Another foggy day

I see that the last time I blogged was March 11th, almost three weeks ago. It was foggy then and it is foggy again today. But Spring is creeping in and we have had a few beautiful sunny days. I think I will actually post two blogs today, one a "catch up" and the other, a blog about Birr Castle, which we went to see this past Monday. It deserves a blog of its own.

The last time I blogged, Richard was sick with a heavy cold. Like the fog, the cold lingered for two weeks. Thankfully it never developed into pneumonia, but he spent a lot of time on the couch and we tried out the Irish versions of cough medicine and nasal spray, etc. They worked about as well as they do in the U.S., which is middling. The big reason, I believe, why he didn't end up with pneumonia is that he rested from the first moment he got it. A blessing of retirement! The last few times he's had it, it worsened because he kept on going to work.

Anyway, while he stayed at home, I continued my regular routine of church, ESL class on Tuesdays and walking Mitzi. Oh and visiting the library of course. The library has become one of the nicest things I have discovered about daily life in Ireland and I spend much more time reading than I have done since I was an adolescent.

It's not possible to be rushing around all of the time . . . well, let me rephrase that. I suppose I could be rushing around all of the time, visiting buildings and people, exercising, doing goodness knows what. But that really isn't me and being in Ireland hasn't changed that. Yes, I see people in the village and yes I see them at ESL and on Sundays at church. But I am quite content with doing just that. I am still not really all that good with prolonged "chat"--I run out of things to say. And it is only in the past two weeks that I have got really comfortable with driving. Nowadays, if the sun shines (probably one day out of seven) I have no problem jumping into the car and going off to a cemetery or loading Richard into a car and going off to a town. But these first three months in Ireland have been a curve where, first, we were timid about driving, then there was the weather, and then there was all the "stuff" we had to get done re passports. When I look back on the past three months, I feel pretty good, in myself, about all that we have done. No use comparing myself to some of my more energetic friends who probably would be a lot busier than I am. Part of coming to Ireland was to discover "me" again and be comfortable with it. And I am becoming more comfortable with who I am than I have been in a very long time.

While Richard was really sick, I drove myself over to Limerick one afternoon, to go to a baptism of a young friend from our Waterford church branch. Limerick is about a two-and-a-bit hour's drive from here. My first major journey and I did pretty well with it. Coming back was more nerve-wracking as most of it was done in the dark. Both Richard and I have decided that we will only drive in the dark in an emergency. First, outside of the M roads, which are almost as wide as US highways and the speed limit is 70 mph, even the N roads (meaning 60 mph) are two lane. And dark. Constant flipping on and off of brights as cars zoom up on the other side, practically blinding me. Loads of curves, fine during the day but difficult at night. And I don't think either of us see particularly well at night.

Anyway, here are two photos of Quinxing (aka Stella), the missionaries and some friends from Waterford.

Stella is doing a Bachelor of Architecture at the Waterford Institute of Technology. She and her friend Christen (on the right) are from Beijing and became interested in the church through the ESL classes several months ago, before I started participating in them. They really hadn't heard much about Jesus Christ growing up so I think it was quite a challenge for the missionary, Elder Fuhoko, to not only overcome a double language barrier (his first language is Tongan) but also to basically teach the gospel from the ground up. Most people who come to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have at least had some teaching in Christianity. Anyway, she was at first intrigued, then convinced, and it was a very happy afternoon.

The day was a lovely sunny one and I enjoyed the drive through County Tipperary so much that I convinced Richard to go out on a drive with me later on that week, on another semi-sunny day. We drove through the countryside to Carrick-on-Suir, where we stopped for lunch and I, of course, photographed a fascinating old graveyard while Richard sat in the sun. He was still recovering his strength at that point. We were interested in going to see Ormond Castle but when we arrived there, we discovered that it is under complete renovation so all we could so was photograph the outside:

The fields sometimes remind me of the Eastern Townships, Quebec

Old stone carving in deconsecrated church

St. Nicholas Church, Carrick on Suir

Inside of the church

Fifty Shades of Green

All that we could see of Ormond Castle

And what it looks like from the air. More imposing.

St. Patrick's Day was actually a very quiet day for us. Richard was still not well and the day was cold and drizzly. I tried to watch the Dublin Parade on the computer but the picture was too pixilated. Besides, to me what is really important about St. Patrick's Day is that it is Quinn Louise Humpherys' birthday, her 6th to be precise. And I missed her like crazy. Earlier in the week, when I was in Waterford for the ESL class, I took a "selfie" in front of this wall art because it reminded me so much of Quinnie. 

I miss all of the grandchildren, especially at special times like birthdays and holidays. I am glad, of course, that we are doing this but right now we are leaning toward making this a "one year project." Granted, a lot of that feeling comes from the weather during the winter and now both of us having been sick (yep, I got the cold 10 days after Richard did.) I tend to be someone who lives in the present as much as possible so I only fleetingly think of going back at the end of this year. But, yes, the thought does keep creeping in.