, whole sentences ? I have to watch this cursor like a hawk, it jumps all over the place. rather annoying.
Heading to bed now, plenty to do tomorrow, so I need my sleep now.
Good night to all, stay warm, stay well!
Sunday, January 12, 2014
back to basics after the holidays and storms
So, the Christmas came and went, and the New Year, and both brought storms, with very high winds and high seas. Luckily we do not live near the sea, or a river, as there was a lot of flooding with the storms. We did have some trees down along the little road we live on, and at one point, (8.50am on Friday morning, 27th December, if I remember correctly), I had to clamber through the branches of a fallen tree, along with Dear daughter, in order to get her to work that morning. My mother was able to drive us from the far side of the tree to the shop where DD works, otherwise, well, no work for DD that day.
Our trampoline (studsmatta) was blown across the garden and over the hedge into the next field. We manhandled it back into our lawn after a day or two, it seems to have survived, but we will have to buy a new safety net and net-poles for it.
The storms caused major damage all along the west coast, there are some amazing and downright scary photos on youtube of the waves as tall as 2 -storey houses crashing over Lahinch sea-front.
People in the West had a few sleepless nights in a row, worrying about floods, tides, and wind damage. Roads were washed away, or totally submerged. Tractors had to take people in and out of areas cut off by the floods. Luckily, we escaped all this, bar for one sleepless night, listening to the wind howling like a banshee around the house.
We're all back at work and school now, it's not easy to get to bed early each night, but I know the price I pay if I don't get my sleep, so I will toddle along to bed soon.
I did lots of spinning over the holidays, yes, I will post pics.
I want to do lots more, but time is hard to find.
Ireland as usual is beginining to show little signs of early spring already and I love it!
Tiny spears of snowdrop and daffodil leaves beginning to peep above ground. Wonderful.
Bright skies. Cold but fresh. No snow, bit of frost and ice maybe, but mostly just more wind and rain, but that's ok with me. I was born under a cloud (mid November baby, that's me,) and this time of year has its charms I believe!
Take care all!
Our trampoline (studsmatta) was blown across the garden and over the hedge into the next field. We manhandled it back into our lawn after a day or two, it seems to have survived, but we will have to buy a new safety net and net-poles for it.
People in the West had a few sleepless nights in a row, worrying about floods, tides, and wind damage. Roads were washed away, or totally submerged. Tractors had to take people in and out of areas cut off by the floods. Luckily, we escaped all this, bar for one sleepless night, listening to the wind howling like a banshee around the house.
We're all back at work and school now, it's not easy to get to bed early each night, but I know the price I pay if I don't get my sleep, so I will toddle along to bed soon.
I did lots of spinning over the holidays, yes, I will post pics.
I want to do lots more, but time is hard to find.
Ireland as usual is beginining to show little signs of early spring already and I love it!
Tiny spears of snowdrop and daffodil leaves beginning to peep above ground. Wonderful.
Bright skies. Cold but fresh. No snow, bit of frost and ice maybe, but mostly just more wind and rain, but that's ok with me. I was born under a cloud (mid November baby, that's me,) and this time of year has its charms I believe!
Take care all!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Happy New Year! Gott Nytt År!
Happy New Year, hope 2014 is a good year for all.
Gott Nytt År till er allihopa!
a bobbin full of blue, let's hope 2014 has lots of productive creativity for all of us!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
almost on hols, just 3 school days left!
I am almost there, just 3 school days left to holidays on Friday. Tests and craft to finish before that, but hey, it'll happen.
Then just got to make Christmas happen here at home too.
My favouritest thing (I know that's not really a word) about Christmas are those wonderful quiet days in the middle, between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, when things quieten down again and if you listen, you can almost hear the earth turn; if you go for a walk, you can certainly hear it breathe....
On these days, I love to go for a walk, do one or two small jobs at home and then get out my knitting or spinning. I now have two wheels as well as a selection of spindles, and I aim to get plenty use out of them on my time off.
I hope to have a few photos to show you all, I just need to take the photos in natural light and I didn't manag e that today.
To answer kristieinbc's question, yes I have been spinning. I have some chocolate alpaca spun up from the summer and am about to ply some singles spun from Jacob's fleece; both the alpaca fiber and the Jacob's fleece came from 2 animals living at a local open farm, where they also have a llama and some Soay sheep.
I have spun some yummy Ashford merino/silk blend and I have some much tweedier looking yarn I spun from fleece I got at Kerry Woollen Mills about 3 years ago.
I am not getting time to knit much, however I do have a few pieces in progress (Works in Progress = WIPs) and some crochet, lots of crocheted cotton skinny scarves FOs (Finished Objects), it was just very easy to take a ball of cotton yarn and a crochet hook with me on planes, to playgrounds, and to dentists/orthodontists waiting rooms and other appointments.
I am gone into a bit of a Textile History phase now, reading books, articles and websites about textile history in general, and Spinning and Weaving in Ireland in particular. It is so interesting. I will tell ye about the books I have read in a blog post all on its own soon.
I wish I had the company of some of you knitting ladies in my class at times, as I try to get 30 children knitting for possibly the first time in their lives!
talk soon! Stay warm, stay well!
Then just got to make Christmas happen here at home too.
My favouritest thing (I know that's not really a word) about Christmas are those wonderful quiet days in the middle, between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, when things quieten down again and if you listen, you can almost hear the earth turn; if you go for a walk, you can certainly hear it breathe....
