Stuck

 Stuck

The photograph was taken in Leitrim about ten years ago at a large gathering of family and friends, marking a special birthday and all that comes with it. It was a wonderful party, so well attended that cars had to be parked out in the fields -and the fields in Leitrim can be fairly boggy. All three of my brothers-in-law are in that picture, along with Bert. 

There’s another big occasion coming up in the autumn, one we’ve all been looking forward to - because it isn’t often that we get together as a family. And I think it may still go ahead. But this time, someone very special and dearly loved will be missing: London Sister’s husband, who died so suddenly just over a week ago.

There is so much that could be said about Jonny, for he was one of the best. But for now, just this: he brought so much, and we will miss him terribly.

Knitting Update

Swisser's jumper is beginning to take shape. As always, the knitting journey has its ups and downs. The beginning is fun, colours are to be decided, and expectations are high.

Then the doubts creep in. Was it a mistake to have those two lime greens so close together? Never mind. It's yet another experiment - keep going. At this stage, it wasn't even Swisser's jumper. She was just the person I had in mind.

I spent an evening knitting the sleeve on the right but even Bert could see that it was too wide. I started again with the sleeve on the left, with far fewer stitches to begin with (48) and a graduated increase to 72 stitches. 

Swisser called, I showed her my progress and asked her if she liked it. She did! I said,

That's good because I'm knitting it for you.

I posted a small jumper to Kerry this morning but seem to have overlooked taking a photograph. Hopefully, it will arrive and the child won't be too big for it and perhaps if it fits him I might get a picture of him modelling it - hint, hint.  Anyway, in the absence of a picture of my great-nephew's handknit here is a picture of his mother wearing one of my earlier creations. 

I didn't knit her Dad's jumper although it is very fine. And looking at this photo I am reminded that I promised him a stripey hat more than a year ago.

Anyway, back to Swisser's jumper. I must get it finished soon as she will be needing it for that unheated cottage she's buying in Leitrim.

A Trip to Leitrim

 Lough Gill from Slish Wood in Sligo

On Friday morning I caught the train to Belfast and boarded the bus to Enniskillen. Mooched around Enniskillen for a while before I met Dr Leitrim Sister. It has been a long time, way too long, since I visited there. 

There have been quite a few changes to their house since my last visit - new kitchen and bathroom- both completed during the lockdown and a lot of the work was carried out by my multi-talented sister. 

No visit to Drumkeeran would be complete without a visit to the delightful Wynne's Bar. I did not spot any sheep the night I was there. I expect they were all rounded up by the time we got there.

We also took a trip to Sligo, where the sister and I did a bit of shopping and my brother-in-law went to the theatre (where he works). We all met up for a bite in Lyons, an old-fashioned department store with a popular cafe. And on the way home, we took a walk with the dog in beautiful Slish Wood.

It was a lovely, relaxing visit.

I only brought one book with me, knowing that if I finished it too soon the sister's house is well-stocked with literature, much of it to my liking. However, my Tana French lasted the course. I started it on the coach to Enniskillen and just as the train pulled into Ballymena station I finished it. 

It was great to see Bert and the dogs in Cullybackey and a relief that the kitten had not been lost. We watched the very silly Handmaid's Tale and Simon Schama then off to my own wee bed. Pippin too. And back to Elizabeth Jane Howard where Mrs Hugh Cazalet is having a baby. I got her the length of her bed last night. And stopped reading. Today she was still labouring away. I stopped reading. I expect her to deliver (hopefully safely) when I pick it up again tonight.

Waiting For Jessops

There will be more posts (I promise) when I get my new camera. That would be the one I ordered late in the evening before Easter Sunday, two weeks ago today! Jessops promised next day delivery but I didn't expect that, not on a holiday weekend. It might come on the Tuesday or Wednesday. I was very excited. Still waiting and the amount I've spent on ringing up and giving off has probably cancelled any savings I made from buying on-line.

