Dec 13

Dec 13 WEEKEND MUSINGS

'My phone!' I exclaimed as I searched my coat pockets and watched as the taxi drove away. It was missing from my pocket. I was emailing myself a reminder on the way back from our friends' house last night - or rather early this morning - and my hand must have slipped outside the pocket, the phone dropping onto the seat.

As soon as he realised what had happened, he ran after the taxi. Thankfully, the driver parked to wait for another fare or to rest. Regardless of the reason, I am glad the phone was retrieved as this has never before happened to me. I am so grateful my boyfriend ran as fast as he could.

We skipped the big breakfast this morning. I opted for one of the chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday and the rest of the cookies I packaged up for him to take to work.

When it came time to leave for him to leave for work, we walked out together and parted ways by the coffeehouse. My coffeehouse visits would be coming to an end soon - at least until I return next year. I chatted with the guy at the coffeehouse telling him how I made cookies and cake yesterday. He said my boyfriend was very lucky. I am lucky as well. He then suggested a new scone, cinnamon and apple, which I ordered with my cappuccino.

After the coffeehouse, I walked through the home section of Dunnes. Large stores like Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma do not exist in a town this size but it also is not necessary. America is the land of consumerism and we tend to get used to it. To the buying of things we oftentimes do not need but somehow feel we must have.

I had been eyeing the strands of Christmas lights - which are called 'fairy lights' here in Ireland - and finally bought a strand for the flat. I had an idea to pin the lights to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree but soon realised the push pins I bought were too weak for the cement walls. I ended up simply hanging them over a themostat on the wall. I wished to have a Christmas feel to the place even though we would not be celebrating together this year.

The kitchen saw much of me today as I attempted to bake challah bread with a different type of yeast than I am used to in the States. The amount of this one might have been a bit too much as the bread was huge. Then again, it could simply have been the smaller oven making everything appear larger.

While the dough was rising, I measured out the ingredients for the yogurt cake. I also spoke with my daughter Saffron for a while. At first she told me to tell me about my day. Then when I started to, she advised me not to say too much as she would read it online later. She also stated she prefers to look at the photographs more than reading the 'thousands of words' as she put it.

Before my return to the flat, I walked around town for a short while and found a few photographs to make. Bare trees are one of my favourite subjects to photograph..