Lawn bowling
My husband spotted this photo in the New York Times yesterday. Two elderly gentlemen having a friendly game of lawn bowls near Wigan in England. The article was about the recent vote for Brexit.
It’s Spring – Time For Lawn Bowls April 1, 2016
Lawn bowling at Kenilworth Lawn Bowling Club, Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland
Lawn Bowling In Ireland July 31, 2015
What could be nicer on a fine summer’s day or evening? The lawn bowling green is to the right in this aerial view of the Blackrock Bowling and Tennis Club in Dublin. Sometimes I’m homesick for lawn bowling!!!
Lawn Bowling In Seattle July 28, 2015
In the Seattle Times on Sunday there was an article on lawn bowling. Surprise. Oh for the glory days of lawn bowling in Kenya and Dublin when we were members of Karen and Leinster and Kenilworth Bowling Clubs. It was interesting to read the article but it just made me sad. It’s not a high priority sport here – not a tradition, not part of the culture. Just a quirk really to find it played at all – to quote the header for the article – “Lawn bowling isn’t a hard-core workout, just a lot of fun.”
But Victoria isn’t far away where the British tradition of lawn bowling is alive and well – as it is in the British Isles and the Commonwealth countries
lawn bowling in the good old days
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Knitting is taking a back seat November 1, 2014
I have missed the lawn bowling scene so much since our move to Seattle in 2010.
I have had a very busy – and very satisfying – week of lawn bowling. There were numerous matches throughout the week, culminating in the finals yesterday. If you really want to see the full programme it’s posted on the Irish Lawn Bowls website. 
Check out the Ladies Singles final. J. McKee lost but she was a “happy loser”. I put up a good fight and was delighted to be awarded the prize for Lady Bowler of the Week. 
Home in the garden displaying my prizes.
My schedule is still pretty busy though and leaving little time for knitting. We are getting ready for family visitors and I am going to music camp for a week so I have to practice playing my recorders.
I have managed to do a bit of knitting, not a lot. I have been working on another pinwheel blanket. 
That’s about all I have…
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Looking for Lawn Bowling August 25, 2011
Lovely weather lately here in Seattle, and it has put me in mind of doing some lawn bowling. There is a bowling green nearby in Woodland Park, near the Zoo. We had gone searching for the green some weeks ago but hadn’t been able to find the correct way to get in to the Park in order to find the green. I subsequently talked on the phone with a club member and got more specific directions….but that bit of paper is not to be found now. Nevertheless, I put the woods in the car and off I went. The website said there was social bowling from 11 to 2 on Tuesdays. It was Tuesday and it was 11 o’clock.
I searched for the entrance, couldn’t find it, came home, decided to go back and try again – I felt quite determined. This time I went up a side road, up through the park, saw a sign pointing to the lawn bowling green. I was getting closer. Another false turn or two, but yes I found it. And this is what I found.
the empty green, not a soul in sight, a padlock on the gate to the path leading to the clubhouse
notices about bowling events – faded and dated 2009
Not a soul in sight anywhere – well at least I wasn’t missing anything. And I did manage to find the way to get to the green. Maybe I’ll have to try Friday evening which is the other time when the website indicates that there will be bowling.
They Did It August 27, 2010
It was a nail-biting finish, down to the last wood – the Kenilworth Triples Team won their final match in the Irish Women’s Bowling Association Championships. For want of a better name, I call these the All-Ireland Championships of the lawn bowling world. This means the winners will go on to play in the British Isles Championships to be held in Llandindrod Wells in Wales next June. This is one of the pinnacles of the international lawn bowling scene. An honour indeed. I am so happy and pleased for the Kenilworth team.
And I am delighted I was here in Dublin this year to watch the IWBA Championship Matches. I haven’t been bowling this year because of the protracted move to Seattle plus the trip to Hong Kong. Otherwise I would like to think that I could have been a part of this team as I was for the British Isles Championships in Llandindrod Wells in 2007. That was certainly a marvelous experience. But this year it has been a thrill to be here in Dublin to watch the play over the past 2 days. My heart was pounding for them. Congratulations again to the winning 3.
I will add that the 4’s final was also won by a Dublin club – Blackrock. Also exciting because I know the people involved and it is great to have 2 Dublin clubs representing all of Ireland in the British Isles Championships next June.
Can I find a team in Seattle and aspire to represent the U.S. in an international competition?? Little did I think when we first took up lawn bowling in Kenya that I would have such dreams. I appreciate more now how the women in Kenya felt about representing their country in the inter-country African competitions and also to be selected for the Commonwealth Games. Lawn bowling is a wonderful sport – for young and old!
the winning 3
action on the rink
it can be lonely out there – this photo was taken on the 17th end – a crucial point in the match – only one more end to play
Blackrock winners on the adjacent rink
at L’Officina with good friends
The photo above of the winning 3 is actually after they won their semi-final match. We had to watch the final ends of the final match from a different vantage point and as soon as we saw that they had won we rushed off, late, to have lunch with friends, shown above.
