The Bakker Bugle B&B has had their second guest check in. Doug, Will’s brother, arrived early Thursday morning for a short visit. After four fast days, he’ll head back home on Monday.
Due to staff constraints, the Bugle will not award a commenter of the week for the Week ending September 29. Instead, we will award a commenter of the two weeks ending October 6.
Stay tuned for more exciting BB B&B updates. Our guest is keeping us plenty busy and we’re really enjoying having him here!
On Monday, I picked up our key to Fitzwilliam Square. We are now members of the Square’s association, and thus have the right to bring up to six guests with us onto the grounds of one of the last private parks in Dublin’s city centre.
Is it karma that summer ended, definitively, this week? What did we do to make the weather get so cold, so quickly? I will put on an extra layer or two and put some photos on flickr shortly.
The Irish use a charming euphemism for a cold snap: “It will be fresh,” or the always inviting forecast, “Fresher, with winds at near gale.” Here’s a rough definition for you: “Fresh” means “get out the gloves and sweaters, lads, ’cause it’s a weenie-shrinker.”
It’s typically pretty easy to become a contender for commenter of the week: Pander to either Will or 
Anita. But during Constitution Week, not a single commenter took the easy route by commenting on either of Will’s favorite subjects, the US Constitution and pirates.
Instead, Keely and Sharon challenged themselves. Sharon’s sundry comments showed a great range of interests. But Keely is Commenter of Constitution Week. Keely expressed a preference for the 
BBB over Friday night television. She clinched the award with her comment at The Bugle at Flickr, thereby helping promote the expansion of the Bugle empire. (See illustration of that expansion at right.)
There is no special “Constitution Trophy” because Keely didn’t say anything about the Constitution. (A few of the Bugle staff are disappointed, but most think that Keely is more than deserving of this prize.) All the Bugle staff acknowledge Keely as the sovereign and legitimate award-winner. I, for one, welcome our new overlord of the comments. Viva Keely!
As Sharon mentioned in the comments, we are walking a lot more since we moved to Dublin. Will is walking many kilometers every day because it is his major form of transportation. I have the car, so during the work week I walk little, drive much. But on the weekends….
Living in an apartment has changed the way I get out of the “house.” Back at Shadowrock, I could slip out the back door and sit in yard, enjoying nature at my doorstep. While our back garden is a pleasant spot, only gets direct sun for a limited time each day. In order to escape the apartment and enjoy the day, walking has replaced sitting. Sometimes we walk as the main activity, other times we walk to get to a park to sit and enjoy the sun. Either way, I am definitely walking more.
It is easier to walk in the city, because you can go a short distance (or farther afield) and constantly find things that draw your attention or interest. Plus, with parking at such a premium, I would rather walk for 15 minutes than drive for 5 and struggle to find parking for 10. Will this continue when we are again living at Shadowrock? While I want to say yes, I’m afraid that I will fall back into the convenience of a car in the garage and plentiful free parking at every turn.
But until then, each Saturday morning that I wake up and see beautiful blue skies (like we saw again this weekend) I will prod Will out of bed and out into the street, for a walk around our city. Plus, maybe the walking will help counteract the excellent Irish butter that I seem to spread on everything. Man, it’s really good butter.
Let’s start with an English loanword that originated in Irish: galore. In context: “Once I discovered the library’s DVD collection, I had movies galore.” Or, “When he took a photograph of the customs area, it was security guards galore.”
“Galore” is derived from the Irish, “go Leor,” meaning “enough.” As you can see, the English version is just a minor change of spelling.
“Ceart go Leor” means “Everything is alright” in Irish — at least in Cork, it does. I think that “ceart” means “just” or “very” in this context.
“Maith go Leor” is sometimes spelled “mongalore,” which is closer to the English pronunciation. “Maith go Leor” means “doing alright” in eastern parts of Ireland; it has a connotation closer to “tipsy” in western parts. (from Dolan’s Dictionary of Hiberno-English)
So if you wanted to be clever this weekend, you could say, for example, “D’ya tink Dave was a bit mongalore last night? He must have been celebrating his Bugle awards.”
