A Sky Full of Stars

 

Anne, Helena and myself headed over to Tullamore for a night of debauchery. 

Okay, not quite. Those nights spent in The Palace are well behind us...thank God!

We started with dinner in The Old Warehouse, though there was no sign of the main man, Shane Lowry there!

Dinner was gorgeous, but my highlight was dessert... the Chocolate Sundae.

Hey I was driving so no cocktails unfortunately.

Then it was onto The Bridge House for Coldplay by Candlelight. 

It felt like being on the set of Bridgerton. It just shows how great a composer Chris Martin is, when his music sounds just as good being played in a classical style as it does by the band itself.

Well, almost. Nothing will ever beat their concert in Dublin last August

That night will be etched in  my memory forever!

Don't Mess with my Tutu

 

 

Like most little girls I had dreams of being a ballerina. However, living in the rural village of Raharney in the 1960's was not conducive to attending ballet classes! 

No. We got on our bikes, cycled the few miles to Rathwire, attended Irish Dancing classes

Which I loved, by the way

and then cycled the couple of miles home. Ah, so last century..

Life went on, and as kids we learned to waltz and jive around the kitchen. Later I found my tribe in Leixlip Musical and Variety Group and thus began my glittering stage career!!!

I have no problem admitting that because of my "singing voice" I mimed my way through rehearsals and shows, but I like to think that I could dance,

But there was always the regret that I never had the opportunity to learn ballet and of course it was too late now....or so I thought.

Last week I was doing some aimless doom-scrolling when I saw an ad that made me go giddy with excitement.

It was for Silver Swans, ballet classes for the over 55's.

Yep, that's my age category alright.On the plus side I'm not quite a Golden Girl yet!

So I found myself heading off to Solstice Arts Centre in Navan, not quite knowing what to expect.

It was everything I had dreamed of and more.

As I heard familiar phrases like "first position" " second position", and  a bit of "Arabesque" I felt like I was on stage doing Swan Lake.

Thankfully there were no mirrors so I couldn't see what I really looked like doing it. But I felt great and that's all that matters!

I can't wait for next week. Proof that its never too late to follow your dreams!

Today's lesson is .....

 I was back subbing in my old school for a day. It was swimming day, so that involved a bus trip and supervising the kids while they changed. Nice easy day!

I was sitting at the side of the pool keeping an eye on proceedings. The kids were divided into groups and each group had a swim instructor.

One group had an instructor and also a trainee instructor. I'm  ashamed to say that I did a bit of a double take when I realised that the trainee was a girl with Down Syndrome.  I watched her demonstrate the arm movements  and leg positions of the Backstroke from the side of the pool as the students looked up to her intently and tried to follow her example. By the end of the lesson they could all swim the backstroke like an Olympian.

I had to think about why I was so surprised at first. While I was working in the school I was well aware that there was an ethos of inclusion and of the importance of treating everyone equally.

But this was the first time I saw that someone with an additional challenge who was actually in a superior position. She had more knowledge and skill and the children were aware of that. They knew that they could learn from her and so got on with it.

 They thanked her and the other instructor as they left the pool, I realised that the Backstroke was not the most valuable lesson that they had learned that day. 

So all anti-DEI, put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!

I Love Lent!

When people are asked, 

"What is your favourite time of the year?" 

they usually respond with things like Christmas, Summer holidays, Birthdays, Easter.

But mine happens to be Lent. Yes you heard that right. I am talking about the 40 days and nights leading up to Easter, which is a time of fasting, prayer and alms-giving!

Now hear me out. It's not the religious aspect of it that gets me but rather the spiritual side.I love the whole idea of taking stock of your life, seeing what's going well and what needs improvement. People usually do this on New Year's Eve (which I do too). But resolutions don't last as we all know too well. This is because you can't just decide to change everything overnight and think you will be in the mindset to keep it up.

Research has shown that it takes at least 40 days for a new habit to become automatic.Enter Lent! 

See, there's a reason why it's that length, pardon the pun!

I gave up sugar in my tea when I was about seven years of age and I never went back. I remember saving all the sweets that we'd get during Lent in a biscuit tin until we could eat them at Easter. I also remember my brother raiding my store one year and eating most of mine.

Lucky I'm not one to hold a grudge, eh John!!!

When I was living in Abu Dhabi I even loved Ramadan! If we Catholics think we have it hard, spare a thought for the Muslims.

Now we didn't have to observe it, per say, but of course we couldn't be seen to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. We could do what we wanted to in private.

I was talking about it to my Muslim friend. He said that not only could they not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, but they also could not have "sexual relations" during those hours. I wanted to show how stoic we were in our religion and said that Catholics couldn't have sex AT ALL during Lent.

Well that was just a little white lie!

I asked what would happen if you couldn't help yourself and had sex during the day. In that case you had to feed three poor families for three days.

Well worth it.

Just lets say, I did my best to eradicate world hunger, by causing the poor to be fed!

How come Bob Geldof got a knighthood for his efforts and nothing for me!!!