One of the customer services people assured me that the problem was they couldn't send the camera direct from a shop because it was being 'delivered to Ireland'. This was most amusing to me. I know this is Ireland, my heart tells me so, but politically and postally we are  part of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Another customer advisor assured me it would be delivered yesterday and it wasn't. Then a sweet girl said she was sorry for the mix up and promised me it was being sent from Belfast this coming Monday and I should have it by Wednesday. Belfast! I've been in Belfast twice since I ordered the damn thing. I could have been out there snapping away for over a week by now.

Still, as they say, a first world problem. I still have three cameras although two of them are shite. The one that isn't shite is an iPad and I only like to use it at home as it is unwieldy.

But it would have been nice to have had my new camera to take photographs of our solitary chick, the one that was part of a clutch that the two bantams, Honey and Flour were fighting over.

Co-Clockers, Honey and Flour

On Easter Monday morning Flour left the clutch, to eat and drink and Honey got on the eggs. I thought nothing of it and went to an eye appointment in Belfast. When Bert picked me up a few hours later he said there had been a calamity. He'd heard angry squawking coming from the inside and found Honey and Flour fighting viciously. The first egg had hatched and they appeared to be fighting over the chick. It was bloody and injured. Bert removed it and brought it into the house where it cheeped plaintively. It was marked on the back and near its eye and we thought it would probably die. Meanwhile out in the house the eggs had been abandoned. The bantams were separated. I considered hand rearing the chick but decided against it. Too much time and effort for a poor return. We offered it to the quarantined Honey who tried to peck it. Honey was put back with the flock and Flour put in the spare hen house. We tried the chick with her and she raised her wing and accepted it. And that was nearly two weeks ago.

An Only Child

A lesson has been learned. Next time they go broody we'll separate them from the flock and each other. That way there will be no adding to the clutch and no fighting. And maybe, next time, there will be more than one hatched. I still don't know if it is boy or girl. If it turns out to be a rooster Leitrim Sister might take it. After such a poor start it deserves a crack at life.

And that was another place where I could have used my new camera. Three days in Lovely Leitrim (and Sligo) at the beginning of the week and nothing but my ancient Canon for company. I did take pictures but they didn't delight me. But Leitrim, Sligo and Enniskillen did, that and the company of Leitrim Sister* and Yer Man**.

Pickles at Strandhill

*   Since February 2016 Dr Leitrim Sister.
** Evie's name for her Great-Uncle Nick.

Love and Life

Last weekend I went to Leitrim and Sligo with London Sister and I forgot my camera. I remembered to bring the charger but that wasn't much use without the camera.

Had I brought my camera I would have taken photographs of the fossils at Easkey. Had I brought my camera I would have taken some pictures of the megalithic burial site at Carrowmore.

Had I brought my camera I would have taken a picture of a grave at Drumcliffe Church. It would not have been the grave of W.B. Yeats for that grave needs no more photographs. I would have taken a picture of a beautiful grave, the grave of a young man who died a few years back, a young man who was only in his mid-twenties. He must have been greatly loved because his last resting place was filled with flowers, his stone was hand carved, the poetry, if it was not as high-flown as that on Yeats' grave was just as heartfelt. I would never have put the photograph on the internet because it would have been an intrusion and an impertinence. The photograph would have been for me and for remembrance.

Had I brought my camera I would have taken a picture of London Sister and Leitrim Sister. That does not matter. I do not need a picture to remind me that I spent some time with two people I love very much. Two people, among the many people, who live, and that I love. We are always close to death but closer still to love and life.

The Last Request

daddy, originally uploaded by NellyMoser.

On his 84th birthday my father said,

I want you to do something for me.

So what d'ye want me to do?

I want you to take me to Leitrim to see Deirdre.

Aye. I will. Some day soon.

It never happened. He took a stroke just a couple of weeks later. This weekend was the first time I went back to Leitrim. It was his birthday weekend.

I May Be Some Time

Obviously I don't get out enough.

I'm going to visit Leitrim Sister this weekend. It's a three hour trip yet I feel as if I'm embarking on a Polar Expedition.