Eileen

I’ve Been Quiet

 Posted by at 8:39 am
Aug 012020
 

I’ve been quiet – purposely so. It’s been quite a hard time for me – but compared to so many I haven’t anything to complain about. I’m not invalidating my own worries and mental health, but figured that not moaning online about it all was the least I could do.

Back when I last posted in May, my overriding worry was that I wouldn’t get home to my family this summer – it really did consume me.

Well, I’m home now. I have been here for 13 days which means that tomorrow we get to break out of self-quarantine. It was all a lot easier than I thought it would be; for a while when the EU first brought in a travel ban on passengers from the US, I thought it was done and was very, very down. Turns out, though, that the restriction didn’t apply to travel to Ireland or the UK for me, and although I had to fly out of a different airport 5 hours away, it meant we could get home.

Please note that I have been really vigilant all through this – I was the one not allowing my kids to see their friends long after everyone else thought it was all right, and have been nowhere but the supermarket for 4 months. New York state as a whole has really beaten this virus, and in particular our county had not had any active cases for weeks. The girls and I were tested before we came, and I had my parents tested too. In Northern Ireland, daily cases are around 5 or less, and there have been no deaths in the whole country since the 12th of July. As mandated by the Irish and UK governments, we filled in tracking and locator paperwork, and have self-isolated for 14 days. We wore masks from the moment we got on the shuttle bus to the airport, all through the flight, all through the coach trip from the airport, until we got into mum’s house – an 18 hour journey. Please, I do not want to hear anything about being selfish or irresponsible because that is not the case. My journey was pretty necessary for a number of personal reasons, and I for one am very glad to be out of the US and feel much safer here.

The US feels like a different world now. People here and around Europe in general are still being careful, but there is an out-of-the-woods feeling – at least for right now. There is the knowledge, perhaps even the expectation, that things could get bad again, but there are measures and preparations in place. A bit like NY really, which seems to be one of the small beacons of light, hope, and sense in the middle of that clusterfuck. The selfishness of a certain type of person in places like Texas and Florida should shock me, but it doesn’t. Having lived there nearly 20 years now, all the US seems to me is a rich 3rd world country – almost proudly backwards and ignorant, and steeped in tradition and superstition (religion). The handling of the pandemic has shown the rest of the world exactly what they are, and it’s not pretty.

The measures they needed to take were pretty clear – and there was a roadmap from other European nations to follow who were several weeks ahead on their curves. But no. Oh no, no, no. Individualism and freedom at all costs, but no responsibility. Like a bunch of fucking whining toddlers.

Let’s see how long it finally takes the US to get this under control, and how much the lag ends up being. So much winning, right?

It’s A New Week?

 Posted by at 12:08 pm
May 042020
 

I meant to post yesterday with a weekly roundup, and now it’s today and it’s a new week. But my socks say Saturday, and every day is like Sunday, to quote Mozza – so we’ll allow it.

We’re another week further on – that’s always the first comfort I take.

School has been cancelled for the rest of the academic year – that means when they do go back they will have been out for 6 months. Wow. Distance learning is going OK for my girls – but they long to return to school and were very disappointed at the news. We know it’s for the best, though.

My squirrel continues to eat from my hand. She took a nut from Niamh too, but bit Caoimhe on the finger when she tried – so I know she is a creature of rare judgement and exceptional taste. LOL.

My azalea bush is trying her best, bless her wee heart. I bet she wishes she hadn’t bothered – but she was lulled into a false sense of security by a couple of milder temps between last week’s snow and today’s 45 degrees.

I hate gardening, but I like that bush because hummingbirds come to it. I doubt it this year, though – it’s still cold and I bet she will have stopped blooming by Friday.

Reasons to be cheerful

In what I like to think of as an exercise in hope rather than futility, I began my shawl competition entry for the New York State Fair (which has not yet been cancelled).

It’s the beautiful Aquarelle by Lidia Ziginova, using gorgeous Love Potion #3 from Gossamer Web. I wanted to begin it by April, instead I started May 1st. Oh well, still a full month earlier than I normally begin it – the goal being to have it done and sent before I go to Ireland in July. Yes, I am still hoping we can go home in July. Please do not tread on my dreams, anyone – they are keeping me going right now.

