19th June 2015, Allison shows how to install a Mini-Shop on a bike!

To Market, To Market,

On a Dutch Bike,

Home again to Roam again,

There's so much on to like!

Allison writes:

 

Allison rocks the look
 of  Irish Cailín Chic

Today I swapped my Brompton for my big (and heavy!) Dutch market bike.  

We have fixed it up with: 

• a front rack, which I can bolt my chocolate bar stand onto,
• a sturdy kick-stand and 
• a back rack, onto which I fasten a basket of goodies. 

I load them all up and then I'm off, down the hill through town, to setup for market.  

We set this bike up about a year ago and it is so great not to have to mess about carrying tables down to the market. It even has a built in seat!    

From : http://aragec.com/smiley.html

Later today I'm hoping to take a short cycle out to Ring to meet a friend and go see a dramatic play that's on.  

The Organic Arts Festival is on this weekend in Clon and I've got the whole weekend to enjoy it!

​More soon!

 Allison

P.S. You can find my chocs at the English Market - The Chocolate Stall or Bradley's on North Main street.



http://www.clonakilty.ie
/category/bradleys/

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/
foodanddrink/features/raise-a-glass-to-craft-beer-285152.html

 

Editor's Footnote:

The Clonakilty Organic Arts Festival that Allison attended looks like one to mark in the annual calendar!

From: https://www.facebook.com/
clonartsfest/timeline

 In addition to the feast of ten x ten minute short plays that Allison attended, the festival included a classical Greek drama, recreated as an open-air musical comedy incorporating burlesque and carnival.

 

There was even a train from the Model village to take children to an enactment of The Three Little Pigs.



 

18th June 2015, Allison shows us how to integrate cycling with car-travel, work, meeting friends and being pregnant!

The Little Things of Joy

Allison Writes:

Today I had to meet my husband in town where he was borrowing a car for us to drive out to Macroom for a prenatal check up (8 weeks to go!).  

Little things of joy are on the cards for Allison
 in 8 weeks time, but, until then,
she is still badgering about on her bike...

The Bromptons served us both well, as we ran about town getting a few things done here and there, over to the bank, meet-up, then with no fuss: fold-up and load-up the bikes into the boot of the car and drive cross-country.  

Brompton bikes are the ultimate in functionality.  

One of our favorite cycles is out to dinner at Monk's Lane in Courtmacsherry, great dinner and great bike parking in the courtyard!

Get more advice here: 

Meeting Cycling Friends in Monk's Lane, Clonakilty

Editor's Footnote- on Pregnancy, Cycling & CHOCOLATE:

Firstly, I was surprised (and rather delighted) to realise that Allison is able to cycle in her third trimester. As an avid cyclist I had often wondered what I would do in the same situation. So of course, I wanted to find out more. 

From: http://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/mums-corner/cycling-while-pregnant

This site: http://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/mums-corner/cycling-while-pregnant has some excellent tips on cycling while pregnant- like raising the handlebars to accommodate the bump and putting padding between you and the saddle. I particularly like the line about not soldiering on: "just because your friend cycled herself to hospital to give birth"!

From:
https://simplybike.wordpress.com/

You can pick up more prenatal pregnancy tips here:
 http://www.bikeradar.com/beginners/gear
/article/cycling-while-pregnant-tips-and-advice-39306/

and from this lovely personal blog here: 

https://simplybike.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/

cycling-while-pregnant-the-third-trimester-and-dealing-with-sua/

***************************************

Secondly, regarding the CHOCOLATE: An intriguing article about the possible pre-natal benefits of chocolate was discovered on one of Allison's own online sites: http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/eat-chocolate-pregnant/ 

Dark Chocolate: Preventative medicine for Pregnant mums?
 Prescription Take > 5 times per week!
 http://www.sunwarrior.com/news/eat-chocolate-pregnant/

According to this article, chocolate is rich in nutrients linked with a reduced risk of pre-eclampsia- namely magnesium and theobromine..It mentions a study in Yale University which showed that those who consumed five or more servings a day had the most marked advantage: http://news.yale.edu/2008/04/30/chocolate-may-be-boon-pregnant-women-yale-study-shows

Unusually you can actually read most of the detail here: 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC2782959/ 
I could see no references to who funded the study, but no disclaimers either...
So if pregnant- eat chocolate- the darker the better- maybe even Allison's Chocolates:
http://clonakiltychocolate.comJust keep it to around an ounce of pure cacao/6 cups of hot chocolate for caffeine concern reasons... http://www.livestrong.com/article/535912-is-cocoa-bad-for-pregnant-women/

17th June Allisons refills Clonakilty Shops with Freshly-Cycled Chococlate

Making Cake while the Sun Shines

Wednesday 17th -Allison Writes:

Today I fell in love with my Brompton all over again.  

I use my little fold-up for chocolate delivery rounds of the town and it has this amazing clip on front carrier, that makes this a piece of cake.  

How to unfold a Curled up Brompton from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_bicycle 

So today's cycle was purely functional, I spent about an hour cycling to and fro, parking up, dropping off stock and running errands.  It was a stunning day in Clonakilty and it is meant to stay this way all week - yip!

Clonakilty viewed from the bike of a Chocolatier

Editor's Footnote:

When I first read Allison's text i thought she had a carrier on her bike that actually made a piece of cake! (Well she is an enterpreneurial chocolatier!) 

I had all sorts of Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang style inventions sprouting in my imagination...- like the sorts of contraptions depicted by Heath Robinson and his american counterpart: Rube Goldberg..
And then I inserted a strategic comma...

Afternoon tea and cake Heath Robinson style from:
http://www.chrisbeetles.com/publications/william-heath-robinson-1872-1944-2011.html

A Bicycle machine and other "inventions" from the notebooks of Rube Goldberg