Christmas dawned one cold and frosty morning!
That looks like Elly’s handiwork!
The view behind the car
Silent beauty of the fruit garden
No snow. we had -11°C frost!
Looking down the Avenue from the house, watching for the children to arrive.
Since this is Friday the Loose Bloggers will be around later for some Mince Pies and trifle. See you then.
Hilda has been around for all the 62 years of my life. We travelled the rough and the smooth side by side. At every step she was there pushing me on to the next stage or to reach greater heights. She was with me as I ran to catch the bus on the way to and from school, as I climbed a tree with my young brothers, as I walked into a room to face my first job interview and as I stood to make my marriage vows. She was with me in the delivery room, moving gently to the side allowing for the safe and easy birth of my daughter Elly.
She made sure I stood straight to do justice to; and carry off the clothes I wore. and if Hilda did not agree with my footwear fetish she made her feeling known in a short sharp yet quiet way.
There were times when I treated her roughly. The times when we lugged heavy furniture across the floor, I expected her to do the work of two strong men. Times when we carried heavy loads unevenly balanced, making her do more work than was necessary. She grumbled but not for long.
On one clear crisp and cold winters day we climbed the Cave Hill in Belfast. On the downward journey almost at the bottom I tripped crashing to the ground bringing us down with a wallop.
The pathway was hard. Cold. Solid winter-hard ground.
My full weight on top of her, we lay for a few minutes making sure nothing was broken before slowly standing and then continuing on our way. Hilda was not a happy bunny that day and let me know about it for a week or two.
Our growing incompatibility in recent months has called for a parting of the ways. Hilda is tired, overworked and needs to retire. Today we bid each other farewell.
I cannot let the day pass without saying thank you to Hilda for helping to carry my load in all the years that have passed.
I need a replacement for Hilda… Now I wonder if my replacement will be a Toyboy?
What shall I call him? Hector… Horace…. Humphrey…
I will be missing for a few days while my hip is replaced this morning. In fact as this is published I will be in a taxi, on my way to the hospital for admission. No doubt Elly will give you a progress report when she returns from Italy on Tuesday evening or on Wednesday when she sees me. I will not have my laptop or mobile phone, so please be patient. I am only one patient in a very busy hospital so no calls asking for details, I will be requesting that no information is given over the phone. I expect it to be a short stay of two to three days. I am not ill, just having a new shock absorber fitted, so no flowers please. I associate them with illness and death, and there is plenty of life in this ould bird yet.
P.S. I did offer to live blog the event… alas, I think the surgeon was blog shy! 
My temporary home for a few days
Whoever named this place had a sense of humour!
When facing a difficulty or painful time in life it is important to have a goal or carrot to work towards.
Yesterday it was decided in the comments to my blog post, that to help me on my way to hippy hoppy happiness when I get my new ’shock absorber’; I should call on Darlene, Bikehikebabe & Ramana so the four of us can exercise and train for a show of our special hippy sequence dancing. It might even make the Olympics for 2012 
For promotional purposes I provide some snapshots of us in action.
Do you know which is which?
Take your time… but remember to come back at 5pm for some Loose Blogging.
I wrapped her in a tablecloth and took her out to play
Not quite to play but rather, to put her on display!
There are days that mark our life and this one was her first,
The family all gathered as we took her into church.
We called her for her grannies, with a little variation
And so it was that she was known until her own abbreviation!
The tablecloth it was not plain and made with loving care
By a granny that she never knew, no longer round to share.
The tablecloth was crocheted in cotton years before
It spent near half a life time, lying in a drawer.
Now freshly washed and smelling sweet it was a perfect square
And it looked just right, on our wee mite, as we took her through the door.
A bright June morning the sun was high with singing in the choir
Our hearts near burst with happiness, with our darling hearts desire.
Then she grew up!
This is the tablecloth that I used as a shawl.
Once I decided to use the tablecloth for a shawl I set about finding a pattern to crochet a dress for my little bundle of joy. I did not want a dress a mile longer than my 18inch baby so adapted a pattern for a woolen dress.
Elly just four weeks old in the only photo I have of her taken on the day.
Our photographer for the day didn’t make it - his car broke down and it was before the days of digital cameras. I came across the outfit while clearing a drawer last week and gave it a wash. It is amazingly white even after all this time. To show it off properly I went in search of a baby sized doll. Not a difficult task you would think.
The first doll I borrowed was from a school pal of Elly’s and was the correct size and vintage. There was only one problem… the eyes were damaged and the young ladies father had replaced them with marbles. All the photos I took made them look like cats eyes! No way could I use a full face so I cropped the photos accordingly.
The pattern I worked from also had a pair of pants:
The pants may look bulky but not with a nappy on under them.
One day while out I saw a new baby goods shop and called in to see if they had a doll for display puropses. No they didn’t but the assistant promised to bring her daughters doll in the following day. It was a little smaller than the original one but I managed to take a photo.
I took this photo on the floor in the shop!
So to the girls in Rock-a-Baby who were so helpful I say thank you.
For the past few days Ireland was basking in Mediterranean sunshine, something we have not experienced for several years. It was a Bank Holiday weekend. Calling it a Bank holiday takes the fun away, since the word Bank is as worthless as its contents nowadays.
The sun certainly brought the people to enjoy the great outdoors. Some reached the sky while others pounded the streets all in aid of their fellow men, women and children.
You heard the music and saw the training and now the first of the photos from Patricia Anglican on the day are available here She/he tweeted the day through and we all felt like we were there. Is it any wonder I feel tired today?