It’s a little acorn now, but just watch…

I have finished all my pre-requisite courses for my Masters – no more studying for me until September! Somehow, I ended up with a 99.3% average in Biology, although it befuddles me and I’m not good at it. I have no idea of my Sociology grade because the teacher has not graded one thing – assignment, test, paper – since the course started in January.

I have assignments that I submitted in January that are still ungraded. I submitted my final paper and finished the whole course on March 27th, and still not a single grade.

So yeah – not particularly happy about that. But it’s Sociology, I’m sure the grade will be OK…

Weekly Wins

 Posted by at 6:09 pm
Apr 262020
 

Another week in lockdown down – grim, but tolerable, and grateful that I’m in a position to be able to stay home and work and study from here.

So I thought I’d try to focus on the positives (for a change) that happened this week:

  • We’re a week further on. A week closer to some semblance of normality, and being able to see our loved ones again. Here in NY hospitalizations, deaths, and new cases have been dropping steadily for a couple of weeks now, and I hope we’re turning a corner – although it has meant so much tragedy for so many families.
  • My daughters have done really well with online learning this week – they’ve settled into a routine with a good balance, and have handed all their work in on time. I daresay they might even be enjoying it.
  • I’m almost done with the prerequisites I need for the Master’s in social work I’m starting in September. By Tuesday at the latest it should be all done and dusted, and I have an A+ in all courses.
  • I have lots and lots of design work on – more than I can keep up with. I’m getting new ideas constantly, and it’s just getting the time to work on them. Oh, wait a minute – I have that!
  • I cut my own hair last night and it looks fine. Is it even? Probably not – but I have curly hair! You can’t tell!
  • I saved the best until last! One of my garden squirrels took a nut out of my hand! She’s done it 4 times now over the last 2 days. I am beyond excited – I have been trying to get to this point for years. I feckin love my wee squirrels!

What about you? What were your wins this week??

…

 Posted by at 2:02 pm
Apr 132020
 

How’s your Monday going? I’m quite positive it’s Monday because it’s a public holiday back home (Easter Monday), but not here. It means my brother can play FFXIV with me for most of the day, which is never a bad thing.

Which isn’t to say I’m slacking off – even though as a rule I like to adhere to UK public holidays in my head, even when I can’t in practice, LOL. But no, today I got up early, did some housework and laundry, played with the cats, fed the squirrels, did some studying, and completed a biology test (I am due to start a Master’s in social work in September, and SUNY Buffalo ask for 3 undergrad credits of biology as a prerequisite. It’s not my strong point, have to say).

Was all done and dusted by 11am and looking about me for something to do. Feeling a bit restless to be honest. Big changes are coming this week that I’m not relishing. My husband will start working from home tomorrow (he’ll be on the phone all day long, is very loud, leaves a trail of mess everywhere, and constantly sets thermostat about 5 degrees above where everyone else is comfortable), and I know this will impact the quiet, orderly working from home routine that I’ve had for years now.

The girls go back to school on Wednesday – and by back, I mean online. They’ve been off since March 13th and have had some work set by teachers – but it was all review stuff with no grading. Apparently it was a NY State mandate that no new work could be set – but this all ends on Wednesday. Still haven’t the foggiest notion how it’s all going to work, and am envisaging having to crack the whip every 15 minutes for the whole feckin day. Maybe it’ll be fine and I’m just being pessimistic – I usually am.

Cheers to the Freakin’ Weekend!

 Posted by at 5:18 pm
Apr 032020
 

Or not.

A long time ago – like last month – I used to look forward to the weekends for the more relaxed pace, not having to get up at 5.45am, not having to make school lunches, and not having to be a sergeant major about homework and showers.

Remember when you were a child and you would wish, like Wizzard, that it could be Christmas every day? Well, I suppose we now know what it would be like if it was the weekend all the time. Or rather, because part of the pleasure of the weekend is that it is earned after a dull/hard/boring/endless/exciting/busy week – we now know what it would be like if the weekend didn’t matter because all the days are the same.

My mum’s brilliant pressie of day of the week socks used to keep me right – now who gives a toss?

