I have been thinking wistfully these past few weeks that it has been some time since I last visited Paris. The thing I most love to do when I go to the City of Light is simply to wander around at a leisurely pace stopping as the mood takes me to: look at pretty courtyards, admire magnificent historic buildings, visit a museum or to lunch at a favourite café. So I decided this Saturday to do a version of my Parisian wandering in my native Dublin.
Public Speaking & Toastmasters
Generally when I tell someone that I am a member of Toastmasters (Toastmasters International, TI for short) I get one of two reactions depending on wheather the person I am talking to has a notion of what Toastmasters is about, or not. When I tell someone, who has no previous idea about Toastmasters, that it is a public speaking club I often get an OMG reaction something like OMG why would anyone want to speak in public unless it was totally, absolutely, and almost barrel-of-a shotgun necessary.
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Filed under Musings
Lost Weekend
Every time I visit Lost Weekend, a design store on the main street of the south Dublin suburb of Blackrock, my curiosity is piqued by the enigmatic name. When I was heading to Lost Weekend on Saturday I had in mind that I must find out why it is so called. As it happens I clean forgot to ask the question. So with poetic licence I have decided that it might just be because it is the sort of space that one could all too happily be totally lost in for a whole weekend.
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Filed under Designers, Dublin, Shops/Shopping
Rules To Live By
One of the subjects I studied at University was philosophy. Not that you would know that if you were ever to sit down and chat with me. Whatever tenuous knowledge, parked in short-term memory, I once had of the works by the great and the good in the world of philosophy has long since evaporated. In my defence it was a long time ago.
Filed under Musings
A Spending Diet and Some Decluttering
I put myself on a clothes-spending diet in January; my goal was to buy no clothes, absolutely none, from the begining to the end of the month. I also decided that the time was right for a serious clear out of the contents of my over stuffed wardrobe. As this is the last day of January I am reflecting on how the spending cut back and the wardrobe clear out went.
Filed under Musings
Making Orange Wine
It rained hard in these parts all day today. The distant hills were smudged with mist and the low steel grey sky felt oppressive. The short time I spent in the sun-kissed South of France, in May last year, now seems centuries ago. Occasionally as an antidote to dull days I recall the clear blue skies, the shimmering azure sea and the colourful food markets of Provence. One memory of the holiday has hooked itself crochet like into my mind; it is the taste of the orange wine, which is a speciality of the region. Now that Seville (marmalade) oranges are in season I decided to make a batch of Vin d’ Orange.
Showcase: Ireland’s Creative Expo
On Wednesday, I visited Showcase, Ireland’s Creative Expo, which is a trade fair, featuring the best of Irish craft, gifts, fashion and interiors, organized by the Crafts Council of Ireland. The craft sector in Ireland is worth close to half a billion euro to the economy and employs just under six thousand people. The Crafts Council of Ireland is keen to develop new markets for Irish craft and Showcase is one way of doing so. Last year, at Showcase, visiting buyers from forty countries bought over €20 million worth of goods. It’s a large show and sadly I had just one short hour to hoof my way around all the stands. It was impossible in that short space of time to see everything. Below are some of the items that caught my eye as I whizzed around at a rate of knots.
Filed under Craft
A letter. A Reply.
One evening during my recent stay at Cloona Health Retreat Centre Loretta, a psychotherapist, gave a talk on ‘Food and Feeling’. As I sat with my fellow guests, waiting for Loretta to arrive, I was feeling pretty smug as I knew I was an eating and body issue free zone. The loud thump mid way through her talk was the sound of me falling to earth as I realized that actually I do have issues.
Filed under Musings
Coffee in Dublin//Six: Urbun
Urbun is a café in the heart of Cabinteely Village in South County Dublin. The name is a play on words; the owners Katie and Niamh choose it because their inaugural project together was making cakes to sell at a market stall and because when they opened the café they wanted to bring an urban vibe to suburban Cabinteely. Katie and Niamh both have food related backgrounds; in a previous life Katie was the food editor of Totally Dublin and Ballymaloe trained Niamh cut her foodie teeth working in the London café scene.
Playing with Photos
One of the things on my to-do list for 2012 is to learn how to use Photoshop, so to set the ball in motion I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor from the Apple app store. The quick peek I took at it has left me wondering how I am going to master the myriad transformational possibilities it offers. When I was downloading Photoshop I also downloaded a couple of other much simpler photo apps. I am not for a nano second going to pretend I have any special photographic skills; I get by using my camera in a basic way. So this is neither a review nor a ‘how to’ post, merely a quick look at what the photographic and the tech challenged (that’s me) can do with a few apps.
Filed under Musings, Photography
Just Add Attitude
Just Add Attitude 