BANG!

Friday mornings always start off with a bang around here. Today was no exception. I was laying in bed listening to the sounds of donkeys in far away fields when suddenly my eyes shot open, and my mind began to race…… “is it?......” I thought to myself. “wait……. Mon, Tues, Wed, yesterday…. IT IS!!!.....” Like a kid out of bed on Christmas morning, I shot out of bed ran around our bedroom in circles and then over to the window… “Is it there???.... Where are my glasses??..... DOH!!! It isn’t there…. They must have come already…. Doh!!!!.....” I continued my race around the room looking for my cardinals baseball cap…. But could not find it… I had to settle for a ski hat and shoes without socks… “I can do it….. there is enough time….. it is still early….” I kept thinking to myself. I frantically ran from room to room looking for any spare water bottle or scrap of paper…. “gotta tie tttthhhhhhheeeeeee bagggggggggssssssssssssssss…….. why won’t the bag tie??..... ok….” Out the door I ran… around the house… and onto the vacant road. I threw the bags down next to the old stone wall… and just stood there…………………………………………….. “ok…. No one else has their rubbish out……………………………….. this is the time that they should come collect it…………………………………………. Ugh…………. Missed them again!!!!!!!!!”

I seem to miss or barely miss the rubbish men every Friday. There really is an art to putting it out because you can’t put it out too early around here. So, I decided to leave the two rubbish bags sitting by themself by the old rock wall and I went back inside our house. I slumped down in the office chair….. pulled off my running shoes – I hate that feeling of wearing running shoes without socks-. I stood up and pulled open the blind, and there they sat……………………. our two rubbish bags…… all alone…… I decided to leave them in hopes that the rubbish men had not come. I sat here… checking my email… watching the two crows hop around the bags taking pecks at them. “Shoo…. Shoo….!” I opened and slammed the window shut…. Sending the birds into orbit for only a split second… Joey – the neighborhood retriever & all around good dog walked up scattering the birds… “Thank you dog!” I thought to myself. He sniffed the bags for a moment… and then looked away as if he was about to lift his leg and cover the smell of our rubbish with his scent… “Joey!!! I yelled as I opened the window.” He froze in mid leg lift and ran over –thinking that I was going to throw a rock for him to fetch.

This is the reason I don’t put the rubbish out the night before… every fox, dog, and bird in the neighborhood would come by to examine and help themselves to our leftovers. “Ok… I have to do something fast because I don’t want to touch the rubbish bags anymore.” I cleaned up a bit more… found (clean) socks and went out to collect the rubbish. I threw the still intact bags (thank you birds) that I was convinced had not been soiled (thank you Joey) into the back of our van, and went off looking for the rubbish men. As I drove down the street I noticed a few other poor souls that had missed the truck… I drove down the main road to a spot that I know well (a spot where many people leave their rubbish to be collected). “Ah ha! They have not made it here yet!” Jumped out and left the rubbish. I made it back to our little road, and started driving up. I was only a few feet onto our road when I saw them. The rubbish men were right in front of me collecting rubbish from every house on the street. “They didn’t have their bags out five min ago” I kept thinking to myself. We (myself and the rubbish men) eventually made it back to our house, and I was able to come in and relax for a few moments. Whew! ... That or some variation of it each week is my weekly Friday morning drama.

:(

We had a wonderful time with Dee’s family. We had a great time as they got to experience Ireland for the first time. I was really proud that they were willing to try anything and enjoy all parts of life in Ireland – many of which were a first for them. We climbed rock fences, shopped, hiked through fields, chased sheep, jumped on the bogs, skipped rocks on the ocean, walked around castle gardens, shopped, tried blood pudding for breakfast (no one really liked it), stood and marveled at the mountains, had a picnic next to the sea, saw stone circles & megalithic tombs, shopped, enjoyed traditional music, danced around the house (well… my father-in-law did), played a lot of games, ate lots of great food, and took many long walks together… It was great to get to spend so much time with all of the family. I feel really lucky to have in-laws that I love and that I love to spend time with…

Today's Random Pic: Wild Flowers

Where does it go?

