More Frippery

I feel that I am developing a very nonchalant attitude in this blog. The laundry is in from the line all crisp and smelling divine and load number three is out there at the minute. The air is crisp and the winds are blowing and it hasn't rained in three whole days. Yippee! This nonchalance I have to attribute to my feeling of being as happy as a clam. Footloose and fancyfree. I didn't feel this good at 21, 31 or 41. Maybe I did and I've just forgotten. I emailed the personnel officer at the Co Council about my job prospects and while he really couldn't give me any leads I felt proactive. Michael is right. Once you do something to actively try and get a job it feels good. Real good. I'm supposed to make three phonecalls a day to prospective employers. I would like to give my chances at the Co Council a little more time however. There will be another computer course coming up in March which my name is down for so let's see.
The only other thing I have to mention is this blood on the egg. I am a non meat eater(which is good as I live among cows,sheep and lambs) but I like the odd egg on a weekend in pancakes or scrambled. I keep seeing this tiny particle of red in the egg and it drives me nuts. I try to scoop, push,scrape and generally drag the damn thing out of the bowl and yesterday I had to just bury it under the flour. The blood really bothers me which is why I don't eat meat. I feel very sorry for our friends the cows stuck in the shed all Winter eating their straw. Some of them seem to have gone over the weekend. They look at us when we pass and sometimes they moo and yell. They mood real loud at the weekend.
Maybe this bolg isn't so flip after all.

the clothes line

I'm pulling my socks up on blogging as Daniel Doherty, my thirteen year old nephew in Colorado, pointed out that I have been recalcitrant in updating my blog. I have to keep my extensive fan base happy as John and Fidelma, my brother and sister told me they "hate f blogs". Very effing nice! I also have the day off from the job club today. Michael said that we are all so efficient that we can have the day off if we like and that we can look for jobs at home and that he doesn't need to be looking over our shoulders anyway. Very true indeed. I hope he hasn't decided we are an unmotivated group since he started talking about the job in the betting shop. Alfords the bookies need some employees and they told Michael that they had only recieved five applications. When he came in and enthusiastically told us this he was met by silence from the group which I decided to break by giving him my views on betting shops and the effect they can have on people, excluding him of course. Poor Michael threw his hands in the air and ran out of the room. As he had mentioned earlier that he had won 450 euro I can understand his enthusiasm. Any way I'm off today and I've cleaned half the house, wrote a small chapter of my novel and am heading into Mc Hughs in Sligo for a power lunch on job hunting with the Fas femmes.
With regard to the clothes line. The rain has stopped today and there's a cold wind blowing through. The clothes on the line are still not dry and I have decided they are not gettong back into the house until they are at least ready to go on the radiators. A practice Cesar disapproves of greatly!

Drying Clothes and Job Hunting

I have been missing in action for a while now because of the job club. It goes from 10.00 to 1.00 which is nothing but I've been revamping my CV which is a huge amount of work. Michael (the teacher) said that one should have a master CV on the computer which can be many pages long and that when you apply for a job you tailor the CV from the master. I had a very skeletal CV because I was shooting for brevity and now I'm doing the opposite and trying to flesh it out. I am fond of brevity so it's hard enough for me. Also, at 51 there is so much stuff I've done over the years that I can't remember the details. One of the myriad of classes I took at night in Montgomery College was technical writing. Can I remember the name of that qualification? It's two college credits but years away from a degree. I never got the chance to use it but I did learn something. It's just damn hard to flesh it out. The other thing that's happening is that I am seeing my CV differently now. Muchael had us do a five year plan which also upset my applecart. There I was, aiming for an office job and leave it at that. Get a steady job, get a mortgage, buy a house and raise our kids. This is how people lead their lives yet my CV has writing and writer flashing all over it. One more time I feel my ship is losing it's direction and can't figure out which shore to head towards, if any. Still it is a terrific course and Michael is an inspiring teacher. Today we covered job searching proactively as opposed to reactively. We have to make a list of where we would like to work and phone and talk to the decision maker. I just can't figure where I would like to work. If I could I would phone them up this minute.
The clothes are on the line for nine days now. We bought a dryer when we moved in here but I try not to use it too often because I have a notion it is hard on electricity. Because the cost of living is so high here one is always trying to conserve energy. Well I have had to bite the bullet on that one. Our last electric bill was 250 euro for two months but the one before was 394 euro. We have oil fired central heating which has cost us 1200 euro since July 1. Now that Winter is here we turn it on for about two hours in the morning and four at night. That's it. It's hot water bottles when we go to bed. Cesar bought a plug in radiator for him for the cold nights. He gets very cold but no more than the rest of us he's getting used to it. He walks 4 to 5 miles a day regardless of the weather and loves it. All is well.

