sweet!

today i'm off to the knitting and stitching show again.
i don't know what sweetness i'm bringing home again but i'm excited!

have a great weekend!

bike love

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.
Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.
Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.
~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

Get a bicycle.

You will not regret it if you live.
~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"

Think of bicycles as rideable art
that can just about save the world.
~Grant Petersen

~♥♥♥~

i am in love with my bicycle. i really am.
it wasn't love at first sight (or ride!) to be honest though, as i have always associated it with exhaustion and panting and cold and thirst and every other imaginable inconveniences. in the past, i rode it because my husband made me. otherwise he will go cycling to parks by himself and i didn't want to be left alone and miss the fun and the beautiful scenery. i rode because i needed to pick up packages from the post office and the bus didn't drive there and taxis were ridiculously expensive. i rode because i was in a hurry and couldn't wait for the bus to take me to the shopping centre. i always felt "forced" to cycle.

that was a year and a half ago. since we moved farther from the main street, my bicycle has given me the convenience of getting there in five minutes. whenever i have shop orders to drop at the mailbox, my bicycle saves me a whole half an hour of walking back and forth. when i'm out of bread or milk or cheese, the shops are a few pedals away. it has made me enjoy going out, feeling the cool breeze on my face, feeling my hair flap and ride the wind, and feeling the thrill once again of my childhood. the simple joys of cycling hard while half-standing, riding through high curbs and bumps and swerving smoothly on curved paths. during these brief moments i feel totally free from my worries, as i become fully aware only of my legs and toes and arms and hands and i've never felt so well-coordinated as when i'm cycling.

kj has been cycling since he started walking. he and his brother and the rest of their schoolmates cycled to school, rain or shine, sleet or snow. they cycled everywhere. mothers with their babies, dads with their kids, grandpas and grandmas, teens and adults...to the park, to the grocery, to school, to work. kj used to have two bicycles in amsterdam and he drags them 8 stories high to his flat. he can cycle for hours and hours and that's no big feat. i may never be like him, but at least i'm starting to love it (and i don't have to drag it to the 8th floor).

i only wish that dublin would invest more on cycle paths, and make the roads safer for cyclists. we are fortunate in this part of dublin though, because we have convenient cycle paths around us that we have never felt the need for a car. the shops in the main street are 5 minutes away in my cycle. kj's work is 15 minutes away, and the big shopping centre and even the hospital are 30 minutes away. we cycle through beautiful scenery all along, and the changing of seasons bloom before our eyes. we can stop at any time to enjoy a sunrise or a sunset, or pick a blackberry from the bushes, or shriek (just me!) excitedly at a brown furry rabbit hopping in the distance.

this video is soooo worth watching, it's about cycling friendly cities.

so, who's going cycling with me?! ^-^

discoveries : toadstools and bees

curious things found during our walk in the woods
beetsterzwaag, the netherlands
september 2009
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Everything is blooming most recklessly;
if it were voices instead of colors,
there would be an unbelievable shrieking
into the heart of the night.
Rainer Maria Rilke

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it;
blame yourself that you are not poet enough
to call forth its riches;
for the Creator, there is no poverty.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Let life happen to you. Believe me:
life is in the right, always.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Live your questions now,
and perhaps even without knowing it,
you will live along some distant day into your answers.
Rainer Maria Rilke

If a little dreaming is dangerous,
the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more,
to dream all the time.
Marcel Proust

Only through art
can we emerge from ourselves
and know what another person sees.
Marcel Proust

The only real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust

The time at our disposal each day is elastic;
the passions we feel dilate it,
those that inspire us shrink it,
and habit fills it.
Marcel Proust

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what have you discovered today?

my favorite things

~♥♥♥~

• i love the smell of parsnip and cucumber and melon and tomatoes
• i love to sauté garlic because the smell reminds me of my dad's cooking
• i love a hot shower before bed
• i love a hot bath especially if my husband prepared it for me
• i love lying in on weekend mornings
• i love being still to listen to sounds around me
• i love to smell my husband before i sleep and when i wake up
• i love the feel of a cool breeze on my face
• i love the warm hug of a thick coat on a cold wintry day
• i love finding treasures on thrift shops and sale racks
• i love laughing out loud
• i love hugs and kisses and passionate embraces
• i love the pop of cork on a wine bottle and of tin caps on jam jars
• i love teatime with the husband when he's home from work
• i love coming home to him too, and being welcomed in a big hug
  
• i love the thought that someday i'm going home to see my family
  
• i love it that i can pray and cry to God when i am worried and sad and helpless for loved ones who are in pain and ill
  
• i love the psalms for it comforts me that, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

what is it that you're loving today?

quote for monday

i've been thinking for quite some time now and finally concluded that we have three kinds of weather here in Ireland. 

