La Belle Maison d'Eckety!!

Ok, not so bella bella, but...well, see for yourself!

Before I show you some photos I just would like to set one record straight: when I was telling yous about my mad boomerang shaped house I certainly wasn't crying 'poor me'! I like it, and it likes me. I am very far from the poverty line here and although modern places would be more into the 21C convenience-wise, thousands of people in Ireland live in old-fashioned hoosie-homes like this, both in rural areas and in older sections of any settlement/ village/town/city. We rented a similar place in the country for seven years while we were getting our own place- even the carpet here is the same as it except brown instead of blue, the girls were highly entertained!

Bah! I can't get these into the correct order...

Kitchen, nice size, bright, NO HEAT!



Sunset over the yard- there's an old orchard beyond the shed,
 no access but lovely to look out on trees in the middle of town.

Sitting room, less than 9foot wide so this photo is deceptive.
Note the fab 1970s carpet and fireplace?!

My Christmas cacti survived the move and are perfectly happy!

Much MUCH more virulent shade of turquoise in reality!
Raggedy Ann hides a huge carpet hote I kept tripping on...

Upstairs landing- stairs not steep at all, but all very narrow.

And there you have it- the wee boomerang hoosie!





Keep on sewin' sewin' sewin'

Yesterday I worked on a pinny for a little girl, to match the dress of the doll I made. Progress was good despite...
constantly tripping. Why does Ben-dog always leave his paws and tail lying around?

My Christmas Cactus is flowering! It is a much deeper crimson than in the photo but I think I need to take a photo in daylight. Last year it refused to do anything at all, so I'm very happy with it just now. The weather has turned quite cold so we've been keeping the fire 'in' day and night now. With the damper pushed in at night or when we are out of the house it just smoulders but it's lovely coming in to a warm living room and kitchen.

This morning I spent at school working on the Music. I had two 40min sessions with the older children, and Sos brought her flute in to work with us as well. A lot was achieved and we took a vote on how to present some of the songs ie. with/ without flute/ with flute playing descant/ with flute playing octave above voices/ ditch the flute/ add another class in for extra depth etc. I believe that if I give the children some choices they feel more involved and will work harder at giving a hearty presentation. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Another thing I found interesting today was this: the main school piano can't be tuned to Concert Pitch, and so it is always a problem when the flute plays. It was ghastly out of tune today, possibly the weather, I don't know, so I explained to the children about Concert Pitch and the problem of tuning. They were FASCINATED! I was amazed! I tell you, the longer I work with children the less I understand how their minds work!

This afternoon I took Mom out to Drumcliffe to see a small Quilt Exhibition by Collette Sheerin in An Teach Ban Nua. A friend told me it was on as she knows I sew. Well there was no information about the lady or the quilts, some of which were for sale at upwards of €200 (cot-size and smaller). No photos were allowed as I wanted to take some to show you all. I'd have liked to know what she was aiming for as to me they looked pretty poorly made and I was awfully disappointed. Mom did a TYPICAL Mom thing and, as we were about to leave announced in her deaf-old-lady voice (which she is NOT) 'I think you are underpricing your work and my goodness but your quilts are much better made. I can see why they call it PATCH-work.'

OOPS!

P.S. You've just GOT to visit tomorrow because my sister says I may post some of her Trip Report from Antarctica. She had an ace time, returned to Ushuaia yesterday morning.