Art imitates life

 I headed down to Co.Clare over the weekend to visit Sinéad. We've only managed to meet up once since the pandemic started, so we had lots to catch up on.

We went for a fab-u-lous seaside walk. Just the right amount of sunshine and wind to knock the cobwebs off!

When it was finished Sinéad suggested we go into town as she knows how much I love shopping. Imagine her surprise when I broke it to her that I wasn't buying any new clothes for a year!

"Where is Noeleen and what have you done with her?"

After thinking about it for a moment, she declared,

"Great idea. You must be saving so much money?"

We strolled around the village and ventured across a little art studio run by Ann Daly. We had a very interesting conversation with the artist during which we learned that it is her art that adorns the walls of the house in "Smother" - the TV show.

Will have to rewatch it and look at the decor!

Needless to say I fell in love with one of her pieces and it had to come home with me.

So in answer to that question....

NO I AM NOT SAVING A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY! IT WOULD BE MUCH CHEAPER TO GO  CLOTHES SHOPPING!!!

Week 2: One year, no new gear

 Another week down. I miss shopping, not necessarily the new clothes, but the art of going into shops and going through the rails to find something that I like. At least when I'm going through my wardrobe, its all clothes that I liked....at some stage!

Monday was that very rare occasion, the sun shining coincided with the fact that I had just gotten my legs waxed so I could expose them to the elements!

Tuesday: I found this blouse in my wardrobe with the tags still on, so technically its a new one.

Wednesday: Going to visit last week's patient for lunch.

Yipee, I'm going on a roadtrip to Co. Clare.

I was going for the windswept look!

Heading to a 21st.....my friend's son Adam! God be with the days when it was just a friend's party I was going to.

Going to the dress rehearsal of Leixlip's "Addams family - the musical"...no relation to Adam!

Last week there were complaints that there was no photo of my one monthly purchase, a new swimsuit. So here you are.....

Well you don't think I would actually post a photo of me IN IT!

Week 1: One year-no new gear.

 One week done - and it was much harder than I imagined!

I'm blaming the fact that I was on my holidays this week. I didn't realise that I used shopping as a way to fill some of my leisure time! The number of times I thought

"I'll just head up to Liffey Valley, have a nose around the shops and then hit the cinema." Nope, not this year.

When I go to Mullingar, I always park in Dunnes Stores carpark. I was meeting the women for lunch in The Gingerbread House and I deliberately parked in Blackhall so that I didn't have to pass any shops. 

Yes, I have it that bad.! I get a buzz out of buying something new and planning how it will match other things in my wardrobe.

So I've had to replicate this buzz by going through the clothes that I have and come up with new outfits without buying anything new.

So I took photos of what I wore this week. Please humour me. It's not that I think I look fantastic 

Quite the opposite

But it's a way of keeping me on track and stopping me getting bored and heading off on a shopping spree.

Monday: Heading grocery shopping

Monday night: Went to Chicago- the musical, not the cold, windy city!

Met the girls for lunch. It ended up involving an

 ambulance and paramedics. All is good now!

All excited going to shop for my one monthly emergency purchase

 - a swimsuit!

Off to see the play Shirley Valentine in the Arts Center - Hello wall!

Easter Sunday, Ger's 3rd anniversary mass and then dinner in Jacqueline's

Only 51 more weeks to go!

The shows must go on......

 On Saturday night the girlies were in town to see The Addams Family-the musical in the Gaeity theatre.

We took our seats and sat back for a night of pure wacky entertainment. It was coming near to the end of the show and Gomez had just told Morticia that he was whisking her off to the sewers of Paris for a romantic break, when there was a high pitched siren followed by an announcement

"Please make your way in a calm manner to the nearest exit."

Typical Irish response. We looked at the stage to see what they were doing as we thought it was part of the scene, well it was that kind of show. They were moving in a calm manner off the stage, so we figured it must be genuine. As we moved towards the exit my mind went into catastrophic overdrive.

"What political unrest could be behind this?"

"How old is the Gaeity? It's probably like a tinderbox and will spontaneously combust before we make it out?"

Mere minutes later we were standing at the front of the building and they were shepherding us back in for the finale. We had enough at that stage and headed to The Hairy Lemon!

On Monday I was heading to Chicago- the musical, not the cold, windy city.

All day on the news the only thing I could hear was that the truckers' protest was bringing parts of Dublin to a standstill. As Bord Gais is on Grand Canal dock, I figured that would be affected. Again, my catastrophising mind took over.

"What time do I need to set out to get there on time, taking huge traffic jams into account?"

"Is it worth while even trying to get there? What if I get stuck in a jam and I can't turn back and I'll be there all night and I'll want to go to the loo and I'll run out of diesel and I'll die of thirst in my car?"

Anyway I set off in plenty of time....and sailed down the quays, over O'Connell bridge, across Samuel Beckett bridge and parked up 45 minutes before I was due to meet Emer. Never had I gotten there that quickly. There was no traffic at all. Everyone else must have been afraid to venture out.

We had a pre-show meal in Milanos. I had to head to the loo first. After we had eaten I stood up to leave and felt a bit draughty at the back. Yes, my skirt was tucked into my knickers!!! Luckily our table was at the back of the restaurant near the toilets, so I hadn't flashed too many people on my way back!!!!

It was well worth the panic attacks. Chicago was brilliant. The dancers were amazing and have made me never want to eat again!

Orchestra doing an  "End-of-the-show" show.

One year - no new gear!

 I have just been reading an article about Shopping Sustainability!

Whoa, look at me being all eco-friendly!

It seems that, according to Oxfam, half a tonne of clothing every minute is dumped into a landfill in Ireland. That amount produces over 12 tonnes of carbon emissions - the same as driving 65,000 kilometres in a car!