Warning: Speculation
I don’t understand Irish grammar yet, but I think that the word “go” is a verb-modifier somewhat like “to” in English — as in, “I’m going to build a bench.” I’ll find some books to become better informed, but I’m swamped right now.
Hello, all! I just posted some photos of the Tour of Ireland on our flickr account. And I wrote a bunch of text for each photo. Are you sitting comfortably?
The best way to enjoy the photos is to click through, in order, as a set. Here’s how you do it.
1. Open the set by following the link:
http://flickr.com/photos/willbakker/sets/72157602086146256/
2. Click on the first photo — the upper-left corner of the group.
3. Read the title, above the picture. Read the description, below it. Snicker, guffaw, marvel at my wit.
4. Check to see whether there are any “notes” on the photo — boxes on the picture itself that point out details.
5. If you have something to say, write a comment! (Disclaimer: Comment on Flickr may or may not be eligible for Commenter of the Week awards. Bakker Bugle not responsible for any injury and/or loss of income due to commenting activities.)
6. Time to move on. There’s a grey control panel to the right. It shows the previous photo and the next one. Click on the next photo.
7. Repeat until:
Oh no! Don’t be sad! There’s another set! But it won’t take as long. Start here:
http://flickr.com/photos/willbakker/sets/72157602086280884/
If you don’t want to see next year’s Tour by the time you’re done with this, then I’m not worth what Fáilte Ireland is paying me.
After traveling the first part of September, Will and I were eager to reconnect with Dublin this past weekend. While Will really wanted to reconnect via a nap, I thought a long walk around the neighborhood would be a better bet. And, since I’m “Annita P” I won the battle and we went for a walk.
Saturday morning was beautiful in Dublin. Cool, but with a warm sun that beat down from the sky. 
We walked towards the river Liffy, through the new south Docklands development. Strolling back home along the Grand Canal, we passed a small park a few blocks from our house. As we passed under the trees, Will pointed out the buckeyes on the ground.
For no particular reason, I love buckeyes. I think they are the neatest things. Once you get through the tough outer shell, the are smooth and interesting. Plus, there are the various medicinal purposes that buckeyes can be used for, if you suffer from certain afflictions. A remarkable little item.
We enjoyed our time back in the States tremendously. Still, I thought it was very nice of Dublin to give us a lovely welcome home, with sunny days and buckeyes on the ground.
Yo-Ho! A Jolly International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day to ye! It seems a little crass durin’ the Week o’the Constu… Constee… er… Week o’the Foundin’ Document o’me Nation. D’arrrrgh, one can’t expect international events to give way for a commemoration whut our own fearless captain didn’t raise his rum to. (Sink me! If it be interestin’, feast yer deadlights on my comment below.)
Aye, I remember back when we sprogs were let out o’our foul urchins’ bulk for a short sun’s spin, to splice the mainbrace with enough grog to keelhaul an English blaggard. I’d play kick-the-bung with me hearties and I’d dance to the Cap’n’s hornpipe for a laugh. Arrr, I even sang an Irish sea shanty now and agin.
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Dave earned his second Commenter of the Week award by finding a little bit of Dublin in his own environs. Dave’s effort to document his sighting of the elusive Dubs-jersey in the wild was impressive. We can only imagine the smooth moves and 
careless elegance of Dave’s Operation Cameraphone.
Fair play, Dave! Don’t take our allusion to British intelligence as a slight on your character. We all know that Bond belongs to the whole world.
“Fair play” means, roughly, “Nicely done” in casual Irish english. The tone is most often admiring and slightly impersonal: Artfully parking one’s car may earn a “Fair Play” from a passing pedestrian. Less frequently, I’ve heard it said with a begrudging tone: After Cork’s drubbing in the All-Ireland football championship Sunday, a Rebel might say to a Kerry fan, “Fair play to ye, Kerry mangled our best men, like.”
Today is Constitution Day in the USA. How will you celebrate the 220th anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution by the delegates of the (First) Constitutional Convention? The US president wishes to:
encourage Federal, State, and local officials, as well as leaders of civic, social, and educational organizations, to conduct ceremonies and programs that celebrate our Constitution and reaffirm our rights and responsibilities as citizens of our great Nation.
What’s your favorite part of the Constitution? Mine is the 14th Amendment. I especially like Section 1.
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