We had a lovely, peaceful outing on Knocknagow yesterday. The sun was shining and the lake was calm. It was probably the last one of the season, which is sad. We headed further south on Lough Derg than we have been in her, rounding Parker's Point and heading in the direction of Killaloe. We turned back about half way down the stretch southwards. Boats were dotted around the lake - fishing boats, sailing boats, hire and private cruisers, speed-boats, and us.
Today we have been doing spring cleaning. b has cleaned out a couple of kitchen cupboards while I cleaned up the front room and put away some of the stuff we brought back from the boat yesterday. We're both exhausted now and feel we deserve a rest. A lamb had been cooking slowly in the oven since this morning. It's smelling good so I'm looking forward to dinner.
Last week was a particularly busy one. I had to be at work until late 3 evenings, presenting some changes in policies to various groups. It is stressful to do this kind of thing. On Friday evening I went out with some Avocent friends and "chilled". Before I knew it my watch told me it was 1 a.m. This is considerably beyond my bed-time!
All the activity has helped to avoid brooding on the empty nest here. We've been so used to having Ian around that it is very strange to find that he isn't here. The trip to Bristol last weekend was a bit sad for me. However, the campus is very impressive and I think his room is so nice that he won't want to come home. It sounds like he is enjoying himself. It is hard to be sad at his absence when he is doing something good.
Carolan is about to start her new job and is making a final visit home to us this week beforehand. She met her new boss last week so is all set for the start-up, having even got her hair ready!
In other news, the families at Rockspring are all doing what they said they'd be doing. Rebecca has gone to Manchester, Phelie has gone to Brussels, and the rest are around Rockspring. Phelie got accepted for the observations he wants to do in Palestine next spring, so he is excited about that. Granny and Grandpa had a nice holiday so are feeling refreshed.
That's all for now. I have to go and get some beetroot from the garden for our dinner.
Sunday 28 September 2008
Tuesday 16 September 2008
Carolan is coming home tomorrow
Carolan is coming home tomorrow, Carolan is coming home tomorrow, Carolan is coming home tomorrow. Did I tell you that Carolan is coming home tomorrow?
That means it is close to the time when we bring Ian to Bristol. He is packing, and I'm hoping the mess everywhere will all disappear. b has a menu ready for Thursday evening, and champagne, so we'll have a good send-off for him. Pity Andy has to work, but we can always celebrate again when everyone returns! I'm going to suffer badly from empty nest syndrome next week so have arranged to work almost every evening.
Oh, and there is sweet corn ready for us all to eat as starters. I can't pick it until 5 minutes before we want to eat it as that is when it is supposed to taste its best. And 100 yellow tomatoes to eat as well, all grown in my greenhouse along with cucumbers and red and brown tomatoes. It's all very exciting.
That means it is close to the time when we bring Ian to Bristol. He is packing, and I'm hoping the mess everywhere will all disappear. b has a menu ready for Thursday evening, and champagne, so we'll have a good send-off for him. Pity Andy has to work, but we can always celebrate again when everyone returns! I'm going to suffer badly from empty nest syndrome next week so have arranged to work almost every evening.
Oh, and there is sweet corn ready for us all to eat as starters. I can't pick it until 5 minutes before we want to eat it as that is when it is supposed to taste its best. And 100 yellow tomatoes to eat as well, all grown in my greenhouse along with cucumbers and red and brown tomatoes. It's all very exciting.
Sunday 14 September 2008
It's all go!
About 3,000 euro later, our shower is now nearly fixed. The sealant between the wall and the shower tray came off after about 2 uses, so there is duct tape there while we wait for that part to be re-done. However, we can use it, so we are clean again.
I woke up this morning with a feeling that my face was sun-burnt. A look in the mirror tells me that I am. Yesterday b and I went out on Knocknagow to explore Youghal Bay, the bay to the east of Garrykennedy. We have had no particular reason why we would go into it as it has no place to land, and it isn't on the way to anywhere, but it is deep. b was keen to explore it. It was lovely and peaceful, with some beautiful houses looking out on it. There is a landing stage, with a diving board, and there seems to be a couple of small harbours for sailing boats attached to particular houses.
