valeriesbookofme

No, I am not talking about pints of Guinness (although if they made a non-alcholic version I would be a very happy camper.) No, I am talking about going to a 200 year old pub for an evening of song and chat (craic.) The Barony of Gaultier sponsored the evening and for €5-00 there were hamburgers off the grill and sausages and corn on the cob (can't do corn on the cob anymore per strict instructions from dentist), and a cash bar. The pub is small and very old, very basic. When I first arrived there were only these three men sitting at a table and a young fellow behind the bar. When I asked if I had the right night for the BBQ (the time had said 7:30 and I arrived at 7:35) they smiled and said "Ah sure, they're just after getting the barbecue set up now."  People continued to trickle in so that by 8:15, when the food was pronounced ready, we had a nice little crowd, the room was full. I was glad I had found my seat tucked into the bay window at the front of t...

Just a few photos to remind myself in months to come what was so lovely about living in Dunmore: There are loads of summer visitors in the village now and driving is quite a feat. Yep, parking on both sides of the road and up the hill!! Luckily our parking area in front of our house is tucked away so people don't park there casually. But when everyone is occupying a house, parking does get tight. There was also a blessing of animals at St. Andrews COI in the village on Sunday afternoon. Mitzi and I went down and the female vicar blessed her that she would have a safe journey back to the U.S.A. Mitzi was less impressed by the blessing than by the treats that were available and by the other dogs. She really has got quite friendly. I haven't been swimming. I don't actually like to swim that much anymore. I used to do Aqua Zumba and Aquacize but I have problems with tendonitis in my arms and shoulders so swimming isn't fun. And wa...

One more day in Barcelona, one more museum. I have to confess that by now (Tuesday) I was getting tired. The heat was getting to me, I was kind of overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city, of all the sights and smells.... I was actually looking forward to returning to my sleepy coastal village. I do love Dunmore East. Anyway, final photos from our last day walking around Barcelona. Most of them were taken at Museum Frederic Mars which is an amazing "ultimate collector's" house filled with statuary and paintings and all kinds of odds and ends. And for some reason (probably because there are so many of them) my photos are all mixed up on this page. So I have captioned them to help clarify what they are except for all of the statuary and paintings--they are from the Museum Frederic Mars: It was at this point I decided I needed to go back to my quiet village! Terrace at our hotel First floor atrium at hotel Gaudi House ...

After visiting the Cathedral, we decided to take the Metro and go see Poble Catalunya. It was on Trip Advisor's "Top Then Things To Do" and we liked the description of a model village that contained elements of all the architectural areas of Spain. We had been to a similar village in Palma and enjoyed that. The Metro is very good, quite easy to understand and fast. We arrived and I pulled out my iPhone GPS to see which way to walk to get to the Poble. It reminds me of the old "follow the bouncing ball" as I watched the arrow move along the blue line when we were going the right way and then move off to the white/gray area when we didn't turn where we were supposed to. We had quite a climb to get to the Poble and when we were returning later realized there was a much easier way to get there. Another black mark against GPS.  It was after noon and so hot. We sat at a table in the shade and had a glass of lemonade while we recovered from the climb. The Po...