It is early on a cold, wet, Sunday morning. I am up in the study all by myself. I can't believe it, but this is the last day that we will have Dee's family here with us. We have had a blast during the time that they were here. We have traveled a bit and gone sightseeing, but more than anything it was nice to just spend time with one another. Dee and I really needed to see all of her family, and we feel blessed that they were all able to come over at the same time. It is hard to believe that it had been over a year since we last saw any of them........... a year is too long to not see those that you love...................... We are so grateful to have people that love us... And we are so grateful for this time that we have had....... I hope that they will be able to come back again soon.

Having a Blast!

We are really having a blast with all of Dee's family! We took a couple of days out of this week and hit the road to a region of Ireland that was full of natural beauty and history... I'll be posting some more pics on their webpage (see above) in just a bit - so check back.

Fun...

I received some awesome birthday cards today... Thanks. I wanted to share this homemade one (by my nephew - Jack) with you... Hope you get as big of a kick out of it as I did.

They made it!

Just a quick note to say that all four of our guests made it yesterday. Everyone was a little jet lagged, but excited to be here. We will be posting some pictures soon.

My Girl & The Stars...

Yesterday was a beautiful - hot day... We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon, but last night we had to work cleaning the house and getting ready for our upcoming visitors (YEA!). I guess that it was around eleven o'clock last night that I decided to head to bed. I had this great plan of going to bed early and getting up extra early to finish work... And the evening was all going according to plan until I remembered that the guest bedroom window was open. I walked into the dark room, tripping over some things in the floor, and over to the window... I stood there for a few moments looking out at the town lights in the distance and strained to hear the ocean waves in the distance (only on extremely still nights can you hear the ocean). I guess that I had only stood there two or three minutes when a long bright streak went across the sky - a shooting star. Now... I am a city boy... And even though I have seen nights with a lot of stars I have never seen a night as clear and full of stars as I did last night. I stood there looking up at the heavens enjoying the magnificence of the universe until I saw a second falling star. It was at that time that I called Dee and we decided to go for a little walk. We didn't go far (you can't walk far when your head is looking straight up)... Just out into our little front garden next to the stone wall by the road. We stood there all alone in the crisp night air counting the falling stars as if it were a game. We stayed until a little after midnight - when our necks could no longer stand the strain of looking up and the fog was begining to roll in off the water. Truly - an undescribable night... 18 falling stars were counted between the two of us!!! I really believe that it was the most amazing night that I have ever seen... Just standing there in the darkness with the stars and my girl. I pray that I never stop seeing the beauty or stop being amazed at creation.

Summer is over!

Yep... Sorry to say it... Summer is over. Ireland is so far north that the seasons run earlier than they do in the states. August first is the beginning of Autumn. It has been a good summer, and I am really looking forward to things slowing down & returning to a more normal routine.

The Luck of the Irish...

That little phrase - the luck of the Irish - was never more evident than it was this past week. A housewife & mother of six (Dolores McNamara) living in Limerick (who was wondering whether to take a job)was the grand prize winner of the European lottery. She is going to walk away with 115-million-euro -that is 140-million-dollars!!! Now that is incredibly lucky... but can you believe that this is the very first ticket that she has ever bought? And can you believe that a very kind man let her cut in line (Saying - "Ladies First") and buy his winning ticket (Poor guy!!!)! Now... that is hard to believe... but it is true. Dolores hid from the media for a few days in a luxury hotel, but has been seen with her husband (who is recovering after a triple heart bypass operation - not related to the big win) out test driving a Mercedes and a Jaguar. It took Dolores a few days to get around to collecting her check... a wait that cost her around 9,000EURO a day in interest... but she didn't seem too concerned.

A Random Pic for Today...