Of course, I didn't have much time to see the view as I was cleaning the decks! Ian and b are bringing lots of people out on the boat tomorrow as part of a radio programme that is being recorded on board. They seem to think that the state of the boat doesn't matter on a radio programme, but they don't understand.... Anyway, the green slime on the decks could prove to be slippy. Imagine, also, if Eanna Ni Lamhna (she is one of the panel on board) decided that mould or cobwebs were good topics to discuss because she was seeing them all around her. How embarrassing!
Ian is gradually packing for the big journey to Bristol. I must pull out the big suitcase today and help him sort clothes and bed-clothes. The house will be very empty when he is gone, with not even a bicycle in the hall.
The Newtown season is starting. I was down visitng HPC on Wednesday, and today I need to complete my annual report to Patron. Schools are in full flight, so I also spent Friday evening at a meeting on the problems in the local national school, trying to come to some agreement on how to tackle the complaints in a manner that won't bring legal injunctions.
We opened a J&J products "shop" at work this week, so the products will now be easier to acquire and I have a few for C to bring back. I've been helping out at the check-out as we don't yet have a scanning system in place. Yesterday morning I had to be in for 7.30 - 8.30am, and I have to go in again this evening at 7.30 - 8.30pm. All shifts will then have been covered so the person who is running the shop can do the rest on her own, I hope. I've done my bit, anyway.
Now I'm going to do the ironing.
I woke up this morning with a feeling that my face was sun-burnt. A look in the mirror tells me that I am. Yesterday b and I went out on Knocknagow to explore Youghal Bay, the bay to the east of Garrykennedy. We have had no particular reason why we would go into it as it has no place to land, and it isn't on the way to anywhere, but it is deep. b was keen to explore it. It was lovely and peaceful, with some beautiful houses looking out on it. There is a landing stage, with a diving board, and there seems to be a couple of small harbours for sailing boats attached to particular houses.
Of course, I didn't have much time to see the view as I was cleaning the decks! Ian and b are bringing lots of people out on the boat tomorrow as part of a radio programme that is being recorded on board. They seem to think that the state of the boat doesn't matter on a radio programme, but they don't understand.... Anyway, the green slime on the decks could prove to be slippy. Imagine, also, if Eanna Ni Lamhna (she is one of the panel on board) decided that mould or cobwebs were good topics to discuss because she was seeing them all around her. How embarrassing!
Ian is gradually packing for the big journey to Bristol. I must pull out the big suitcase today and help him sort clothes and bed-clothes. The house will be very empty when he is gone, with not even a bicycle in the hall.
The Newtown season is starting. I was down visitng HPC on Wednesday, and today I need to complete my annual report to Patron. Schools are in full flight, so I also spent Friday evening at a meeting on the problems in the local national school, trying to come to some agreement on how to tackle the complaints in a manner that won't bring legal injunctions.
We opened a J&J products "shop" at work this week, so the products will now be easier to acquire and I have a few for C to bring back. I've been helping out at the check-out as we don't yet have a scanning system in place. Yesterday morning I had to be in for 7.30 - 8.30am, and I have to go in again this evening at 7.30 - 8.30pm. All shifts will then have been covered so the person who is running the shop can do the rest on her own, I hope. I've done my bit, anyway.
Now I'm going to do the ironing.
Sunday 17 August 2008
Ian's home, and there are no walls on our shower
Weekends are supposed to be restful. This has not been a restful weekend. As I type I hear bangings upstairs. b has spent most of the weekend working on the shower, with me helping out every now and again. I had a good session of removing plaster off the wall earlier, using a hammer and scraper, and my fingers and wrists are not feeling too good as a result. I think they will be swollen by tomorrow.
I should probably take a photo of what the area looks like, but it is too depressing. However, the good news is that the shower is the source of the musty smell we have been putting up with for some time. We're wearing masks while we work in there as we've released a lot of little microbes from behind the walls so the smell is much worse at the moment. It looks as if it will be a few days before we get back to normal following this. It will all look very different when complete.
I went to Aldi today to get a bargain. It is a leather chair to replace the one I have that is broken. Of course, it came in a box so I had to make it up. I think I've done it OK, though, and it is very comfortable to sit on. It is higher than the last one, and has cushioned arms.
Ian arrived home this afternoon, looking a bit on the tired side. He was the youngest of the group in Norway, but this doesn't seem to have phased him. I've learnt a bit about the week so far, but will learn more over time. I'll try to persuade him to blog about it.