Writing

Monday and Tuesday were very wet indeed and I was surprised to wake up yesterday feeling depressed. Ha !Ha! one could say. I've finally come down to earth and the grass is not greener etc but no, I can rationalize my way out of this feeling of blah. 1. I haven't felt like this since we moved here six months ago. 2. I felt like this a lot more often in the States. 3.Even if I woke up in a soso mood I do not have to go out and clean at least three houses before the day is done. So I'm over it. I had an appointment with a job counsellor to discuss my job hunting. Very helpful. She reckoned I was shortchanging myself on my resume and at interviews. No surprise there. I am of that age group of Irish women who were taught to be modest and never act pushy. Anyway I have an appointment tomorrow with Michael of the jobs club with a view to some mentoring. Sounds good. I would like to get working and get the ball rolling.

However with my newfound leisure I have started writing a novel. It is so much easier being computer literate and being able to type somewhat. Besides I have so much old crap around the place because I have been scribbling for years. Notebooks, boxes, computer files all full with my flashes of brilliance.I can definitely do some cannibalizing. For the longest time I could not read any of my own stuff as I was sick of myself and my pain but now I can read it all. Adios depression!

Snow

There we are packing for our trip to Dublin when it starts to snow. Not a lot but enough to make the drive nervewracking. We couldn't cancel because I had won it in the Sunday Independant and it was all set up. Two nights b&b in the old Jury's Hotel and one hour of iceskating at the RDS. But the temp went up and the drive got easier. We spent some time with friends and my brother John and his family. Lots of fun and we walked around a lot. We took the double decker bus in and out of town and went to good old Starbucks. Siobhan my sister in Colorado had sent us their breakfast blend for Christmas and we had forgotten how good it was. This Starbucks was not sedate and was rocking with people coming and going as is Dublin in general. Anyway we bought a few packs. I think they were about 6 euro a piece which seems so much when converted into dollars. I try not to do that anymore. I remind myself that health care is cheaper here except for dental. My crown fell out and got lost. I procrastinated about finding a dentist and ultimately left it too late. My tooth was extracted the other day for 70 euro and now I have to figure my next option. I was quoted 3000 euro to put in a bridge for my two missing teeth. This man is a German who works out of the old Rectory near Lissadell House and is 20% cheaper than downtown Sligo price. However Leitrim prices are cheaper again and across the border in Enniskillen may be cheaper too. There is a lot of talk about trips to Eastern Europe but I find it scary to get treatment so far away from home.
The winds were howling on Monday night up to 150 kmhour. Cesar and I were comfy in bed watching CNN and the New Hampshire exit polls. They got it wrong again. Lots of interesting times ahead in America. Too bad the media will hack it to death with their repetitive droning on and on. Of course they drone on and on here too it's just about different stuff.
So let me drone on myself about my beloved mountain and how beautiful it's looking these days with it's cap of snow. I have to get a picture and post it. It occured to me the other day that the reason I am so happy here is I have a sense of place. When I lived elsewhere I did not have that. This is my place. Of course not busting ass to try and pay the bills helps too. I suppose the lack of traffic and a nearby beach doesn't go astray either. So whats a bit of wind and rain dare I sound too smug.

New Year's Day

The weather has been dry and cool with some wind. Benbulben is as clear as a piece of fabric complete with checks and a stripe of trees. When I look out the window I am drawn into a meditative trance. This is how this mountain and the scenery in general makes me feel. Rian and I drove down the road to Bundoran yesterday to get some groceries in Lidl and I was hypnotised by the Atlantic on one side and the Dartry mountains on th other. It was impossible for me to be content anywhere but here. To grow up in such beauty doomed me from ever enjoying city or suburban life. The proof of the pudding is in the peace of mind I have found since moving here. But here is the question. How do I reconcile my newfound contentment with my spouse's deep discontment at being here?