Poor Hope

Hope our cat hasn't been well at all this past week and we, Neen and I have been really really worried. Earlier this year Hope was diagnosed with cancer of the bone and had her left hind-leg amputated. Since then she has been brilliant. The missing limb hasn't slowed her at all, and absolutely nothing has changed for her. It was really inspiring watching her deal with a disability many a human, myself included would find life-changing and extremely difficult to cope with.

I have, since the operation naturally been checking her remaining limbs for pain or other signs of relapse but luckily up to this week she has been completely clear. Tuesday morning last she left the house fully fit, but by the time she returned home later that afternoon her remaining rear leg was swollen and visibly sore. We immediately became worried because the injury was identical to the early stages of what we now know to have been bone cancer.

We kept her in for a couple of days and when then swelling worsened we brought her to the Vets Friday night. They were equally apprehensive but initiall inspection of the limb in question found no evedince just yet of relapse. The vet gave her antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory's and we are bringing Hope back in tomorrow for an x-ray which should shine some light on the issue. If it is as we fear, cancer the only option will be to have her put to sleep, as obviously she can't nor should one expect her to live with only two limbs. It's heartbreaking and I have been so worried this week. Besides the foot, she is in a great mood, all we can do is hope and pray it's not as bad as it seems.

My Saturday...

Saturday morning while Neen was at her weekly Stitch'n Bitch group I went to see my cousin Mark playing for his football/soccer team Renmore. It's my first time making a match and he played a blinder I'm really proud of him. My grandmother lives just 5 minutes from the pitch so I also dropped in for a cup of tea and a chat with her before walking into town to run some quick errands. Town was really beautiful, all the Christmas decorations were up and the the atmosphere was wonderful...eventually I made it home, cold and tired after the long walk. I was welcomed by a lovely, warm and freshly cleaned house all thanks to Neen who had been working hard cleaning and tiding all evening  Neen the cats and I had a really great cozy night in.

Curious and Curiouser...

A couple weeks ago my Nokia E63 broke, I explained what happened in an earlier post but to surmise water got into the phone and fried the circuits. I was bummed, I looked into getting a replacement but the options available weren't great. Realistically I needed a couple of specific features WiFi, Qwerty keyboard, Camera and large screen...and the current phones available with said features were pretty pricey. I opted to wait until maybe after Christmas and ended up borrowing a phone to temporarily tide me over.

So what to do with the broken handset? The store confirmed water damage such as this can't be fixed, you also can't trade in a non-working handset against the eventual purchase of a new one. I decided instead to recycle it. I remembered a place that recycles old phones, envirofone.ie. Well I e-mailed them, they sent out a freepost envelope and the day I was sending the phone off I thought to myself..."I know I've checked countless times this week but before I seal the envelope I'll try to turn it on one last time" Well I turned the phone on, and miraculously everything was working again. No more flashing interface and unresponsive keys. I couldn't believe it. It's been working perfectly since and with any luck i'll at the very least get a few more months out of it! The  Fins really no how to make a  hardy phone.

Galway Continental Christmas Market

Friday night saw the official opening of the Galway Continental Christmas Market.This is a first for the city and is taking place the Kennedy Park Eyre Square. Neen and I went in to check it out on the opening night and  the atmosphere was  amazing. The whole event is a wonderful boost for the city. There is absolutely loads to see and multiple visits are a must. I love Christmas so much and the presence of the European style market and of course a traditional Santa's grotto in the very centre of the park will undoubtedly do wonders in lifting local spirits. We sampled loads of food on the night, European potato dishes, German bratwurst sausage, Dutch Apple and Cinnamon donuts and chocolate waffles. Very much looking forward to having a second look around this weekend and maybe buying a pair of mittens or a hand-made Christmas ornament or two.

Galway Christmas Market (19th Nov - 19th Dec 2010)

Market Opening Hours:

Monday - Wednesday: 10am - 8pm

Thursday - Saturday: 10am-10pm

Sunday: 1pm - 6pm

Candy Corn and Candy Pumpkins

Yum...Hallowe'eny goodness! I love candy-corn, but you can't get in Ireland, Aidan and Colleen, my aunt and uncle livin' in Chicago were visiting Galway last week and very kindly brought us over a bag of goodies, chocolate and vanilla tootsie-rolls, candy-corn, charms lollipops... It's kind of good that we cant get it in Ireland, it means all the more on the occasions we do have some! 

Twinkle Twinkle

Mice, Wolfmen and Zombie Cats

I woke up this morning and as per usual found the cats sleeping in the studio. As I entered Sora and Hope gingerly awoke and with groggy, sleepy, snotty-eyes they dragged their furry bodies across the floor half stretching, half walking and rubbed themselves against my legs like awkward zombies.  To the untrained eye all would appear normal but something was definitely amiss. I stood for a beat just listening and realized things were a bit too quiet. Usually the mere thought of breakfast made the cats boisterous and giddy, Hope especially, but this morning not a creature was stirring not even a mouse....

Maybe I spoke too soon! Suddenly I heard an all too familiar rustling noise, then Sora quite calmly walked over to the source, somewhat uninterested and looked back to me as if to say, 'It's in here!' They had once again brought in a live mouse and at this stage had left it for me...how generous of them!

