It can mean only one thing

Scenes of mass making, batch interfacing, general madness and mayhem and enough tiny little pieces of thread and fabric littering the floor to weave wall to wall carpet.


Oh yes, craft fair season is well and truly upon us once more.

I'll be at the Belmont Tower Craft Fair on 3 July to begin with so if you're in the area, pop along and pay me a wee visit. There is also a great outdoor food market on the same day so you can pick up something really lovely for dinner too.

So, where will you be?

The Ulster Museum

We decided that Tuesday had just the right amount of rain and wind for us to make the dash from the car to the Museum without getting soaked to the skin (FYI I didn't take the following photos, but I can't seem to find who did to give credit).

This is the Ulster Museum that I remember, the one I went to visit as a kid to see the dinosaur exhibition and the Spanish Armada exhibition when they travelled through Belfast. The is the Ulster Museum that was worth a visit for the building alone...



This is the new "improved" Ulster Museum, the only version of the Museum that Chloe will remember....


Not what you'd call sympathetically restored, I think you'll agree.

The new museum has lost something for me. Actually it's lost quite a lot for me. The museum is now based around a central atrium with rooms and displays leading off the atrium. I'm sure to a lot of people it's very pretty (on the inside) but the museum has lost all of its flow. A lot of effort must have went into the arrangement and layout of the original museum and displays because you were naturally guided around the museum and past each and every exhibit without even realising (and not a multicoloured line on the floor to be seen).

That flow and natural progression through the museum has all gone now. I found that we were constantly doubling back on ourselves, going in circles and just generally missing loads of the exhibits. We referred to the map (yes a map) over and over again but just found it rather frustrating. I'll maybe go back again myself to try and find a path of my own through each of the rooms and then take Chloe back at a later date.

The exhibits that Chloe was most interested in like the triceratops were for some reason I've yet to figure out, in the middle of a stairwell at the side of the main atrium which made it virtually impossible to stand still for more than a second or two to look at them without being bumped and jostled by other people trying to get to other parts of the museum. All paths lead to that damn atrium making it a very unpleasant place to spend any time.

Its supposed to be light and airy and the illusion of light and air is there in abundance but there's actually seems to be less space to move through the exhibits, the walkways are narrower and cramped and this isn't helped by the fact that nobody seems to know which direction to go in, it was so much nicer in the old building when everyone was travelling in one direction. Still the displays are nice and the coffee shop smelt lovely. It will maybe be a lot better once its been open a while and everyone remembers that they never bothered with the old museum so why bother with the new!

It's comforting to know that once the frustration becomes too much to deal with a short hop, skip and a jump away.....




Is a truly beautiful building. So help me, if anyone ever decides this needs a revamp, I'll hunt them down.



Again, you'll notice sunshine. It did not look like this on Tuesday, but the Palm House is still very impressive and on a sunny day the Rose Gardens are a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

I'm really starting to think that there is one architect in charge of redeveloping Belfast and his tool kit is comprised of a ruler and pencil. If Belfast is on your list of places to see, I'd be inclined to bump it up somewhere nearer the top of the list because if this guy is let loose on much more of it, you may just as well go to Legoland for the day!

I'll admit that I'm probably a bit biased because of my hatred of new buildings (but I hate them because of the complete lack of imagination, a four year old can draw a mish mash of squares and before anyone points out the Waterfront, a four year old can draw round a plate as well). I like my buildings with a bit of character, with nubbledy sticky out bits. Buildings that at least have something to say for themselves. Buildings that don't have severe design flaws such as a full width stairway leading to a doorway little more than a foot in width or stairways which lead nowhere at all, other than straight to a brick wall.

I will say though, that somewhere in the museum (you'll have to excuse me because I haven't the faintest idea where I was at the time) I did catch a glimpse of one of the old set of tall glass paned double doors with the old black and white tiles on the other side and my heart melted for a second.

I'll stop myself now before I question the reasons why the Ulster Museum felt that a guy in overalls with a paint roller and tray deserved the dedication of entire rooms to his "work".

Tallships Belfast 2009 - Possibly Part 1

Yes, you heard me right, possibly part one. You see there were two cameras there on Thursday and I've yet to get my hands on the other one. The other one being the one which contains all of the photos of Toots.

Actually, do you know what, I can't be bothered with all that anymore. She hasn't let me call her Toots in months and its getting difficult to remember to call her that here. The other camera contains all the photos of Chloe. As far as she's concerned she's a big girl now and the baby names have got to go. So there you go.

Anyway, where was I....

