Mac is back!

Posted on September 17, 2009 by lindaharley

Remember big dog little dog, where I walked my sister-in-law’s  9 month old Jack Russell after she had an operation? Well, the little mutt is back, and he’s here all week, folks!

Now it takes a lot for something to make Max look calm and sensible, but watching Mac race round and round, in and out, jump up on your knee and then jump down again as soon as there’s a noise elsewhere in the house is making the older fella look incredibly dignified and restrained. I swear he rolled his eyes at me this morning as the wee one continued his hyper chasing about. I’m having to type this one handed as Mac likes to sit on my knee while I’m ‘puting.

He’s a smart kid: this morning as Rog and I had coffee in the study, he grabbed Rog’s slipper off his foot and ran away with it. When R and I had finished our sentence, I jokingly looked at cute little one-ear-up, one-ear-down pup who’d returned empty pawed, and commanded “Go fetch Uncle Roger’s slipper!”. To our astonishment and amusement he dashed off, and returned with the slipper in his mouth! He’s also adopted Mittens’ old basket, and there’s an occasional 10 seconds where the pair of them are lying content in their baskets.

Mac and Max in their beds

Mac and Max in their beds

Naturally there’s a bit of competition for attention, and over toys: squeaky ducks and ragged tuggers that have lain ignored in Max’s basket for months are suddenly of immense value to him, simply because little Mac wants to play with them.  And the different temperaments of the breed are fascinating to observe – Mac is a chasing terrier, who sticks his head through the railings where the local lads are playing footie, longing to join in (the boys took pity on him and gave him one of their old and disheveled balls, which Mac ran home with in his mouth, pleased as punch.)

I’m working on getting him to sit and stay, and he seems to be a fast learner.

But I’ll still be glad to hand him back at the end of the week…

Filed under: Dogs | 4 Comments »

We’re going to need a bigger box…

Posted on September 9, 2009 by lindaharley

Jem had her first paid work in a theatre yesterday, at the preview of this year’s panto in the Grand Opera House. At first we thought she was just going to be a sort of stand-in dancer for some photo-shoots, but it was actual appearing on stage, with Dame May McFettridge, and included a stint as the back end of a dragon, which is obviously vital training for any budding thesp.

Jem with stars in her eyes

Jem with stars in her eyes

So today her picture was in most of the local papers, as well as this lovely publicity still on the Grand Opera House website. Honestly, if this is going to happen every time she goes to work I’m going to need a much bigger box in which to put all her photos, certificates, publicity, programmes…

Filed under: belfast, Dance | 1 Comment »

Mittens RIP

Posted on September 7, 2009 by lindaharley

Well we said our goodbyes today to a family treasure – Mittens the cat. She’d reached the supremely ripe old age of 24 (which is about 150 in human years) and at times seemed to be immortal. Every time we left her at the kennels, the woman there enquired what we’d like done should the inevitable happen while we were away…

…and every time we came back to find her hale and hearty, mewing loudly every time she reckoned it was time to eat (every hour on the hour if she’d had her way!)

Max and Mittens share the sofa

Max and Mittens share the sofa

She and Max worked out how to share living quarters – he was as curious as a puppy can be about this strange smelling and moving creature – she’d just bat him on the nose if he got too close. He’d get jealous if she jumped onto someone’s knee – she just purred triumphantly.

I know Roger will miss her enormously: he’d had her since she was a kitten, and that amounts to almost half his life! She used to snuggle into him when he wasn’t feeling well, and even though I’m not really a cat person, even I enjoyed her purring rubbing around my legs. I know my son Harry will miss her very much too – he always made a point of giving her plenty of attention when he visited.

Max and Mittens share the water

Max and Mittens share the water

I left Rog to say his goodbyes at the vets this morning. She’d gone downhill rapidly over the weekend, not able to eat or drink, and falling over each time she tried to stand up or walk. We couldn’t just sit back and watch as all her internal organs failed, so agreed that a painless end was what this dignified lady deserved.

And I took Max outside for a walk while the deed was done. When I turned back round the corner and saw Rog in tears with the empty cat basket I knew just how deep his loss was. There’s certainly a Mittens-shaped hole in our lives today.

Harry gives Mitts her Christmas present

Harry gives Mitts her Christmas present

Bye bye Mitzi, it was lovely knowing you.

Filed under: cats | 4 Comments »

Beijing’s Olympic Village

Posted on September 5, 2009 by lindaharley

It was so good in China to be able to see the very very old as well as the brand spanking new.  I’m a huge fan of modern architecture, and one of the highlights of last year’s Olympics had been marveling at the structures that had been erected for the event.  So I was thrilled to be seeing the Birds Nest Stadium and the bubble swimming pool building up close and personal.

The village is a huge draw for lots of school parties, and Roger and I were charmed when a group of young schoolgirls, aged about 8 or 9, chorused “Hello!” in unison to us, and then giggled behind their hands when we replied.

The usual touts and vendors were there, and though a glass model of the birds nest was tempting, we resisted.