To give you a feel of the event the following photos are from Herald.ie
Ready to go!
A cooling spray
Well done to all who took part and I hope that your chosen charities are feeling the gain from your pain.
My Toyboy did well!
He jumped for a Granny & Carelocal.ie
Before:
Darragh in the centre geared up and ready to go, photo by Niamh
During:
Photo taken and tweeted from his mobile phone from the air as the parachute opened by Darragh .
Back on the ground shortly after 2pm:
Not sure he can believe he did it. Photo by Niamh.
Congratulations Darragh! You have put smiles on many faces today.
A wonderfully high note to end a very low week!
Wise Web Woman should be packing her case in readiness for her forthcoming trip to Ireland. She arrives in on 30th May and next day she will be up bright and early to take part in the Flora Ladies Mini Marathon in Dublin City. Oh for the energy! So, if you are going along to watch the Girls strut their stuff you need two placards, one with ‘Wise Web Woman on it and the other for Patricia Anglican!
Meanwhile procrastinating instead of packing, WWW is gazing at the award she received from Gossamer Woman.
Now I like the sound of that…. reaching out and building bridges!
In the true spirit of blogging she passed the baton on and shared some bloggy goodness to people who in her own words:-
I admire and who reach out across boundaries with their sparkling honesty and truth:
Her list of nominees are:
I think she made a mistake…. ’cause my name appears on that list among some wonderful people whose blogs I enjoy. Thank you Wise Web Woman for the honour.
Sitting with thinking cap in place I scroll through my list of virtual friends to choose a half dozen deserving of this accolade…. It is so difficult as so many of you reach out and build bridges…
My choice this time are:-
Damien Mulley the father figure of blogging in Ireland, who shares time, information and link luv on a daily basis. He is the brains behind the Irish Blog Awards and the Irish Web Awards, events that don’t just happen over night, but take months of planning and preparation to bring so many together for a fun filled evening in recognition of their peers.
Darragh Doyle alright so I am biased! Darragh had the ‘Obama’ spirit long before we heard of Obama. I sometimes wonder if he was born saying “Yes we can! Yes I will!” There are no doors in Darragh’s lexicon, if he wants to meet someone he walks right up there and says hello. He meets people. He introduces people and most of all he enjoys sharing people with all of us through his blog.
Lily’s Blog makes a refreshing read on a wide variety of topics and it is difficult to believe it only arrived on the scene in the last twelve months. Lily, a busy wife & mother to the Collison Clan was the last member of the family to join the blogging world. The boys keep her on her toes baking, blogging, twittering and following their escapades across the globe.
From the Magpie’s nest proves that nagging works. :roll: Magpie11 has been a regular visitor here for a long time now, and from his observations and comments I felt he had what it took to feed a blog of his own. Thankfully for once I was listened to and proved correct. I particularly enjoy his cookery hints they are always tasty and tempting.
Stretching my long arms wide I will pick one blog from and easterly direction and one from the west to comple my half dozen.
Ramana’s Musings reach us all the way from Pune in India. Ramana is an avid reader of everything from heavy tomes to the frivilous fripperance of Grannymar. His blogroll stretches across the globe and he acknowledges every comment that he receives. He has brought many visitors here to join in the fun and I have discovered many new blogs.
Leveraged Intelligence with Conrad (who hails from Kansas and now lives in California) at the helm is a fun place to play. He introduces the subject and we are all invited to join the conversation, at times the visitors take over and Conrad can hardly get a look in.
Now it is your turn… go reach out and build six bridges!
You all know I like Toyboys.
I will admit to being biased about one of them. The trouble is that he has flipped….
Well soon he will have flipped BIG TIME!
He never stops moving, working or thinking. Finally Mulley found a deceleration device to really slow him down, once and for all.
Mediacontact.ie are organising a MediaDive. They’re getting brave souls to go up in a plane and do a tandem skydive from 13,000 feet. That’s just off four kilometers.
So the brave Darragh will be scared stiff, have fun and help others all in one go.
Darragh has agreed to jump out of a plane for a Granny. No! I did not say for Grannymar, but he will do it for people like me who live alone, are perhaps frail and in need of visitors, treats and the odd outing. Living alone is fine when you are fit and healthy, have family nearby and are able to get about and see friends. It is totally different when you are unwell. Not being able to get about, you are very soon out of the loop and forgotten. Intentions are good but people are busy and they become friends with the phrase “I/we must invite/visit/phone (insert name)”.
You may be kind to your Granny, you may not have one, but one thing sure before you realise it, you will be that old person wishing for a visitor. Today you can do something to show you care - visit here and donate the price of a couple of drinks or that packet of fags that are bad for you. I guarantee you will feel good if you do.
In anticipation, (as they used to say at the end of letters)
On behalf of all the Grannies out there I say thank you!
BarCamp Belfast is on today at The University of Ulster.
The Belfast campus on York Street is part of the city’s vibrant Cathedral Quarter
With 365 people registered to attend it sounds like a wonderful day in store. I am really looking forward to catching up with old friends and to meeting some new ones.
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While there I hope to find time to explore Water: Symbol, Element, Utility?
An exhibition with over 60 pieces of art all based around the theme of water.. From architects to artists, exhibits range from textiles to photography, sculpture to fine art … and even one piece of performance art.
The ‘Water: Symbol, Element, Utility?’ exhibition is open to the public at the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus until Thursday 30 April in Room 82A02.
