England & Cork in the Spring

Back again with another sporadic posting. Schedules are so overrated.

Anyway.

Haven't been up to much lately. The most exciting thing was going over to England for nearly a week, but that was two weeks ago. It was a very fun time, however. Some highlights: wandering around Leeds, wandering around York, wandering around Birmingham.... Okay, so seriously, I did more than wander around, but the big adventure was Birmingham, where Sarah & I went to see the Wind Ensemble perform.

So, we got there, went to the art museum and then wandered around, wasting time -- and trying not to spend money. So after a while of trying to guess when and where the Wind Ensemble would show up, we gave up and decided to eat. Of course, as things always go, when you've given up you end up finding what you looked for. In this case, after ordering food a few band members showed up in the restaurant where we were eating. So, after that we helped set up the stage (it brought back all kinds of memories, let me tell you) -- and then sat back & watched the performance. It was really good. :) The only downside was not getting to stick around and chat -- Sarah & I literally ran from the concert hall to the train station so that we could catch the last train to get to York. On the upside, having "Molly on the Shore" makes for good running music when it's still going through your head.

Other fun things from York: having my first pasty, tea at Betty's (which should make Mom jealous), and seeing daffodils all over town (so lovely!).

St. Patrick's Day came around, and after I got back into town from England, I went with Nienke & some people she knows well from college to a small céilí -- and I actually knew some of the dances! Also: drunk people and dancing don't mix very well, so it's a good thing they were doing easy dances and repeating some of the dances later in the evening.

Ever since then, though, I've mainly been sequestered in my room, writing an essay. Which was almost like torture, considering how gorgeous the weather has been lately. Seriously, blue skies almost all the time and temperatures in the 50s!

This weather (and the additional hours of sunshine -- it stays light until after 8pm these days) makes up entirely for the miserably dark and rainy fall and winter.

Also, if this nice weather keeps up, I might get a bit of colour back in my skin before I get home -- no sun has meant super paleness.

I should get some more research done...term, and therefore classes, are over...but I still have a thesis that needs to be written. First draft is suppose to be done around July, after all.

There's a Henry Moore Sculpture Museum in Leeds. This looks much more like a woman than the "Interior Form" at Trinity.

The beautiful York Minster in the morning light.

The church ruins in the York Museum Garden.

Daffodils from the York Museum Gardens.

Cork, Fitzgerald Park, Fountain seen through some trees.

Pretty flower from Fitzgerald Park.