The end of summer

This month we got a booklet "Be Emergency Ready". They cover a checklist of essential items that's good to keep at home, etc. It's supposed to prepare us for "periods of disruption" caused by flooding, storms, air incidents; additionally, on the website, somewhere among the items, I spotted "disruptive use of drones" and "nuclear accident abroad". No one mentions the word "war". In Poland, the leaflets of this kind are more straightforward. I've read somewhere that the UK is also preparing for something looming on the horizon -- their government is updating its War Books and they plan a national public-awareness campaign.

"In a sense it's now a bit like those Edwardian summers before 1914, when there was a lot of talk of war but the notion of actually going to war seemed so far-fetched as to be beyond belief and I think that's where we are at the moment," said someone (I do know who, just retired British generals don't interest me that much).

The summer is officially over today. Let's hope for the best.

A cúpla things

Last Friday we went to a concert at St. Peter's Church of Ireland. Swedish soprano Miah Persson was singing Mozart, Schubert and Haydn. She was accompanied by British classical pianist Joseph Middleton. It was a nice evening out, booked at the last minute. Several days earlier, it was our seventh wedding anniversary, apparently called the wool anniversary. Wool ... I should knit something nice this autumn ;)

From a cúpla things that are irritating or just plain weird:

Blogspot really pisses me off. For several days now my blog reading list (on the left) hasn't been updating, and apparently the problem is somewhere in the system, which means there's nothing I can do about it. As Google employees get on with fixing more profitable stuff, they seem to have little time for people who can still read and write longer texts. Very frustrating.

Another thing is flight ticket prices. I finally booked a Ryanair flight to Warsaw, it was ridiculously overpriced, but I wanted to get rid of the everyday worry about the trip I have planned (I bought a return ticket from Wrocław a while ago). In the second half of October we'll visit my husband's siblings and then I'll travel on my own to a different part of the country to stay with my parents for several days (Fred has to go back home to work). Our lovely neighbour has already promised to take care of our cats. I love autumn and I can’t wait for the perks of being an only child again :]

In the meantime the house next to us stays empty. Most of the maintenance work in the area has been finished, but the person who was interested in moving in still hasn’t done so. There was already some conflict between the would-be neighbour and the neighbour on the other side of the empty house. Of course, I’d be afraid to move in myself if there were some weird crowd around, but in this case the whole situation is mostly in people’s heads. Very interesting.

I’m sorry, Catherine

Tribes

Yesterday, at Lidl we met migrants form IPAS, a big crowd of people looking very distinctly non-irish, with very dirty, heavy boots, and them trolleys filled with goods to the brink. Was wondering what they think of us, passers-by, obviously better rooted in the reality. We are like three different tribes, the locals, us (the people who pretend to be locals, creating hundreds of subtribes), and them, visually different, still hanging in between.

Wall art

Murals in four different towns, and two different countries, all of them places close to my heart for different reasons (pictures taken in July and August):

August

Many moons ago I was more eager to join different blog hops. Well, for five minutes this morning I wanted to I try it again, but no, makes no sense to me anymore. I don't care for answers to random questions about oysters, pearls, and the US inner world of delusions. What I can say for sure is I love August, a time of ripe fruit and lazy, warm afternoons, a time before going back to school, a quiet time. I like this quote:

"Minä rakastan rajoja", Tove sanoo. "Elokuu, joka on raja kesän ja syksyn välillä. Se on hienoin tuntemani kuukausi. Ensimmäinen muumipeikoista kertova kirja alkaa elokuussa, samoin myös 'Muumipappa ja meri'. Takurin hatun suuri juhla on sijoitettu lämpöiseen elokuun iltaan. Hämärä on rajana yön ja päivän välillä, ja ranta meren ja maan välillä. Rajat ovat kuin odotusta: kun molemmat ovat rakastuneita, mutta mitään ei ole lausuttu ääneen. Raja merkitsee matkalla oloa. Ja juuri matka on tärkeää." (Otta Latva, "Meri ja Tove. Elämää saaristossa")

*

Middle of July we were in Poland for nearly ten days. It wasn’t a long stay, but still something I wouldn't have wanted to miss. We spent some time with my parents, but also went to the south of Lower Silesia to meet up with two blogging friends. One travelled over from Warsaw, the other welcomed the three of us into her home, picturesquely located close to the Czech border, just north of the Jizera Mountains (historically, the village was known as Mühldorf before 1945). The scent of wildflower meadows and freshly cut grass … a fox wandering near the garden in the early morning … a small stream lazily flowing along one side of the property. Kind of magical place, although I'm not sure I could live there on my own, as our hostess does ...

(below pictures are deliberately random, I won't label them, I don't feel like it today)

Last weekend we helped our friend’s niece get to Dublin to collect her classmate from the airport. It turned into a very interesting meeting, the two girls were full of laughter, curiosity and intelligence. Together we visited Glasnevin Cemetery, the botanical garden and Bruxelles pub (the pub and the food served there weren’t as good as I'd remembered from our previous visits). It was on Saturday. On Sunday the girls decided to stay at home, watch a volleyball match and go to church. Our friend seemed a little disappointed after hearing about the last (church) bit. Well, they're still very young and much under their parents' influence, probably haven't had much exposure to different ways of living yet.

