At home

I finally arrived home on Saturday night at 11pm, that meant that I had been up for 22 hours.  After a nice cup of tea it was into bed without emptying the suitcase.  Things are back to "normal" whatever that is but I am still suffering from jet lag.  I am awake in the middle of the night and can't seem to get enough sleep.  By 8pm I am so tired that I fall asleep watching TV.  I am hoping that this only lasts a few more days.


It is very cool here at home, a lot cooler than it was in Ireland.  In fact it is cold here.  Mike has picked his garden and I processed dozens of tomatoes today.


I have to get some quilting done soon.  I tidied up my sewing room yesterday and then spent about an hour trying to decide what to make next.  I am making some small things for Christmas and I have a few things to make for birthdays.  I will post some pictures when they are finished.


Yoga starts tomorrow for the fall session and I am looking forward to see all the 'girls' again.  We are like a small family unit and it is nice to get back into the swing of things.  I have to get back to walking also.  I have been too tired since I first got home and today it was raining very hard.  Not a day to go out walking.

I am so glad that I took this bag with me to Ireland.  I carried it everyday with my umbrella, camera, water bottle and scarf.  It was small enough to carry and big enough to hold all the things I wanted to take with me for the day.  It was quite windy some day so I was glad to have my scarf to wrap around me.  Ireland weather is very unpredicable.

I hope to get some sewing done in the next few days and will post pictures when I finish something.

Peggy

Today we are in Malahide

On Thursday we took the local bus to Blarney and kissed the blarney stone.  After climbing more than over 120 stairs on a stone spiral staircase with only a rope handrail to hold onto we couldn't chicken out.

On Wednesday we took the train to Cobh which is the main emigration port following the great Famine of 1846-48.  Maritime history at the Queenstown Story - the major heritage centre in the town.  It is also the last port of call for the Titanic before it set sail for America and hit the iceberg.

The spire of St. Colman's cathedral dominates the sky.  The spire is 100 m high and it's tower houses a carillon of 47 bells- the largest in Ireland.  It is a huge magestic church on a hillside overlooking the town.  Again we had to climb up the hill to get to it, but it was worth it. 

We travelled by train to Malahide.  It was an all day trip but a nice train ride.  Today we are in Malahide and staying at the Grand Hotel.  It is a massive hotel with lots of corridors but a nice pub where we had dinner last night.  Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so she booked us in another and it has air conditioning.  The temperature today is 22 C.  The Irish keep saying that they can't believe the beautiful weather they are having.  We had rain one day out of the 2 weeks that we have been here and one shower.  It lasted long enough for us get our umbrellas up and it stopped. 

We toured Malahide castle today.  It is over 800 years old and has been inhabited by the Talbot family for the entire 800 years.  Rose Talbot moved out in 1975 and gave the castle to the town when she left.

We head for home and Canada tomorrow morning.  By the time I get home I will have been up for 24 hours because of the time change.  The worst jetlag is going back to Canada so I may not blog for a few days.

Peggy.

Cork City

We took the bus to Cork city today and have been walking around the city.  The bus ride was only 2 hours long through beautiful countryside dotted with sheep and cattle grazing.  Some of the roads were very narrow, hardly enough room for the bus and car to pass each other.  Then we drove on an super highway, so you never know what kind of a road you will be travelling on. There are areas here in Cork where there is a pedestrian walkway where no cars go so you can stroll the street without a care.

Tomorrow we hope to go to Blarney Castle, we are only here for one and a half days so we have to get in all we can.  We walked through an open market on our way here to the Internet.  Very interesting, as they sold meats, vegetables, baked goods, and fish and there was even a small cafe.

 Me at Ross Castle in Killarney and my feet in the Atlantic Ocean in Ireland.

Peggy

The Cliffs of Moher

When we were in Galway we took a tour of the Cliffs of Moher. Des our driver kept us entertained with his jokes and commentary as he drove the bus. We stopped at the Poulnabrone Dolman and ancient burial place on the Burren. The Burren is a vast waterless plateau of limestone hills and countless colourful flowers.

We stopped at a sheep dog demonstration where the border collie herded the sheep. We had lunch at Doolin with a lady named Peggy who is from St John, NL and lives on the same street as Joanne. She also knows Doris.

The cliffs were gorgeous and very windy. There is an area where people walk along the top of the cliffs which is very treacherous and they are trespassing on private property. Nine people have fallen to their death this year from this area, and yet there are still people walking up there.

Yesterday we went to the Ring of Kerry. Our bus driver was not as talkative as Des was but the trip was great.

In Killarney you see regular cars, jaunting cars (horse driven carriages) and tour buses.

