Monday, 20 August 2012

I Never Get Tired

I never get tired of where I live.  The views from around the village are stunning at the best of times and even on a blustery wet day it has its own unique character.  The funny thing is anyone who visits will never forget the village's charm and will return again and again.

My blogging today is few words, there are a couple of pictures that say it all.  The children and I spent our lunch sitting on the harbour wall eating chips from Gaby's. 



The port by day

The port by evening

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Kearney Village & St Cooey's Temple

Well, we had planned on going out for the day to escape the triathlon crowds in the village.  It was also to be a little birthday picnic lunch for me, you know two birds killed with one stone.  The weather yesterday was glorious, the news reported that it was the warmest day this year.  Thinking today would be the same, and there was a distinct blue colour to the sky early this morning we loaded the car to set off.

About half way down to Kearney village a chilly mist drew across the water and by the time we got there the children were shivering.  We were well equipped for paddling in the sea and sitting on the grass eating lunch.  The swim wear and rugs stayed in the car.  We did mange a quick look around despite the cold feel to the air.




Plans of paddling abandoned, we headed on our way down the coast.  We came across a little temple with some holy springs St Cooey's Wells.   The temple was fascinating to walk around, there must have been many people who have visited over the years either out of curiosity or for spiritual reasons. There were coins pressed into the bark of the trees and ribbons tied to the branches around the holy wells.The children decided to try out the holy water for themselves.



Saturday, 18 August 2012

Hoping For Good Weather

This week is my birthday.  There have been a number of discussions about my birthday supposedly without my knowledge. A well meaning friend wants to plan a surprise party for me and to be frank I could do without it.  I don't want a party, I'm not up for it, I'm just doing my own thing on the day. I've been troubled with depression the last few months I just don't want a party.  I'm struggling on a day to day basis already and this is causing me a certain amount of anxiety.

Anyway tomorrow our village will be closed off due to the Triathlon so We have decided (if the weather holds) that we are going to go out, away from the crowds, for the day to 'celebrate' my birthday.    I'm hoping we can go to Kearney Village, it's beautiful yet there's nothing there.  Peaceful, pretty, and perfect for a picnic.  There's traditional looking cottages, fields and a lovely beach.  So in the morning we will pack the car up with a picnic, the kites, footballs, the kids, whatever else we can think of and heading off to have some fun.

It's the weekend



Saturday afternoon doing laundry is hardly what you call exciting.  With the country gripped in a heat wave you'd think we'd be out on the beach or something like that. Instead other half is trying to fix the rotten, leaky roof on our boiler house before the next rain is due.  As for the next rain, well that could happen anytime as we barely go 48 hours without a shower or two, more often than not it rains every day.   

The last few days have been a real mixed bag.  I'm still reeling over Sol's surgery cancellation too.  She has an important appointment on the 28th of this month so we will do nothing before that date. However I've been checking out the private hospital and discovered one of the ophthalmic surgeons on the list there is the one that originally said he'd operate on her.  It's funny that, I would bet that if I find a few pounds laying around somewhere and take them to him, he would have her operated on that very week.  Anyway it's a real possibility right now but I am just taking a few days to think about it all.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

What Can Go Wrong Will

I do not like to continually moan, nor do I want this blog to be an outlet for my whinges.  But ...
Today merits a moan.

Sol was to have surgery this week on her eyes.  She has poor vision and her eyes have a tendency to drift inwards and upwards.  The poor vision can never be fixed but the eye appearance can, or so I thought until today.   We were at her pre op appointment and they cancelled her op.  Her eye test today showed a deterioration in her vision, and despite all my efforts to get the surgery they just won't do it.  I asked them to redo their tests today, as I was unhappy with the validity of the first test.  I was right in doing so as the second test showed better results but they still weren't enough to sway the surgeon.
So we came home very disappointed and frustrated as we've been on the list for this operation for 13 months.   Now we are back to square one, Sol needs three eye tests that give the same results before she will be considered for surgery again.  Each test will be two months apart and only then will she get put back on the surgery waiting list.  Meanwhile we keep on patching and praying.

My further moans are of frustration.  I was at the dentist today with my bridge that had come out twice in as many weeks. Dentist visits are not of my list of fun things to do, let me tell you.  Well, less than 12 hours later my bridge is out a again. I am guessing tomorrow morning I'll be back in the hot seat again with a strange man's fingers in my mouth.

I am going to go and get into bed before anything else can go wrong today.

Friday, 10 August 2012

Birthday Blues

It was Sol's birthday, she is seven now. Sol has been looking forward to this day for such a long time and counted down every morning when she opened her eyes.

To be truthful the day could have been better organised. We decided not to have a party, instead Sol expressed excitement about going to a local beauty spot and flying her kite.  All week we watched the weather and prayed that it would be kind to us.  On the day we were woken at 7am with a very excited Sol and her siblings.  A few yawns and groans later we were ready to do the gifts. Sol was very pleased as she received a pink LED TV with a DVD player in the side, she wasn't expecting it which made for an entertaining display of arm movements.

The trip for kite flying failed the moment that the other half switched the 2012 Olympics on the TV. He sat there glued, explaining to me that there were only so many kilometres left on a certain race and how the participant's were so dedicated.  Three hours passed and I resigned myself to the fact we weren't going out to fly the kites after all, I was disappointed to say the least. If I had I known I would have organised a party after all, at least I would have felt like we had made an effort. Sol was still happy prancing about but still I felt the day slipping away with barely a moment that we could call memory making.

In the end I got cross and insisted that we all went to a near by walled garden to at least take some photos so I could have a birthday memory of my daughter. The photos turned out good and the whole family raved about how beautiful the Walled Garden was and how they were sorry thay had never made the effort to go there before.  

Thursday, 11 August 2011

My Teenage Plank



My teenage plank.  Mag is a bit crazy, there are times he just likes to muck around and today was no exception.  He thought it would be funny to be bounced about on a see saw whilst remainging in the perfect plank position.