And I am guilty of a lot of that.

Recently we had the difficult job of clearing out the family home and eventually going through Mam's things.Now Mam was the best shopper in Ireland. It was her hobby. Anytime she was going anywhere she had to get

"A nice pair of black trousers and a top."

One time I tried to point out to her that she already had 12 pairs of "nice black trousers" in her wardrobe and did she really need another pair? I was accused of wrecking her buzz. She didn't drink, smoke or gamble so it was her one little vice.

When it came to clearing out, it was a mammoth task. There were three wardrobes of clothes to go through. We tried our best to get homes for most of it, her friends, the nursing home, charity clothes collections but there was still a large amount that ultimately ended up in landfill.

That has made me look at my own habits.

I am my mother's daughter!

Going through my clothes I realised I live in a wardrobe that just happens to have a kitchen. I know that when anything happens to me, my nieces will be going through everything and throwing most of it out.

Except for my Louboutin shoes! There may be duels at dawn over them!

So I have come to a decision, not an easy one, mind you. I too view shopping as a day out.

But I've decided, I am not going to buy any new clothes, until the 11th April 2023!

Gasp!

HOWEVER..... I will allow myself one emergency piece per month. It has to be a WANT not a NEED. For example, I am rejoining the swimming pool this week and I have pulled out my old swimsuits. These were ones I bought after Operation Transformation....6 years ago. They owe me nothing. I tried them on and they are so threadbare it would be indecent of me to wear them in public. So this month I will allow myself to buy a new swimsuit.

So I can have the safety net of one vital purchase per month, but that will still rule out the

 "Oh that looks nice, I want it" purchases. I will have to think long and hard before I buy that one monthly item.

I feel all good and holy now, practically a 57 year old Greta Thunberg!

Climbing with Charlie.....in spirit.

 Today, April 2nd was the day that Charlie Bird was doing his epic climb of Croagh Patrick. For those readers who are not Irish, Charlie was a journalist and news correspondent for RTE for many years. He unfortunately was diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease a while back.

Not one to lie down under this, he decided to climb Croagh Patrick in order to raise funds for charities that deal with people climbing their own personal physical and mental mountains.  Croagh Patrick is the mountain that good ole St Patrick used to climb when he wanted to do penance. So as you can imagine it is NOT easy for a person in the whole of their health , never mind someone who has a debilitating disorder. Over 3,000 people registered to climb with Charlie today, as well as over 200 climbs organised all over the country.

I woke up early this morning and decided I was going to do something in support. I googled my nearest climb. Living in flat Westmeath means we have no decent hills let alone a mountain! So I set off for Cairn T in Loughcrew, the highest point in Meath.

This was me, halfway up. I was out of breath but thinking "If Charlie Bird can climb Croagh Patrick, I sure as hell can climb this little one."

It was a fab morning, bright and rainfree! There were many people on the way up and many more on the way down. 

Everyone was in top form and there was lots of banter. The volunteers were there to show the way, collect the money and take photos. The sense of community spirit was tangible. So far over one million has been raised and that's sure to grow. the view from the top made it all worthwhile.

 I know we have our faults, but we're a great little country all the same.

Well done Charlie. You're a legend.

Best cake EVER!

 Nanny Ayres, Lauren's 92 year old granny-in-law was hospitalised because of Covid for the past few weeks. Yesterday she came home again, hail and hearty.

They had a cake ready for her to celebrate her return. Nothing like saying it as it is!!!

Well done Nanny Ayres!

Expanding your social life

 I have joined a new group called Social Life  

It's aim is to organise events to make it easier to make new friends and to have fun.

The goal is to provide a wide variety of events to choose from, at each event you will meet new people and some familiar faces too. Events range from dinner, wine tasting, cookery & gin making classes, historical coach & walking tours, to hiking & kayaking, there is something for everyone.

The first outing was to 14 Henrietta Street, a social history museum, tracing life in the building from Georgian times in the 1700s when it was home to one wealthy family,

 to  tenement times in the early 1900s, when it housed over 100 people.

I had an extra interest in this event, apart from meeting new people. I am doing research on Mary Molesworth who lived in the mid 1700s. Her childhood was spent in Dublin in the family home of her father Viscount Molesworth. I had googled where this family home was, incorrectly thinking it must have been on Molesworth Street, seeing as they named it after him.

But that would have been too obvious.

I figured that getting to see any Georgian house in Dublin would give me some insight into her life so I signed up for the event.

From the moment the group of us met and were introduced to each other by our fab organiser Chris,  outside on the steps of 14 Henrietta Street it felt like we were a group of old friends. A bit of craic and banter and then the tour started.

We were seated in one of the main rooms on the first floor. Our tour guide Pat started his talk ........and I got major goosebumps.

Welcome to 14 Henrietta Street which was the original home of .....Viscount Molesworth.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT HAPPENING? I thought I was hearing things.

Of all the houses in Dublin I just happened to visit the one that I had been searching for, but couldn't find.

It was meant to be!

Of course I paid extra attention to the talk. Afterwards I told Pat of my vested interest and he showed me a photo of Viscount Molesworth's great great great.....grand-daughter who had been to visit the house a few months previous.

After working up an appetite we headed to Brother Hubbards for a fabulous lunch.

Oops, I've just reread this and it sounds like myself and Pat worked up an appetite and headed for lunch. No! Myself and the rest of the group went!!!

Even apart from my stroke of good luck, it was a brilliant day out. I would thoroughly recommend the group 

www.Sociallife.ie

Chris Diviney

Founder

0830864235

Who knows I might see you on the next outing?