Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

We went for the meal deal at Molly's Yard. It was really really warm. But my seafood chowder was lovely and Oisin's burger was lovely but too rare for an eight year old who hates rare meat. Ghin had Pont Neuf chips and Peter a lovely spaghetti. It was too warm though and we were all panting by the end of the meal, dying to leave. I'm now going to make some chocolate truffles now. I am also exhausted. Was in Donegal to attend a friend's dad's funeral. It was the wettest coldest day for standing outside in front of an open grave, but it had to be done. I am sooooo tired...

Went for my run today and using my newly acquired bird song ID skills i heard crossbills . They sound so distinctive that you'd wonder how you ever missed them in the first place. So there i was setting out, glad to finally be released from the tummy bug, although that hadn't gone away, you know, and then they burst overhead into the pines above, these wee comets streaking with delight. Then dropping onto the trees, hiding in plain sight. I cannot see a bird after it lands in a tree. Perhaps that's the idea one would say. But after it enters a tree, it disappears. Yep its gone. The other day, what was i looking at, some bird which had its wings out spread and the way it was...oh yes i think it was some sort of owly thing, the way it was it had managed to camouflage itself agains the sky. Having been in the RSPB now for nearly eight years means that i have some access to the world of birdwatching. I love birdwatching when i can. But i sort of do it as part of another activit...

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The boys are sick. Ghin threw up three times the night before and Oisin's tummy ain't great. I was sick too. It's the winter vomiting bug they say. I don't care what its called, i hate the feeling of helplessness that as a mother i have when my children are ill. I watch Ghin toss and turn in his sleep, his tummy tak sedap, and i want to stop it for him. We spent the day indoors. All playdates off least we passed this on to someone else. We watched TV, made paper planes, just sat round the house feeling bored. I washed sheets and tried to look for places to hang them. Thankfully the throwing up wasn't repeated after that. Which means hopefully that the bug is gone. I admit that to kill the bug i gave him a teaspoonful of brandy and honey. It was the first time Ghin took 'medicine' as such. Most medicine here tastes like syrup. Medicine should taste awful. And the brandy was awful. I'm hoping that that did the trick. Failing which i was going to brew a con...

Yesterday i watch The Corporation from start to finish. I always seemed to arrive in the middle of it's screening or just dipping in and out. It was a shock to see George Bush Jr again. It think he used to the President of the US - talk about a Manchurian candidate. I cried in a lot of parts. And shook my head at many others. And after that more than ever i am resolved that this year will be the year that i will make the most effort to get off the grid and my dependance on the multinationals. As much as possible. Corporations are psychopaths. People who work in them become that way as well. There is something hideous about an institution, even when it purports to do well to be a charity. See the church and the way charities treat their staff. There is a complete disregard for the individual and group think becomes overwhelming. Mostly this is because of either fear or apathy...and it is this fear or apathy that let the madmen take over the house. And that madness is an obsession wi...

So after some complaining, here are pictures from the past two days. Oisin and i went for a boogie at the Lawrence Street workshops. A totally cool venue and a great child friendly atmosphere. People were happy and not aggressive at all, and very chilled and laid back and so wonderful without trying. Oisin danced for a good two hours and then said he had to leave cos he was tired. Bless. The background of the stage is made of bits of discarded bicycles... Here's Oisin in his St Gobhnait's outfit. Here's Ghin at the markets, playing with my phone... Mummy i want the blocks...Tetrix... Smile Ghin!!! That's the roast hog - look at the bak pok!!!! Yummy!!!! It's Chinese New Year and i have lived for 12 years outside Singapore - long enough to no longer recall the excitement of a Chinese New Year morning. Or indeed the eve. There were rituals which we all did, rituals which made no sense, but we did them anyway, to bring good luck. Being the hodge podge of Chinese-Singap...

I'm now doing this bird ID course and it is fantastic. A friend of mine, Anthony is giving it, and he is really excellent. I'm especially loving the way he is trying to teach us bird calls. The sillier they are as a mnemonic, the better you are to remember to them. So a goldcrest singing sounds like a car trying to start in the middle of winter over and over again. Fieldfares sound like hedgeclippers that metallically go chuk-chuk-chuk. Redwings flying overhead in the night as they migrate sound like hundreds of shooting stars - hiss! And long tailed tits sound like ball bearings being hit together. It's excellent. He described the robins contact call as a rickety carnival wheel and ever since i've been hearing nothing but robin calls. One thing i love about the birding world is how people have an in to a world that stand parallel but entirely separate from our own. The world of birds. I asked him about the swifts and he told me that when buildings are blocked up to sto...

i've had enough of moping. I did that for about two weeks. The case of the Edmington boys really put the boot in to the fragility of my mental state at this time of the year. The bleakest and most desperate, despite the onset of spring. I felt, there is nothing good in this world anymore - an utterly irrational thought, of course - why should anyone bother. That and coupled with my frustration with everything - from the environmental movement to the media, from politicians to football players. The only saving grace has been the family - the boys and how they are growing. I spend as much time as i can with them. Their presence is healing and a sort of cottonwool against the horrors of the outside. We spent yesterday evening putting together several kinds of paper airplanes. Following instructions from this highly elaborate airplane book, we made Dragon Boats, Gamma Jets and Spectres. On Sunday we went to Milltown Cemetery. It was a bleak and strange place, sort of a no man's lan...

I've been lying low. But doing lots of writing. It's not going on the site though. Mostly in various diaries. i've also been running everyday now for the past two weeks - and have stopped with the wine and cheese. i've lost 2 kilos, at least i think i have.