Oh Stanny Boy!

I don’t know a lot about saints but St. Valentine doesn’t seem to have the same rapport with animals as St. Francis.

My big plan last night was to cuddle up with her on the stroke of midnight after she’d been to that Valentine’s Eve concert of that Right guy she’s been swooning around the place about for the last ages.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly especially when I heard her getting out of the car humming something about Love is in the air …..

She came in all hazy eyed and barely said ‘hello,’ even when I gazed up at her trying to catch her full attention. That’s just not like her at all, at all. Next, she starts waltzing around with a cup of tea singing this song:

For a minute, I thought it was Stanny Boy and my little heart missed a beat but alas … and she waltzed on up to bed.

I’m delighted to tell you that she’s back to normal today and we had a lovely walk in the woods this morning. It was all green and gorgeous and we were just plain happy:

Love Light in my Eye

See, I think I AM Mr. Right after all!

P.S. I realise now that the other guy spells his name with a W. Does that make him Mr. Wrong?

 

 

 

 

 

Processing through Blogging

Even since I was a teenager I’ve felt the need to ‘process’ experiences and that’s one of the reasons I’ve always kept a journal.  ‘Processing,’ for me, means reflecting on what’s happened and drawing the key lessons, wonders, magic, sweetness, mysteries ….. and carrying them forward so that they don’t get lost in the morass of racing around.

I remember mentioning this need ‘to process’ to a friend many years ago and she looked at me as if I was cracked.  Cracked or not, it’s still something I need to do and, in many ways, blogging has become part of that.

For example, lots has happened over the last few days and because I haven’t written, it all feels like a mumbo-jumbo of ‘stuff’ that risks being lost in a mega tangle that will just have to be dumped.

I would love to know what YOUR view on processing experiences is. Is it fundamentally important to you or do you just move on to the next moment without a thought?

What was SO important over the weekend, you may reasonably ask. Well, here’s a very brief synopsis!

1. I got to see my legendary hurling hero, Ken McGrath, at the brilliant, evocative,  All Star Challenge Match I was so looking forward to last week.

Ken McGrath and Me
Photo: Harry Fox

2. Mount Congreve Garden was beyond beautiful on Saturday morning:

The Bell Gate, Mount Congreve Garden, Co. Waterford

3. Sunday 29th brought happy, happy memories of my Great Aunt Anna who has to have been the most romantic, fun-loving, generous  person I’ve ever known. She married for the first time, aged 72, and she and her husband personified the word ‘sweethearts.’  She died very peacefully, aged 90, at dawn on June 29, 1991,  as she and I held hands for the very last time.

4. It was a weekend of having fun in my new role as marketing manager for The Carpet Shop in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Carpet is all about texture, colour, sense of place … so here’s a sample of where it took me as the sun shone!

Make Hay While the Sun Shines!

And, of course, to the beach:

Summer Carpet