(It’s actually Friday – I think.)

Checking In

 Posted by at 3:28 pm
Apr 022020
 

How’s everyone doing?

I’ve mostly been OK so far through this surreal new normal, because I’m always an indoorsy type at the best of times. Staying in isn’t a big deal for me – though I’m definitely starting to miss my alone time with everyone else in the household staying in too.

A bit down today, though – with no real reason to be beyond the obvious. Nothing has changed for me since yesterday, but I feel sorrowful today. Missing my family back home, wondering if I will get to see them this summer, hoping they’ll be OK. Scared that they won’t.

This isn’t a studying kind of day, and thank feck I’m ahead on all my courses. Today’s a knitting kind of day – a rounds and rounds of plain stockinette kind of day – rhythmic, and soothing and requiring no brain power at all.

What’s getting you through your day?

Winter is Coming!

 Posted by at 4:46 pm
Sep 072019
 

So, it’s September! Which, despite all the evidence of my senses and the disappointment I feel every year when the temperature doesn’t immediately drop below 60F/15C, always and forever means “autumn” to me.

There are probably a good 4 weeks of summery temps left to us here in upstate NY – but back home in the UK and Ireland the leaves have started to turn, the nights are drawing in, and the morning air is crisp.

The new school year, as well as my birthday being in September, always made this month seem like a version of new year to me, rather than a decline of the current one. A fresh new start – with no mistakes in it (yet), as Anne with an E would say. I’m always sad to leave my friends and family and return to NY at the end of the summer, even after all these years home is the only place I want to be. But I did come back with a feeling of renewal and optimism this year – this has been a year of life changes for me and those dear to me. Good changes (for once). I came back buzzing with ideas for my design business, and itching to implement them – and was further encouraged and inspired by my time at the NY State Fair teaching and demonstrating my skills.

So although it is not yet autumn here – it will be soon, and I am never sorry to see the summer season leave. And the arduous NY winter will follow hard upon – but I can’t wait for the long evenings of hunkering down indoors. All knitters will agree that winter is Our Time. I have several cold weather designs and projects I’m working on at the moment – with an eye to Christmas in particular. I might have already started gathering up stocking fillers and made gift and food lists, but I can neither confirm nor deny that. OK, I’m confirming it – but having watched the Christmas Cupboard episode of Derry Girls, I do believe that this is a trait that has been bred into my genetic code over generations, and I should embrace it.

I decided to branch out from selling my patterns only, and am now offering my Personalised Christmas Stocking for sale as a finished item in my Etsy store. This is one of my most popular patterns, and I frequently get asked if the stockings themselves are available for purchase. My hope is to be able to have a stockpile of them going, so I can just add the embroidered name when an order comes in.

The idea came to me when I was having a bit of a miserable old time back home slogging away on my NY State Fair entry shawl – working in thread and painstakingly adding 2000 tiny beads when I could be having larks and japes. Or at least just watching Coronation Street in peace. I had (once again) misjudged the time it would take me to finish the thing, so instead of wrapping it all up and sending it to the Fair before I left for Ireland, I had to take it with me and work on it at the airport, on the plane, in Paris, etc.

It was fine – I got it done and sent by the deadline, and only had to sell a minor organ to cover the postage, and it won a blue ribbon, and all was right with the world. BUT, this year I am giving myself the gift of time for Christmas – by which I mean the pattern, yarn, and beads for next year’s Fair entry, rather than deciding in April and starting in May. So I won’t have a complicated lace project I have to work on when I am home next year. And in place of that – stockings! What could be simpler than rounds and rounds of stockinette stitch? Yes, there are heels and toes and i-cord and embroidery – but a lot of the stocking is plain knitting, and I can do that in front of the telly of an evening. No counting, concentrating, or even having to look at my work, basically. I’ve made so many of these stockings that I can knit them in my sleep. So I’m saying yes to less stress! (And please check in with me on Jan 1st 2020 to make sure I’ve begun the Fair shawl, OK?)

So anyway, yeah. Christmas has been on my mind in spite of the air conditioner running as I type this. Winter is coming – I have to believe that!

