Long time no post... Maybe it will change but I have been busy lately and have not been much into blogging. Now it may be a more relaxed time of the year with Christmas and family time coming.
By the way, I am just back from Tenerife. They definitely are in the Christmas mood over there but somehow the strong sun and Christmas lights are a strange combination to me! It is so, so cold now in Ireland - about 3 degrees.
walking on a lovely Sunday afternoon with the our baby boy, we saw this rainbow just over our hill. apparently, there is a pot of gold hidden somewhere there but we didn't look for it... we had 5 kgs of our little precious to carry.
oh, it has been a long time since my last post and a lot has changed with the arrival of our tiny bundle of joy ... well, maybe not so tiny at 9 lbs 1 oz (4120 g) ... but all went well and our little baby boy has been with us since Sept 13th
so now he is in the centre of attention
other news ... hmmm ... IMI exams were passed and I am waiting for my diploma to arrive ... application for the work as a Garda successful but the thing must be postponed for some time ... obviously i am no longer commuting to M to see my M as we live together now ... on the literature scene, Olga Tokarczuk, the author of "Bieguni", has won the NIKE prize ... at the moment I am trying to finish Pawel Huelle's "Ostatnia Wieczerza" ... altogether I have little or no time to browse the Internet or do some other things at the moment but more updates may follow soon ... now it is time to go again though ...
Spathiphyllium, the daughter, has recently moved to M. This is her new corner, nice and cosy. I hear she is well looked after by M :)
The mother is still staying here for the moment but is to change her whereabouts pretty soon.
She may get a new pot on this occassion too!
***
It is a sunny, warm and lazy Sunday here and I am trying to study for my final exams. I remember studying in April and May last year and it was not easy. It is not easy now either but then my exams are this Tue and Wed and then there will be no more. Hopefully it will go well. I am going on holidays soon after to recuperate from all the brain damage caused by "excessive studying" ;)
Hmmm I was asked for an update by my faithful (two) readers so here it goes...
Just a quick thing for now as it is late and later there will be more posts (hopefully).
Anyway, a long time has passed since I put away Asne Seierstad's "The Bookseller of Kabul". Since then, I have started reading a few books and now they are queuing on the shelves and waiting to be finished.
1. "Bieguni" by Olga Tokarczuk. Her newest, long-awaited novel on journey and people who travel. Here is the link to some short summary in English.
I must stay I like those stories; some are short and some long, there are a lot of references to various cultures and different people. Now I wonder though: when am I going to finish it?
The same goes for:
2. Asne Seierstad's "With their backs to the world: Portraits from Serbia"
I read a few chapters but I have lost my heart after a while. I don't find this book as compelling as "The Bookseller of Kabul" and I suppose this book must wait for a better moment now.
3. Then I don't even want to mention Steve Jones' "Y: The Descent of Men" (here goes one review) I feel ashamed now; I know I mentioned this book before in my blog but I don't even remember when.
So that is it. My college book gathers dust as well and waits to be opened. This must happen soon as I have my two final exams coming and looming large...
In the meantime, I work as usual (though shorter hours), I sleep more than usual !!! and am starting yoga classes this Monday.
Over the Christmas time I read the book by Asne Seierstad - The Bookseller of Kabul. I read it on my way back from PL and unfortunately left it on the plane (with the Christmas card from M. as a bookmark :-( While I got a new copy of the book soon after I landed , I could not get the card back. M gave me then a post-Christmas card with the same image but I am still sorry I lost the first one I had got. Painting is by Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battista Salvi))
... to go back to the book, I did enjoy it because it was about a culture different to ours and also because it was about the women and their life. The portrait drawn by Anne is both intimate and moving. You can read a short review of the book here.
Then I found an interesting article on this book by Ann Marlow. I recommend reading it as it explains more of the culture behind the book and pinpoints inconsistencies in the novel itself.
The bookseller himself, ShahMuhammad Rais, took action against Anne Seierstad for libelling his family.
