October..ing

 October has been a busy month. Here’s a brief account of what I’ve been doing

Enjoying any remaining sunny days walking on the beach. Above is Talacre Beach in North Wales.  

Visiting Scotland on a bookclub weekend away. One of our group moved to Falkirk a few years ago and we stayed in a hotel near her new home.

Spending a day in Edinburgh en route to Falkirk. It was a cold crisp weekend - we managed to miss the storms which have caused so much disruption in Scotland this month. After a lunch - haggis and fried egg on a floury roll for me - we climbed Carleton Hill and enjoyed the views over the city.

Seeing the Grayson Perry Smash Hits exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland. I loved it, my favourite pieces being the huge tapestries which tell the life story of a family Perry invented. 

Riding on the Falkirk Wheel which isn’t a fairground wheel like I expected but an impressive feat of engineering which raises canal boats 25 feet in the air so they can travel on another canal.

Seeing the Kelpies - huge metal horses head sculptures in The Helix park.  Beautiful, though it was freezing cold that afternoon.

Returning home to meet our new puppy.  Yes I have given in to pleas for a second dog. This is Lara, another Wire-haired Vizsla like Alfie. Alfie is a bit jealous as you can see below.

Celebrating Kate’s birthday.  I made her a chocolate orange cake. She was around most of the week to assist with puppy care as it was half term last week for her.  

8

That’s all for now.  Considering a book post soon. 

Summer Summary

Late summer Garden

The agapanthus were good this year. 

 It is the 1st October, summer is over and largely unrecorded since I have been neglecting the blog again. So a round up some recent outings and activities.

I mentioned in the last post that I was soon to go on another writing course, a weekend at Ty Newydd in Wales.  Regular readers (all two of you) may note that this is the third creative writing course that I have done.  And I claim to be an expert by teaching others the craft.  Husband has pointed out that I should surely know enough by now, need to stop doing courses and get on and write the thing I’ve been procrastinating about for years. He has a point.   But still it was an enjoyable and worthwhile experience. The tutors were talented young women who had published historical novels.  I did learn some new things and picked up some ideas I’ll use with my own classes.  I met some really I interesting people including someone who had travelled from New York to complete the course.  And another who’d published her first novel at 79.  The course took place in a beautiful spot on the Welsh coast,  the home of David Lloyd George who is buried nearby. There was some time to explore - I went for a walk along this beautiful river with some of the others on the course.

We hit lucky with the weather for another weekend break in Wales at the beginning of September.  This time I went with Paul and Alfie to the seaside village of Aberdovey.  It’s a lovely little place.  Alfie and Paul enjoyed walks on the beach and I enjoyed sitting in the sun reading.  I couldn’t walk very far as I had a sore foot,  a mysterious pain across the top just above my toes. I don’t recall injuring it and reckon it’s just another manifestation of tendon problems like the plantar fasciitis which makes the soles of my feet sore.  Quite annoying.  It is improving now as I have been doing various stretches recommended by a physio.

Aberdovey 

The sun was still shining the next weekend when I flew over to Northern Ireland for a sisters’ weekend. We’d arranged to meet some distant American cousins who I’d contacted via Ancestry and show them around the area where their great-grandparents had lived. We went for a walk to the Marina in Ballyronan to see Lough Neagh.  It has been badly affected by blue-green algae this summer.  There was a story about it on the BBC news last week.  So sad to see the little beach area cordoned off.  And there’s a horrible smell like leaking gas.  Tragic and not much is being done about despite protests since NI still has no functioning government. 

The rest of September has been quieter.  Back to routine of gardening, dog walks, bit of yoga etc. A visit to the theatre to see a play called ‘Godot is a Woman’  a ex Edinburgh fringe show which uses humour to challenge Samuel Beckett’s instruction that his play ‘Waiting For Godot’ cannot be performed by women.  Since one of my first theatrical experiences was going to see ‘Waiting For Godot’  at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast when I was doing it for A Level, I was curious about this new interpretation. It was certainly more fun than Beckett. 

My adult education courses have also started again so I’ve been busy preparing those . Along with the usual creative writing, I am teaching a course on literature set in New York,  I’ve been reading Henry James and Edith Wharton,  I’m really enjoying Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence.’ Great film too. That’s it for now. 

We visited Mount Stewart, a National Trust property in Co Down with a beautiful garden

Sisters and American visitors outside the family home in Ballyronan.