One spot we stopped at - The Valley of the hidden treasure- was so windy it was like we were in a hurricane, but we were high up in the mountain and looked down on the valley.

I will shorten this as my session is almost up. The day was intermitten rain and sun with low lying clouds over the mtns. We finished the day walking around the town centre looking at stores and pubs. We had dinner at a pub and returned to the B&B around 8:30.

All is well here. Nice sunny day today. I should have left my coat at the B&B but the weather is very unpredicable so it is hard to say what the day will be like.


Peggy

Cliffs of Moher and The Burren, at the library and pages are blocked, will hopefully blog later or tomorrow

To-day we are in Galway

 Yesterday we were at the Marian Shrine at Knock.  It is a beautiful shrine set on 4 acres of land.  There are 5 churches.  There are 5 churches on the site.  The Church of Reconciliation, The Church of the Apparition, The Old Church, The New Cathedral and the Church of the Blessed Sacrament.  There is also a museum which tells the story of the people who saw the Apparition.  We spent 2-3 hours there and received 3 sacraments.  The town is very small so it didn't take long to see everything.  

Our B&B was quite close, about a 10 minute walk.  We had dinner on the main street at a small cafe and then went to the pub beside the B&B.  It turns out it was owned by the same people who own the B&B and their son was the barman.  His name was Iarla which was Gallic for Gerald.  

We check out this morning and when Kathleen found out that we had no car she drove us to the bus stop.  We were on the bus for 2 hours travelling to Galway.  We are in a hotel right downtown.  Everything is very close and there is a pedestrian walk way around to all we wanted to see.  We saw the bust of JFK in Eyre square, Nora Barnacles house (the wife of James Joyce), and St Patrick's Cathedral.  We walked along the bank of the River Corribe back to the city centre.  

We have booked a tour for tomorrow of the Cliffs of Moher.  I might have time to blog tomorrow if we don't get back too late.

Peggy

Donegal the pride of Gaul

We found the Catholic Cathedral of St Patrick yesterday and made a visit to the church.
We walked to the Donegal Abbey in Ruins.  The Abby dates back to around the time of the Vikings and is also a graveyard with graves dating back to the 1700's.  After walking around the town centre we had lunch at Magee's and enquired about a weaving demonstation.  Magee's is the largest weavers of tweed in the world.  A young salesman told us to return at "half 4".  We returned at the appointed time and Stephen took us to the demo room and showed us how the tweed was loomed, using a hand loom.  After he did a few rows Lynda gave it a try.  On the way out we saw a basket of peat and he asked us if we would like some so we each have a small piece to burn when we get home. 

There is a small cemetery on the outskirts of town dedicated to those who died during the potato famine.  We only got rained on once. 

Dinner was at Dom's.  I had a caesar salad with warm chicken and ham.  It was very good but the lettuce wasn't romaine but iceberg and leaf lettuce. 

We are travelling today to Knock to see the Marion Shrine where Our Lady, St. John & St Joseph appeared in 1879. 

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Galway.  Will post more from there.

Peggy

Hello from Donegal

Yesterday was a travel day.  We took the train from Dublin to Sligo and then the bus to Donegal.  The weather is strange as it rains and then a few minutes later the sun shines.  Just enough time to get the umbrella out and the it is time to put it away again. 

The second picture is of the Donegal Waterbus.  We took a tour of the harbour yesterday when we arrived.  What a beautiful place.  The hills are all green and you can watch the tide come in and go out everyday.  Our B&B is a new place but quite a distance from the town.  We walked the first time but took a taxi after that.  We wondered around the town looking for a place to have dinner and finally decided on the Abbey hotel.  It was quite a posh place but decent prices for a meal.  She offered us a choice of two vegetables, carrots and cabbage.  We said we would have carrots only.  I had roast beef which came with mashed potatoes.  She brought the meal and then 2 side dishes of vegetables.  The carrots and more potatoes.  Lynda and I had a hard time trying not to laugh.  We didn't want to make a scene in such a posh place.

We visited Donegal Castle this morning.  It is very impressive and we were allowed to take pictures anywhere we wanted.  It is hard to see behind the trees.  One of the trees looked like a tamarak tree but I hightly doubt that it was one.

There is an old viking graveyard here which we hope to visit later today.  It is quite a touristy town here with many shoppes that sell souvenirs.  The town centre is situated around 3 streets that they call the diamond.  Most towns would have a square but this one is a diamond.

