The Trees We Put Up Early

Last night London Sister sent us a picture of her seven-foot tree. She’s early this year. It’s not even mid-December, yet there it was, beautifully decorated, tastefully lit, standing proud in her high-ceilinged living room. This will be a poignant Christmas for her, her first without Jonny.

It reminded me of last year when Elle put her big tree up in November. Robin was in the last days of his life then, although I’m not sure she fully realised it. Maybe, somewhere in her mind, she sensed that if she waited until December, he’d never see it. Or perhaps she felt that if she didn’t put it up right then, she’d never have the heart to do it at all.

I’ve been watching the weather forecast all day. Storm Bram is in full swing, and if it doesn’t blow the polytunnel away, I’ll bring our own tree in tomorrow. We used to wait until Christmas Eve, but storms and years and losses have made me a little more positive about celebrating the season. After all, who knows how many more there will be, or how long we’ll have with each other?

And truth be told, the tree helps, a lovely corner of brightness when the days are short and the nights too long. So I’ll wrestle ours indoors tomorrow, if Bram allows. I feel the need of its cheer.

At least until January, when it’s back to the polytunnel with it.

A picture from the olden days, maybe around 40 years ago. It was the first one I turned up when I searched for 'Christmas Tree' on my EHD. Just as well it did as it's Katy's birthday today. My best Christmas present back in 1978. Happy Birthday Katkin!

Frothy Goat Deity

 Happy Birthday, Zoë. 

Conversation with Martha at the supper table.

Granny, remember how your cakes used to be like biscuits?

I do. I remember you telling me so.

How come they're not flat any more?

Your mother told me about baking powder.

Previous birthday cakes that demonstrate varying levels of flatness.

Fine Deed Is Nifty

Dede and Zoe

 I was going to blog about knitting, which has, once again, become an obsession.

Dede at a party in Belfast

 
Then I recalled that today is Leitrim Sister's birthday.

Dede at Ballee

Then I remembered that way back in the day when I was a Fairisle and Stripey jumper fanatic, my youngest sister was never shy about wearing one of my creations. In fact, apart from my children and their father (who had no choice) she was my biggest fan. Happy birthday LS, enjoy Spain and I promise you, I'm going to knit you the craziest jumper for your next birthday. It will have sixty different colours.

Autumn

My oldest friend just turned seventy. My youngest brother is not a kick in the arse of sixty, my oldest granddaughter has started grammar school, I'm down to three aunts, only one uncle and my toyboy husband is thinking of investing in new knees. Even my pets, pigs, dogs, cats and chickens are all ancient. Seems like Nelly is in the Autumn of her years.

But who cares! I've always loved Autumn, apart from it not lasting nearly long enough. Oops!

When I first met the Wee Manny, in Dublin, some time in the mid-seventies. 

Happy 70th birthday, Robin. I never thought you'd see it.

And an account of a long-ago adventure in which the comments have the makings of a soap opera. Well worth a read. 

Happy Birthday

Twelve Years Ago

Today was always going to be a busy day. We'd planned to go visit, with a view to procuring, kune kune pigs. Later we'd be going to the Wee Manny's for a surprise birthday party.

What I didn't expect was hearing from Dave that Zoe has been safely delivered of a daughter, our first grandchild. She was a week earlier than expected - the impatient little thing!

So now I must go and wash the smell of pig from my person and get myself ready to visit Zoe, Dave and daughter.

Today

Twelve years later and Miss Martha has just started secondary school. Unfortunately, she has just missed a week's schooling due to testing positive for Covid 19 along with everyone else in her family. She wasn't too badly affected and will be back to her lessons tomorrow. Today, her birthday, was the first day she was able to leave the house. Apparently, the best thing about being in isolation was getting to watch all eight Harry Potter films again.

Evie, seen here peeking from behind the birthday girl, went back to school on Friday. She was the first to test positive and the first out of quarantine.  

