Obedience

Sometimes you just are not allowed to go in....

Wahooooo!!

Well... Thankfully our site is back up and running at full speed. To celebrate this return to the net I've added a new little feature on the right toolbar. If you take just a moment and click on the guestmap button you will be able to add a little pushbutton to our world map! It will be fun to see where all in the world people are reading our site!

Been A While...

Well.... as you may have guessed we have really had some problems with our website this past week. I'm not really sure what went wrong... or what I have done to fix it... but it looks like I did. Thanks for checking back on the site... I'll be working hard to get it updated and running faster.

website down

Just a quick note to say that we are having problems with the website... thanks for checking on it... we will hopefully have everything worked out soon.

Hey... What's That?"

This is just a random pic for today...



I wish that I could tell you an amazing story about how this ship ended up broken and wedged along the cliffs... Unfortunately Ireland has its share of shipwrecks (23 ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked off of our coast in a giant storm in Oct. 1588)... and we don't have a clue how this one met its end. Deedra and I came across this shipwreck a couple of weeks ago when we were out hiking on a small peninsula. We have driven along the road here many times but we never knew that this was here until we actually peered over the edge. This is all of the ship that remains (or at least that we could see) but it must have been a really large ship at one point.

High Crosses...

As you know by now... I love the history that is all over Ireland. You can't go too far on this island without standing in awe of one of the many high crosses that still stand in the middle of fields & in the midst of ruined churches & monasteries. The crosses were originally carved by artisan monks between the seventh to twelfth centuries. It was during this time that the rest of Europe muddled around in the Dark Ages and Ireland was in its golden age. These crosses vary in size - some being 15 feet tall - and they vary in deterioration, but it is very clear how much time and artistry was used in creating them. These crosses are usually (but not always) made up of panels that contain biblical & historical scenes. These carvings served as stained glass to an illiterate people.



This high cross shows: (From the top)
Jesus at the last judgment with an angel blowing a trumpet and an angel in adoration
David is playing his harp on the far left & David and a lion are on the far right
The sacrifice of Isaac
Celtic knots




This is a broken cross (the top half is missing) in Kells.
You can clearly see Noah's ark in the top panel - the cool thing is that the boat resembles a Viking ship which is the only big boat that the monks would have known.
The bottom panel is of Adam and Eve after they have eaten from the tree.

Ivan

Just a quick note to say thanks to all of you who have been remembering our friends and family in Mobile. Early reports are that everyone is doing fine.

Catch Me If You Can...

I was thinking back about a conversation that my sister, Jenny, had with my nephew Jack last year. She was trying to explain to him the fact that we are six hours ahead of them. She told him that when they are eating breakfast I am eating lunch... and that when they are eating lunch I am eating dinner... and when they are eating dinner I am already in bed for the night. Jack thought about it for a second and then said, "It's kinda like we are in a race... and Uncle Wallace is always winning"! I love it!

Gale Force...

Autumn is here in a big way. It is hard to believe it but the season officially changed here on August 1st... but we are just feeling the effects now. Last week was a beautiful sunny time and I kept wishing that I had a pair of shorts to wear... but now we are running our heaters and electric blanket. We have even had a fire in the fireplace the last couple of nights.... brrrrr.. The winds have been at gale force (around 65 MPH right now) the last couple of days which makes the rain sound like hail as it hits the windows. To be honest with you I'm not really sad to see the seasons change... don't get me wrong, I love the sun and heat of summer... but autumn is a time where things slow down.. classes start up... and we get to spend time with many of our friends that were very busy during the summer.

A Slow Decay...

One of the things that I really like about Ireland is the mixture of the old and new ways of life. There has been a real economic boom here over the last decade or so... This means that there have been a lot of new houses built in our area. There still, however, are a lot of people that have decided to keep thatching their houses. I especially like this little old cottage that sits empty overlooking the ocean while time and a little bit of grass slowly takes away its roof....

Olympic Pride

I was really proud to be Irish last night.... And I'm not Irish. It all started when I needed to run into the village to get eggs and milk. It was a rainy cool evening but Deedra was making pancakes and well... I'll go on a milk run if it means that I'll get pancakes! As I drove the mile in to the village I kept passing bonfires on the side of the road. I kept seeing more and more... so many that there were 9 just between our house and the store. Some of the fires were really small (like camp fires) and others were so large that I could feel their heat as I passed by. All of these fires were in honor of a local woman that represented Ireland in the Athens Olympic Games! She didn't win a medal, but she represented Ireland and the village well.... And the people came out to welcome her home. Cars were honking horns... Houses flew their Irish flags... And there was a huge Irish flag paraded into the center of the village as the Olympian road atop an open double decker bus. There was a small ceremony that took place where a small group of musicians playing traditional Irish music, kids clamored to get an autograph, and people cheered for their favorite athlete. The highlight for me was when she was presented with a large bouquet of flowers by the village's special Olympian. The two held hands and raised them high in the air... The crowd cheered... And I could really sense a pride that didn't come from winning medals....



The town Olympian (In white) atop the bus.


Preparing the flag to be carried into the village.
(You can see one of the bonfires in the distance).

1500

Our little site hit yet another milestone last night. My sister Jodie was the 1,500th visitor! Deedra and I have really had a lot of fun working on the website this year. It has slowly evolved and grown since we started it back in Mid-January... And still has a long way to go... And we appreciate all of you that check in on the site from time to time.

This graph shows the number of visitors to the site per day over the last nine months.