Christmas Craic

It was a mighty Christmas, ranking up there with Felice Navidad in Espana last year. Here are two views of the fabulous ginger bread house Findabhair created along with her little cousin, Alice. No kidding, it was made from scratch. Finn downloaded the recipe from the Internet and away she went with her magic fingers, baking the ginger bread and then decorating with sweets galore. Yes, it tasted as good as it looked!

Self-made Elf-Maid

Here's me making an elfin eejit of myself to wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Nollag Shona!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1705448981

Winter Solstice Sunrise

Here is the solstice sun rising over the Irish Sea this morning, posted by my friend, Dave. Happy Solstice to all you pagans, neo-pagans, New Agers, old hippies, new hippies and the like! And thanks Dave for a fabulous video.

I'm Dreaming of A ...

My big bro' sent me this pic of his car in Toronto. YES I DO MISS THE SNOW! Some of you will remember the pic of me making a snow-woman in the Murcia mountains last Christmas. (The very next week, I was paddling in the Mediterranean on a beach in Alicante only two hours away!) I am truly hoping and dreaming that I will be posting a pic of me in the snow around Finn's Dad's eco-fort in Sligo where we are celebrating the Great Feast. And for those of you who didn't look the last time here is the chieftain's eco-rath: www.gyreum.com.

Santabeard

You know when you get to that point in the Christmas season where ... ?

Hectic hectic

Little time to blog these days as I dash about for Christmas and work feverishly on the new website design. My main job is gathering information for Terry and approving what he does (i.e. making suggestions and changing my mind and generally driving the poor man mad). But it is shaping up beautifully. I love it already! My hope and dream is to have it up before I head off for my holidays. Meanwhile, here's a little pic of snowy Wicklow. Last year, not this, but you never know.

A Writer's Nightmare

Well I finally caved and bought a mobile, i.e. cell phone to you North Americans; chiefly to stay in touch with Finn when away. In truth, I loathe the things, most specifically because of their direct influence on the war in the Congo. (Google the subject and you will find the truth. Also National Geographic did a big piece on this, so I am not just talking leftie politics.) Along with that, they are a destroyer of social interaction and good manners. I can't believe the number of people who cut off a conversation to answer their phones. That said, I now have one. So, the other day I was texting Finn and I pressed the wrong button somehow and next minute my phone goes into predictive text mode, of which I know NOTHING. Here's how it went:
Text from me: Hiddelllss bacon mphff......
Finn reply: Momma that you?
Text from me: Hna bmrnt lab.
Finn reply: What????
Then I discovered a way to edit a word.
Text from me: Abtme frrrt help predictive mnofp....
Finn reply: Ha ha will fix when home xxx
It was a writer's nightmare. Sucked into alphabetical quicksand. Drowning in my own syllables. Communication wipe-out. Totally weird. And hilarious.

Great Kitty Song

Okay, I can't not post this. He's so cute. And so is the kitten.

Oh my beloved country!

Here's a mad dash through Eire on a púca (fairy horse). The music is the Bothy Band playing "Garráin Ghlasa na hEireann", the Green Groves of Ireland.