"Shah Muhammad Rais, owner of the bookshop at the Intercontinental Hotel and another near the Mustafa Hotel, is taking legal action against
A bit more on the book can be found here.
Maybe it is a bit late but after all we are only in the first week of 2008. HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, may it bring whatever it is you are looking or waiting for.
All the best -
nightskyspy
Tonight I had my usual Tuesday riding lesson. I do enjoy going there straight after work and relaxing during this fast -flying hour. I was on Blu this time again. He had a break last week and was back in shape tonight so I was happy to have him.
I feel I have made big progress since I rode on him in June (when the picture was taken). I canter better, I jump better, I sit better in the saddle, I am stronger on a horse and enjoying riding more and more. I also notice it all comes naturally to me, which is also a change.
While I was driving from work to my riding school, the following song was on the radio. I found it really suiting the moment! I liked it a lot too and I think the version by Christy Moore played then on the radio is better than the one by Cruachan. I liked it better anyway.
Ride On
True you ride the finest horse
I've ever seen;
Standing Sixteen one or two
with eyes wild and green.
And you ride the horse so well,
hands light to the touch,
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
[ http://www.rare-lyrics.com ]
When you ride into the night
without a trace behind,
run your claw along my gut, one last time.
I turn to face an empty space, where you use to lie,
and look for the spark
that lights the night
through a teardrop in my eye
Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
Ride on, see you
I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to
lyrics taken from here.
small plant, small problem.
big plant, big problem.
Since I replanted my Spathiphylium in August, it has been growing like mad and had a second big flower bloom. It is really growing so quickly and is a beautiful plant now. I will have to get a very big pot for her next spring; way bigger than this one.
I am happy to see her grow like this though.
so i am back ...
back from another interpreting job in a hospital, back from another horse riding lesson
[it was great today. i was on a horse i had never ridden before and oh isn't he fast and lovely, and strong. Thierry may be called a grumpy old man, but there is no better horse to canter and to jump; he is really soft and easy going]
and soon leaving for M, a little town in west Cork to see M :)
it is not necessary to drive to M all night but here it goes, maybe a good song to hum while driving.
her voice is so powerful, even more so in this acapella version.
i just got back from a pub where we were having some farewell drinks with the girl who left my company today. we had a good night, talking, laughing, enjoying ourselves.
well, i got back home with this song on my mind:
i am not sure why but i was just humming it on the way back so i listened to it on youtube.
i also found this video so hmmm i will post it here. to clear any doubts (if M is wondering), i am not dedicating this song to ted ;)
| Poll: Who do you think is most to blame for the current high level of road deaths?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
In Poland the beginning of November is a very busy time for the police. 10 thousand policemen and policewomen were deployed in the country last Wed and will work till Sunday night to make sure Polish roads are safer. They appeal to drivers to slow down as roads are slippery, to pedestrians to wear high-vis items of clothing, and to all to be very careful.
After some break from reading, I started on another book by Orhan Pamuk - My Name Is Red. I must say it begins in an intriguing way and it is hard to put it away. It seems totally different than "Snow" too.
The covers of both books well reflect the contents . While "Snow" is about winter, cold, freezing times, "My Name Is Red" and its half red cover seem to accentuate the hidden passions, secrets and mysteries of the life in Istanbul in the times of Great Sultan.
I am now reading chapter 6 so later on I may add some more on the book.
I have to read my college book too (a chapter on HR) and then I got engrossed in Fantasy Football. Emotions run high on the pitch.
Plus I have been tagged with "when i become a famous rider..." by rough hands. Aagghhh I must think about something and write a post on it so. I had a riding lesson last night but I decided not to take part in the show jumping league that takes place every Friday. I fell during my first competition and well I must still practice before I can jump.
So I must think what will happen when I become a famous rider.
