Today's Random Pic

"All ye have to do is to find the queen.... it is that easy... no trick to it.... see!"

Thanks...

I have really been thinking a lot about the first Thanksgiving. I guess when I re-read it and then told it to the kids at story hour it got me thinking. Here we are about to celebrate our third Thanksgiving in Ireland. Wow.... that is hard to believe... and we have a lot to be thankful for. We too are pilgrams living in a foreign land. We too have endured tests and trials and are now just feeling as if we are coming out on the other side. Three years............................................ When we first moved here I remember thinking that three years (the length of our contract with our company) was going to be so long......... looking at it from this side I can clearly see that after three years we just feel as if we are settling ... just now feel as if we are truly here... and just now know where we are going and what we are doing. So we too are going to celebrate... give thanks... we are inviting our neighbors to a big meal tonight and going to celebrate all of the wonderful things that have happened already and all of the things yet to come....

Test Time...

Well…… I had to take our van in for its NCT test. Don’t ask me what “NCT” stands for… It has something to do with road safety and the suitableness of your car for Irish roads. I think, however, there should be a test for Irish roads to see if they are suitable for cars (if you have ever been to Ireland you will get that). This isn’t the first time that I have had to take our car in… always a headache. The thing about these tests is that you have to go in expecting to fail. They say that just about every car that is tested fails. It could be anything that causes you to fail. A tire that is under inflated… a headlight that is out of alignment… It is said that the workers look for a reason or make a reason to fail a car.

Ok… so it is into this that I go a couple of days ago. I took the car and checked in at the front desk. No problems. I was told that I could go to the waiting room and wait until I was called. So… I walked down this long hallway passed seven huge plate glass windows to a nice little sterile waiting room. There were about a dozen men standing around in the room…. No one was talking. I too went in and waited for about five min while the room filled up with quiet men. Then it happened. We could see through the large windows through the garage that the mechanics were starting to test the cars. We all rushed over to the windows. This quiet bunch of men then began to speak. One man proudly said, “Oh there is mine”. Another man asked, “oh…. Beautiful… what year is it?” Another man, “Ah, there is mine too”. We all stood there admiring the cars and talking about them when all of a sudden a man entered the room and said very loudly…. “Is this the labor delivery ward?” We all busted out laughing. It was true. We were all standing there pointing at our babies… concerned with their well being… tell stories… I couldn’t help but keep laughing about this the whole time I was there. A little while later men started to be called to the desk to find out if they had failed. One man returned to the waiting room and with his paper raised high above his head yelled, “It’s a boy!!” The room cheered.

Classic!

You might be wondering if I passed or failed. Failed. My rear shock absorber mounting was worn.

This AM

Just a quick note to say that I am sitting here in our office looking out at near gale force winds blowing snow across the front garden. I love Ireland!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Wow… it is thanksgiving time already? To be honest with you… today does not feel like thanksgiving at all. It has been a pretty normal day here. No… no turkey. We did have a nice meal out at our local coffee shop tonight. I did, however, get to tell the thanksgiving story to a group of kids in our local library today. We volunteer there every Thursday for a children’s story hour. It isn’t anything really complicated… just a few stories… a song or two… and a craft. Today we made Indian headdresses. The kids had a lot of fun and many of the parents said that they had no idea about Thanksgiving. Other than that…. It has been a really normal day. Ah but don’t feel sorry for us… We are going to celebrate. We are just waiting until the weekend so that our neighbors will be off from work. We are having a few neighbor friends over for a meal. Dee’s first turkey….. and I really think that it is going to be fun to celebrate it here with our new friends… we truly have a lot to be thankful for.

Splish Splash

I woke up this morning just as normal... had a really nice shower this morning... again everything normal... I even came downstairs to the office without any problem. And then I heard it. Drip....... Drip...... Drip..Drip.......Drip.Drip.Drip....Drip.Drip.Drip.Drip.Drip. Gush...... I jumped up... water was running out of the ceiling in the hall right outside our office. I ran up the stairs to the exact spot where the water was coming from... the carpet there was also soaked.... Looking up I could see water dripping out of the ceiling there also. I looked outside... Not a cloud in the sky. What could it have been? Any guesses? Busted pipe? No. Nothing up there was frozen or melting... Now... I am not a plumber... But I had never heard of this before. Apparently we have a large tub (kinda like a bathtub but not really) that sits uncovered in our attic. It is a common practice here to have these things so that the house will have added water pressure. Ours was overflowing. I called out to Dee and she frantically started running water in the shower upstairs. We called our landlord... he called a plumber.... the plumber came over without a ladder... several hours later he had a new part on the tub (apparently it was stuck in the refill position)... The plumber seemed a little miffed at me because the overflow pipe had been taped over. I had to tell him - "Sorry... I didn't build the house... I just live here". Hours later and we are still soaking water out of the carpet. It is funny... I had really planned on getting some things accomplished today... and now that it is just about over.... I don't think that I have gotten anything accomplished. Am I the only one that has unproductive days like this? To be honest with you - I think that I need them. I think that I need a curve ball from time to time...

Change... Change... Change...