New York State Fair 2019

 Posted by at 4:56 pm
Sep 012019
 

So we’re newly back from Ireland (unfortunately), and it was time to turn my thoughts to the New York State Fair. I was behind on my entry this year, and had to take it with me and finish it while I was home, then mail it to the Fair from there. My shawl is more well-travelled than most Americans, LOL. I took some pictures while blocking – not the best, but I didn’t have my usual blocking setup and it’s always hard to capture good images of these ethereal shawls anyway. The pattern is Whisper Gallery by Toby MacNutt, and it goes without saying that it is a beautiful design.


I sent the shawl around the 20th of July, but didn’t know if I’d won a prize until I got back to the US on August 16th, as my mail was held and they mail out the notifications.

I got a blue ribbon and a guild award – I was pleased and not a little relieved, as I had done the same thing last year (failed to finish my shawl in time, then mailed it from Ireland) and there was some sort of processing delay and it arrived after the deadline and was not entered into the competition.

So I got to see it when I went to teach at the Fair yesterday. Always an exhausting day, but very rewarding as I always get a lot of interest at my table, and a bump in sales right after. It also inspires me creatively to be surrounded by so much talent in all fields of the arts. It’s a lot of “on” time for this introvert, though, and it does usually take a day to recharge.

Hopefully I’ll get better pictures once the Fair returns it to me, as none of these really do it justice. It used less than 50g of yarn, over 2000 glass beads, and fit easily through my wedding ring.

My plan is to buy my pattern, yarn, and beads as a Christmas present to myself this year, and start my Fair 2020 shawl in January! I could really do without all the hassle of having to finish it while in Ireland (taking away from valuable family, friend, and being out-and-about time), and then mailing it 3000 miles!

So Long, NY!

 Posted by at 9:51 pm
Jul 072019
 

It’s that time of year again – my favourite time of year. I get to go home, and it’s happening tomorrow! The girls and I are beyond excited – especially as I have a surprise trip planned to Paris that is going to blow their little minds.

Expect a lot of pics and updates from our travels. OK, don’t expect that – but if I can manage to post once a week then I’ll consider myself winning.

I am entering a lace shawl the NY State Fair competition as usual, and as usual I have not finished my submission as early as I’d have liked. I’m going to send it from home as I did last year. Hopefully it will fare better – last year I didn’t send it as early as I needed to because my parents’ house was burgled, and with all the drama, upset, and police milling about, the shawl took a back seat. THEN, when I did get it finished, I sent it to the Fair by next day delivery. It should have arrived in plenty of time as the deadline was 5 days away… however, it took a week to get there, and the entry was disqualified. Boo hoo for me.

Anyway – here’s hoping for an easier time of it with my shawl this year. And in general, actually. As well as the burglary, I had a tooth break while I was home, and then I wasn’t able to fly out on the allotted day because my green card had been one of the things stolen and I couldn’t travel without it. It was a lot of cost and aggravation all around – but worse for my poor mum who disturbed one of the burglars as he was rifling through her bedside table and she woke up. Very scary! I should add that we were all home asleep when it happened.

So – off we go tomorrow for a new trouble and drama free adventure, fingers crossed! Can’t wait!

What An Experience

 Posted by at 11:27 am
Jul 172017
 

There can be that push and pull between trying to fit in activities and trying to kick back and relax when you book a holiday.  I’m hoping that the latter half of our time in Ireland will turn out to be a little more chilled, as we have been very, very busy for the first half!

After we had been home for just 3 days, we trotted off to Cardiff to see the Doctor Who Experience.  Not the easiest place to get to from Belfast, I have to say, unless you like spending loads of cash.  We left early and flew to Bristol, then had to take a coach to Bristol Meads, then the train to Cardiff Central.  The bus from the station was off due to a festival, so we had to hoof it down to Porth Teigr, down at the bay.  We arrived at the museum about 7 hours after leaving the house – but of course, as any true Whovians will tell you, it was so worth it! 

This place is due to shut down permanently in September of this year, which is such a shame.  I’m glad we got to see it, though.  Hopefully there will still be a way for the public to see this treasure trove of props and costumes from over 50 years of the show – if not I’ll be up front and say that I’ll take the Yeti, no probs.  It’ll be like having another cat.

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