1) oh gorgeous, lovely weather! - glorious sunshine, warm and exciting and promising. there could be a soft cool breeze, or none even which is the best. skies would be clear blue, scattered puffy clouds here and there. it meant wearing flipflops, sandals and pretty flats. it meant wearing skirts and tank tops, and definitely a lounging day in the garden with a cool drink in hand or for visiting parks and having picnics or for hitting the beach and baking in the sun (except myself, as i'm brown enough, thank you). a light cardigan would be nice in the early afternoon though. i can expect this weather anytime between june to september. people are happiest and in their best humour at these times...just don't ask me how often we get this weather.

2) Hmmm, not bad... weather - the so, so weather. it's perfect for going shopping, running errands, or for just getting anything done outside the house. could be cloudy but without strong wind. could be sunny, but a little windy. could be spitting rain, but without the gale. could be chilly but without the wind to make it worse. could be windy but at least it's dry. i survive with a light jacket, an umbrella and a scarf to warm my neck. this is the in-between weather too, as it could happen at any time during the year except on winter. people are still happy at this time, they smile a lot and talk a lot about the not-bad-weather, and how it could be worse. kj and i like to cycle around this time too, depending on the weather combo of the day - if there's no strong wind on the menu, then i'm game. if it's windy, i'll come up with 999 excuses why i couldn't go. ask kj, he can recite them by heart.

3) oh dreadful! weather - i shiver by its name alone. it's a combination of the elements above and more, minus the sunshine part. for the visual people out there, it's any or all of these: rain, gale, hail/sleet, snow, frost, freezing temperature, dark clouds. mix and match, and you have the recipe for this weather. starts in november and ends around the early part of march. time to bring out the antique hot water bottle as well as our electric footwarmer which looks like a giant Uggs boot for when we're watching tv, and not to forget our dearly loved electric blankets. if anything, we like to be VERY comfortable in the house. the gas bill shoots up too as we crank up the central heating and the electric bill as well  for the regular use of the dryer, and all our heating apparatus. days are very short and woollen socks and blankets and fleece pjs dominate the couch. sweaters and thick coats and boots are being retrieved from the closet, add to that hats and scarves and gloves to complete the bundle. people still smile and are happiest at this time too, because hot cups of coffee or tea flow continually and family sits down to talk and shiver together, and there are celebrations for christmas of course and new year and further on, the coming of spring. 

and that's how i know ireland to be. and that's why i love it here and call it home as well.

pictures galore

now you see me... ^-^

life has been very busy here with me, and i may have felt a tad too tired to blog. tired, and lazy and uninspired to blog. but it's not all that bad, i've had quite a few custom orders received from my shop week after week after week, so i have been working really hard behind the screen. add to that a little paranoia about being online "too much", that i thought about moving blog. again. i'm still thinking about that though, i haven't decided yet. you might not notice it, but i've removed most personal posts as well. yes, part of my paranoia.

anyways, here are some pictures from our last holiday. i took so many pictures that i don't know which to post! maybe i'll do a few random ones every now and then.

i took my stuffed monkey with me, his name's Aap (aap means monkey in dutch!) and i've had him since 2006. kj gave him to me when i was in amsterdam and since then he has travelled with me everywhere. he's still wearing the scarf i made for him when i was still in the philippines.

i also brought with me miss Eire Iggy and she had to fight with Aap as to who gets to sit by the window. kj won by the way, so they had to take turns sitting on his lap.

we met our little nephew B, and he's the cutest little thing in a tiny stripey shirt!

baby B with his doting dad, kj's only brother, F.
these boys have beautiful blue eyes.

Mem organized a small party for us to meet the rest of the family. kj's cousins and aunts and uncles came, and here we were enjoying the weather at the restaurant's terrace while waiting for dinner.

my husband who doesn't like parties and being the center of attention didn't know anything about the party. i was Mem's accomplice and we gave kj the shock of his life.
hi baby! i promise no more parties!

that gorgeous lady standing on the right side is my SIL, Z. almost everyone can speak english then, but they were thrilled when i bragged "ik kan een beetje nederlands spreken".

we went to visit Tante Annie, Oom Piet's wife. she has a beautiful garden at the back of her house.

we went to the graveyard as well, to visit Oom Piet and kj's dad. that's me with a watering can actually, i watered the flowers as well.

Mem always had a cup a coffee for us, and bread and cheese and tarts. and we're not even allowed to help her.

this is the house where kj and his brother grew up. this is where they were born too.

kj and i walked to the woods as it was a beautiful summery day, and met this grandpa with his granddaughter, looking out for insects. i was thrilled they obliged for a photograph.

we walked for more than three hours in the woods and i took soooo many pictures of toadstools and trees and of my husband.

so, let's do more storytelling some other time again. i hope you enjoyed the pictures!
have a great week ahead of you!