Ireland adventures

My normal habit when flying out of Linate airport is to walk 20 minutes and then catch the city bus that heads to the airport, which makes the total time elapsed between leaving the house and arriving at the airport about 30 minutes. (Have I mentioned that this is my favourite of the three Milan airports--the other two require a 30 minute walk and a hour bus ride that costs ~8 Euros one way). However, Thursday morning it was raining heavily. Therefore I opted to take a bus to the airport bus, in an attempt to keep my luggage from getting too soaked before the flight.

It is a 2.5 hour flight from Milan to Dublin, and then another three hours by bus to Thomastown, which is the nearest stop to Tania and Mike's house. They picked me up and took me to their delightful home, a stone house near Inistioge in Kilkenny Ireland, where they fed me a wonderful meal before she and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood, which is lovely. That evening they took me to a pub for a music session, and I made progress on my nålbinding while enjoying the music. This prompted one of the folk to dedicate a song to "the lady knitting", which caused me to comment to Tania that I really should learn how to knit some day. At the end of the evening one of the other musicians (who can play the harmonica at the same time as he plays the guitar!) brought his guitar over to me, snuggled up close, and made up a song on the spot, the chorus of which was "knit me a jumper, and I'll sing you a song". If he means one song in exchange for an entire jumper (sweater for the Americans in the audience), the deal wouldn't be so good. But if he's offering to sing for the entire time it takes to make one via nålbinding (since I can't knit), it would be a pretty darn good deal for me. His song had me smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, though Mike teased me the rest of the trip about the musician being sweet on me. (note: I didn't see him again the rest of the trip, but I did really enjoy the gift--I've had people write me songs before, but this was the first one that was accompanied with guitar music and written as it was sung.)


On Friday we wandered around the town of Inistioge, and took the nature walk along the river and then up the hill to Woodstock, the old estate of the region. The highlight of which is the Mount Sandford "castle", which was built in 1765 for the sole purpose of enjoying the view of the village and bridge over the river. In the evening we had planned to first attend a performance of a band they know followed by a music session that meets the first Friday of every month, but which they'd not yet managed to attend in the years since they moved there (they are only part time in Ireland, and the rest in the US or on tour elsewhere). However, the band was on Irish Time, and hadn't started playing for their 9pm show when we left at quarter to 10pm. In addition, the fates seem to be against the thought of their ever attending this music session, since this month the people who normally run it had conflicts, so moved it to last week, instead, and we didn't find out till we arrived at the pub and found only a Hen's Night (party for the bride).

Saturday Tania and I climbed Brandon's Hill in the morning, went home for lunch and then the three of us explored an old ruined Castle at Thomastown, and then went out to see the Kells Priory ruins (not the same Kells as in "book of") and the nearby (and much younger) old Mills. While at one of the mills we heard music and applause, so we investigated and found a private concert in progress in a backyard of one of the large homes there. T&M left their cards with the host indicating a willingness to perform at that venue when they return next summer (she flies back to the US on Friday).

From there we went to another music session at another pub, and stayed till it was time to take me back to Thomastown to catch the 02:00 bus back to the airport. My flight didn't leave till 07:00, and at that hour it is only a two-hour bus ride (oh the difference traffic and the need to actually stop to pick up and drop off passengers makes--on the way to the airport no one wanted off the bus till we got there), so I had oodles of time to clear security. The next bus would have left at 04:00, but that one would have left me only 30 minutes between arriving at the airport and my plane departing, which is simply not enough time. So I napped on the flight, and again at the airport, and again on the flight back to Milan, and again when I got home. Not the same as a good night's sleep, but it did well enough to let me catch up on my on-line reading (I didn't bring a computer with me, so I hadn't been on line) and post photos to facebook (see above links + more in the albums).

All in all a wonderful trip. The chance to spend time with an old friend, adventures, and yummy food!

Ireland adventures

My normal habit when flying out of Linate airport is to walk 20 minutes and then catch the city bus that heads to the airport, which makes the total time elapsed between leaving the house and arriving at the airport about 30 minutes. (Have I mentioned that this is my favourite of the three Milan airports--the other two require a 30 minute walk and a hour bus ride that costs ~8 Euros one way). However, Thursday morning it was raining heavily. Therefore I opted to take a bus to the airport bus, in an attempt to keep my luggage from getting too soaked before the flight.

It is a 2.5 hour flight from Milan to Dublin, and then another three hours by bus to Thomastown, which is the nearest stop to Tania and Mike's house. They picked me up and took me to their delightful home, a stone house near Inistioge in Kilkenny Ireland, where they fed me a wonderful meal before she and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood, which is lovely. That evening they took me to a pub for a music session, and I made progress on my nålbinding while enjoying the music. This prompted one of the folk to dedicate a song to "the lady knitting", which caused me to comment to Tania that I really should learn how to knit some day. At the end of the evening one of the other musicians (who can play the harmonica at the same time as he plays the guitar!) brought his guitar over to me, snuggled up close, and made up a song on the spot, the chorus of which was "knit me a jumper, and I'll sing you a song". If he means one song in exchange for an entire jumper (sweater for the Americans in the audience), the deal wouldn't be so good. But if he's offering to sing for the entire time it takes to make one via nålbinding (since I can't knit), it would be a pretty darn good deal for me. His song had me smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, though Mike teased me the rest of the trip about the musician being sweet on me. (note: I didn't see him again the rest of the trip, but I did really enjoy the gift--I've had people write me songs before, but this was the first one that was accompanied with guitar music and written as it was sung.)