Treat your friends as you would your paintings and show them in their best light. J. J. Churchill
ahhh it seems to be a strange period now. I have lived in a new place for more than a month now and I feel very good here. The transition between the old place and the new place was pretty seamless and now everything is just going fine. Now I need less time to get to work and I have it closer to Hop Island where I go horse riding. I have it easier to do some quick shopping on the way back too. To get to my college takes more time now though and I take a car to get there (before I would walk) and then it is so hard to find a parking space in the city. I must think of some solutions before my next classes (this Thursday) but it will be grand soon. On the whole it is good but it has gotten a bit of a routine too. It is not to say that routine is bad; some things need to be well organised and running smoothly. Still no day is the same and I move forward every day and it is nice to feel I am not stuck in a rut, as the saying goes.
I have noticed a bit of a photographer's block recently but hopefully it will pass... along with some kind of a writer's block too!
My Spathiphylium or Peace Lily was kindly posing for a picture this quiet Saturday afternoon.
I got her when she was very small for my 2o odd birthday less than 3 years ago. She had a few white flowers then but once they faded, she did not bloom at all.
I did not give it much thought but just watered it regularly.
I decided to repot here before I would go on my holidays at the end of August. I split the plant into two because it was so big. One part ended up in the new flower pot with fresh earth; the other part remained in the old pot but with fresh earth too.
I moved to a new place and left for Eastern Europe. When I came back after the few days I found the plant in the new flower pot blooming! That was a great surprise. Now it has two white flowers and I hope it will have more soon. Apparently, it must like its new place here.
***
Some credit must go here to M too - for providing some items necessary for successful repotting, a few tips, and of course for this nice ceramic pot.
hmmm ... how to say "hello" after almost two months of not blogging? a lot have happened and this has been quite a busy time. yet, it has also been a very relaxing, wonderful time. while those last few days Poland has been battered by rains, we have had a lovely spell of Indian summer here in Ireland. True, we were in Poland the first few days in September and we got cold so it was good to come back to this nice weather. Yesterday we spent the day here ..
and we had a nice swim too! Waves were coming - one warm and one cold alternatively, which I found unusual. It was the first time i swam in the ocean :)
***
On other things that happened:
I have moved to a different place now - with a garden and in a quiet area :) so I am happy
(with the change of address, there has been a change in my phone number too).
I am back to college next week ahhh ... back to studying.
It is time to go back to horse riding too.
***
Thank you and credit for the photo go to M. who has a good eye.
Strawberries seem to be over this year. I do not mean there will be no more strawberries in the shops this year; most probably they will be. The nicest, sweetest strawberries are only in May and June though. This photo presents Polish strawberries [just in case someone was wondering what "nationality" they were ;) ]
Then, waiting for the exams results is too. I got the envelope on July the 6th and then I was a bit too busy to post. Late but here it goes. I passed all the three exams with distinction (70% +) :) and I know that my holidays from college will be over sometime in mid-September. So I am enjoying my free evenings now and I put the management books away for now. I should be back to "Lapidarium VI" now so till the next post and next updates ...
waiting
waiting
waiting
for some things that are yet to come; today is like an enormous waiting room and now the question is of striking that balance between instant and postponed fulfillment:
texts / emails from friends - varied times and not always predictable but it is nice to wait for those;
horse riding - closer and closer because tomorrow night, 7 pm;
the beginning of the weekend - close enough: Friday noon;
exams results - should be this week, should have been today but i found nothing under my door (it is getting annoying now; i want to know!);
second year in college - September 2007 if i have passed. i am looking forward to it because at the end of my course i will get my cert.
advancement in career - well, gradually getting there, slowly but surely; takes time and requires patience but seems like a sure investment.
Garda Reserve application results - "yes" or "no" later this year.
A few travels, books to be read, music to listen to, movies to watch - as i go.
A lot to wait for and to look forward to.
Yet, there are some other things I have been waiting for - for a long time. They are important and personal; they make me see the bigger pictures better and i could call them my gentle priorities even if that is an unusual metaphor.
A certain song has been coming back to me quite a few times over the past two months or so.
It seems kinda proper to post it here;
I will not write here though if I got my answer ... too personal.
