Category: friends

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Christmas Cards: yay or nay?

I asked my family to tell me what were their highlights of 2016. I had this vague notion that I might type them up, print them and send them out with our Christmas cards. This plan rests on a vital activity that is yet to happen: sending Xmas cards. Maybe next year one of my highlights will be that I sent all my Xmas cards by 15 December 2017.

(More anon on the highlights of 2016. I’ll take my sweet time with this too!)

Maybe next year I’ll send Oíche Nollag na mBan cards.

Every year we get a fabulous letter from friends in New Zealand with updates about all that has happened in the preceding year. Every year I swear I will respond in kind. This has never happened.

Being honest, receiving your Xmas Card was very pleasant, but not a highlight. I’m very conflicted about Christmas cards and, coward that I am, I am now admitting it because I know many of you feel the same way.  I’d love to know your thoughts on Xmas cards.  I did sit in front of the telly on St. Stephens’ Day and during the course of some festive film I managed to write all 50 odd cards. Like all procrastination, it actually didn’t take me as long as I feared it would. It allowed the opportunity to take my new pen (thank you Himself!) for a drive. The completed cards with fully addressed envelopes are currently stamped, sealed and sitting on the hall table. Imagine! And after that Herculean task. Or is it more Sisyphean? I understand the logic of sending cards to people abroad that I am less likely to see but sending cards to people I will be spending at least some of the holiday season with seems a bit pointless. Probably they wouldn’t mind if I didn’t send them.

Update: after I had happened upon the genius idea of kee ping the cards until next year and sending them all on December 1st and being super smug I discovered Himself had whipped them off the hall table and posted them on his lunchtime walk. Happy Christmas y’all! (Except Neela, Lizzy, Benny and Gill and a few others whose addresses I’m dubious about!)

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Croc na gCearc

In the forest on the way to the top of Carrigmaclear, Co. TipperaryEnglish below

Bhí deireadh seachtaine den chéad scoth agam i measc mo dhlúthchairde le déanaí. Bhí grúpa de haonar déag taghtha le chéile chun seanchara linn a seoladh i dtreo a pósadh a bheidh ar siúl i mí Lúnasa. D’eagraigh a péire bridesmaids agus na mná ar fad craic, ceoil, bia agus deoch do chách agus bhain na circ ar fad an-taitneamh go deo as an deireadh seachtaine ar fad. Bhí bia úr, blasta agus galánta againn déanta don chuid is mó ag Bittersweet Food Company: Seafood Bouillabaisse followed by Cress, Pear and Pecan salad and finished off with Karen’s signature chocolate fondant with creme fraiche and mixed berries. I hate to admit it but her chocolate fondant is better than my chocolate fudge cake. Agus neart cocktails déanta ag na Cocktail Queens!

Tá gach seans ann go mbeadh muid tar éis taitnimh a bhaint as an deireadh seachtaine cuma cá háit a rabhamar ach níl aon ceist faoin rud gur chuir an teach a roghnaigh na bridesmaids go mór mór leis an deireadh seachtaine. Croc an Óir i Mullinahone, Tiobráid Árainn a bhí ann agus má tá slua ban ann a bhfuil taithí acu ar “self-catering accomodation” (Bear with me I’ve an Irish Language spell checker that i not as bilingual as I am) is muidinne iad. Is dócha go bhfuil saoire caite againn in iostais féinfhreastail ar a laghad i ngach cúige in Éireann agus gach seans i ngach contae chósta in iarthair na tíre agus níl ann amhras go b’é seo an áit is deise. B’fhéidir nach bhfuil sé díreach chomh pictiúrtha ach cinnte tá siad níos saoire ná títhe Landmark ach leis an áiseanna céanna. Miasniteoir (great word!), meaisín níocháin agus triomadóir. Bhí sciana géara ann (annamh go leor in iostais féinfhreastail), bhí seomra codlata le en suite a bhí oiriúnach do chathaoir rotha agus dhá seomra folctha eile. Bhí spás a dhóthain do aonar déag agus bhí a teaichín beag féin ag bean amháin. Agus do na ceoltóirí atá ag léamh: tá seomra ceoil ann freisin. Chuamar ar siúlóid álainn ar an Sathairn agus lean roinnt dúinn ar aghaidh chomh fada le barr Carraig mo chliar. Bhí an radharc anseo gleoite ar fad.

Is léir go ndeachaigh muidinne i bhfeidhm ar úinéir an tí freisin mar dúirt sé an méad seo i r-phost le ceann de na bridesmaids:

“Many thanks for your kind words in the guest book. My Mother met the bus driver’s wife yesterday and she told her how impressed he was by you all. His previous experiences with hen parties had not been so positive. Tell the girls they left a good impression in Tipperary.”

Makes us sound kinda boring… he did call us girls though. Hooya! And I didn’t need his invitation to know I’ll be going back to Croc an Óir.

