It's been another wonderful year here in Ireland
I have a new member of my little family, some new things in my house and garden, done some fun traveling and the future looks bright.
MY FAMILY HAS EXPANDED
Meet the newest member of my and Milo's family. Vivienne! She is an adorable seven month old kitten.
Vivienne came in October. She and her mom and littermates were in a house fire and Vivienne was one of the few who made it through. Fortunately it didn't seem to cause any lasting trauma for her. She's the sweetest, most loving little thing.
Milo wasn't at all sure what to make of this little stranger at first. There was no hostility, one very halfhearted hiss, but he was pretty standoffish. They've slowly become friendlier and it looks very promising as time goes by.
But it's impossible to stay annoyed at her sweet little face and her loving cuddles.
NEW ADDITIONS IN THE GARDEN
After working on the garden for several years, I got to reap the benefits of all the hard work. The garden was gorgeous in the Spring. The flowering trees and bushes were incredible.
Now that the hard work of clearing out all the overgrowth and dead branches is done, I turned my thoughts to making things even prettier by adding more furniture and accent pieces. I wanted more seating areas so I've had five brick patios put in. It turned out to be quite the project. I had no idea how many steps went into the process. So glad my friend Niall (who did my wonderful bathroom last year) was up to the task. We picked out some really pretty multi-shade bricks and he did a great job laying in beautiful, level, solid patios.
The ugliest part of the garden was the side yard just beyond the kitchen window. There was an ancient holly bush that refused to die. No matter what I did, it kept regrowing with a huge root structure and new shoots that made it nearly impossible to walk through the area without twisting an ankle.
I put in three gold fish, lots of plants and covered all the edges with rocks to give it a more natural look. It's now 'Cat TV' for Milo (I don't let Vivienne go outside quite yet) and I got a bench to sit out to bask by the pond and listen to the bubbling fountain.
A NEW STOVE IN THE KITCHEN
The kitchen had an old oil stove that was no longer hooked up. Since I couldn't use it, I made it a display area for a collection of sheep, cows, pigs and lots of other decorative pieces.
But I really longed for a working stove that matched the charm of my old farmhouse. So recently I started researching online and found a vintage AGA stove! I had used an AGA at once place where I pet-sat in England before I moved to Ireland and I just loved it.
I found a cooker company a man ran from the barn behind his house. It was quite the project getting it delivered and installed. He first came as a three man crew and they removed the old stove and used jack hammers to break out the old side pieces of the stove alcove. I found an old piece of newspaper in the wall that was put there when the old stove was installed, and it was dated 1969.
Then two weeks later they brought the AGA. It's solid cast iron and weighs half a ton! It was quite the project getting it into the house and installed.
I've hired a Joiner (what they call carpenters here in Ireland) to build side pieces with stone tops and shelves in the back so I can still display a few of my chickens and other pieces. He's just waiting for the stone tops right now. Soon it will be all put together.
I just love it. It's the only thing I cook on now. It's a very different way of cooking and I'm still learning. I've watched YouTube videos and found a great book.
AGAs are on all the time, so I never have to preheat anything and the kitchen is nice and warm. It will get turned off for the later spring and summer but stays on all the cooler/cold months.
GOT TO DO SOME TRAVELING THIS YEAR
Travel is such a different thing when you live in Europe as opposed to living in the US, particularly the West Coast. Rather than an 11 hour flight, you can just travel to all sorts of countries in just a few hours, and the inter-European flights are amazingly inexpensive. It still hits my ear funny when people tell me 'we're going to Spain for the weekend'!
I've joined the Active Retiree group here in New Ross and we do day trips, overnight trips, and week/10 day trips both domestically and internationally. It's a great group of people and I really enjoy it.
We did two domestic trips this year. One to Kerry (southwest Ireland) and to Northern Ireland and Belfast.
We stayed in Tralee on the Kerry trip which is where 'The Rose of Tralee' originated. It's a big deal in Tralee but there's pageants and celebrations all over the world. We went to Killarney and took horse drawn Jaunting Carts through a national park with beautiful lakes. The scenery all around Kerry is spectacular and some of the roads were hair-raising when the bus was between a sheer cliff and a big drop-off.
The Northern Ireland trip is technically an international trip as it's the UK, not Ireland. But since we could just take the bus there it's seems more domestic although we had to use Pounds instead of Euros. I got to see two things I've wanted to see for a long time.
The Giants Gauseway is an amazing natural formation on the northern coast. There are approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns that are the result of ancient volcanic activity.
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant.. The story is that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool) was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant. Finn accepted the challenge and built the causeway so the two could meet.
We also did a short tour around Derry (called Derry in Northern Ireland and Londonderry in Republic of Ireland) about 'The Troubles'. There's a lot of memorials and murals from during and after all the unrest there. All is calm and safe now, but it was a very bad time then.
THIS CHRISTMAS
I'm leaving in a few days to go to England to spend Christmas with my wonderful English friends who are a second family to me. This is my third Christmas with them, and it's so wonderful being part of a big family Christmas again.
After being with them a few days, this year I'm leaving for four days and going on a River Cruise down the Rhine in Germany to go to some of the Christmas Markets. I'm really looking forward to it. Then back to my friends on the 23rd until the 27th.
THE COMING YEAR
Very exciting, my visa for another year's stay here has already been approved! I think the back logs from all the Covid time have now been resolved. I got my approval much faster and earlier than prior years.
It's great to go into the holidays already knowing that my fourth year of living here in Ireland is all set.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season also. Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah -- Happy whatever you celebrate!
This blog is great to read Debra. You are right; the Titanic museum is excellent. Your garden looks brilliant. I am so impressed. Your commitment to Aga is off the scale- but well worth it.
ReplyDeleteExcellent effort all round!