rflong

Sadly I didn't make the Gaiman signing last night - I wimped out due to a combination of the disaster that is Dublin traffic in rush hour (which now appears to start at 4pm) and my innate inability to stay upright and conscious in large crowds. When I found out how busy it was at 4.20 (thanks for the headsup irishkate - we will meet up on Friday!) I chickened out. I know. Wimp!

Instead we went to Ragazzi in Dalkey, had a most excellent dinner and watched my 4yo daughter flirt with the Italian waiters with frightening efficiency.

It sounds like everyone had a ball in Chapters though and I am still slightly jealous.

After dinner we went home and I did ALL the edits for Soul Fire because we thought the digital box was on the fritz again. After a long and fairly agonising phonecall of complaint that went absolutely NOWHERE (yeah, surprise, right?) we gave up. (And found out this morning that a cable had been knocked out of the back of the box. Ahem. Anyway, moving on...)

I worked, ewh sorted papers and then, to my surprise, I was FINISHED! So I sent it back to the wonder-editor!

It was back to me this morning for FLEs and apparently my new name is Speedy Gonzales!  So I will get on to the FLEs this evening. Did have great fun with a pronunciation guide though, and the need to point out that when pronouncing Irish names it depends where you come from so Ulster Irish and Munster Irish can sound like different languages (well, almost) and I only speak School Irish. And not for almost twenty years at that).

I also found one of the best Wolf pictures EVER!


Becuase we all need a wolf every now and then for backup.

Well, after all that excitement and partially due to the fact that I am now in official holiday countdown mode and want to loll about (5 days to go!!!) we went to Newgrange yesterday. And this time I have photos.

Not many, I grant you. Not for me. And none inside for 'tis forbidden. And there was no sign of Nuada or Etain so they must have been off somewhere else (probably messing with someone else's head instead of being there to help me write Moy Tura Echoes).

There are photos of me and my new glasses (which are fab) but I am hoarding them. Ha ha!

And this I hasten to add is AFTER I tried to make them smaller!!! Er? I'm having issues with Photobucket. Bear with me....

We had a wonderful trip. I forget how impressive it is until you walk inside, look up and think wow! 5,000 years old. Still intact. Lost until the 1600s (yes UNTIL the 1600s). It has grafitti that is over 200 years old inside. In the 18th and 19th century it was a place to visit and carve your initials into the inner chamber.

The carvings on the entrance stone and the various curbstones are still as enchanting as ever. Even my son was fascinated. It's the first time I think we've take him somwhere that has impacted so strongly on him. He's the right age to impress when it comes to this sort of history.

Favorite moment however was when they turned off the lights, plunging us into total darkness so that they could recreate the effect of sunrise on the shortest day of the year. A thin line of golden light crept up the inner chamber. And the light up butterflies on my 4yo daughters' shoes started flashing. :D