Peggy

Top of the Morning from Dublin

Day 2 in Dublin we spent going on the Hop-on-hop-off bus.  Walked through St Stephen's green and The Temple Bar area.  There was a large outdoor market in Temple Bar where we stopped for lunch.  Visited St Patrick's Cathedral and Grafton Street.  We did a lot of walking, and on the way back to downtown we stopped at a display put on by "Vickings"  We were tired and wanted to get back to Duke Street so we took an "Eco Cab".  It is a small carriage that is propelled like a bicycle and run by University Students.  He chatted away while he rode the bike and asked us where we were from and how long we would be staying.  When we stopped he took our picture in the carriage.  I will post a picture later.  

Since yesterday was Lynda's 65th birthday we celebrated it in style by having a few brews in Davey Bynes pub. Then we took the bus back to the area of our guesthouse and dinner at a nearby hotel.  We even had fish and chips.

Today we went to Trinity College and had a tour given by a young University student studying History.  He took us around the campus and pointed out the different buildings to us.  The tour was well worth while as the  buildings are just brick and mortar to the normal eye but he made it very interesting and informative.  After the tour we went to see "The book of Kells" an old manuscript from the 800's.  

Hopefully we will get to Dublin castle this afternoon.

Peggy

Molly Malone

Me with Molly Malone.

She wheels her wheelbarrow

Thru streest wide and narrow

it's there that I met sweet

Molly Malone.

Ireland

We arrived in Ireland on Friday around 10am to beautiful sunshine.  It wasn't hard to find the bus into the city just had to look around a bit.  We got off downtown and had to get a second bus, within minutes it started to rain and came down like gangbusters.  We walked to the hotel in drizzle and then the rain stopped.  We checked in and the nice young lady at the desk asked if we would like some tea and a scone.  I have never tasted anything so delicious.  It was spread with whipped butter and raspberry jam and it melted in your mouth.  After a short nap and freshening up we went out for the afternoon and evening.

There was no more rain just a cool breeze.  We had decided earlier to go on "The Literary Pub Crawl", so glad that we did not miss it.  Two actors did skits about the Irish authors and playwrights and then toured us around a 6 block area stopping at 4 pubs and Trinity College.  Very interesting and lots of fun.  There were about 35 people in the group, young and old.  At the end there was a quiz and Lynda won a t-shirt for getting the most correct answers.  I gave her the answer to the last question:  Which Irish author also won an Oscar?  It was Shaw.

We are doing the hop-on-hop off today and stopped at the internet cafe so that we could let everyone know that we are fine and having a great time.

Peggy

We leave tomorrow for Ireland

Well, my suitcase and carry-on purse are packed and ready to go.  I think I have everything that I will need for the trip.  I probably have more than I need,  I always seem to pack too much.  The suitcase is the size of a carry-on but I will check it so that I don't have to be responsible for it during the trip.  I don't want to take anything larger then that as I have to haul it around Ireland with me.

I made a new small purse, the green one above, and am still deciding if I will take it or not.  I like the brown one that I made earlier  because it has 2 zippers, one under the flap and one on the back.  The little green one has a back pocket but I wish I had made a solid back and put a zipper on the back.  Next time!!  Hindsight is 20/20.  I guess that is what happens when you use a pattern but change it half way through and then incorporate your own design then you end up thinking that you should have done things just a little differently.  I should probably write down what I do and then come up with a pattern and hopefully be happy with it.

Peggy

Getting ready for Ireland

We are back from camp and now I have to get ready to go to Ireland on Thursday.  We finished the new shed except for some trim around it and the roof has to be shingled.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it looks really good.  (You have to take my word for it, I guess.)  We made the door and hung it so it looks like a shed now.

I have to seriously start to get ready for our trip as we only have 4 days till we leave.  I will put everything I am taking in the spare room and then decide if I am taking it or not before the final pack of the suitcase.

The weather here has turned nice and cool.  The high today was 20C but very windy.  The temperature in Ireland is only 16-18C so I will be packing some warm clothes and gloves.  My hands always seem to be cold so gloves will come in handy.  I am also taking a long scarf to wrap around my neck and head if I need to keep warm.

Peggy

This has been quite a building year at the cabin.  We are building a new shed for the generator.  The weather has been unbearably hot these last few days but I only have a week before I leave for Ireland so we had to work on this new shed despite the weather. 

 We didn't get it finished as the grandchildren want to come for a visit so we came home to get supplies, do some laundry and pay some bills.  I don't know how much more we will get done as I like to spend some time with them and then there is also swimming and just having fun. 

Peggy

13 days to go

I did a practice pack today to see what I am taking to Ireland.  We want to take just a carry-on bag since we are taking the train and the bus in Ireland and we don't want to have to haul around large suitcases.  I got everything in and I still have room to expand my suitcase in order to bring home souvenirs.  There are a few incidentals that I have to add in and I will have to do that in the next few days so that I know exactly where I stand with what I am taking.

