Out And About

Last week I certainly made a good start to my resolution to get out more and not just hide myself away.  I treated myself to a new hair do on Friday because I was going out with the Hubby.  This mightn't sound much to you, but you wouldn't believe just how often I cancel appointments because I feel like I can't go!!  We went to see Irish comedian Niall Delamare in one of the local theatres.  It was a great night and I laughed until I had a pain in my side.  We both enjoyed it thoroughly, even though the comedian said I laughed like someone strangling an otter!! What I'd like to know is, how does he know what a strangled otter sounds like??

  A break in the bad weather allowed me to bring the dog out for a few walks along the canal.  Molly was in her element and her little tail never stopped wagging from the time we got out of the car.  On the day that I took these pictures it was still only about 1.5°C outside and large patches of remained floating on the waters surface.  Normally Molly would be straight in for a swim as soon as she found a nice spot to climb down the bank but it was just too nippy, even for her.

Not even the sight of the geese in the water could entice her in.  She hopped from one paw to another with indecision.  "To chase the geese or not!  What do you think Rosie?", she asked me with her big brown eyes.  Eventually she gave in though and soon found something else to hold her interest for a while.

I simply love the varying colours of blue in the sky of a clear winters day.  It is nearly as if it had been dipped dyed that very morning.  If you look very closely, you'll be able to see a very faint afternoon moon too.

Another morning I also visited the ISPCA centre.  The national centre is just up the road from us and it really is a great facility.  They have huge range of pets housed there, from cats and dogs to chickens and pot bellied pigs, horses to rabbits.  I wanted to volunteer to help out but after taking a walk around I think that I'm going to have to put a lot of thought into it first.  I broke my heart to see such beautiful animals abandoned and looking for a loving home.  If I was there all the time I would want to bring them all with me and not leave any behind!  The little dote above is called Chloe and has been there for months now.  People tend to look for kittens and puppies rather than fully grown animals but they should look more at the character of the pet first.  This little lady was so gentle and affectionate and just clung to me not wanting me to leave her.  I cried a lot on the drive home that day.

Here is something that cheered me up though.  Can you see the heart shape in the glass of our stove??  It's a heart in our hearth!!  The flames can make all strange shapes on the glass but this was the first heart that we have had.  Love it!!

Rosie xx

A New Dawn, A New Day

Well, that was one fabulous Christmas and I'm quite sad that it has all come to an end.
Being somebody who does not enjoy the stress induced panic attacks of last minute shopping, all of my shopping was completed by the end of November.  This left me all of December to relax and enjoy the important family traditions that make the most beautiful of memories.  And Oh Boy did we have a busy month, starting with the kids singing in a national choir with 3000 other children in Dublin.  We decided to stay over that weekend and had our first clumsy attempts at ice skating, heading home with sore bottoms and faces that ached from laughing.
We spent lovely afternoons baking with my mother (which we don't do near often enough), making decorations for the tree and knitting gifts for some relations.  There was the nativity play and the end of term play too.  Lucy missed the latter because she had both her big toenails removed just 5 days before Christmas.  She cried in the doctor's surgery when she found out about this, not because she was scared of getting the surgery but because she had the lead in the school play and would not be fit to attend.

Christmas week was just as relaxing.  Full of lazy mornings watching tv with the kids, going for walks in the afternoon and knitting while listening to my favourite audiobooks.  I've thoroughly enjoyed getting back to my needles after hooking for the past year.  I hadn't realised just how much I had missed them.  Now I have a long list of makes just waiting to be cast on.
I even managed to get out a few times over the holidays with my Hubby, having dinner with friends and going out on New Years Eve for the first time in 10 years!! To wind up the season, last weekend there was a huge party for my Hubby's 40th birthday and I made the most of the night and boogied my (not so little) behind off.  It was such great fun with lots of laughter and long chats people there that I hadn't seen for a while.

Looking back over the last month has made me realise that major changes need to be made in my life.  The past year I became too tied to my little hidey hole, the house, reluctant to come out more than once a week and quite happy to stay that way.  But I now see that even though I might be content with this, I've been missing far to much of the life that is going on without me.  I love meeting people, whether they are old friends or new ones and I'm never going to do that while I'm stuck here in my rut.
My resolution for this year is simply to get out of the house more. To meet up with friends, go out for dinner, go shopping or simply to go for a walk with the dog.  I want to fill my day the best that my body allows and be able to go to bed at night tired and satisfied that another day has not been wasted.
So for me this is a new start, a new dawn and a new day.  And who knows just where this tiny little change will bring me?

Hope to catch up with you all very soon,
Rosie xx