The view from CarrigmaclearHad the best weekend last weekend when 11 of my friends got together to send off one of our best friends before she gets married in August. Her two bridesmaids organised with a little help from her friends a great weekend of music, fun, food and cocktails. Amazing, tasty, fresh and elegant food from the Bittersweet Food Company: Seafood Bouillabaisse followed by Cress, Pear and Pecan salad and finished off with Karen’s signature chocolate fondant with creme fraiche and mixed berries. I hate to admit it but her chocolate fondant is better than my chocolate fudge cake. And plentiful cocktails from the Cocktail Queens!

Chances are we would have enjoyed ourselves no matter where we were but there’s no question that the accommodation that the bridesmaids chose definitely added to the weekend. We stayed in Croc an Óir in Mullinahone, Tipperary and if there was ever a group of women who know their self-catering accommodation we are them. We must have stayed in holiday homes in certainly every province of Ireland and quite probably every coastal county in the West. Maybe not as picturesque as Landmark houses but definitely cheaper and with all the same facilities: a dishwasher, a washing machine AND tumble dryer. One bedroom had an ensuite that was wheelchair accessible. (Actually the only negative thing I’d say is that this room also had an unneccesary skylight with no shade so we were woken at the crack of dawn. Definitely not good after all those cocktails.) There were two other bathrooms and one of the ladies had a little house all to herself. And for the musicians reading this: there’s even a music room. We went for a fun walk on Saturday and some of us carried on right to the very top of Carrigmaclear where we were awarded with stunning views and history.

As the quote above testifies we obviously made an impression on the owner as well!

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MacHappy or MacSad

Just received this from a friend and having suffered a comatose laptop exactly a year ago I’m feeling her pain. Backup, backup, backup! And always remember it’s just 0s and 1s.

X’s Macbook drive failed last week and she lost everything, the disk
was so damaged that nothing could be recovered. Apparently this is very common as there was a manufacturing problem with the some of the Seagate Drives that shipped in the Macbooks and Macbook Pros.

If you have a Macbook or Macbook Pro read the instructions from the links below to check whether you have one of these drives. It will only take a minute but it is worth it.

If you know of anyone who has a macbook please forward this to them. Despite that it was reported three months ago it is not common knowledge.

Information and more help.

Thanks,
Y

Now I’m not so jealous of my MacHappy Family. I must take a photo of my
parent’s dining room table to show you. All of them sitting there like
drones staring at these little white plastic things in this grand old
Edwardian house. It’s hilarious.

And I SWEAR I’m not just posting the information above out of begrudgery. I’ve got a rubbish computer too. It does the job but I don’t whip it out in public. In fact I try to avoid moving it even from one room to another because it is so damn heavy. Even my dad is cooler than I. He is so cool he would probably say “cooler than me.”

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Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh

An t-am seo anuraidh bhí mé ag ullmhú le gabháil ar ais ag obair tar éis saoire máithreachais. Féach mar a chasann rotha mhór an tsaoil! Ní chuimhin liom an raibh aon dea-rúin agam anuraidh. Má bhí tá siad bainte amach agam nó ní raibh siad tábhachtach go leor chun stró a chur orm. Gach seans gur luaigh mé rud éigin faoi Spáinnis a fhoghlaim mar a dhéanaim chuile bhliain. Nó b’fhéidir go raibh nóta déanta agam dom féin faoin suíomh seo a athdhearadh. Hmmm. Tabharfaidh mé faoi ach ná déan dearmad riamh go b’é ainm an tsuímh céanna “One of these days…”
In ionad dea-rúin i mbliana tá mé chun cúpla rud a bhreac síos a bhfuil mé ag súil go mór leo i mbliana. Fuair mé r-phost ó mo chara sa Nua-Shealainn ar maidin ina raibh a leithéid luaite agus ceapaim gur bealach uathúil agus dearfach é chun tabhairt faoin athfhéachaint atá nádúrtha dúinn go léir ag an am seo den bhliain.

I got an email from a friend in New Zealand this morning in which she listed the events that she is looking forward to in 2008 – I thought it was a unique way to express the reflective spirit that is only natural at this time of year.

  • My birthday – I always look forward to it.
  • My new job – whatever it turns out to be it will be a challenge and an adventure
  • Himself’s new job – ditto!
  • S ramping up his conversationa skills – I look forward to greater insight to his strange little mind.
  • G starting school – agus tá súil agam go scaoilfidh a theanga Gaeilge dá bharr.
  • All the new babbies
  • All the weddings and the fact that I am not a bridesmaid means that I will be able to enjoy myself thoroughly and not suffer any friendship fallout.
  • Camping, here and abroad
  • Meeting my cousin E’s son for the first time
  • Visiting Cousin B in NYC
  • Summer in Ireland
  • Autumn

That should keep us going for a while!

My big pressie from Himself this year was a webcam (hello you don’t know me if you don’t know that I am a geek) so if you Skype me in future you can see me. Hurrah. Here’s a sample of what I look like on my webcam. Glamorous huh? Especially with the laundry in the background.

We had a great holiday. Santa Clause was a big hit this year (if I may say so myself) and we got some great presents from family and friends. A few too many chocolates and far too much baking on my part means that it’ll be Weight Watchers not-so-anonymous for the foreseeable future. However when I did weigh myself last night, it wasn’t quite so drastic as I expected. Speaking of food I must go and do the shopping.