We have some tours and ideas for sight-seeing set up and I am putting together a booklet with important information to take with us.  We need train and bus schedules and Internet cafe locations to name a few.  We haven't booked any tours yet, we want to leave things open so that we are not tied down but we have some ideas about what we want to see and do.

All our accommodations are booked.  We used a travel agent that we have used before and she booked everything through Royal Irish Tours.  It is so nice to know that have a place to put our heads each night and don't have to start looking for a B&B or hotel and then have to pay top price because we didn't book beforehand. 

We had originally thought that we would rent a car and drive through Ireland but decided that we would see more of the countryside if we took the train and bus.  We are visiting 6 cities.  They are Dublin, Donegal, Knock, Galway, Killarney and Cork.  We are spending our last night back in Dublin and will be staying at a different hotel and hopefully do a tour of the Wicklow mountains before saying goodbye to Ireland.

Peggy

The Tote Bag Fiasco

Lynda and I are going to Ireland in 3 weeks and I wanted a tote bag that I would carry with me during the day that I could put my coat, scarf and umbrella in, in case of inclement weather.  I started out designing one in brown and turquoise to match the clothes that I am taking.  I thought I would try a "disappearing 9 patch".  The only problem was that I forgot to allow for the seam allowance.  I cut the squares at 4 inches instead of 4 1/2 so the purse was too small.    So, I decided to make another purse and made the blue one, but it didn't match my clothes so I made a third tote bag.  The last one is the right size and colour. 

Now have I two more tote bags that I don't really need.  All three have zippers and internal pockets.  I am getting quite a collection of tote bags as I have many others also that I made just for something new to try.  What to do, what to do.

Peggy

This is a stain glass piece that my sister Lynda made for me.  It is called a Celtic Trinity Knot.  She started doing stainglass a few years ago but put it aside for a while and then just recently she got back to doing it again.  She has made a few large pieces and seems to enjoy it.  It is certianly a beautiful hobby, a lot like quilting, because you are designing and making something of your own creation.  Nice work Lynda.

Peggy

Taking Emma Home

I returned from taking Emma home on Monday, tired and happy to be home.  It was a long day as I had to sit in the airport for 4 extra hours because of mechanical problems.  I wouldn't have minded getting on that plane as I found out later that it was my son that fixed it.

When I got home my newly repaired car was waiting for me. It has that new car smell and is all fixed good as new. It took 2 weeks but it was worth the wait. I had a nice 2010 Escape that had many features that mine didn't have but I still like mine best.

I finished 2 more water bottle holders since I returned home.  One is for my daughter-in-law and the other for her mother.  The photo shows them as different sizes but if fact they are the same size.  I hope they like them.

I have to make myself a new purse for my trip to Ireland as the zipper opens the wrong way on the one I had planned to take.  I will look for some fabric to match some of the clothes that I am taking.  I'm sure I will be able to find some in my stash, all I need is the time to make it.  Four weeks tomorrow we will be heading to the Emerald Isle.

Peggy.

Painting the shed

We are home from the trip to the cabin.  We were gone 6 days.  The shed is painted and looks great.  Breanne, Kyle and Emma did a great job.  We found them old t-shirts to wear so that their clothes wouldn't get painted in the process.  After that there was time for fishing and swimming.  Emma caught her first fish so it was pretty thrilling.  She has been visiting us for 2 weeks now and has been having a great time except for the no-see-ums that have been biting her like crazy.  It must be that southern Ontario blood.  Every day we had great weather.  There is a large area in front of the cabin where they played soccer and badminton.  Some days it was too hot because the temperature reached 33C but mostly hovered around 25-27C, which is still too warm when you have no central air-conditioning to cool you off.  A good time was had by all.

Peggy

What a week it has been

What a week it has been!!!  My car and I collided with a bear on the way home from Joanne's birthday party and had a lot of damage done to the car but not to us.  My guardian angel was looking out for me for sure that day.  We got home okay but the mechanic at the body shop wouldn't let me drive it anymore.  So now I am driving a rental, same make as mine but way classier with leather seats and a sun-roof.

Then on the way to the cabin we got a stone chip in the windshield of the truck.  So now it will have to go into the shop to be repaired.

We had a horrific thunderstorm overnight and awoke to a flood in the bedroom.  I must of used about 20 towels to soak up the water that was pouring in from a leak in the roof.  We tore the wallboard off and part of the ceiling insulation in order to find out where the water was coming in.  That will be another big job that will need to be done to fix that up.  Next week we will be up there with the grandchildren but they want to have fun and not be doing major construction jobs.  We have a paint job lined up for them to do.  The new shed needs a paint job.  That should prove exciting.

Peggy