I immediately scooped up the cats and relocated them to the sitting room, shut the door and returned as quickly as possible to the studio. Occasionally animals brought in the house were largely left unharmed. Hopefully this was a similar situation. If I found him, I might be able to give him a bit of grub and release him to safety outside. The mouse was indeed still alive and as far as I could tell in good health all things considered. I proceeded to block off any and all escape routes and cornered the mouse. I assumed it would be a relatively easy capture but alas it wasn't. The mouse was very afraid, but equally intelligent. He knew "if I don't move I wont be eaten." So he stubbornly stayed put no matter how I tried to coerce him out. I offered bread, which he ate, cheese which he didn't but still he stayed firm.

For two hours I sat on the ground waiting with a plastic Tupperware jar, trying everything I could think of to encourage him into the jar. Bread trails didn't work...neither did loud noises. He would not budge no matter how I tried. I became very aware that if not careful I could inadvertently hurt him in my attempts. He was genuinely scared and simply thought me to be a much bigger cat, simply another predator to avoid. Eventually from perseverance, patience and a smidge of trust on the rodents side, the mouse tentatively ambled from his corner and reluctantly entered the plastic jar. 

Relieved and tired I sat down for a minute and the both of us took a rest. I debated whether it would be best to grant him some recovery time before releasing him, but he appeared OK and I thought the quicker the whole ordeal is over for him the better. He had no visible injuries of any sort and appeared alert so I went outside and released him into the safety of the back shed. Relieved he scurried off...unscathed and ready to fight another day!

I was very relieved to have been able to rescue him but at the same time apprehensive that any of my attempts, however careful may have caused him grief or God forbid pain...I genuinely tried my best and as I type I hope he is happily exploring the moon-kissed night.

On a secondary note, look what arrived today. The signed book and pouch Neen and I won, as mentioned in this earlier post. I'm only a couple of chapters in at this stage but thus far it is a hugely interesting read, I'm really enjoying it. The pouch too is very cool! I love them both and will always cherish them. Hopefully Neen and I will be able to visit Shaun's Wolf Centre in England one of these days...

Old Football Shirt & Good Memories

My mother dropped by the house the last day and brought with her this old Rep. of Ireland football jersey of mine which she found. The shirt dates back to 1996-98 and I remember it well for a number of reasons. Firstly it was the first Irish football shirt I ever owned. I bought it in Roaches Stores (now Debenhams) when I was 13 or so. I wore it during my first ever Senior International Football match, a Rep. of Ireland vs Mexico friendly in Lansdowne Road.  .

Funny thing is, although this was their away strip, Ireland wore it that day as the green Mexico shirt was too similar to our own. It was such a nice surprise to see the team unexpectedly wearing the same shirt as me, especially given the rest of the crowd were predominately wearing the more popular green replica home kit! I got a huge kick out of being one of the few in the crowd donning the bright orange (rather unpopular) shirt. I know all these little details are probably pretty boring to all of ye...it's kind of funny the memories one holds on to. I guess this match and shirt are especially important to me because this was the first and only game my father and I ever attended together. I'm getting a bit of deja vu here so forgive me if I've mentioned all of this before. The hat below is one of my favorite possessions. It's been years since it fit, but it is a hat my father bought me all those years ago at the aforementioned match...Any one have any similar sporting/family bonding memories?

Bad Luck, Good Luck...

It's been a week of mixed-virtues. On Thursday within an hour or so my phone broke, and my computer started bugging out! The phone is unfortunately a right-off...I got caught in a rain shower and water seeped into it somehow.....The computer however I'm still working on. In truth there is no fault with the computer itself. A single program I use every single day Adobe Flash has a bug of some sort and keeps crashing and causing the computer all sorts of problems. This has happened once before...and I did eventually managed to fix it, unfortunately I tried so many things at the time I never identified the actual fault and thus never figured out which of the remedies was the one to work. Say a prayer for me I get it sorted soon...it's stressin' me out big time!

On the other hand it has been a lucky week too for both Neen and myself. On Monday night while perusing her favorite magazine Neen happened upon the letters page and noticed an email she sent to the editor months ago had been published. On top of that it was chosen as that issues favorite letter and she won a years subscription to the magazine. (You can read more about Neens win and our Halloween weekend on Neens blog here)

Not only that but thursday last we were watching 'The Panel' an Irish current affairs comedy-style chat show. One of the guests that week was Wolf Expert Shaun Ellis (google him, he's great!)...I love wolves and was absolutely fascinated by the interview. 

Any way, occasionally guests on The Panel will bring in something to give away to one lucky viewer. Shaun Ellis had brought in a copy of his new book and a native american pouch filled with wolf hair from his pack...not everyones cup of tea understandably but for me the coolest prize imaginable. To win you simply had to email the production company suggesting why you should be chosen. Neen knew immediately when they announced the prize that it was something I would absolutely love, so before the show had even knelled to a close she had sent in her entry for me. Still feeling giddy and given we had our laptops on we decided to send in a video entry too! So naturally as one does, we sent in a video of the two of us howling like wolves....I know what you're thinking but let me explain! As part of that weeks show Shaun demonstrated his ability to accurately howl like a wolf, and of course the panel of comedians one by one gave it a go too! It made sense at the time...: ) 

So a week passed and this Thursday we tuned into the show to hear the winner being announced...and it was us! Yay! : ) I can't wait to read the book and see the pouch in person. We watched the recent National Geographic special about Shaun Ellis and his work earlier this evening and it definitely left me wanting to read more...it's a book I would have bought and read regardless of whether we won or not! So thanks Neen for entering for me and being my partner in madness!

In case your curious here is a link to the clip in question.... Wolf Howl ( : ) Cringe)

Saari "Blue"