Poor ol' Goldie

Goldie is miserable today. He is having difficulty walking and is going around panting. He needs to go to a vet, but of course there is no vet open until Monday. b brought all the dogs with him to Enniskillen yesterday, to the opening of the Waterways Ireland new offices. The car journey didn't help, I'd imagine, but he hasn't been in great form for the last couple of weeks.

It's been a really blustery day, with heavy rain showers, so none of us have ventured far outside.

I took an afternoon off work last Tuesday to spread the manure we had acquired over my raspberries. B and I worked hard at it as it had been delivered in a large trailer that had to be returned to its owner. We've either managed to kill the raspberries with the quantity we put on, or we'll have a bumper crop next autumn.

More depressing news has come out on the jobs front. Not content with the loss of 1,900 jobs in Dell and the various announcements from firms supplying them that they are to let go at least as many again, Kostal has now announced that they need 300 volunteers for redundancy. They manufacture components for the luxury end of the car industry, an industry that is a bit dicey at the moment. Anglo-Irish bank has been nationalised - a crazy move, bailing out developers and other friends of the current government. The world has gone mad!

Ice cream and sorbet

My ice cream maker has been churning out about one ice cream or sorbet type per day, but I will probably put it away for a while after today. My favourites so far are the champagne sorbet we made on Christmas day, and the melon sorbet (secret ingredient was brandy) I made a couple of days ago. I've also made chocolate ice cream, fruit salad ice cream (with the remains of my fresh fruit salad juices), strawberry ice cream (delicious!), caramel (unsuccessful and had to be thrown out), and kiwi sorbet. I think that's the lot. Today I will make ice cream with pecan nuts. If I could find marscapone in a shop I'd try using it as it would be an interesting substitute for cream. I should also try making it with yoghurt. Hmm, maybe I need to keep the equipment out on the counter for a bit longer...

Yesterday I attended 2 funerals. They were so different, with one having about 1,000 people there, and the other only a couple of dozen people. That is perhaps the right way, as the bigger was for a 16 year old who had died with 2 others in a car accident near Nenagh. The other was for someone who had reached a good age.

Today is the last day of my holidays. Routine starts again tomorrow, with the alarm already set for 7am. It's so cold out that the holiday hasn't been conducive to getting up and doing things around the house, though that isn't really logical as it would get my circulation going. However, as a result I've done lots of reading, and played far too much of shooting bubbles. I am definitely rested, so the return to work is much easier. Given a choice of times to take off work I would go for the summer, but I also think that a break is needed in the winter just so that we can see the light every now and again.

Safe driving to those returning to London today. It looks cold on the weather map.