Mothering Sunday

Gwen is making the most of the fact that the UK celebrates Moms in March and Canada celebrates in May--at least she's hoping that she'll reap the benefit of the second installment! We went with friends for a great trip to Castle Ward and then the ride home up the East coast by Strangford Lough. It was a blustery day, but we got in a bracing walk around the Castle Ward grounds and a very interesting tour of a spectacular house that is an enduring monument to marital disagreements--half of the house is built in a classical, half in a (modified) Gothic style. Below is a pic of some of the flower arrangements that now grace our hearth.

Snow!

Winter couldn't let go without giving us a taste of snow, so we got a little on the day before Spring. There was apparently about 6 inches in the hills, but we saw only enough to make a snowball. Waiting for just the right moment to get a picture of the snow-covered hills, I missed my opportunity, so you'll have to take my word for it unless more comes tonight, as they're predicting.

St. Patrick's Day in Ireland

What a privilege--to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the land where he spent his life as a missionary. We got up early and caught a ride to Saul, the spot where he landed and began his ministry. There we attended a service and then joined a prayer walk to the cathedral in Downpatrick for another service complete with Irish music and dancers. After the service we enjoyed a wonderful Irish stew dinner, checked out the museum, and watched the parade, and then we visited the ruins of Inch Abbey on the way home. Our pics are in our flickr collection, beginning with this one of the church in Saul.

Pigeons!

Jimmy, a neighbour just around the corner, is a pigeon fancier. For more than 46 years, he has raised and raced homing pigeons. We spent a wonderful afternoon with him, learning much more about pigeons than we ever expected to know. He showed us chicks from newly hatched to 14 days (a fortnight) old and explained that he starts training the ones born now in May-June and racing them in July! More experienced racers are shipped to the south of Ireland, to England, and even to France and released to make their way home. His best racer ever flew nonstop from France (400 miles) in just over 12 hours and immediately--without even pausing for a drink--sat on her nest.
I kicked myself for forgetting the camera--maybe we'll pop over another day for some pics.

Gwen off to see the Queen

Last night I went down to Queen's Film theatre with a friend to see the academy winning film- The Queen. It was an interesting film. I thought that I would be sitting in the theatre with college aged students and thought that I would feel old. Actually it was more likely alumni from half a century ago - they are apparently the ones most interested in the monarchy in Northern Ireland. I have a friend that works at Hillsbourgh castle - the Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland - he is planning to take my sister Marilyn and I for a private tour when she comes in April. I'll make a post to tell you our observations!

Great craic for cheap!

This isn't the first Spring day when our son has astounded us with his ability to come up with innovative ways to have a lot of fun. Yes, that's a ditch filled with water, and I think that's his snowboard.

Guess who's buying books?

Randy has always been the book buyer in the house. We brought only one book to read on the plane besides our Bibles. Randy has shown a lot of restraint in accumulating books that will have to be transported back to Canada and often has 12 - 20 books out a time on loan from various libraries. Gwen on the other hand has taken a fancy to buying children's books to read to our little visitors and to send home with them. You can learn a lot of local vocabulary, lifestyle and history from reading these books.

What I miss

A friend asked me the other day what I miss most from Canada. I couldn't think of anything then, except that I miss the kids. (I think I'm more of an Irish than a Canadian dad in that sense--Irish families are really close and I can't imagine anyone here wishing, as I've sometimes heard in Canada, that the kids would hurry up and leave home.)
Now I know, though, what I miss second-most: the Canadian system of heating. Because the heat only comes on at certain (pre-programmed) times of the day--unless the oil-fired boiler goes all the time, which would take an incredible amount of fuel--the temperature inside fluctuates and, because insulation is not taken nearly as seriously as in Canada, heat dissipates really quickly. By Easter, though, we'll be into warmer temperatures outside.
Of course, I've also missed a Saskatchewan winter. I wonder how I'll face one of those again.

Late afternoon reflections

We had a great time in Dublin - I just thought to mention that, on our bus trip to Dublin, on the dual carriageway (4 lane divided highway) there were miles and miles of daffodils in full bloom all along the side of the road! (Beats the yellow dandelions that grace the Saskatchewan stretch of the Trans-Canada highway in spring.) The walking tour at Glendalough was terrific - I felt like my heart was at home - as a child ( who am I trying to kid? I'm still a child at heart) I had dreamt about how beautiful Ireland was and the walk was like a dream come true. Right now it is pouring rain - this afternoon I walked home from Lisburn with 4 bags of groceries. I always think it's good to save bus fare but Randy just shakes his head in disbelief when I come to the door looking like a pack horse.

A weekend in and around Dublin

We met some wonderful new friends whose hospitality over the weekend was, to say the least, overwhelming. They served us gourmet meals, introduced us to their very interesting friends (and with them regaled us with story after story), and toured us all around the Dublin area. On Saturday, we visited the St. Kevin's monastery site in Glendalough. You can see some pics at our flickr site: the ones tagged "Dublin weekend" that begin with the one here (a 12th-century cross that sits at the corner of their property). We were well and truly blessed, and we're very grateful.