Several things have suprised me about moving to Ireland. The biggest suprise has been how dependent we are upon the weather. In the USA I really didn't give it a great deal of thought... it was just one of those annoying things that you thought about while you were on the go. Life here, however, is slower... and so much of our life is spent outside.... I really find myself watching the weather all day - no matter what I am doing. The people here all talk about the weather as if it is breaking news on CNN... and rightly so - I think. When the weather is good the people come out of the woodwork and everyone is out walking... working in their gardens... playing on the beach (yes - even in winter).

On fine days like today I have to grab my camera and head out for a hike. I couldn't believe it today (and was a bit relieved) when I realized that we are now almost a third of the way through winter here. I am always so relieved to just know that the cold dark winter days are not going to last forever... This winter, however, has been really nice (so far). We have had several weeks of really nice cold weather. We have not had any really bad winter storms... and I didn't see a cloud in the sky all day today. I know that the weather might not last but I am going to make the most out of every day that we get.

The days are getting really short now... The sun went down at 4:30 this afternoon... but I am learning to enjoy the short days... and the countless sunsets & sunrises that I get to see during these months.

Today's Random Pic...

The Tower Bridge in London

While On The Road...

Our week in the United Kingdom was a lot of fun. We were not there for a vacation, but rather had meetings most of the week....... We really had a lot of fun and we made the most of our free time. We really enjoy our co-workers and enjoyed catching up with some of them that we have not seen in quite a while. There were several perks to having our meetings in the UK.

1. Our hotel was right next to a Starbuck's coffee.... I'm not really a fan (sorry Seth & Jen)... but it was nice to have a few different coffees.

2. Right next to the Starbuck's was a Krispy Kreme doughnut stand! Oh yea..... That was our first Krispy Kreme in years.... Dee said it best when she said (with a mouth full of doughnut), "There are some things that really are as good as I remember and that live up to their expectations..." Needless to say that we went to the doughnut stand every day... and I never once complained about paying $2 per delicious doughnut!!

3. We had real Tex-Mex food at the "Texas Embassy"!

4. Three words.... Papa John's pizza..... oh yea.... They have started to open up in the UK.... Garlic dipping sauce and all!!!

I have to say that the best thing about our free time in the UK happened on Tuesday night. My wife and I went on a date. We along with a few of our friends went to the west end of London for a lovely Italian dinner and a show. Our restaurant was across the street from Her Majesty's Theatre where we saw The Phantom of the Opera! There are no words to express how amazing the performance was.... Truly amazing!

Home again...

We are finally home again. We owe a BIG thank you to Dee's little sister for filling in this past week.... I've already received questions (including one international call to my cell phone) from people wanting to know what the reasons were that Dee would not want to date me..... I don't seem to remember......... I guess that I have blocked that out.......... Yea... Yea... that is it..... Thanks for bringing that up Dena...... ;)

they're coming back today!

i haven't plugged in the scanner, so i didn't get all the pics up that i wanted. maybe dee and wallace will leave again! if you have ideas or pics from the past that you would like to share, email me. (for future usage)

my halloween story...

i was anticipating my train ride to a friend's house on halloween night. there's usually a lot to see. it was an uneventful trip there, but on the way back....the grim reaper got on. even more unnerving, he looked me in the eyes before getting off.

the truth

yes, that is dee and me asleep in the back of a van. what can i say? we were tired.

what really happened this summer...

wallace in action

more favs...

my favorite pics of ireland...

wallace and dee.....beginnings

wallace and i were pretty good friends before he actually dated dee. we met at university and spent a lot of time taking long walks on the campus. on one particular night, he asked me THE question: "what do you think dee would say if i asked her out?" knowing my sister, i told him she would probably say no. i gave my reasons and tried to let him down gently. however, he did not heed my warnings nor did he take my advice. he asked her anyway. needless to say, a couple of years later they were married. and now we have a funny story to share on their blog.

guest bloggers

while dee and wallace are away...we'll bring you the untold stories and some pics from the past!

Guests...

Dee and I are off to the UK for a week. Nothing too exciting just some meetings and work... But we have a little treat for you. Dee's sister & brother-in-law (that cute couple in the pic to the right) will be our guest writers. So... Stay tuned and enjoy the posts...

Halloween!

We had a really nice Halloween this year. The night was cool and crisp... and it really felt like a Halloween should feel.

There are a few traditions here that we are still trying to get accustomed to... One of the traditions is to celebrate the holiday with fireworks.... Now.... Keep in mind that fireworks are illegal. That isn't much of an obstacle because people just go up into Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) and buy them there. We went over to our friend's house and watched as he put on the best personal firework display I have ever seen. People all around the block were standing on their front porches watching as explosions lit up the night's sky. I don't know the last time I watched fireworks.... It seems a little out of place for Halloween... But it was a lot of fun.

Another tradition (that no one could explain) was the breaking of a coconut. Can't explain it... but a coconut is drained and then split open with a hammer... the family then eats the treat inside. It was a new tradition to me..... but everyone seems to enjoy it.

We had a few trick or treaters come by our house.... And we were really excited to see our neighbor's two-year old twins come over in their cow costumes! Too much fun!