CHAPTER FOURTEEN — 11/26/2007 — Sligo Part Deux
DISASTER: the kitchen is a mess. I know I know my life revolves too much around food, but you don’t understand… the kitchen is a construction site!
No more stove or ovens, the cupboards have been taken down. We eat camping-style in the computer/painting room. The company is still delicious of course and tonight we treated ourselves to a dinner at Yates’s Tavern (he was buried nearby, at the foot of Ben Bulben).
I guess all good things have to end. Tomorrow at this time I will be in London for one night, a meeting and lunch with my colleague Derek (whom I call a friend because he never fails to bring me SWISS chocolate when he visits DC).
Still I have enjoyed my walks, both through the magical Irish countryside and in Sligo City. I have actually tried to capture the former.
Yes, I know: how pretentious to even think that I – a Swiss Miss without any artistic talent – could paint something as beautiful!!! Even though I attended a class with Catherine and Mary on Wednesday, the end result is a pitiful copy of a beautiful scenery. Sea and rocks in the foreground. Cliffs and field in the middle. Classiebawn (Lord Mountbatten’s castle back in the days when this corner of the world was English) detaching itself from the majestic Ben Bulben. And a bit of sky to fill the top of the page. One of my favorite local views now immortalized by my own shaky hand and some watercolors.
I hadn’t touched paints since high school and even then it was clear that I lacked talent. I got another sobering lesson from my niece Camille who is about a quarter of a century younger than I am. A couple of years ago, she asked me to color one of the pages of her coloring book. A huge honor. I applied myself – tongue sticking out, eyebrows furrowed, shoulders tense. Hard work, but she seemed pleased with the result.
I looked at other pages and asked whether her mother had colored them…no, she said, she had and my sister confirmed. They were perfect whereas mine, as usual, was messy: I CANNOT draw within the lines. As much as I try, I always go a little bit beyond the thick black line. Camille – like her mother – is an accomplished artist in my book. According to her grandmother, however, she does have something in common with me: she is bossy. 🙂
At the painting class, some people said that I looked like my aunt… and we’ve heard it before. Truth is: we look nothing alike! No, not even a family resemblance.
I look (for better or for worse) like my mother who takes after the Swiss side of the family. Still, it is flattering because Catherine has fair hair, blue eyes, soft features and artistic talents!
This year she is exactly twice my age and of course, twice as wise. Anyway, since I don’t want that pathetic attempt at art, Mary said they would keep it until I paint many more and become famous. Don’t hold your breath!
And how do I thank those two gracious ladies? By sharing my germs and giving them my bad cold. As I have progressively felt better, they have been sneezing, coughing and blowing their noses. Mary had to see a doctor and has been on antibiotics for several days… Shame on me. I tried to make up for it: I bought desserts one day… aie aie aie.
Between my naps, my walks and my meals, I have managed to finish the Collectors (David Baldacci) bought at Jo’Burg airport. I also read a depressing book about women’s rights in Pakistan (In the Name of Honor by Mukhtar Mai), and The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan.
I still haven’t finished a book also bought at Jo’Burg airport but BEFORE I went to Maputo (Ancestor Stones by Aminata Forna). I still have a book I bought in a bookstore in Lilongwe… kept as a spare in case of emergency.
See, again that squirrel tendency I mentioned in an earlier chapter.
I am sure I’ll find more books to buy in Dublin airport and Heathrow, more nuts for my nest in DC… and some chocolate but it doesn’t tend to accumulate as much, not sure why.
So I’ll be back at work Thursday (at least physically), sigh. Back to real life where no one pampers me and chores add up unless I tackle them. Double sigh.
Thankfully, some people apparently missed me during my prolonged absence and have promised numerous parties involving cheese (raclette, fondue) and chocolate (fondue and maybe fountain if I am lucky).
I know I know, I am back on the subject of food… what can I say: there is some delicious chocolate cake waiting for me…
Travelling Tastebuds 
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