I've missed our routines and am hoping that we will all be back to some sort of normality by next week. Martha has already made sure that the traditional Monday birthday meal at our house will still take place, albeit two weeks later. It's to be some sort of sour cream chocolate cake and enchiladas. We'll work out the details on Thursday. I may have to buy some more birthday candles* for I don't think I've got twelve decent-sized ones.

*I re-use birthday candles until they are about 45 mm. Shorter than that, they look really daft. 

They Fitted Faded Yogi

 Our Dede, Leitrim Sister, Dr Byrne, my youngest sister despite being born during one of the coldest winters on record is one of the warmest-hearted people I know. 

I've not seen her since August and even then we didn't hug. 

Happy birthday, Dede. I hope it was a good one. 

Try Hen's Anxieties

 Happy Birthday, Ganching and thanks for all the blogging.

For The Day That Is In It

Cannonstown, late 50s, Two cousins born on the same day.

Antrim, 2012, feeding the ducks. Two cousins together for the last time.

Wishing London Sister a very wonderful birthday.

And remembering Joseph.

It Jiffy Shoetree

Happy Birthday, Youngest Brother!

Every Picture: Happy Birthday Dede

Today's post is all about Dede whose birthday it is. Dede is number six in our family of seven and the youngest girl. I cannot conceive what it must be like to have four older sisters but this I know, Miss Dede was well able for the role. No chance that anyone, in any family, would ever overshadow the Ginger Mouse. That was Daddy's pet name for her but she was no mouse. Anyway, in Daddy's book, mice were toughies.

Interestingly, Dede was the only girl in our family not to get through that silly 11+ exam, not that it ever worried her. Before long she achieved qualifications in catering, worked her way around Australia, ran the Regent's Park Open Air Cafe for several years and got into location catering when the Irish film industry was at its peak. Then she headed back to college, got herself a First and, more recently, a Ph.D. To say that I admire her and am immensely proud of her would be a huge understatement.

To add to her achievements she's also a dog lover.

Well done Dr Dede. 2016 was a bit of a stinker of a year but at least we had Sligo. Happy birthday love.

A Tight Tidy Theory

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday Dear Katkin,

Happy Birthday To You!

Of course, Katy is a little older these days and, if you want to know how old, you must work out the anagram contained in the title. Go on! It's easy.

And keeping on the birthday girl theme, I discovered this drawing among Matty's things. An early work  by Katy dating from September 1989.

I can assure you that it is Seamus' spitting image.

Dehydrate Bad Hippy

... or in other words, Happy Birthday Dede.

What a day it is too. Your first birthday with a Ph.D. We couldn't be prouder of you.

A Harsh Thirteenth Yin

The most important thing about today is that it is Hannah's birthday. The anagram in the title will tell her age, just a little bit older than the age displayed in the following photograph. Garvagh got it wrong.



Garvagh I hear you say? What would take a body to Garvagh? It's a terrible place, there are pictures of Gregory Campbell on the lamp posts.

Yet I have to disagree for Garvagh is a delightful village. It has a river and a forest and a pyramid. So what if the kerbs are painted red, white and blue? Nothing beats a pyramid.

And so to Flickr on Hannah's birthday. It would have been good if Flickr had turned up a picture of the birthday girl but it was not to be.

 15th most viewed, 962 views

For the longest time this was my most viewed image on Flickr until cute kittens in deco boxes and puzzled Limousins took over. I could never figure out why it had so many views. It was taken ten years ago when we had the previous house up for sale. I could write a very long blog post about what happened but I'd rather not. A lot of people wanted to buy the property and we actually lost a friend over it. In the end Clint bought it.

He has made a few changes. There are fewer trees and more sheds. It's a lot less wild and woolly. It has become what people around here say,

more Presbyterian looking

Except maybe for the goats. Goats aren't very Presbyterian.

Katy sometime in the 1980s, 322 views

A picture of my middle daughter, the one with the curly hair. She is probably four or five. It is the 15th most interesting of my Flickr photographs. And this is what she looks like today...

Katy in Cambridge, photo by Ganching

Katy calls this look 'spotty and bumpy' and while the spots are rather obvious, the bump is still pretty neat. 