I should probably take a photo of what the area looks like, but it is too depressing. However, the good news is that the shower is the source of the musty smell we have been putting up with for some time. We're wearing masks while we work in there as we've released a lot of little microbes from behind the walls so the smell is much worse at the moment. It looks as if it will be a few days before we get back to normal following this. It will all look very different when complete.
I went to Aldi today to get a bargain. It is a leather chair to replace the one I have that is broken. Of course, it came in a box so I had to make it up. I think I've done it OK, though, and it is very comfortable to sit on. It is higher than the last one, and has cushioned arms.
Ian arrived home this afternoon, looking a bit on the tired side. He was the youngest of the group in Norway, but this doesn't seem to have phased him. I've learnt a bit about the week so far, but will learn more over time. I'll try to persuade him to blog about it.
Saturday 16 August 2008
Happy 30th to us
Today is our 30th wedding anniversary. We celebrated it by having breakfast in the Wild Onion after our trip to the market. We also bought a pair of shoes each. None of these things had anything to do with our anniversary!
b is currently de-constructing our shower. There is a musty smell in our bedroom and we have concluded that the tiles in the shower are leaking somewhere. The only solution is to remove them all and start again. We've bought all the stuff, and the fun part is currently trying to get the current ones off the wall. They are taking the inside wall with them as they come off, so much cursing and swearing is happening. My job will be to do all the "delicate" stuff once the hacking is finished, to get the walls ready for re-applying tiles. In fact we will be applying a tiling substitue in the form of a large sheet that looks like tiles.
The rain has continued on and off for most of the day. I got wet bringing the dogs for their walk, but had anticipated the shower so wasn't too far away when it happened. It seems like it has been a lot worse in Dublin and places east and the N7 (Dublin to Limerick road) was blocked by floods for a while. Cars were asked to leave the road on the Naas to Dublin stretch. I've also heard that a train was knocked slightly off its rails at Portarlington due to a landslide. This may mean Ian will have problems getting home from Norway tomorrow by train.
I spoke briefly to Ian last night, having loaded his phone with money so he could receive the call. He was in the middle of an epistle-writing session, so I left him to it. The trolls don't appear to have taken him away, though
b is currently de-constructing our shower. There is a musty smell in our bedroom and we have concluded that the tiles in the shower are leaking somewhere. The only solution is to remove them all and start again. We've bought all the stuff, and the fun part is currently trying to get the current ones off the wall. They are taking the inside wall with them as they come off, so much cursing and swearing is happening. My job will be to do all the "delicate" stuff once the hacking is finished, to get the walls ready for re-applying tiles. In fact we will be applying a tiling substitue in the form of a large sheet that looks like tiles.
The rain has continued on and off for most of the day. I got wet bringing the dogs for their walk, but had anticipated the shower so wasn't too far away when it happened. It seems like it has been a lot worse in Dublin and places east and the N7 (Dublin to Limerick road) was blocked by floods for a while. Cars were asked to leave the road on the Naas to Dublin stretch. I've also heard that a train was knocked slightly off its rails at Portarlington due to a landslide. This may mean Ian will have problems getting home from Norway tomorrow by train.
I spoke briefly to Ian last night, having loaded his phone with money so he could receive the call. He was in the middle of an epistle-writing session, so I left him to it. The trolls don't appear to have taken him away, though
Friday 15 August 2008
The rain, it raineth
Just on schedule for the weekend, the rain has started. It would have been lovely to have a peaceful weekend on the boat, but I don't have the appetite for a wet one. If it clears up well tomorrow, we may go to it, but the forecast is not good.
Even though my working week was short this week, having returned to work on Tuesday, it felt long. Holidays already seem to have been a long time ago. However, we might yet get a sunny spell in September and we'll make the best of that.
The exciting prospect for us, if we don't go to the boat, is to deconstruct the tiling in our shower. There is a damp and musty smell in our bedroom and we feel it may be that the shower is producing damp somewhere, beyond the normal steam the working of a shower emits. If we do it, we need to complete the job as we like using the shower.
Goldie is bouncing around the place. He had an anabolic steroid injection and it seems to have given him a newish lease of life. The Olympics are out for this year, though. b has been bringing him for walks on grass so that he doesn't hurt his paw, which he drags so that his nails have worn back to the nerve. The vet has ordered a bootie for him and we'll use that for walks once we get it.