On Friday we wandered around the town of Inistioge, and took the nature walk along the river and then up the hill to Woodstock, the old estate of the region. The highlight of which is the Mount Sandford "castle", which was built in 1765 for the sole purpose of enjoying the view of the village and bridge over the river. In the evening we had planned to first attend a performance of a band they know followed by a music session that meets the first Friday of every month, but which they'd not yet managed to attend in the years since they moved there (they are only part time in Ireland, and the rest in the US or on tour elsewhere). However, the band was on Irish Time, and hadn't started playing for their 9pm show when we left at quarter to 10pm. In addition, the fates seem to be against the thought of their ever attending this music session, since this month the people who normally run it had conflicts, so moved it to last week, instead, and we didn't find out till we arrived at the pub and found only a Hen's Night (party for the bride).

Saturday Tania and I climbed Brandon's Hill in the morning, went home for lunch and then the three of us explored an old ruined Castle at Thomastown, and then went out to see the Kells Priory ruins (not the same Kells as in "book of") and the nearby (and much younger) old Mills. While at one of the mills we heard music and applause, so we investigated and found a private concert in progress in a backyard of one of the large homes there. T&M left their cards with the host indicating a willingness to perform at that venue when they return next summer (she flies back to the US on Friday).

From there we went to another music session at another pub, and stayed till it was time to take me back to Thomastown to catch the 02:00 bus back to the airport. My flight didn't leave till 07:00, and at that hour it is only a two-hour bus ride (oh the difference traffic and the need to actually stop to pick up and drop off passengers makes--on the way to the airport no one wanted off the bus till we got there), so I had oodles of time to clear security. The next bus would have left at 04:00, but that one would have left me only 30 minutes between arriving at the airport and my plane departing, which is simply not enough time. So I napped on the flight, and again at the airport, and again on the flight back to Milan, and again when I got home. Not the same as a good night's sleep, but it did well enough to let me catch up on my on-line reading (I didn't bring a computer with me, so I hadn't been on line) and post photos to facebook (see above links + more in the albums).

All in all a wonderful trip. The chance to spend time with an old friend, adventures, and yummy food!

apparently there is some sort of 30-day Harry Potter meme out there

mamapduck is playing, and her answer to the first question prompted me to answer it as well. I don't promise to play for a full 30 days, but I'll at least manage this one.

01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter and why you still love it.

I was still living in Anchorage, and the house in which I lived received a paper subscription of the newspaper, which I tended to read over breakfast. I saw an article about the books, which raved about how amazing it was that someone had published a book which had children actually *reading*, even kids who are not normally people who read for pleasure. This was the first time I'd heard of the books, and wondered what the fuss was about.

At the time I worked part-time in a used book store as a favour to one of the students in the Geology Lab I was teaching--she had complained that she couldn't find anyone competent to work at the book store she owned, and as a result she was having problems getting her homework done. So I agreed to take on a couple of shifts a week to give her time to attend to her studies. One afternoon a customer brought in some books on trade, and one of them was the first Harry Potter book. When there was a lull in customers I picked it up to glance at the fist page or to "just to see what the fuss was about". The next thing I was aware of, other than the story, was when another customer came into the store, and I looked up to realize that I was three chapters into the book. So I set it aside in the pile of things for me to purchase, and returned to work.

I think I finished that first book the same day I brought it home, and have purchased the others as soon as they came out, and then, again, when they came out in paperback, since I by far prefer to read paperback books. I still love them because I enjoy the world--I've always loved stories with magic, and this is a plausible version of that. Like many books aimed at a young audience they are written in an engaging manner which lends itself well to re-reading (which is something I love to do). In addition to loving the official books, I am also hooked on the fan-fic written by blamebrampton who always does a wonderful job creating stories which are plausible given the "facts" of the published books, and whose writing skill is such that I'd read her shopping list and enjoy it.

apparently there is some sort of 30-day Harry Potter meme out there

mamapduck is playing, and her answer to the first question prompted me to answer it as well. I don't promise to play for a full 30 days, but I'll at least manage this one.

01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter and why you still love it.

I was still living in Anchorage, and the house in which I lived received a paper subscription of the newspaper, which I tended to read over breakfast. I saw an article about the books, which raved about how amazing it was that someone had published a book which had children actually *reading*, even kids who are not normally people who read for pleasure. This was the first time I'd heard of the books, and wondered what the fuss was about.

At the time I worked part-time in a used book store as a favour to one of the students in the Geology Lab I was teaching--she had complained that she couldn't find anyone competent to work at the book store she owned, and as a result she was having problems getting her homework done. So I agreed to take on a couple of shifts a week to give her time to attend to her studies. One afternoon a customer brought in some books on trade, and one of them was the first Harry Potter book. When there was a lull in customers I picked it up to glance at the fist page or to "just to see what the fuss was about". The next thing I was aware of, other than the story, was when another customer came into the store, and I looked up to realize that I was three chapters into the book. So I set it aside in the pile of things for me to purchase, and returned to work.

I think I finished that first book the same day I brought it home, and have purchased the others as soon as they came out, and then, again, when they came out in paperback, since I by far prefer to read paperback books. I still love them because I enjoy the world--I've always loved stories with magic, and this is a plausible version of that. Like many books aimed at a young audience they are written in an engaging manner which lends itself well to re-reading (which is something I love to do). In addition to loving the official books, I am also hooked on the fan-fic written by blamebrampton who always does a wonderful job creating stories which are plausible given the "facts" of the published books, and whose writing skill is such that I'd read her shopping list and enjoy it.