Another Glorious Day

The weather here has been just gorgeous for the last three weeks, to the extent that I think we have forgotten what rain looks like. Its turning colder at nights now and the wind is rising evenings too, so I'd say we're not long for a real autumn, but still, a glorious September does shorten the winter. This morning the air was so clear I could see Nephin Beg, clear down through Mayo!

I love that golden light that bathes the landscape coming up to sunset. I went out and stood on the wall to take the photos but albeit from a lower elevation it is exactly the view from all three rooms on the front of the cottage...am I lucky or what???!

Gobbled by Clobber

I told Lady Soggibottom that would be the title of my next post, and so it is!

I also said I would post hints and tips to hassle-free moving, which I'm not because there's no such thing!

I am sitting out in my side yard under a tree listening to bugs and birds and sheep and the breeze in the trees, breathing fresh salty air with a hint of hot grass and leaf mould, just being!

The bliss of it.

And its only mid-morning!

No people or cars or exhaust fumes or being edged out of my seat because I'm taking too long over my coffee and someone else wants to sit in my place...

No photos yet, as you can see...I still have not located the cable. It's possibly in my make-up bag from the wedding, but I haven't seen my make-up bag for over a week and its not exactly a priority. I would, however like to know where I packed the tea spoons, extension cables, clothes pegs and shopping list paper, three cups from my only tea-set and the sugar tin. I found a jar of pens and pencils and remembered to buy light bulbs and torch batteries but a state of 'chassis' still reigns. The fridge appears to be not working but I've let the landlord know and I daresay it'll be repaired at some point, this being the middle of baling and silage though, I'd say it'll be a few days. Oh how lovely to be on country time once more; I realise it is not everyone's cup of tea, but it sure is mine!

This afternoon the piano tuner is coming and the joy of having my bockety ould piano back with me is probably partly responsible for the present state of zen-ishness!

I have to admit that the reason I remain in 'gobbled by clobber' mode is because I keep wandering outside to sit in the sun instead of unpacking. But as they say, 'sure isn't the winter long enough?' Meaning, if the sun shines or the rain stops or the weather looks up, get out of the house!

The fridge will be fixed when it next rains, and the unpacking done, and perhaps even the camera cable found?

Until then I will be collecting freckles...

Oops, the wifi hotspot just fell out of the fuchsia where I had it balanced and into the nettles...

Sunshine!

The sun was shining today so we went for a bit of a walk down the Point. The sun was actually so bright that I could not see the image on my camera properly to adjust it, which is why the photos look dark instead of bright- what a complaint to have!!
So, not great photos but such a lovely afternoon.

Looking toward Coney Island.

Rosses Point beach with Benbulben.

Oyster Island and across the estuary to Strandhill.

Lighthouse on Oyster Island with Knocknarea to left.

Benbulben across part of the golf course.

'Waiting on the Shore' in memory of those lost at sea.

Rosses Point used to be a fishing village, then a holiday spot for those from the town. But now it is a ten minute drive and most of us locals have grown up spending summers swimming off the beach and winters walking on the beach. During the long grey winters we forget how lucky we are having such beauty on our doorstep, and then the sun shines and we wonder how we overlooked it.

Plodding Along

Its Thursday and despite wading through the Slough of Despond this week, tomorrow is Friday...well, here in the West it is...and I feel like I may actually make it to the end of the week. Maybe. Last night was one of those mental 'hammer horror' nights when I wasn't sure I actually wanted to survive to tell the tale...actually the last several days and nights have been thus.

I've one particular friend who has a gift for texting at the blackest moments with a 'hang in there!' She feels helpless because that's all she can do but to me its huge. Sometimes just a text is enough to refocus the inward view.  Ewe are my sunshine!

This week has been warm and sunny, summer arrived suddenly and properly! Its just lovely to be warm and feel the sun on one's skin, and the children in school are so lively and happy too. A bit of sunshine makes all the difference in the world.

Youngest and Cohorts began their Leaving Cert. exams yesterday. So far ok, it seems. Thanks be!

So...TGIF tomorrow.

A Walk in the Woods

This morning I decided to go to Hazelwood and see whether I could find seeds and nuts to plant for trees. I have been reading about the composition of hedgerows and thought I would try to grow my own! When they heard where I was going, Youngest, Small Dog and Eldest thought they would join the expedition. We were nearly two hours walking, and I think I found more photo ops than seeds, but it was such a lovely morning that it was just wonderful to be out in the forest!

Lichen

Youngest and Small Dog aka Heinz.

 A very light-starved toadstool...

...and a very well camouflaged toadstool, isn't the camouflage amazing?

There was a long stretch of dense canopy shade, and then in the one spot where the sun shone through there was this ragwort growing about 4' tall!

Clover, beech, and moss- an amazing variety of mosses on the ground and on tree trunks.

Yew candles, lots of them and very pretty.

View across Half Moon Bay from along the lake.

View across Lough Gill towards Clogherevagh and the islands.

I came across Peter Pan crowing in the old Yew- 'Oh the cleverness of Me!'

New Boots? Oh Yeah! First outing and they had a lovely time too!

This should have been at the start, as I took it when we got out of the car on arrival. As you can tell, it was a lovely morning.

And now I have two somnambulent gargoyles and one snoring Dog Person all sprawled in the sitting room watching  the DVD of 'Ice Age' (???), as one does after a long walk in the woods!

It Came To Pieces In Me Hand...

Isn't lovely weather such a blessing?

