Nevermind the Buzzcocks... GO MUSK OX!

From scienceline.org [Credit: Len Radin, Flickr.com]

Interesting and entertaining podcast describing the evolution, environment and prospects of the Musk Ox. Their story is a fascinating one and, as one year turns into another, the contributors' big-thoughts-in-deep-time theme gives a timely dose of perspective to our own selfishly introspective species.

Only the children can save us now.



I've been listening to On Point for a long time and rarely have I heard Tom so fricken excited! I'd encourage everyone to listen in to hear a great broadcaster in full flight on what turns out to be a disarmingly intriguing topic.

An On Point primer can be found here.

"Yah we do!" :)

Happy Christmas

Some random and wholly un-Christmas-y images from our house this holiday.

Our Christmas tree after some mulled wine (this is actually our Christmas tree)

Christmas Morning Chocolates

Whaddya mean elves don't do polymers?

Diddle Diddle Dumpling...

Sunlit, sedate Mutella indulgence

Devotchka - Mutella's Darkside

Lost Weekend

Just back from a lost weekend in a hotel in ......Dublin. We've done that before, hit Dublin as tourists, but never as tourists with children. It's lots of fun and highly recommended for those of you out there who have ambitions to see other European cities with kids but haven't gotten round to getting those tiny travellers their passports yet. The occasion for our staycation this time was Christmas Lights/Christmas shopping and also because it's the last weekend before I start a new job.


Highlights were :

D's first ever gig...

...the Christmas lights (of course), the Christmas markets, gingerbread lattes, Christmas carols (piped and live), buskers with trumpets, homemade Macaroons... Sweeties from Greece, train rides (the luas and the German merry-go-round), family movies on king-size beds, hotel breakfasts (the girls had rice krispies, fried eggs and Dan O'Chocalade - M had the best mushrooms she's ever tasted), Diego as gaeilge, my first walk down Talbot street since I got my confirmation suit in Boyers, snowsuits and spacehelmets, and like any good Amish family hittin' the city together, new shoes for everyone.

Some of the more forgettable moments included surreptitious, un-clean, pink plastic gifts to the girls from troubled Luas passengers and a massive wasabi malfunction where D tried to ingest a golf ball sized lump of wasabi on the QT before her head exploded and gave the game away.