This week, as autumn continues its inexorable march towards the chillier landscapes of winter, the weather in these parts has been mild. True, some days have had a dark and misty feel as rain sheeted down but on sunny afternoons it was possible, just, to walk about coatless or jacketless without feeling chilled to the marrow.
This week I saw two different books come to life: on Friday I went to Dublin’s Gate Theatre’s excellent and Christmas appropriate production of ‘Little Women’ and on Saturday I saw the much-lauded screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s book ‘The Help’. I loved them both.
This week I replaced my camera (I wrote about losing it here). I had a Cannon DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) but I decided not to go for the same again; I bought a Nikon CSC (compact system camera) instead. It’s apparently a step down from a DSLR but a step up form a point and shoot compact. I confess my main consideration aside from picture quality was finding a camera that would fit into my handbag as I felt that would decrease the risk, hopefully to zero, of losing the new camera.
This week I went swimming twice. I declared on the blog a few weeks ago that I needed to take more exercise and that I was determined to start swimming again. Well since said declaration I have been regularly to my local pool. I may sign up for a year’s membership; for an annual fee of just shy of four hundred euro I can use the pool as often as I like as well as the attached gym. This seems like great value but I need to ignore the voice of the ghost of underused-gym-memberships past: the ghost knows how easily initial enthusiasm can wane.
This week as Christmas inches ever closer there were Christmas fairs on here, there and everywhere. Today I went to one at Kilruddery House (Kilruddery is an Elizabethan-Revival mansion in Wicklow, Dublin’s neighbouring county). The beautiful house is surrounded by equally beautiful gardens and it was good to take a stroll through them after I visited the fair.
This week is almost over; talk to you next week.
Just Add Attitude 
very very good thinking to have a camera that would fit in your handbag, i work it the opposite way, i would not buy a handbag that will not fit a camera, safely and a book.! Obviously my handbag is big and well worn!.. c
That sounds like a good way to work it. I can just about squeeze a book into mine when the camera is in there but I cannot think about buying a bigger bag as I need to recover from the expense of replacing the camera.
I think the choice of replacement camera is brilliant. I’m considering going in a similar direction to replace my big DSLR–this one not lost but severely underused because I have no camera savvy to make proper use of it and because I hate lugging heavy stuff and fiddling with Parts when I’m on the prowl for interesting images.
The Fair and the grounds look so enticing and would help me get in the seasonal mood far more than all of the faux frippery and jaded jollity strewn on every retail inch around these days. Hope you enjoyed it extra for me! 🙂
I thought you must have stopped blogging as I stopped getting notification of new posts. I have signed up again and will now go back through some of the posts I missed. I don’t know what happened.
Hi K, I am very pleased with my new camera especially as it easy to carry about, as you say lugging heavy stuff about is a bit of a pain when you are searching for images. I love the photos on your blog; the collages and recent image of door. Good luck with the new camera when you get it.
Hi Debra, I am very pleased that you signed up again. Welcome back.