Marey Horse would NOT come out from behind the tree to have her photo taken, she just hid and humphed!

I really want to thank you all for both your sympathy and encouragement over Dilly, yesterday. I've been reading everything I can about Fibromyalgia and am feeling a little better informed as to what it involves. Your encouragement is also helping me to be more positive and I appreciate your comments very much!

She also had her laptop stolen from the Theater last Wednesday, so yesterday evening my Dad lent us the money and he, Dilly and the Hub went and bought her a replacement. It means she can come home to study and write assignments instead of having to sit in the computer room at College, just a small thing. I think its perhaps the small things that will make a difference. Today we have to go buy her some good sandals with support as her ankles are terribly sore and she hobbles.

There is definitely SOMETHING nesting in our ruin, but I can't see what though I keep creeping out to investigate.

I've neglected the pansies and just look! Neglect obviously suits them!

And the polyanthus are flowering by the front door- polyanthus or primulas? I never can remember.

I seem to have forgotten to turn the photos around, but sure flowers is flowers whichever way up you view'em! Also by the front door this morning I saw this beautiful moth:

Isn't camouflage amazing? Take elephants, for example, you'd think they were too large to hide, but in dappled shade they are virtually invisible. The same for zebras, and cheetah and leopard are even worse, you can be practically staring one in the eye and miss it. Well I know a moth is slightly smaller, but the same principle applies!

Yesterday it was so warm and sunny that on the way into town I got Dilly to wind open the car sunroof. Lovely! Then I asked her to fold the handle away and...somehow the whole mechanism...came away...sort of...in her hand...and she sat there and remarked in a VERY casual tone 'Oh Dear.'

We laughed so much I had to pull off the road to get my breath back and wipe my eyes! Considering how many mishaps occur in her vicinity I just don't understand how ANYONE in their right mind trusts her with Theater Lights, or anything else!

Then on the way home, with two bicycles on the carrier, something came loose and the Hub had to stop and fix the whole yoke back onto the car. There was a lamb in the field next to where we stopped:

...making the most UNHOLY row, but very friendly. Dilly and BBug were mortified that I got out of the car to talk to it, but it was rather cute.

Travelling Sister was telling some saga this morning over the coffee cups and when we'd all finished laughing Mom asked: 'Do you think that as a family we are very easily amused? Or do amusing things just happen to us?'

I dunno but judging by Dilly and the Winder, amusing things sure do happen!!

Sunny Day

Sunny Sunday with Marey Horse

Thankful Thursday without words-just guess!

Thankful Thursday and a Funny Story

My! Don't Thursday's come around fast!

1. After yesterday's grizzle, just look what we got up to today!

Blazing sunshine, blue sky, and scarcely a cloud in sight! Oh THANK YOU LORD!

2. Here we have a 22 year old sewing machine (ignore the mess please, its not part of the Thankful) which has been in use almost every day of its life.

Mom brought it out to East Africa as a Wedding present for us, and promptly set it up on the dining table and made my wedding dress! (Well she made her own, and her bridesmaids' dresses so why stop at that?)

Thankful for this machine and the employment it gives me- to occupy me, to save money (as in clothes and curtain making), to earn something (as in sewing for other folks), to make friends (as in quilting circles and household mending for people); its been bumped and bashed halfway round the world and back, and I haven't arrived in a new home until it is set up!

3. Behold! An equally battered piano! Although this is not my original piano, we bought it soon after we arrived in 2000 and it has done trusty service albeit rather tuneless at times. (please excuse the black tail, Ben thought I was photographing him!)My two Grandmothers gave us Wedding money which was used for the first piano as I was teaching Music at the time, and to be able to do so from home was a financial asset, but in 2000 we sold that piano to pay for our air fares to move back to Ireland.
Thankful that I can sit down and play any time I want or need to; for me, playing the piano has always been a safety valve!

4. I know you have met these two lunatics many times before!
Caption:

Bertie, 'Why the heck won't she open the door? Its freezing out here!'

Ben, 'Photo op, bro, keep your fur on!'
Thankful for these two, their attention, nosiness, and especially their 'new-every-morning' attitude to life!

5. And after the long day that's invariably in it-
...my comfortable African bed!

Those are my regular, un-Godly, material, non-essential, everyday Thankfuls, all else is transitory!

Funny Story

As you'll know, yesterday was Ash Wednesday and as it happened, I was playing for the Evening Service. We had a clergyman who comes to us once every three weeks to help our rector, so although folk enjoy his preaching (good solid Bible based), as yet he doesn't really know us and our congregational idiosyncrasies...(this is relevant to the amusement factor!)

Last night, after the Penitential Service of Holy Communion, whilst I was playing the Recessional Voluntary, I watched the congregation file down the aisle to the porch, shake hands with and thank the Canon, then loop back and file solemnly back UP the aisle to the sanctuary...I don't think the Canon realised as he was busy greeting, and the look on his face when he came through the porch doors and saw most of the congregation on their knees by the altar rail was PRICELESS!

(The Altar is in the Chancel at present.)

Well the reason for it all is this: some years ago the vault under the Sanctuary pushed up and destroyed the floor. Now the vault is repaired, the floor replaced, and over the past five weeks a craftsman has been laying a new 'encaustic' tiled floor. Last night it was complete except for the grouting and it is simply a work of art...hence the viewing from hands and knees at the altar rail!!!!

(I'll try remember to take a photo on Sunday for you!)