On these days, I love to go for a walk, do one or two small jobs at home and then get out my knitting or spinning. I now have two wheels as well as a selection of spindles, and I aim to get plenty use out of them on my time off.
I hope to have a few photos to show you all, I just need to take the photos in natural light and I didn't manag e that today.
To answer kristieinbc's question, yes I have been spinning. I have some chocolate alpaca spun up from the summer and am about to ply some singles spun from Jacob's fleece; both the alpaca fiber and the Jacob's fleece came from 2 animals living at a local open farm, where they also have a llama and some Soay sheep.
I have spun some yummy Ashford merino/silk blend and I have some much tweedier looking yarn I spun from fleece I got at Kerry Woollen Mills about 3 years ago.
I am not getting time to knit much, however I do have a few pieces in progress (Works in Progress = WIPs) and some crochet, lots of crocheted cotton skinny scarves FOs (Finished Objects), it was just very easy to take a ball of cotton yarn and a crochet hook with me on planes, to playgrounds, and to dentists/orthodontists waiting rooms and other appointments.
I am gone into a bit of a Textile History phase now, reading books, articles and websites about textile history in general, and Spinning and Weaving in Ireland in particular. It is so interesting. I will tell ye about the books I have read in a blog post all on its own soon.
I wish I had the company of some of you knitting ladies in my class at times, as I try to get 30 children knitting for possibly the first time in their lives!
talk soon! Stay warm, stay well!
Sunday, December 15, 2013
a walk
A walk on a windy but dry Sunday morning.
Some rosehips.
I went for a walk with husband.
Stripy bark. (now was it beech or ash, gotta look again at it next walk, think it was beech, actually)
Forty shades of green. An old piece of galvanised roofing sheeting, being used to block a gap in the hedge, in an effort to keep the lifestock in.
Then I went for a shorter walk, with son.
It was very windy here yesterday, and wet, it rained all day. I stayed home most of the day and put up a small wardrobe for dear son's clothes, now I can get back the laundry basket his jackets and some other clothes were being 'stored' in.
Thankfully, today dawned windy, but dry. Up and out to the washing line with me. Nothing like getting 4 baskets of clothes out and drying! In December! Hooray!
Needless to say the rain returned later in the day, about 1 or 2pm, but gladly by then the clothes were almost all dry. And with hubby's help, I got them all in in time, just before the rain began.
Now to get down to the stuff that just has to get done this coming week, maybe a Christmas test for the pupils in school and definitely Christmas Art and Craft.
Gulp!
Friday, December 13, 2013
This 8-headed red beauty and those flags
So, thanks to all of you who have visited my pages in the last few days and especially to those who have left comments, I do like to get a few comments! Warms the cockles of the heart, so it does....!
I wanted to show you a picture of this wonderful Amaryllis, aka Hippeastrum, which I bought in Lidl, a few weeks ago, and which has bloomed with no less than 8 flowers so far! 5 on the taller stem and 3 on the lower and there is a 3rd stem in there too, with a bud which I noticed today. When I got the Amaryllis, it just had the stems, no flowers at all.
It sits on the south-facing windowsill beside my teacher's table and gets lots of light and heat. Very impressive beauty, even if I do say so myself.
I tried to go back and edit in the photo of the flags into the last post, but blogger was having none of it, not happening, no way...
so here is a shot of the flags, at about 9.10am two days ago, I took the shot from inside my classroom, you can see the reflection of the lights in the shot. The sun is coming up, sunrise was about 8.36am, so although it looks like it is just coming up, the sun has actually been up for about 35mins already.
This is the view from my classroom every day. I can see the Galtee Mountains off in the distance behind the houses, and on cold days, we see the snow on the mountains. Ireland is mostly quite mild, so that may be the only snow we see in winter. Before the housing estate was built, that was farmland across the road, with just one cottage. There were white and black Friesian cows grazing there most days. I miss those cows and the uninterrupted view across the fields to the mountains. I like simple things. Like clouds and cows and peace and quiet and knitting and spinning.
I wanted to show you a picture of this wonderful Amaryllis, aka Hippeastrum, which I bought in Lidl, a few weeks ago, and which has bloomed with no less than 8 flowers so far! 5 on the taller stem and 3 on the lower and there is a 3rd stem in there too, with a bud which I noticed today. When I got the Amaryllis, it just had the stems, no flowers at all.
It sits on the south-facing windowsill beside my teacher's table and gets lots of light and heat. Very impressive beauty, even if I do say so myself.
I tried to go back and edit in the photo of the flags into the last post, but blogger was having none of it, not happening, no way...
so here is a shot of the flags, at about 9.10am two days ago, I took the shot from inside my classroom, you can see the reflection of the lights in the shot. The sun is coming up, sunrise was about 8.36am, so although it looks like it is just coming up, the sun has actually been up for about 35mins already.
This is the view from my classroom every day. I can see the Galtee Mountains off in the distance behind the houses, and on cold days, we see the snow on the mountains. Ireland is mostly quite mild, so that may be the only snow we see in winter. Before the housing estate was built, that was farmland across the road, with just one cottage. There were white and black Friesian cows grazing there most days. I miss those cows and the uninterrupted view across the fields to the mountains. I like simple things. Like clouds and cows and peace and quiet and knitting and spinning.
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