Yes, well, we arrived in Belfast at 8.40am (much too early) so we had a lovely breakfast (rice krispie squares, brownies and coffee) at Cafe Italia in Hill Street. Obviously Chloe had milk and not coffee, but she really enjoyed the coffee shop because it meant she was able to wave at the bin men. It's become a little ritual for her to stand at the window and wave and smile at the bin men on a Thursday morning and they always smile and wave back. A lovelier bunch of blokes you're unlikely to meet.

After breakfast we walked slowly over to the Odyssey and were lucky enough to be one of the few people already there, meaning that I was able to get nice clean photos of the ships before the crowds started to arrive. Because honestly once the crowds did start to pile in, as I've mentioned before I'm a wee shortarse so the chances of a good photo later in the day went complete out the window.




Now I say nice clean shots with nobody getting in the way, but when I went back and checked the photos later I realised one managed to sneak in. The funny thing is I didn't even notice this guy when I took the photo! I still like it though, one of my favourites if I'm honest.




Chloe's favourite ship was the Bounty. Obviously! Honestly, that child's seen the Spongebob Movie too many times. As far as she was concerned The Bounty just looked like a pirate ship and she was perfectly happy with that. Trust me, there was little point in trying to explain otherwise to her. Pirate Ship, full stop.





Mine was the Mircea. I mean just look at it. It's such a beautiful boat to see. Unfortunately, Chloe was exhausted (as was I) before we managed to make it far enough past the Port of Belfast to see if the Mircea was open to visitors and when we arrived on the dock side we couldn't even see the Bounty because of the crowds around it. Maybe if I'd persevered and given it a bit of the "Mummy Shoulder" we could have made our way through the queues. I must be going soft in my old age.




The obligatory photo of Harland and Wolff or Samson and Goliath if you prefer. It has to be done really, they're what Belfast is best known for.




And, of course I couldn't leave without taking a quick photo of the Human Statue. This guy's fantastic, Chloe almost ran for the hills when she'd been staring at him for a few minute, asking why a statue would have sunglasses, and he bent down and put his hand out for her. You've never seen a child move so fast.




All in told we had a great day. A long, very exhausting day where I spent a fair amount of time emptying the contents of Belfast Harbour out of my silly little shoes, but a great one nonetheless.

We had brioche and candied fruits. I now have a fridge well and truly stocked with salami, cured hams and cheeses.

And I had my paella followed by a maple syrup crepe because nom nom nom.

And, if only because this wouldn't be a true SeetheWoods post without me having a gripe about something.....

Belfast City Council spent seven years and roughly £3 million organising the events surrounding the Tall Ships and just in case anyone from Belfast City Council happens to read this post, I have a little question. Would it really have killed you to have lit a citronella candle or two, because ... wasps ... EVERYWHERE?

We may have to pick Chloe up from her Nana's early tomorrow and head over to Crawfordsburn or somewhere like that to see if we can see them leaving the harbour.

Belfast Tallships (Condensed)

Well I am officially shattered, with a capital SHATTERED. A capital S all on its lonesome just doesn't cover this level of shatteredness(?).

So I will leave you with a couple of photographs from our dizzy day and the promise of a full post tomorrow.




Now I think I may just curl up in front of the tv for an hour and I may even fall asleep there.

Nighty night all.

Menu Plan and Big Boats

This will be a short little menu plan this week. I'm only planning as far ahead as Wednesday at the minute because I know if I plan any further than that, the plans will just end up being changed.

Monday

Baked trout with Parmesan and whole baked tomatoes with crusty bread and a green salad. I still have a freezer full of fish and my brother has already started to add to my freezer stash.

Tuesday

I roasted a chicken on Sunday afternoon so I'll use the leftovers for fajitas tonight. We have Toot's school readiness assessment this afternoon so I don't want to have to do too much on Tuesday afternoon. I can always use any salad from yesterday too.

Wednesday

Toots will be at Nana's house so I'm using the last of the venison for the husband and I'm actually not entirely sure what I'll have to be honest. I haven't went all out eggy for a while so I may have an omelet.

And that will have to do for the menu plan this week. We'll be going to Belfast for the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge on Thursday and I've only recently realised that not only will there be the ships (obviously) and a Guinness World Record attempt to have the largest gathering of people dressed as pirates at Queen's Quay on Saturday but there will also be not one, not even two, but THREE continental markets in Belfast.

I know what I'm like and I'll go completely overboard buying brats and cured hams and who knows what else, so I'll just hold off planning any more meals until I see what ends up in my fridge come Thursday afternoon.

I'll post some photos later in the week of all the lovely grub, oh and the ships too (obviously).

I wonder if I'll spot a certain someone, halfway up a ship's mast ready to nail the best photo of the day:)

I wonder indeed!

I'm really looking forward to a good day out now. Bring on the Hog Roast!