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Golden Anniversary

Posted on September 4, 2009 by lindaharley

Well it’s all over! All the organising and planning finally played out, and we had a rather wonderful family get together. Bit of a last minute hiccup in the DVDs: the so-called pro that I’d given the tapes to ages ago (as well as a large sum of money) produced, with less than a week to go, some poor quality disks that had to be redone (and even then, still weren’t working properly). I had a long cry, a loud scream, and then set about making the disks at least look good. I bought from PC World, for £15, some software that could use existing photos and turn them into labels for the actual disks themselves, as well as inserts for the boxes. And I have to say, when I was finished (last thing on Saturday night before the do…) the result was quite impressive! And anyway, it’s the boxes they’ll be showing to their friends, more than the actual contents.

The song went better than I could have hoped for. Everyone agreed to join in (even teenage boys who rightly pointed out that it was cheesy and stupid). Dr Drama waved her magic theatrical wand and sorted out harmonies and intros, and absolutely vetoed use of tambourine (too Sally Army). We were just getting ready to perform, using the ruse that I was going to recite a pome, when the photographer arrived! We hastily stashed the guitar behind the sofa, posed outside for photos, and then waited for him to leave, while my Dad kept topping up his whisky glass….

Mum, dad, cake and song

Mum, dad, cake and song

Eventually we got to perform, Mum and Dad were suitably gob-smacked and teary-eyed, and we all hugged and laughed.

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Summer Palace

Posted on August 23, 2009 by lindaharley

This beautiful collection of buildings set around a large lake was the peaceful summer retreat of the Emperor and his family. It was a favourite haunt of Dowager Cixi, who reputedly built the folly of the marble boat with money that had been intended for the Chinese navy. The 900m Long Gallery is decorated with colourful paintings, and noisy sweet corn vendors yell their sales pitch. The lake is peppered with a variety of boating activities.

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Godspell

Posted on August 20, 2009 by lindaharley

J has been working her little socks off for, well, most of the year really, towards MT4UTH’s production of Godspell. This was a bit different to the usual “Musical in a Weekend” projects that they do – firstly they had a whole 6 days to rehearse this one, and secondly, it was being staged in Belfast’s iconic Grand Opera House. J was particularly chuffed that she got her picture in some of the local papers, on the eve of her 16th birthday.

Jem leaping over cars in a single bound

Jem leaping over cars in a single bound

My sister and her family accompanied me, and we had seats in my favourite row at the front of the Upper Circle. We were in pretty good form as we’d been quaffing champagne all afternoon to celebrate her getting her PhD. <hic>

J really does shine when she dances! She was in the front row for most of the numbers, her big smile reaching right up to the Gods. Aly described her as looking as if what she was doing was just THE most wonderful thing she’d ever been asked to do.

She also made a very good plague 🙂

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Temple of Heaven

Posted on August 13, 2009 by lindaharley

The Temple of Heaven, Tiantan, is a classic Ming-dynasty building, a picture in stone of ancient Chinese cosmogony,is a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design. Well, that’s what my guidebook says anyway. I was very taken by the huge numbers of locals out doing a variety of exercises in the grounds: retirement age is quite low in BJ, and so the residents relish the socialising aspect of these communal activities.

Back in its heyday, the temple was used once a year, to pray for the harvest at the Winter Solstice, requiring 3 days of fasting in advance by the Emperor. It’s an incredible circular building, made entirely of wood without any nails, painted in dazzling colours. We particularly loved the tale of the sacreligious caterpillar, who was struck by lightning as it reached for a golden ball in the roof of the building in 1889, when it was struck by lightning, causing a fire which destroyed the building. 32 unfortunate court officials were executed for allowing this to happen!

Filed under: China | 2 Comments »

Forbidden City, Beijing

Posted on August 11, 2009 by lindaharley

We’d lost a bit of time in getting here, not least due to Beijing’s notorious traffic congestion, and so our meander through the succession of colourful rooms and marvellous treasures was speedier than such riches really warranted. But my what a glorious building.

We’d started at the back entrance, and worked our way forward until we reached the vast square familiar from The Last Emperor, emerging finally under Mao’s portrait at Tian’anmen – Heavenly Peace Gate.

Filed under: China | 1 Comment »

The Great Wall

Posted on August 10, 2009 by lindaharley

It’s 4,000 miles long, but no, you can’t see it from space. But you can see the moon from here, if the conditions are right! Conditions were…well, rather misty on our visit. But it was the last site we visited in China, so the weather had to be endured, and actually, the mistiness probably adds to the atmosphere.

I think every one of us on the tour was visibly moved by actually being here. The wall is well over 2,000 years old, and is yet another reminder of China’s turbulent past: an astounding feat of engineering to construct this massive wall on top of a mountain, to keep out invaders.  Nowadays it is possibly the main tourist attraction – I know when we were looking at different itineraries we felt we really couldn’t go all the way to China and NOT see the wall.

The dancing bit came about cos I’d asked another tour member to video me walking on the wall, but a few of our happy band had gathered at that point, and were shouting out to me to dance down. So I never like to disappoint an audience!

It’s tough work walking on the wall – there are some very steep sections, and the steps are uneven, so you have to be very careful where you tread.

The hard sell from the gauntlet of souvenir shop owners, lined up one behind the other on a narrow path as you exited the cable car, was the most intense I’d come across in China. They waved their Tshirts and chopsticks and called out “One dolla, one dolla”. Of course nothing cost one dollar, this was just to make you stop and look, although that didn’t prevent one particularly pedantic Englishman in front of me trying to explain the intricacies of the foreign exchange market to a wizened old woman intent on making a sale…

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