Pat me on the back! And then hold my hand.

I was working away at the archives yesterday when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I had neither bought my train tickets for Thursday and Sunday; nor confirmed my reservation for the B&B in Belfast; nor emailed the librarian in Thurles to let her know I was coming, and would she please [...]

Read Full Post »

Haaappy birthday to youuuuuu!

Today Mom passes one of those decade milestones, and here I am thousands of miles away. To atone for my sins, I post a lovely picture of my mom who’s just so pretty, which I never tell her because I’m not a very good daughter sometimes…and wish her a very happy 60th! (and [...]

Read Full Post »

Well, hooray.

The dollar continues to slide. Soooo glad I’m here in the thick of it.

Read Full Post »

Also

This is where I was last night. I forgot my camera, but the camera on my phone ain’t half bad:

Read Full Post »

A letter home

Dear America, How is it that roughly a third of your people claim some sort of Irish/Scots-Irish ancestry and yet you refuse to stock black and/or white pudding in your groceries? I can do without the tea, and in a pinch can pick up some P&G Tips in the special English [...]

Read Full Post »

What a week. Or, where did it go?

I’ve been anticipating leaving so much that I’ve lost track of time, and all of a sudden I only have a handful of days left here in Dublin. I will merely allude to that, and not spend any time talking about how that makes me a little sad…I got a bit of work done [...]

Read Full Post »

Sorta Saltimbocca

Now watch Rachael Ray steal that title from me. Sounds very Rachael Ray-esque, does it not? Anyway, here’s the story. I perused the contents of the fridge last night (it being a very small fridge in a very small Dublin apartment–is there any other kind?–it took no time at all) and did the calculus of [...]

Read Full Post »

Walk walk walk

I should have more to report than I do. Or maybe I’ve just lost interest in doing anything but walking all over this g-damned city. My feet are holding up better than last time, which is good since I probably walk more now. Take last night. I walked up to the [...]

Read Full Post »

Back on track

I slept last night, and what’s more, I woke at a decent hour. Or at least, a decent hour for getting into the archives by the time they open, which is 10am. It takes a half hour to walk there, so 8:30 is a decent hour. I know it’s not “early.” [...]

Read Full Post »

If you note the time, you’ll see I am not a go-getter today

I was going to say I’ve been stricken with ennui (“a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement,” according to my dashboard dictionary); but I think malaise is better, because there’s less listlessness and dissatisfaction than discomfort and unease. In a three-month trip, it would probably pass unnoticed [...]

Read Full Post »