One of the absolute highlights was reaching Lough Tay as the sun was setting on New Year’s Eve. It’s such a special place on any day of the year but its beauty really took my breath away in the snow. We camped in a forest a stone’s throw from the lake and came back first thing on New Year’s morning to see the sun rise again over Lough Tay.

Some of the hiking was pretty hard going. We were up to our waists in snow at some points and I felt like I was a little figurine trudging through icing on a massive Christmas cake a lot of the time. This was our second winter hiking trip together. The first was in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. A lot of people think we’re crazy for going out camping in the cold but once you have the right equipment (and someone to snuggle up with at night), it’s such an incredible way to see nature. It’s easier to spot animal tracks, there aren’t any mosquitoes and there’s hardly anybody else around.

So we had a very special and peaceful start to 2010. Things have become a bit more hectic since then but it helps to think back to Wicklow in the magic of winter to get us through.

I’m still a bit fuzzy on how voting works over here.  It took long enough to understand fully how our much more elaborate Broadway supersized version in the states functions, it’s hard to see the intricacies in another country.  There couldn’t be two more different ways though and it is obvious that there are pros and cons to both.

Who did she vote for?  You’ll have to ask her.  That is if she checked the right box.

They’re on their way back to Vancouver tomorrow and I’m glad we got to spend some quality time with them and that they brought the sunshine over to us. Suffice it to say, it was fantastic to catch up with them both and to show them around as best as we could….and no better way than on bike and by punt.

Safe home to you both and make sure to come back soon!

So I set about making myself a pouch for my ipod as a first project. I bought some really cool material in town, some pink felt for the inside and a nice patterned cotton for the outside. It took me a fair bit of time to practice actually sewing in a straight line on some scrap material and then I spent absolutely ages trying to figure out the button hole function with a lot of help from my wonderfully patient husband. The great thing is that I don’t have to glue my eyes to the instruction book to thread the machine anymore and it’s all becoming a bit more natural.

And at the end of Easter Monday night, I had actually created my own little pouch. It’s not perfect but it’s very pretty and functional and I learned a lot from the whole process. I’m also itching to get going on the next project, something slightly more challenging this time. I’ve found some great sewing blogs lately that have given me lots of inspiration and in the meantime I can keep making pouches, like the cute little tweed one I made for Ryan. It was supposed to be for his phone but it ended up being a bit on the tight side (tweed is an absolute nightmare to sew) so it’s now a pouch for some of his bike tools!

Watch this space – lots more creations to come…..

On Good Friday, our friend Martin organised a 50 km bike ride around the Cambridge countryside for his birthday. We got the best of the weather in the morning; it took us about 3 hours to complete and we headed back to Martin’s place for a hearty lunch afterwards. It’s the longest bike ride I’ve ever done before and I didn’t find it too strenuous although we were taking a pretty leisurely pace, except for Ryan and Martin’s friend Christian who went all out at the end and left us all behind in the dust. It was fun getting to know Martin’s friends and getting to see some more of the countryside. It still amazes me how quickly we can get away from cars and surround ourselves with green fields and we definitely need to do it more often.

Easter in Cambridge is a fantastic time for music and we treated ourselves to a concert at King’s College chapel on Saturday night along with two of my friends from work, Helena and Adam. It was a Haydn celebration and the chapel was completely packed. I thought the trumpet concerto was going to be the highlight of the concert but I enjoyed the choral music and solo singers a lot more. It’s such a wonderful setting to enjoy great music in and a great time of year to visit. So if anyone feels like a trip to Cambridge at Easter next year, make sure to let us know and we’ll be here for at least another 3 and a half years now that my PhD funding is all settled (more on that at a later date).

I was excited all week about having an Easter egg hunt in our back garden but I had no idea just how much fun it would be and I think it will have to be one of our family traditions from here on in. Helena and Adam came over early-ish on Sunday so we could get started on the egg hunting, dinner making and egg painting. Ryan was our Easter bunny and got stuck in hiding loads of little chocolate eggs and three special chocolate bunnies all over the garden and then the three of us let loose like little kids with our homemade newspaper baskets. We spent the rest of the day feasting on delicious starters (a cheese ball and Czech open-face sandwiches courtesy of Adam), getting our delicious leg of lamb dinner ready (well Ryan did pretty much most of the work, and what a wonderful job he did) and blowing out eggs so we could paint them to our hearts’ content. And we finished the evening off watching a movie and demolishing Ryan’s homemade onion dip and chips. Absolutely scrumptious!

Easter 2010 in Cambridge anyone?!

I’m wearing my green shirt today and plan to take a trip to the market in Cambridge to pick up a nice big Irish flag on my lunch hour and some green bits and pieces to adorn the house (and possibly Ryan – you’ve been warned!).

We’re having friends of of ours, Laura and Justin, over for a great big Irish feast this evening and apart from that we decided to get together (in a virtual sense) with mum, dad and Conor to have a bit of an Irish dance. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone and enjoy the video!

