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Here's to 2017!!

This past weekend has been very quiet. We went out on Saturday during the day, visiting garden centers. Garden centers here carry more than just plants and gardening implements. They have clothing, accessories, kitchen stuff, etc., as well as a restaurant. I bought a new raincoat (as my other "dress up" one was in the lamented luggage) and a non-stick frying pan. Now I can cook fried eggs with ease. Ah yes, quite the gourmet cook I am. A dab hand at reheating a Tesco casserole and excellent at spaghetti bolognese. I am planning to attempt scalloped potatoes for a church pot luck next Sunday.

Mitzi came along with us on our jaunting around the countryside. One of the garden centers had a lovely forest walk that was dog friendly so she enjoyed that. We went down to a pond to see the geese who luckily were behind a fence. It was double trouble as far as Mitzi was concerned--the dreaded water and these large hissing birds.

Being a passenger in a car driven by an American is a frightening business. When Richard made another comment about my not driving with him in the car, I reminded him that the perspective from the passenger seat is altogether different than from the driver's. You see the walls and hedges practically nose to nose and you think at any moment you are going to land in one. But really you are a good three inches from the curb. And there is no such thing as a straight road on the 'R' roads.

Now the M roads are a different story. They are great. When we went to church yesterday we only saw three other cars on the hourlong journey to Waterford. And they are straight and the lanes are wider. Not as wide as American lanes I think, but wider than the N and R roads here.

We had been invited out for New Year's Eve by a family we met at church last week. The Ryans, Willie and Mary. But they live in Tramore, which is an hour and a half's drive each way from where we are right now. They offered for us to stay the night but we explained about Mitzi. We will be much closer when we move to Dunmore East but as it was New Year's Eve, nighttime and we do have some N and R roads to negotiate on the way down, we said thank you but rain check please. We spent New Year's Eve very quietly, watching old All Creatures Great & Small episodes on the computer.

And yesterday was COLD. Not Montreal cold but very nippy. So we just went to church--which, with the journey there and back takes four hours anyway--and came back to watch more All Creatures and to enjoy a Tesco cottage pie. Cottage pies here are made with beef, shepherd's pie with lamb. Thought you might like to know.

There was a farewell at church yesterday--the missionary couple we had met last week who are returning to Utah after 18 months in Scotland and Ireland--and our Relief Society (women's group) President, who is from Italy, had brought this very decadent trifle cake to share after church. All sponge cake, fruit, custard and whipped cream. That did me for my cake consumption yesterday. Despite her trying to ply me with more, I stopped at one small slice. It will amaze some of you that I have cut back on my sweets here. There are just too many of them and after the Christmas celebrations I have actually had enough. I no longer swoon with ecstasy over the dessert counter at cafes and restaurants. Heck even the petrol stations here have cake counters with fresh made scones, cream eclairs and other treats that put Little Debbie cakes into the shade!

Well, it is Monday morning, second day of the new year. -1 Celsius right now and it is finally light here. It takes a lot longer for daylight to appear than in Arizona. It seems to me that in Arizona it takes about 15 minutes to go from dark to light. Here it takes about 45. We are mulling over what to do. It is Bank Holiday so things will be quiet around town. I have a cemetery lined up to catalogue so we might go out and do that once it gets a few degrees warmer. And of course Mitzi will still want her walk regardless of weather. We all miss the doggie door but occasionally a chicken escapes from our landlord's pen and so I really don't want her wandering around outside just in case. A goose would be off putting but a chicken....

Well, let's look at the camera and see which photos I took on Saturday....

Mitzi and the geese
Forest walk near Rathwood Garden Center

River Barrow and Leighlinbridge


Hoping for handouts, Barrow river

What's left of the Black Castle

Description of the history of the Black Castle

If you double click on the photo of the plaque, you should be able to read it.

Comments

  1. Lisa Ray TurnerJanuary 4, 2017 at 8:36 AM

    Beautiful, Val! It sounds like you are thriving in Ireland. What a great place to thrive!

    ReplyDelete

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