Good Morning!!

One of the last things I told Kitty last night before sleepily stumbling back to Bengals was about blogging. Just do it says I. Not hard. Don't wait. Just write something.

Shoe may be on the other foot now. Actually, I have not yet achieved shoes. Or much in the way of clothing. Might as well use the word NAKED here at the start, and make things more exciting. Even more exciting tho, is that Kitty DID do a blog in the wee hours of the morning. And since she says most of what I would have, AND she has pictures, HERE you go!



One thing she didn't talk about, mostly as she wasn't there, is Octocon. Looking back at my Ireland posts, I realized I nearly completely forgot to mention the convention! OPPS! I loved that Con. I loved all the people on the committee.

I want to thank them specially for having me over and say, if they ever invite you to come, SAY YES. You will not regret it. They know what they are doing, and they have a LOT of fun doing it. They treat their guests well. "Well" meaning they go out of their way to make sure you will have WHATEVER you want.

(Those they did NOT in fact, completely re-do their programing schedule on Sunday so I could go and meet Irish Roller Girls and Skate with them. I forgive them that, since I didn't bring this up until late Saturday night.)

I loved them, and everyone I met there. You know who you are. Thank you!

Now I am off to work, to wake up a house full of people (If you read Kitty's blog, you know who they all are) who stayed up far too late I am sure, and take them all off to House on the Rock for the weekend.

But I shall leave you with a Lovely Halloween Photo. I call it: "Roller Girl Eaten By Zombies At Grave While Dog Poses Calmly For Pictures"



Love and Blogs,
Lorraine

Ah, one last Ireland blog, as we can't properly do Ireland without mentioning Octokitty. I figured since the Convention was OCTOcon, I should bring it on along.

A point or two about Octokitty to begin. I have NO idea what Octokitty IS. There are many, it is not a singular entity. We have lots lying around the house, they appear. The Bengals love them. To near death. (Which is why THIS Octokitty acquired an eyepatch and prosthetic leg.) I gave one to the Dogs once. Bad plan. Sorry, Dude.

Joan of Dark sends them. (@joanofdarkknits on twitter) I think they are lucky. This Octokitty is, as far as I know, the only EvelynEvelyn Conjoined Octokitty. She knits them. She does Roller Derby too.

Which brings me to a point, if I may digress. (which I can, it's my blog and all) If you are lucky enough to know a Roller Girl personally and she texts you from an After Party, after winning the first bout of the season asking if you are good enough friends for her to spend the next several hours drunk texting you: Say YES.

This will be hours of the best entertainment ever. I am sworn to secrecy and they aren't the sort of texts one repeats on such a Gentle Blog as this, but trust me.

I have a feeling it was probably the next best thing to BEING there.

The Joan of Dark Blog is here. What can be reported, no doubt will be.

Back to Octokitty. Here with Poppets, and a Plauge Rat. And coffee. Octokitty made friends all over the place.

Like Louisa, owner of Raven Books in Dublin.

Yes, there are Poppests all over Ireland. I think most people there carry a couple around. I didn't know this. Brought Octokitty and acquired that Plague Rat myself.

Lovely. SImply lovely. Art even. I should mention that all of these pictures so far were taken by Nathilie, except the first, which was Marjorie. Both of whom know far more about using a camera than I do. The next one is Nathilie I think. Then you get ME.

My little Spirit Guide around Dublin, Anabel, brought Cuthulu. (No Poppests or Rats for this girl, she goes striaght to, um, hell? The Top?) Her mother made this one for her. Especially for the Convention. Again, I say, Ireland is a pretty darn magic place. (Even tho she was Spanish, as is her Mother, who lives in Spain.)

What tourist expierence would be complete without a visit to Molly Malone, who wasn't EXACTLY a Fish Barrow weilder but a Lady of the Evening. Or she may have been both. Not sure. I had to chase off a LOT of tourists, (including one with an Eagle), and a Giant Leprechaun to take this.

Crypt. Entrance. No Octokitty. No pictures allowed inside. This was the one with the Lord Nobody Liked. Not for the faint of heart, this Crypt. No tea. Only, well, I think we all know what lies in Crypts.

Oh, look. Me and Octokitty. And that strange Bunny. On the train to Howth, where we would have climbed cliffs and hiked, had it not been freezing and if my legs weren't about to fall OFF.

Again, no Octokitty. But this is the real actual Crypt where one can get a nice cup of tea. You would have thought I would have say, taken pictures of IT, but no, this was all I have from my several visits.

No clue. But they were in drag and they came running down the street. I liked them. And will always wonder: Where were they going and should I have gone too?

Octokitty in the Yarn Shop in Wicklow, they day of the adventure with the Mad Knitter Siobhan. Not sure there are words for adventures involving Mad Knitters driving about the country in search of Alpaca. I will say this for them: They found it.

Here's a shot from today, Octokitty with my new Weeping Angel figure. Here you can see the Eyepatch, and new Leg that Siobhan knitted for it.

I speak the truth when I tell you I don't know what Octokitty IS. You'll have to ask Joan of Dark, she may tell you. She may not know. She may choose to keep that secret

I do know, I am glad it was with me.

As glad I was to have been in Ireland, which is to say:

Greatly.

Love and Remembering Ireland,
Lorraine

Ok, Mes Aimees, some pictures from my own personal camera. Not a lot, mind you, I lack photography skills, but some...

First however, a Link! I got this while in Ireland. Do you recall in the mad days before I left, I spent two mornings helping my Riding Teacher work on a Freestyle Dressage routine for an event she was doing? (Well, if you have forgotten, I did) Helped her pick out some clothes for it as well, including lending a handy corset and pirate shirt.