Happy Birthday Leitrim Sister

A photograph from a few years back featuring the sister and the daughter. Happy birthday Dede!

Protests and Birthdays

Yesterday I went out protesting with Hails from Coffee Helps. It's been a while since I attended such an event. The last time we were all chanting Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out!  On that occasion I got my picture on the front page of the Irish News so, needless to say, on Saturday, I dressed with care and made sure I combed my hair. It was a good day. I caught up with Hayley, met some new people and ate Korean food at Cafe Arirang. The protest went well too. About a thousand people turned up which isn't bad for Belfast on a freezing cold January day.

When I got home I found that Bert hadn't as much as lifted a spoon but he had made some great progress playing Stardust on his clarinet. I was too tired to bother with anything so watched a Meryl Streep film and went to bed reasonably early with the Guardian. But before I retired I researched 30 minute clean up on Google. For Kerry Sister is up in the North and she'd be visiting the next day and was keen to see my new private sitting room. And due to the massive clearing out I've been doing there were boxes and boxes of hoardy stuff sitting there and it was all a bit of a mess.

Happy Birthday Brendan. Photograph by Patricia Uí Mhuircheartaigh

This morning I bounced out of bed at a quarter to eight, let all the domestic animals out for a pee in the snow, made coffee, buttered malt loaf and went back to bed for another read of the Guardian. Forty minutes later I bounced back out of bed and started on my 30 minute clean up. I thought it might take a wee bit longer than thirty minutes. First off was put on the laundry, then I had to take a laundry basket and gather up all the clutter. I filled three laundry baskets and this did not include the boxes of Pearlie's old aprons, Bert's old toys and all the birthday cards he received since he was one year old and The Sash His Father Wore. And Johnny's white gloves and all the ribbons that were tied to the ceremonial sword. Bert says I can give the ribbons to Martha and Evie to tie up their bonny brown hair. So darling grandchilder you may look forward to receiving a bunch of ribbons colours red, white, blue, purple and orange.

I did manage to do everything on the 30 minute clean up list and was just wiping the last drip off the floor with my Whizz mop when the Kerry car pulled into the yard and it had only taken me 94 minutes.

All to the good though for the Kerry Sister and myself were able to relax in my clutter free and private sitting room while Bert and the Kerry Man tramped up Slemish in the snow. It was the Kerry Man's birthday and tramping up icy mountains is just the sort of birthday outing he enjoys. Before they left I gave him a lovely present - two bags of County Antrim's finest turf. He was delighted. Who wouldn't be?

Happy Birthday Evie!

That wasn't a bad weekend. We had a delightful night out with the Banjos, Jazzer cooked breakfast and Banjo Man finished the decorating. We had the Little Misses for a sleepover and that overlapped with the Banjos. Evie took a great shine to Jazzer and when I was leaving them home the next day referred to her as,

My best friend Jazzer that I like.

On Sunday morning Martha demonstrated her ballet skills on the newly varnished floor while I made a little film, I cannot share as I have temporarily mislaid the lead that connects iPad to PC. Nellybert filmed both girls prancing about for exactly one minute and fifty-seven seconds and when we left to rejoin our rapidly cooling cups of coffee Martha cried,

I need an audience!

She is going places for sure.

I also made a pleasant discovery. When Enid Blyton is writing about Brer Rabbit she can be quite entertaining.

Today was Miss Evie's third birthday. I suppose in a way it still is but, as  I understand she is currently tucked up in bed wearing new birthday jammies, that is it for her until her Big Four in 2015.

Happy Birthday Evie!

Haying In Marshland

Hannah's birthday today! Happy Birthday Hannah.

The birthday girl is good at anagrams. Can she work out the title of her birthday blogpost?

Iffiest Joy

Happy Birthday Joe!

Fairest Ivy Think Kit

Happy Birthday Katy! I wish I could give you a big hug today.

Happy Birthday, Two Today

birthday girl, originally uploaded by NellyMoser.

Evie is two years old today. Happy birthday adorable one!