Monday, 26 March 2018

Sunday, 25 March 2018

Isle of Dogs - Dog Friendly Screening at the Lighthouse Cinema

What a fun morning at the cinema! We were up early (after losing an hour due to the clocks going forward) to take Bones for a long walk to calm him down before a special event.

The Lighthouse Cinema were holding a dog friendly screening of the new Wes Anderson movie the Isle of Dogs which we were really excited to have got tickets to.

Bones got his own ticket and it was really exciting to walk up to the cinema and see lots of people with dogs heading on in.
Bones was a little nervous at first because there were so many other dogs and big crowds but before long he was making friends with other doggies.





 When we took our he seats he just chilled out and then proceeded to sleep through the whole film.......which is no reflection on the movie as we thought it was brilliant!!


Before the screening there was coffee and pastries with dog biscuits and water provided for the VIP guests.



Here's the obligatory selfie in the cinema



It was a lovely visit to the cinema and if dog friendly screenings become more common it is something that we definitely would do again.

There were a lot of dogs at the screening so I was expecting some bad behaviour but amazingly there was none! Just one big bark from a large dog when the film started and then a little howling when the dogs in the movie howled!!
But the best thing was there was nobody checking their phone or chatting through the film! The dogs were definitely better behaved than humans at the cinema ;-)


And after the cinema we went and had a very tasty full Irish breakfast in The Third Space in Smithfield
You can read more about this dog friendly movie screening on the Daily Edge here


Thursday, 22 March 2018

St Patrick's Day Parade RTE - Mna na hEireann





Des and Blanaid introduce the Suffragette cyclists from Dublin Cycling Campaign in the St Patricks Day parade 2018.  Look out for me at about 1.30!

Sunday, 18 March 2018

Happy St Patrick's Day 2018

St Patrick's Day 2018 was wonderful!

I set my alarm to give myself an early start and get the dog walked and get myself organised and on my way to my sisters place.
I then had a tasty full Irish with my twin sister in her apartment. Thanks for the great hospitality Amy!


Afterwards we cycled (rather quickly as we were a little late) in costume over to Constitution Hill to meet up with the Dublin Cycling Campaign who we were parading with with.

Our group was made up of 100 women on bikes dressed as Suffragettes to celebrate 100 years of the vote for women or "Votáil 100" as it is known as gaeilge.

Our cycle was led by Senator Ivan Bacik and Meterologist Joanna Donnelly. Unfortunately even though we had a weather woman among us we were not favoured with the weather - it was cold, cold, cold. Luckily Amy and I wore layers upon layers so were not too bad and we warmed up quickly once we got cycling.



There were lots of different costumes but we all wore homemade sashes - some in the purple and green of suffragettism and some in the Irish colours as Irish suffragettes were very much aligned with the Independence movement.


Here's the pair of us ready to get going. As you can see we started without hat scarves but it was so windy that they were badly needed so we whipped them out and tied them around our hats.


Artist Laragh Pittman created the phenomental signage along with Freedom Machine coordinator and creator Donna Cooney.



You can check out more pictures by looking up #FreedomMachine on Twitter.


Here is meterologist Joanna Donnelly up the front and leading the way. Joanna is a regular cyclist and often cycles in to RTE to present the weather forecast. 



Here is Amy in old fashioned clothes in front of the classic Gate Theatre carrying out a very modern day activity - going live on Facebook!!


It was so much fun cycling through the main streets of Dublin from Northside to Southside.


Here we are at the end of a marvellous parade with the brilliant Senator Ivana Bacik. What a pleasure to have our photo taken with her.

From the end of the parade, we rushed to McGrattans to watch Ireland beat England and win the Grand Slam and the Six Nations. This made our St Patrick's Day!
Bones even got in the spirit :-)



Later that evening we went for Tapas and a glass of wine in La Bodega which was a really nice atmosphere and very tasty.



Amy then stayed the night with me and today we got up and took the dog for a walk in the snow and then made another full Irish for brekkie.

Afterwards we chilled out in the hot tub and then had coffees and watched retro TV of Highway to Heaven starring the very watchable Michael Landon. What a blissful Sunday!



Quite a lot of snow fell all night but it thawed today and seems to be all clear for the bank holiday Monday tomorrow.  With the snow gone we can have a nice day tomorrow to finish out the holiday weekend!

Friday, 16 March 2018

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Votáil 100 - Freedom Machine Cycle

For St Patricks Day 2018, I will be cycling as part of the Freedom Machine which is 100 women dressed as suffragettes celebrating Votáil 100.

Here is my outfit including a Votes for Women sash that I made myself.



Amy is deciding between three different outfits (which do you think is best - 1,2 or 3?)
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Cousin Kasey will be joining us on the cycle too.  She is currently getting her outfit together. She says she has a hat and she also has these amazing badges courtesy of her mother!

Sunday, 4 March 2018

Goodbye snowy weather, can't say I'm sorry to see you on your way.

Thankfully the big thaw is on here in Ireland the country can get back to normal and also back to work. Most parts of Dublin are fine but other parts of the country are in a bad way - my friend in Kildare sent me a picture of car which is completely hidden by snow.

I was glad to have done some snow prepping last week before it arrived and I was well set when it started. We visited Homebase for Rock Salt, logs and a regular shovel. 


I also bought a snow shovel!! I've never owned one before but it is certainly the tool for the job of clearing pathways. I got my snow shovel in Argos but plan to buy another one with a longer handle in Homebase.


I was also happy to have a good set of snow boots which have been sitting unused for years in my wardrobe. They made walking in the snow so much easier and kept my feet warm and dry.



My boots helped me get to Butlers for a coffee on Thursday (before they closed up at 3pm) and then when they reopened up on Saturday morning.
Bones will be glad to see the back of the snow too. He was not a fan and he missed his daily walks. We will go out walking now and hopefully most of the snow is gone.
All in all, the bad weather was ok for us. We are young(ish) and fit(ish!) and we live close to the city. Our work was shut down but we were able to clear a path on our driveway and walk up to the main street. The shops were closed but we had bought extra food so we had plenty to eat. Also we had logs for the stove and good underfloor heating (as I mentioned in a past blog the electricity went out on Thursday night but we didn't even notice). On the Friday night, friends who live close by invited us for dinner so we walked through the snow to them and had a lovely evening. So as you can see, it was all good really but I am glad it is over and we will be back to work tomorrow.

A big thank you to the National Emergency Coordination Unit who tirelessly kept a handle on the situation and updated us regularly with information bulletins on the television and online. The army were also called upon to deal with particular situations along with Civil Defence providing help throughout the country.

Pictured below is Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar at one of the updates over the past few days.