We were at Lough (Lake) Ennell yesterday, and it was beautiful. It barely rained on us at all. And, I discovered the macro button on our camera (actually, Tony showed it to me). What joy and delight! I snuck up on every bug in sight, not to mention dozens of very obliging flowers. Maybe I really could do a nature journal. I’ve been stuck on that point for some time, as my repertoire of feminine accomplishments does not include brush drawing. I was just about to capture a slug when the camera battery finally died. From above, the slug looked as sedentary and blobby as slugs are wont to look.… Read more
Alf Leyla wa- Leyla
This is the time of year where I edit the newsletter for the group that went to Syria with me in 2001. BEFORE September 11th and all that. And so, this is the time when I think about that half a year I spent in the Middle East and fantasize about going back. I remember the grammar of Arabic quite nicely. I remember how to conjugate in first, second, and third person masculine and feminine singular and plural, and even that odd Arabic anomaly, the dual. I remember about broken plurals. I could even probably produce a decent version of the chart with the ten verbal forms.… Read more
We’ll make Rome before six o’clock
We walked down the canal again today. It’s my favourite walk here in Mullingar. Although it’s over two hundred years old and no longer serves as a conduit for goods and passengers coming up and down from Dublin, they still keep it cleared for the occasional motorboat. I was very pleased the first time we walked down it to demonstrate my extensive knowledge of canals and those who work on them (derived entirely from the verses of The Eyrie Canal, which my mother taught me). Just a couple of weeks ago I read some more about bargees in The Railway Children, which is our current daytime readaloud.… Read more
There and Back Again
In Ireland, “mixed spices” is a fascinating blend of garam masala and pumpkin pie spice. It made delightful cinnamon rolls the other day. But we will not be remaining long-term in Ireland. Tony has accepted a position at a company in Italy, in the same area of Piedmont where we lived before. So in a sense, we feel a little like we’re going home. Of course, we felt like that the first time we moved there, never having set foot in Italy before. Life can be deliciously unpredictable.… Read more
Explorations in Ireland
Ireland is as beautiful as they say. The Royal Canal, dug two hundred years ago, runs through our town, and we enjoy taking nature walks along it. My favourite inhabitants are the many birds, from herons to jackdaws. Axa’s must be the snails and slugs, of which we have found many different varieties, both land and aquatic. She christened dramatically black and yellow striped snails “tiger snails.”
Our friend Rory from Church has also taken us on some fascinating expeditions to ruined buildings in the area. Our first visit was to a lovely old abbey surrounded by breathtaking rural green. It was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell, whom Rory described as “the greatest villain that ever lived.”
… Read more Why Ireland Part Two
We feel like we’re already there. This must be the rainiest May in the history of Florence!… Read more
Recipe Amendments
I’ve received some feedback on one recipe I linked to on my last food post. I never did try the recipe for overnight soaked cinnamon rolls, but someone else did. She reports that the recipe is not worth making. Sorry about that. I’ve removed the link to save the rest of you from the crushing disappointment of cinnamon rolls that don’t turn out. However, here is a recipe for cinnamon rolls that I’ve been making every Sunday for the past several weeks. They are 100% whole wheat and sourdough, and we love them. The recipe stands a fair amount of tinkering too.
… Read more Popping In
One of the perks of living in a tourist dig is getting incidental visits from friends and acquaintances. This is especially important for folks like us, who don’t stay in one place long enough to get planned visits. This week we had the pleasure of seeing Jon and Angelina, friends from not one, but two of our BYU wards. We were newlyweds together in the Marriage and Family Relations Sunday School class at Villa Maria, and then were reunited at in the same Wymount ward.
The last time we had dinner together we ate fondue and dressed in polyester, with the lava lamps going full swing in the background.
… Read more Romantic Interlude
Just around the corner from the Palazzo Uffici in Florence, on the road by the Arno that leads to the old bridge (Ponte Vecchio, the one with the houses built all across the bridge), is a railing with a dozen or more small brass locks fastened on it. They are fastened in a disorderly clump, the first few around the railing, and then when there is no more space on the railing, around each other. At first glance, it is incomprehensible what purpose they might serve.
To me, at least. But not to Tony. I’m afraid that I am not the only incurable romantic in this relationship.… Read more
Why Ireland?
“I like to think of them as the first Europeans. The idea that the European Community was already happening,” comments Professor Miranda Green in the documentary “Lost Treasures of the Ancient World – The Celts.” She describes them that way because she says they were always moving at the drop of a hat.
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. – T.S. Eliot
Those of you lucky enough to have been on our Christmas card list from the beginning received a handmade card in December of 2004 with that little pronouncement from T.S.… Read more