too funny!

"I know that Chinese restaurateurs like to adapt their cuisine to local tastes and ingredients, but occasionally I get the feeling that something far more disturbing is going on."

"A tough looking young man has stepped out in front of us, brandishing a huge lump of cannabis on the palm of his hand. 'Hash? You like? Speak English? American?' Or perhaps he's selling henna. Or Oxo. 'Ta faitios orm nach geaitheann muid tobac,' says Conor. 'Ta se go dona don tslainte,' adds Tommy. The man narrows his eyes, then disappears back into the shadows. 'Whenever things get heavy, we just speak Irish,' says Conor. 'Confuses the f*** out of them,' explains Tommy."

from The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy... Bill Bryson has met his match!

a scottish wedding

sailing, sailing

These are not my pictures, I didn't bring my camera. But I did spend the afternoon and evening yesterday sailing on Strangford Lough with old and new friends. It was wonderful. We shared food and talked about Irish history and did a bit of tacking (admittedly a bit unnerving for a first timer like me), I even took a turn or two at the helm.



I love the sea!!!

this week

In the last seven days...

1) I enrolled and started school.

2) I purchased, and received, my course books.

3) I finished knitting a hat and a blanket and began a new project.

4) I started looking for work.

5) I registered for a National Insurance number. (The UK equivalent of a SSN.)

6) I went to a knitting group for the first time.

7) I had dinner at a friend's house.

8) I watched five movies, including South Pacific and Casablanca for the first time.

9) I opened a British bank account.

10) I booked a trip to Dundee next weekend and a trip to London the following.

11) I received, and set up, my printer.

12) I made a collage on a small notice/bulletin board for my room.

13) I visited my first wool/yarn shop in Belfast.

14) I went to the Linen Hall Library for the first time and was overwhelmed by their Irish section.

15) I've renewed friendships and begun to make some new ones.

16) I got caught in a heavy rainstorm and soaked my TOMS so that it took a couple days for them to dry out.

17) I had my first skype conversation on my new computer.

18) I did laundry.

19) I registered at the Doctors and applied for my medical card.

20) I played with legos and puzzles and painted a portrait of one of my classmates.

And at the end of it all I'm tired!

quotes

While I was making this todayI found some great quotes in my collage folder... and I (of course) find it necessary to share here.

"Joan: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God.

Robert: They come from your imagination.

Joan: Of course. That is how the messages of God come to us."

~ George Bernard Shaw - Saint Joan

"There’s no vocabulary

For love within a family, love that’s lived in

But not looked at, love within the light of which

All else is seen, the love within which

All other love finds speech.

This love is silent."

~ T.S. Eliot

"Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserve; it is life’s undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room, from which we go forth to more careful and guarded intercourse.” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

packing up

This is what my life looked like the last couple weeks in Charlotte while I was setting up my new computer, packing, knitting like crazy, and saying good-bye to everyone.

And finally, all packed up and ready to go. This is what I left behind.

Laura's sweater

Working on the sleeves, my first DPN experience...

Finished, washed, and drying

Detail, love those buttons!

I missed an opportunity to get a picture of her wearing it, but it fit! I was so uncertain about the sleeves and didn't have her measurements, but I think it worked!