Back to village life

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 wading around the shallows in a bathing suit isn't that appealing to me either. But my cousin and a good friend are visiting in August so I may get in yet. One regret I have is that we haven't gone sailing. Looking at all those beautiful boats out on the water I would really like to go. Maybe, maybe....

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Life on board the Queen Mary

Passenger's log on the Queen Mary 2: Dec 9th - First Day at Sea Didn't sleep well--think it was the soused mackerel at dinner. Anyway, R and I woke up at about 6:00 am and discussed the order of the day. Quite the swell outside and I can feel the roll of the ship. (No seasickness thank goodness!) Despite the mackerel, I was hungry so we went to King's Court at 6:30 a.m. Buffet with loads of choice of course. We sat in an alcove looking out at the ocean. Our server was from Croatia, Slavan. I asked him my burning question of the day--why did we get a free bottle of wine but a regular bottle of Diet Coke cost $3.75? Diet Pepsi is $1.00 less. Fruit juices are free on tap. Coffee, tea, milk, ditto. But you have to pay for soft drinks. Very odd. Slavan says it is because Cunard can't get a good contract with Coke. Hmmm.... our local School District back in Sierra Vista can negotiate .50 a can for the soda machines in the teachers' lounges but Cunard has to cha...

Duckett's Grove/Castle, Co. Carlow

Golly I am tired tonight! We had a really busy day. We went into Carlow town to return a pair of sweatpants that R. bought and didn't like. I also went to the Bank of Ireland and started up my bank account. They do things very differently here than in Sierra Vista. There are no tellers for simple deposits or withdrawals; the bank branch in Carlow consists of four ATM machines and one international exchange cashier. And three personal bankers who are extremely helpful. I discovered that you don't make a deposit, you make a lodgment. Weird, eh? We went to Tesco's after the bank to get our every-other-day food shopping done. Small refrigerators--have to be careful in buying. We also bought some new "orthopedic" pillows that will hopefully help our neck issues. Bought a couple of pre-made sandwiches and ate them in the car when we parked at Duckett's Grove. Duckett's Grove is a ruined 19th century great house whose owners kept redesigning the original house ...

US Thanksgiving 2024

My memoir post will be slightly political again today. I'm getting past it all, hardly read any of my previous political commentators now. Still, there is one person whose column I read because I find his musings interesting. This morning he wrote a mostly positive post about Thanksgiving but then he wrote that those who don't support Trump are part of an "educated elite." I felt strongly that I wanted to comment about this. Because, just as not all people who voted for Trump are the same, neither are those who voted against him. And I want to set to paper my opinion about that. Because that's what this memoir blog is, my perspective on the life I have lived and am living :) My blue-collar father who went to high school at night in his teens while working during the day in the 1920s, who told both his daughters in the 1950s and 1960s that high school was "good enough" for women, would be mystified to hear his younger daughter included in "the educat...

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