Ian is in Norway and seems to have been swallowed by trolls. I managed to talk to him for a couple of seconds before his phone went dead. It is out of credit, but the credit doesn't seem to be loading up so that we can ring him again. Hopefully the trolls will let him go by Sunday, when he is due to get the plane home.
That's all for now.
Even though my working week was short this week, having returned to work on Tuesday, it felt long. Holidays already seem to have been a long time ago. However, we might yet get a sunny spell in September and we'll make the best of that.
The exciting prospect for us, if we don't go to the boat, is to deconstruct the tiling in our shower. There is a damp and musty smell in our bedroom and we feel it may be that the shower is producing damp somewhere, beyond the normal steam the working of a shower emits. If we do it, we need to complete the job as we like using the shower.
Goldie is bouncing around the place. He had an anabolic steroid injection and it seems to have given him a newish lease of life. The Olympics are out for this year, though. b has been bringing him for walks on grass so that he doesn't hurt his paw, which he drags so that his nails have worn back to the nerve. The vet has ordered a bootie for him and we'll use that for walks once we get it.
Ian is in Norway and seems to have been swallowed by trolls. I managed to talk to him for a couple of seconds before his phone went dead. It is out of credit, but the credit doesn't seem to be loading up so that we can ring him again. Hopefully the trolls will let him go by Sunday, when he is due to get the plane home.
That's all for now.
Sunday 10 August 2008
Holidays over for another year
I have a reader! Hi, Sam - I hope you are having a good rest and are recuperating from the two years of hectic SU work and a year of living with C and Andy.
They say it has been raining over the last couple of weeks, but don't believe them. That rumour is put about by people who have been sitting inside looking out, and they ignored the sun they saw. We used our gazebo while on the boat, but only used it to keep rain off a couple of times. We all got a bit of colour, though we're a bit ashamed of C's half-arm tan....
Ian has gone off to Norway and should have arrived there about now. I drove him to Dublin this morning, encountering major floods in small regions of Dublin. Maybe it did rain yesterday up there, or overnight, or something.
Poor Goldie has a very sore paw so we have to bring him to a vet tomorrow. C and Andy have bandaged up the paw and he hasn't even tried to take the bandage off, so it must be very sore. He has been dragging his paw and this has resulted in him wearing away the ends of his nails. I'm not sure what can be done to ensure it doesn't happen again, but no doubt the vet will have ideas.
We'll have to find recipes for using up tomatoes soon. Lots of red ones greeted us on our return from holidays. I've a feeling we'll never want to see another tomato again in a while. There are even some yellow ones, which are slightly sharper in taste. I'm not going back to work until Tuesday and I'm going to have to do some gardening tomorrow. Weeds have grown ten times as fast as everything else while we've been away and I'd hate the neighbours to think that we are messy!
Anyway, the change has been good over the last couple of weeks. It was also lovely to have all the family on the holiday, and the boat working well. Let's hope we get a few more weekends on it before the season ends.
They say it has been raining over the last couple of weeks, but don't believe them. That rumour is put about by people who have been sitting inside looking out, and they ignored the sun they saw. We used our gazebo while on the boat, but only used it to keep rain off a couple of times. We all got a bit of colour, though we're a bit ashamed of C's half-arm tan....
Ian has gone off to Norway and should have arrived there about now. I drove him to Dublin this morning, encountering major floods in small regions of Dublin. Maybe it did rain yesterday up there, or overnight, or something.
Poor Goldie has a very sore paw so we have to bring him to a vet tomorrow. C and Andy have bandaged up the paw and he hasn't even tried to take the bandage off, so it must be very sore. He has been dragging his paw and this has resulted in him wearing away the ends of his nails. I'm not sure what can be done to ensure it doesn't happen again, but no doubt the vet will have ideas.
We'll have to find recipes for using up tomatoes soon. Lots of red ones greeted us on our return from holidays. I've a feeling we'll never want to see another tomato again in a while. There are even some yellow ones, which are slightly sharper in taste. I'm not going back to work until Tuesday and I'm going to have to do some gardening tomorrow. Weeds have grown ten times as fast as everything else while we've been away and I'd hate the neighbours to think that we are messy!
Anyway, the change has been good over the last couple of weeks. It was also lovely to have all the family on the holiday, and the boat working well. Let's hope we get a few more weekends on it before the season ends.
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