Here's the Video, of She Who Owns It All and her horse, Aliandro, riding what we came up with. If you don't know dressage intimately, you will love this. If you DO know dressage, honesty compels me to mention we did put this together in two days, with only two riding sessions, and the horse had only been back to work for three weeks after an injury. You will know what I speak of. And love it anyway. I do. And more importantly, I want to ride like that. And look that good doing it. More than want: I am going to. Check in next summer for a Pas De Deux. (The bar has been SET)

Find it HERE

As far as the first picture here. No idea WHAT it is, but I am calling it the Death Star of Dublin.

Onto a Graveyard. Hands down, this wins for Strangest Thing I Have Ever Seen On A Grave Yet. Not sure I need to say anything else, really. Its all there.

I like how this sign is right up on the fence, not buried in the fine print of a contract, or simply understood, but POSTED, so there are no misunderstandings about Common Graves.

There were other Signs in this Graveyard, if one knows where to look. Like this for the Low Road (or walk as it were) Bram Stoker's Mother and Brother were buried here, I was reliably informed by a local Bram Stoker expert. (Who was originally from Wisconsin, as it turned out)

And then, just to be clear about things, we have the Long Walk. Poetic. Sweet even. Much in the same way as "Taking the Dirt Nap" might be.

Now, most people here, are, as you can believe, quite Dead. And peaceful, but that is no reason not to have a Guinness Walk. Share a beer with your loved ones. Remember them fondly.

And a Restroom. With a nice cup of tea afterwords.

And then we have other signs, which tell us things that are certainly not widely understood. Not sure I understand even now, but being in a foreign country, I was glad of any advice, and certainly never turned my back on morning toast after that little warning.

This is a Bunny. From Hell, I believe. And a scarf. They are all over Ireland these days. In the Library Pub in Dublin. With Octokittys. As far as WHY I have this Bunny From Hell and WHAT exactly Octokittiies are, I believe I shall leave it to your imaginations. (Which will NEVER be as strange as the truth, I'm afraid.)

I loved Ireland. Every minute. More than loved, I left bits of my heart all over.



But I am also glad to be home.

Love and Horses and Ireland and I am sure home now!
Lorraine

First off tonight, I need to say that the picture portion of this blog is entirely due to Nathalie in the most part, and Also Marjorie. Left to myself there would be no pictures as I can neither take them or upload them here on my wee windows computer. They however, can do both.

Well Hello again from Dublin!

Hello from Dublin!

Morning! Lots to cover here and not much time, In fact I am going to Blog while doing four or five other things, so keep up. Or get culled from the pack.

I'm leaving for Ireland in the morning. For my first Holiday in, hmm. Let's go with a very long time. (Don't start in on the Evils of My Boss and how he doesn't let me go anywhere, he's all for it, when ever I want a Holiday, things just get busy, you know, and I forget about such things)

Doesn't this all sound nice? I am using my Writing Filter to put it all down, where the thoughts happen, enter the Filter and flow to my hands, and are typed up here, each word a pearl, and in the right order.

Let's try it with the Filter removed, straight from my Brain:

"Ack Ireland cool must write Fiends need Plan for Holiday fly small plane oh no bad idea what have I done New York Hotel tomorrow Kitty Wedding train where dog meds walk Plan Bengals desk papers file claim email gad oops need hotel la meetings talk to guy set up book 10 new messages stop hate blinking blackberry light need pants oops don't call them pants trousers in Ireland going Ireland help need assistant and dalek bag like Boss hope they like me"

See? Kid you not.

So the Plan for tomorrow and no, I can't tell you how I got myself into this is, for my Doctor to fly me in his little plane to the airport, to catch my Big Plane for Ireland. Seems easier than driving. (Flying out of a little airport to Chicago rather than Minneapolis, which was kind of farther away, but the price dropped insanely.)

I hate little planes. In fact, when this Doctor offers to fly Boss anywhere, I throw what can only be described as a Hissy Fit, complete with stomping feet and screaming. But this entire adventure feels a bit like stepping off a cliff anyway, so may as well start as we mean to go on.

Then I go to Ireland. Louisa who owns Raven Books in Dublin, has been helping me. (Small word, she's taking care of EVERYTHING) the Octocon people have been wonderful, I have SO many people all saying come, be with us here, including my own little Spirit Guide from Twitter whose name I can't remember who has offered to be my TOTAL tour guide in the days leading up to the Con. I am meeting up with Fiends Marjorie, Nathilie, Hellie. (The letter I meant to send you all was confirming breakfast Monday week and then suggesting doing, er, stuff. Cool?)

I am no longer worried about clothes. One gets a belt for the pants (STOP calling them Pants, pants there are Panties. This will be important.) And I bought SOCKS, tall ones. It's Ireland. They have clothes there. People will lend you clothes. It will work.

The important things to remember now are things like cords for the camera, so you can see lots of pictures of me bopping about (Hopefully with TROUSERS on) and the right Plug things so I can use my Computer.

I am staying at the Con hotel the entire time. (That's enough info, if you want to stalk me, do your homework)

Looking at my ME notes, as opposed to WORK notes, for the day, I see I also need: Shoes, Cord ack, moist, Octokitty, NOTb fr write and Glamour Magazine (that one I know, they mention Naptown Roller Derby Team this month!) Shower (yes, I do write that down, trust me) and Hot Tub Scale (For Ireland?)

Love and Ireland,
Lorraine

Hello all! Back from the near dead. Am now part of the Only Mostly Dead. You might not want to get this Evil Virus, it knocks one OUT, but it makes me happy it didn't happen in Ireland.