get the picture

I'm on a training course the whole week. Information overload is causing evening-brain-shutdown-syndrome. Only 2 days done. 3 more to go. I don't think my head can fit any more in; I'm hoping this doesn't result in a painful and extremely messy brain explosion.

In the absence of imaginative and witty thoughts, here are some random photos recently taken...

Apple Blossoms... sort of...
This tree in our garden gets fruit which smell just like apples and look vaguely similar but in miniature size. The don't taste like apples though, yech! It looked really pretty last weekend when it was in full bloom, so I'm quite happy for it to be an ornamental fruit tree.


This here is one ecstatically surprised Cinderella after Hubby decided it was actually a good idea that she has her own transport and went and hunted down a used bike to replace the stolen scooter. Happy doesn't even begin to describe how pleased she was.
In fact, she was so pleased she made me this:

Thanks to my pal Reluctant Nomad
for providing the recipe - it is indeed The Best Carrot CakeRecipe In The World

take me away from all this

I'm going to Paris!!!
Again :-)
I know it's my 3rd time but I really do love the place, and this time I'm taking young Cinderella with me.
Perhaps it'll make her feel better after some @*#%! assholes went and stole her scooter yesterday, poor thing.
She loved that scooter. It didn't go very fast - just a little 50cc effort that sounded like a sewing machine on steroids - but it was her very own motorised transport. And now it's gone.
I got the call from Hubby when I was on the train yesterday, that he was on his way to fetch her from where she'd parked it - chained to a gate, nogal - only to find it gone when she wanted to come home after school. I thought she was actually at the school. But lo and behold, there I was sitting on the train when it stopped at the station near her school - two stops before my own - absentmindedly staring out of the window and cursing the bastards who would steal from a 16-year-old girl, when something bright yellow caught my eye. It was a police vest. Standing next to my girl-child, who was in tears. I virtually climbed over the woman seated next to me to get off the train, and dashed down the platform and over the bridge to where she was standing in the parking lot. Poor thing, she was trying to be strong and give the cops all the info she had, in between racking sobs. It wass enough to tickle anyone's maternal instinct! Hubby arrived shortly afterwards and by the look on his face I'd say the robbers are lucky they hadn't been caught because he looked ready to murder.
So sadly, our little motorcycle gang has been reduced from 3 to 2 again.
And I'm left marvelling yet again at how we left crime-ridden South Africa for a better life here in Ireland. Did I ever mention that the house we were staying at our first week in this country was robbed while we slept upstairs? And then there were my precious wind-chimes that were stolen but weeks after we moved into our new house last year. And my canvas bike-cover that mysteriously disappeared earlier this year.
And now this.
Anyway, it's done now; nothing more to do but hope the cops find it. I suppose that's the difference - at least here they make an effort to try and recover stolen goods, unlike South Africa where they just provide you with a case number so you can claim from insurance.

But back to the Paris trip. We're going for 3 days at the beginning of June and it's all booked. I can't wait! Now it's just the simple (?) task of getting Cindarella's visa sorted...

I am king of the world!!!

OK, technically, I know that should be Queen of the world but somehow I feel more like a King. You see today I rode my bike all the way into work for the first time.

{{applause and fanfare}}

My license arrived in the mail yesterday (is this the only country in the world where it is safe to send peoples' drivers licenses to them in the mail?) so this morning I dressed in my work clothes, then took them off again and packed them in my rucksack (so I wouldn't forget a shoe or something) donned my biking gear (safety first!) and rang-tang-tang'd my way into town.
In peak hour traffic.
Yay me!
I even rode on the motorway - this is Dublin, after all, what are the chances of the traffic travelling at more than 80km/h at that time of the morning?!
Was I scared? You betcha.
Did I balk at the buses? Maybe a bit.
But eventually I did get tired of sitting in the traffic so I gingerly edged my way out and sneaked forward between the lines of cars, just like a real biker;-)
Hah!
I did it!
By the time I had my bike parked at work I was shaking like a piece of jelly on the dashboard of a car with worn shock absorbers, and there was enough adrenaline coursing through my veins to make me feel invincible. Don't worry - that sensation only hit me after I'd made it to work. While I was in traffic I was nervous as a little mouse!
The other bikers in the office are all terribly excited for me and didn't even complain when I 'stole' their parking space. Suddenly I feel like I'm in a gang, hehehe!
I'm sure in a couple of weeks' time I'll be quite blasé about the commute... but for today I'll simply enjoy the sensation of having overcome fear and conquered the road.

you want my what?

I pulled up outside my house on my bike last night around 8pm to find a small swarm of yuppies knocking on doors and smiling at everyone. One enthusiastic youngster apporached me, handing me a pamphlet, saying something about a local Senator blah blah blah... it's coming up for election time, you see. So there I was, trousers tucked into my boots from the ride, like a WW2 paratrooper, helmet still firmly on head, gloves in one hand, keys in the other and all I could hear (since his voice was quite muffled through the helmet) was something about if I waited a few moments I could have a word with Himself. I blinked at him (it was late, my blood sugar was quite low) and said, "Do I have to..?"
I don't think that was quite the response he was looking for, and he giggled nervously, said, "Oh. No. Of course not," handed me a business card and scuttled off into the twilight.
On second thoughts I could have waited for the Senator to come over and ask if there was anything he could do. Then I could have said, "Yes, you can get rid of these blasted politicians who keep disturbing my evenings now that the elections are drawing near!"
Coulda-woulda-shoulda, eh?!