And just for the sake of comparison I thought you might like to see the toilet paper wedding dress we designed for Claire on the hen weekend back in January. Personally I think it stands up pretty well against the real thing.

It was great to catch up with all the hens again and one of my favourite moments was being on the dance floor with all the girls and finally getting to reveal to Claire the truth behind the “archery incident”, i.e. the day Claire thought she’d been shot at for real with a bow and arrow.

I think I’ve learned a lot more about Claire from spending so much time over the past few months with her close friends and family and that’s something I will treasure for the rest of my life. That’s one of the real beauties of weddings for me – getting everyone important in your life to gather round and to celebrate being connected to each other. And we certainly celebrated until the wee hours of the morning in Trim Castle Hotel that night. Great music, great company and an incredible couple.

As for James, I really feel like I’ve welcomed him into my own family if that makes sense, and it was really wonderful to get to know his family in the run up to the wedding.

The day after the wedding was just as much fun as the day itself. We all went over to the Conneely house, Paddy cooked up a storm, we relaxed, chatted and had a fantastic sing song with friends and family giving it their all. It was the perfect way to finish off the weekend and to send the newly-weds off on their travels.

Congratulations Claire and James!

We had a busy few days of dress alterations, shopping for the honeymoon, getting our nails done and of course plenty of girlie get-togethers before the big day itself. And then before we knew it Saturday the 21st of February rolled around and we were all at the Conneely house beautifying ourselves and just having a good oul giggle during the various stages of getting ready.

Claire was the absolute picture of calmness, although we all started getting a bit more emotional as the time came for her and her daddy to set off for the church in a very stylish green Rolls Royce.

Claire and James chose to have their wedding ceremony at the chapel of our old secondary school in Cabra, St. Dominic’s. It reminded me of all the good times we had playing together for graduations and school masses, and it made me all the more proud to walk down the aisle with Claire’s sister Niamh and her little niece Caoilainn ahead of such a beautiful bride and truly special friend.

Since Thanksgiving, we had our first potluck on Election night.  We’ve had another one to great success and another next week, it seems the Cambridgians are in favor of the potluck.  We went to Ireland for a few weeks at Christmas and spent a week in Tipperary with the family.   Saw our friend Mandy the potter and rang in the New Years with our friends Laura and Ian.  And not to forget a brilliant wedding last weekend of our friends Claire and James.

We even found a little time for ourselves.  The weekend before last we took a day trip that found us heading up north of the Fens to the coast.  After it snowing off and on for the two weeks prior the skys opened up and the weather was perfect.  We took the train up to Kings Lynn and then a bus to Hunstanton.

After taking in the ocean views we took a short hop bus to Brancaster Saithe and had a massive lunch at The White Horse.  Food always being one of our favorite parts, and that day the oysters were particularly delicious and fresh.  When we had stuffed ourselves we went on a walk along the Norfolk Coast Path.  We walked up to the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club and checked out the beach there before heading back to the main street and catching our buses home.  It was good to see the trail as we’re planning to hike the Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast Path once the weather is just a little more agreeable.

The photos are from the marshes along the coast path.  It was a little overcast but the sun was starting to set so there was some nice light.  Reminds me of something the amazing Andrew Wyeth, who recently passed away, would have painted.  A nice relaxing day by the sea was just what we needed to get us going again.

From Cambridge News Online

Fifty firefighters tackle warehouse blaze

Around 50 firefighters tackled the blaze after crews were called to the former John Lewis warehouse on Mill Road shortly before 1.15am today.

The flames are now contained but are still burning, and firefighters remain on the scene.

The warehouse is owned by the Muslim Academic Trust, in partnership with the Cambridge Muslim Welfare Society, who had intended to demolish to make way for a new mosque.

It is now thought the fire could require it to be demolished immediately.

Alexander McCombie, who worked at the John Lewis warehouse for 17 years, said: “It is sad to see it end up like this. I don’t know what on earth might have caused it.

“It will have to come down now. The fire has gone all the way through. If you go to the back there is a hole in the wall and I can see a steel girder is bent.

“It must have been a wee bit hot.”

Families living on Mill Road have been describing the scene that unfolded in the early hours.

One, John Smith, said: “I heard the engines arrive, and you could see the fire glowing out of the top, but the firefighters seemed like they had it all under control.”

Another, who asked not to be named, said: “We managed to sleep through the initial part of it. Then I saw flashes behind the curtains. I looked out and saw orange smoke coming out of the building.

“It seemed to me the firefighters were very professional and it was extremely organised.

“It seemed to take quite a long time to get it under control. The only thing that worried me at one point was that it might spread to the garage next door.”

During the blaze, staff at nearby Brookfields Hospital were told to keep doors and windows closed.

Mill Road is closed is shut in both directions between Perne Road and Coleridge Road, and motorists have been advised to expect lengthy delays or to find alternative routes.

A diversion is in place using using Coleridge Road, Cherry Hinton Road, and Perne Road, but pedestrians and cyclists can still use Mill Road.

Once firefighters are able to enter the building they will carry out a full site search and launch an investigation.