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.

Arts & threads

Yesterday we ticked off our latest opera experience, The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček. Wasn't quite sure what to expect; I didn't know the venue, Solstice Arts Centre in An Uaimh, nor the composer. It was thoroughly enjoyable, partly philosophical, partly hilarious, as it's not every day one can see opera singers performing in fox costumes.

I was wearing a new beanie that I'd finished knitting last weekend. In my head it's supposed to be a hat with cat ears, but because of the colour and depending on the way I style it, the ears can resemble fox ears or even devil horns ;) Love it.

I chose this yarn colour to match my husband's beautiful present, woollen fingerless mittens I got in December. Unfortunately, over two weeks ago, on a lovely Friday afternoon, I lost one of the gloves matching the beanie, and now I still wear the one that's left, refusing to accept my loss. It was the same day when we went with my Fred to watch Hamnet (the film is absolutely fantastic!). 

Discussions, books, knitting, and films -- that's how I spend my time outside of work. Also, I've discovered something completely new, which I hope to enjoy very much:

In the background, Clanbrassil street on Valentine's day:) The book's still waiting in a queue.

[early morning]

My urge to write in English seems to have faded for a while. Very strange, as I use it a good deal when I'm out and about. My Brain appears to have switched back to my mother tongue; most of my inner dialogue is now in that language. Perhaps it has something to do with the tension I feel around work. Again, not that it's especially difficult, but other people’s troubles weigh on me more than they should, to the point of insomnia. It's difficult to keep toxicity at bay. 

4:55 a.m. Time to go to sleep again.

Bronek died on Thursday.

Well :I

Eastern vs. western knitting 1

Well, well, I started knitting, unravelled it, knitted again, unravelled it again, and somewhere along the way I became more interested in different knitting styles. I realised that my Mum taught me to knit in the eastern style (in Polish it’s apparently called heretic). I’m also pretty sure that in the past I mixed different styles without really knowing it. This is something I want to study :) For today (or tomorrow, 'cause today my Brain is already shutting down): JackiBean explaining Eastern vs. Western Knitting.

After reading what's going on in Minneapolis

I can't help but feel that ICE officers aren't mentally very different from Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians; similarly, the Orange Man's supporters and Putin supporters ... I wouldn’t know where to look for differences when comparing only their states of mind and sense of entitlement. A miscarriage of justice seems almost identical to what happens in Russia. I'm sure there are many decent folk there who try to do better than the government, but still ... what a disillusionment with a country of so-called prosperity.

Cats, humans, bullies

Bronek, my parents' cat, is still among the living. He gets a lot of medication, and I suppose he is not entirely aware that his life hangs by a hair. One of his sisters, Frania, has also tested positive :I Our girls, on the other hand, are in the best of health, length and width. We and our neighbours adore them. 

Have already finished reading five books this year, including The Gathering by Anne Enright. An enjoyable read, though it covers some really tough subjects. Currently, I'm in the middle of Ditlevsen's The Copenhagen Trilogy (have finished Youth). 

Can't believe it's already the second half of January; I go to work, spend time with my husband, deal with first-world problems, while occasionally hearing about what's happening on the "western front". The Orange Man's actions in his own country and abroad are heinous, but hey, who knows, they might bring some good for Europe. Just as Ukrainians have started using their own language after the Russian bear attacked them, so I've started looking for European products to support our own economy instead of feeding the bullies with my own money. It's my private politics, not very strict, just something I ponder about while shopping.

Cat's life

The first full week after the holiday season at work exhausted me completely (again?). The weekend seemed too short, I woke up today around half two am worrying about stuff I have no control over. Of course, in daylight everything looked brighter and less messy. It's interesting that in the early morning the rational part of the human brain seems to be asleep. I've read somewhere that it's the cortisol awakening response combined with psychological patterns. Well, people have bigger challenges than that. 

Yesterday evening I called my parents and unfortunately they have serious problems with one of the young cats they adopted last summer. When I say serious, I mean life and death. When I was at my family home a while ago, everything seemed to be ok, but since then Bronek's health has rapidly deteriorated. His blood test results are very bad, he has anaemia, and worse still, his feline leukemia virus antigen test came back positive. He and his sisters are indoor cats, and all the older cats were vaccinated so there is almost no other explanation than a virus brought by their mother. My parents were very distraught by the whole situation, Mum tried to get in touch with better vet clinics to ask for help, and she finally succeeded, but the reality is we don't know whether anyone can really change Bronek's fate, not to mention that a cat's life comes at its high price in zloty. Actually, around 3500 zl ≈ € 830. For now.

Bronek is in a good place, they are giving him blood transfusion (that's how we know his blood type is A), and are doing all the necessary tests to see if there's any hope for him. I'm so sorry for the little fella.

No resolutions

Several days ago I thought it would be a nice thing to write down some New Year's resolutions, but in the end I decided against it. Part of it would feel more like self-presentation than a real plan, so why bother? I don't want to impress anyone here, I just want to distract my mind, train it to use a different language, and look at things from a different perspective. 

I spent ten days in my family home, and had a great time. A great time of doing nothing in particular, which is very important for my mental health, as I'm a slow pacer by nature.

Below are a few of the dozens of pictures I took while staying with my parents: a visit to my favourite local coffee shop, my Christmas wafer with pieces from my parents' wafers, dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Wojtuś the cat showing off his big belly, and a forest road I know so well.

Catching up

The last week before Christmas at work was really tough, not because anything out of the ordinary happened, but because my energy and, in effect, the drive to stay patient was running out. I finished Friday with a very pleasant discovery: we ate out at a place called the Valley Inn. Good name, good food, very Irish. We also went to Dún Dealgan, had coffee in our favourite place and took a stroll along the main street with a quick browse in our favourite independent bookshop (I bought my husband a children's book written by an Irish singer and actor, Gavin Friday). 

Other good things? I bought two balls of yarn (from Norwegian Sandnes Garn) and bamboo circular knitting needles, size 4.00 mm. Also, finally decided to start journalling in one of the notebooks I had acquired a while ago. With a fountain pen :) And I gave my husband his Christmas present early (a nice coat he chose himself, Moncrief, dark No. 14). We also gave our neighbours presents, and received something from them in return.

I'm recovering after the intense weeks watching the old Dalgliesh series with Roy Marsden (I've finished A Taste for Death and have started Devices and Desires). Today will be about packing my suitcase and deciding what to wear for the journey. I'm still a bit wound up, but that will pass for sure.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow

There was a severe storm yesterday, it raged across the whole country. Its name, Bram, was a nod to Bram Stoker, Dracula’s author, who to my surprise was Irish (the author, not the vampire). Stoker was born in Clontarf. I met someone from Clontarf just today morning, a small, wrinkled woman, resembling an old elf.

I'm counting down the days to Christmas. In two weeks, on Monday evening, I'll be flying to my parents'. In the meantime, I'm finishing up bits and pieces at work, a few last things to tick off before the year ends. There will be a lot of family time, and though I'm sorry to leave Fred on his own with our kittens, the travel is something I can hardly wait.

Cats

Our cats just melt our hearts. Little Mary cries out loud every morning when I start preparing coffee for my husband, who's still in the bedroom. She knows that once coffee's ready, I'm going in to wake Fred up and she absolutely insists on joining me. Bron and Mary are both so funny when they watch us through the window as we're heading out. And in the evenings, when we're watching a film, they settle on our laps, or plant themselves in front of the telly to stare at the moving pictures. Little creatures can change humans' life so much.