(below, the cemetery, the botanical garden and a quick look at Faiche Stiabhna)

My Dad was supposed to have a procedure on his eye, which would have been something more like an operation surgery under anaesthetic. His eye has become crossed for some reason, the doctors suggested that one of the eye muscles got weaker and they believed they can fix it. Dad wasn't sure if he wanted to put himself through another procedure as he’s been dealing with a lot of more serious health issues lately. Luckily, another doctor checked Dad's CT scan and a new treatment option has come up, something less invasive.

I don't long for the busy September weekdays, let's stay in August for a while.

Update

How was it possible I didn't post anything throughout the entire months of May and June? Let me catch up on a few things. My last post in April finished with a dramatic cliffhanger. It was about Old Anna, our neighbour. She had been away for so long that we almost forgot about her. And then came the message about her departure from this world. We visited her grave some time later, a very picturesque graveyard with a view. 

On 14/04 died Frania, another of my parents' cats. Young, black, lovely. Fuck you, feline leukemia!

Both our girls were spayed at the end of April. It was a stressful time, but we got through it. By now the bald patches on their sides have almost disappeared.

One weekend in May we headed up to Dublin for Melissa Hamilton’s Ballet Star Gala at the Bord Gáis Theatre. It was a very nice experience, we also made good use of our time before the concert -- we stopped in at Flower & Bean on Cork St.

In the meantime we bought tickets to spend some time in July at my family home. We also bought a new fridge -- tiny in comparison with the trendy ones, a little black midget. We'd love to have a fridge without a freezer but it's not so easy to find a suitable one. It was necessary to buy it now, as during our holidays we'll have a pet sitter looking after the house.

Since the last post, I've finished reading ca. fifteen books, one of the best of them was Zyta Rudzka's Krótka wymiana ognia. So far only one book by Rudzka has been translated into English, Dr Josef's Little Beauty (I have it as an audiobook and plan to listen to it after our holidays).

June was taken over by builders. Several contractors are working on our little house. The heating system was modernized (we use a heat pump now), the windows and front door were replaced and they are still working on the insulation. Most of the time it's been a nightmare, they have already destroyed parts of our garden, and some eejits cut down the lavender that was growing close to the walls (I complained officially).

Anything else? ... Stay tuned ...

A windy Wednesday

For the past week or so, the days have seemed to repeat themselves: we work, we dine, we walk our cats. Around the weekend, the weather improved a little, though not by much; it was cold today. At night, when I have my socks on and can cuddle up against my husband’s warm back, I feel rich and successful.

It was a good day.

And then someone dies.

Catching up with the good stuff

This is how you supposed to listen to Virginia Woolf's audiobook -- with a cat in your arms ;)

Little Mary ... you can still see that her lower lip is a bit swollen. We're not quite sure what happened, but it's been like this since last Thursday. A few more photographs from the past three weeks:

Rusalka on its premiere night at the Bord Gáis Theatre, coffee time at 3rd Place, evening walk, one of our lazy lunches (fish and chips from a local fishmonger), our girls, and coffee with my former boss (last Thursday; he's a good chap indeed). 

Kind of funny, but also not

Well ...

I'd meant to write about the reinvention of Mary's story in The Other Bennet Sister (2026), and how it's clearly influenced by Bridgerton (which I've no particular desire to watch), with its colour-blind casting and all, but thankfully there's a bit more to it so ... la di da ... instead I found myself watching Karolina Żebrowska's Why Does Everyone Have The Same Face Now?

And it struck me ... what actors look like really does matters (realised I can barely remember the other four Bennet sisters the moment they leave the scene).

Any news?

A lot! Half of it I already don't remember ;) We spent part of last week in Poland. I had my hair cut (a success) and tried to figure out how to change my diet (less so). I’ve been having some stomach issues which is a bit worrying, especially as coeliac disease runs in my Dad’s side of the family. At first, I thought soft cheese might be the culprit, so I cut down on lactose. That hasn’t been easy, as I love cheesecake, flat white, and yoghurt. Well, it had to be done, and it helped a bit, but now, when I’m paying more attention, I can see things haven’t improved as much as I’d hoped. I’ve booked a GP appointment, we'll see if they can shed some light on it.

After getting back from Poland, and sleeping through most of St Patrick's Day, we had Fred’s appointment at the oncology clinic. The news here is good: whatever the shadow in his lungs is, it's not growing, and it may be something as simple as scar tissue from dust. I’m very happy to accept that kind of diagnosis.

A few weeks ago I wanted to buy some woollen yarn in Poland, but the yarn I chose for my jumper isn’t available at the moment. Patience is a virtue, I mumble to myself.

Before my short holiday I decided to change my iPhone 13 to a Samsung S25. It was a good swap, I wasn’t interested in fixing an issue with the old phone, and I also wanted to change my internet provider (that turned out well too, Eir is much more reliable than Tesco Mobile). And ... a while ago iPhones stopped being cool anyway.

In the meantime, the Orange idiot has managed to stir things up again, this time involving Iran. Petrol prices are soaring, because apparently we can’t have just one problem at a time.

Below, some random photos from the time I wasn’t posting: the last day of February, first hours in Poland and Warsaw block of flats in the middle of the night, Mruczysław the Cat, empty grave in a forgotten evangelical cemetery, Jelenia Góra, and blooming Rip van Winkles.