Wolf Hall June 22, 2010
Wolf Hall, winner of several prizes, including the Man Booker 2010. When this book by Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize, it was prominently displayed in book store windows – multiple copies – it seemed to be everywhere. I resisted – it looked too thick. But now I have found it in paperback, still just as thick – 650 pages – but it seemed more reasonable, particularly if the store was offering it in one of those 3 for 2 deals. I didn’t care about the 3 for 2 sticker but I did buy the book as one I wanted to read sometime and put it up on the shelf along with Gone With the Wind. Well, readers of this blog will know that I recently read GWTW. Now I’ve turned to Wolf Hall.
I, like other readers, am finding it hard to put down and find it more than worthy of its prizes. However, I find that that favorable judgement is not universal. Some people find it hard going, and if so I recommend you turn to something else. It is set in the 1520’s and ’30’s and explores in detail the intrigues and intricacies of the Tudor Court, as experienced through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. I am comparing the novel with other work that I have seen or read about this period. The portrait of Thomas More is quite different from the man portrayed in the film A Man for All Seasons. And I recently saw the DVD of The Other Boleyn Girl – again in Wolf Hall I am seeing these historical figures from another angle. I understand that Hilary Mantel spent 5 years researching this novel to be sure she had her vast cast of characters in the right place at the right time. It is obvious that her research has been very thorough. Her use of language is a joy.
I particularly like the way she writes about the wool trade and the textiles of that time in history. She is constantly making references to knitting and weaving and needlework. Several of her references about rug making struck me particularly, referring to the type of knot that was used. I suspect that Hilary has personal skills in the area of knitting and weaving. And also I like the way she writes metaphors referring to these arts – for example, she describes a character as appearing “small and tense, as if someone has knitted her and drawn the stitches too tight.” Hilary might also be a lawn bowler, judging by her descriptions of Henry VIII playing a game of bowls. Or maybe this just reflects the thoroughness of her research.
Collecting Old Postcards October 21, 2009
Collecting old postcards – or deltiology revisited.
Another Dublin City Book Fair is approching – the next one is this coming Sunday October 24. The day before the Dublin City Marathon – not that the 2 are connected but they are both on my calendar.
At the Dublin City Book Fair
Ever since last July I have been thinking my Dublin City Book Fair days were coming to an end – but we’re still here and I plan to participate again. Most of my books are pretty stale, at least in my eyes and in those of my regular customers. Not many new/collectable ones have been added in the intervening months. In fact, as each month passes, I have been giving away a few more. If business is slack at the Fair, then I have more time for knitting.
However, I am looking forward to “just one more fair”. I had hoped to see some of my bookselling friends last weekend when I was up in Belfast for a lawn bowling awards luncheon. But the lunch went on for too long and it was too late to get over to the university area for the Belfast Book Fair.
In addition to the enjoyment of meeting up with bookselling friends and bookbuying customers or some combination thereof, I enjoy looking at postcards for sale. And with each fair I usually add a few postcards to my eclectic collection. I am particularly on the lookout for old postcards relating to textiles, and animals, and from different parts of the world where I have lived or travelled. I prefer the tinted or black and white cards and especially those with a message and a stamp. For an interesting article on the joys of deltiology I refer you to the deltiology reference given above.
Here are a few photos of cards in my collection.
an old postcard of an Irish woman at her spinning wheel
an upright wheel for spinning flax
Coaling steamer St. Lucia 1912
old Guernsey lady, knitting
an old postcard which I just love, not in my collection alas – the card belongs to a spinning friend, Amanda
one of my recent acquisitions – an old postcard of men doing lawn bowling on a green in England
Collecting Postcards September 13, 2009
Deltiology again – I haven’t blogged about my postcard collection for a long time. Well, today was Book Fair Day and not only did I buy and sell books (more buying than selling in good book dealer tradition) but I also bought some postcards. My postcard collection is a bit eclectic to say the least. I like postcards for the artwork. I like postcards that remind me of the time when tinted postcards were popular. I like postcards that remind me of places I have been. I like postcards that have interesting stamps. I like postcards that are old. I like postcards that tell something about social history. Etc. etc.
Today I bought 3 postcards.
Girl milking a goat in Norway. Date 1905 approx. I like postcards of animals – and this one make me think of a blog I read about raising goats in Devon. I like old postcards. As a rule, I like all things Scandinavian.
Hardanger, Norway Postmark Bergen 1905. A lovely stamp on this card written July 12th. It is a tinted card. The Hardanger Fjord was where I cycled, hiked, and stayed at the Youth Hostel in 1959. I am reminded that it seemed to me that we had the same buffet meal 3 times a day.
The Bell Bowling Green, Tewsbury. Old postcards of bowling greens are rare – this is my first one. Readers of this blog will know why I bought this postcard.
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