It’s quite chilly out with blustery winds, but no snow today. I bundle up and get out for a walk in the afternoon despite the weather. I Pig and Heifer deli and order a “Mile High Club” sandwich. While it’s being prepare, the owner (?) strikes up a conversation. Apparently they are Portuguese, and he picks up on my non-native accent. We chat about American politics. It’s a friendly exchange, and the sandwich hits the spot! I reminds me of my favourite from Ike’s Sandwiches in San Francisco.
I head a block down the street to Pearce Square to sit and eat. It’s a very cute, upscale block of small Georgian houses surrounding a small park. The only other people are a young couple walking laps around the park with their two small dogs, who are wound up and running back and forth excited to be outside.
The after finishing lunch, I cut southward into the side streets and eventually come to the Grand Canal, where I turn right to start circling back towards home. I come up to the Pepper Canister church and cut inward to frame a postcard shot. Nearby there is a Starbucks on the corner with two statues in close proximity. I continue heading homeward, past Merrion Square, Trinity College and Grafton Street, then by accident I pass by the famous Molly Malone statue for the first time since my arrival.
The FedEx package I’ve been anxiously awaiting from the U.S. finally arrives today, 2 weeks after the original scheduled delivery date. Among other things, it contains an ample supply of specialty iced tea sachets from Smith Teamaker in Portland, OR, where my friend A works. I used to be a strict fan of Celestial Seasoning’s iced tea blends and still have a stash I brought to Ireland, but I’m a Smith Teamaker convert now… their Exceptional Black and Ginger Peach iced tea blends have really deep flavours. The shipment also contained another Ball two quart wide mouth jar (I brought one over with me) and some ingeniously designed lids that turn them into pitchers. What I love about Ball jars is that they stand up to boiling water, so that you can brew the tea right in them; the glass “canning” jar I bought here in Ireland cracked the first time I tried using it to brew tea, making quite a mess in the kitchen.
The track/lounge pants I ordered are OK but somewhat thin, so not quite what I was hoping for… what I really need are some warmer sweatpants. The other items in the shipment were an iPhone case and desktop stand that make use of the new “MagSafe” functionality of my new phone. These aren’t necessarily impossible to find here in Ireland, but it was a lot easier to throw them in with the other items I was shipping over from the U.S.
In addition to the FedEx delivery, an Amazon package arrived unexpectedly early today… at the beginning of the week, I had ordered a Hewlett Packard financial calculator from Amazon UK for my CMA studies; I actually had almost the exact one back in the U.S. but didn’t think I would need it. It’s one of the models on a short list of calculators that are approved for use during the CMA exams.
Speaking of my CMA studies, I’ve already finished the main lessons/quizzes for my first week, and the next assignment is some reading for next week’s lessons. So far so good.
Until next time….
