A country garden...

My brother, Michael has the MOST beautiful garden ever...its a real haven...I adore being there , this morning I was up at 6 am , taking pictures of the mist evaporating off the Blackstairs mountains that overlook this little piece of Heaven that Michael has created...he gets it from my Dad , who God rest him, was a huge gardener too...and he also did up the old cottage , you`d never think to look at it that it was an average country cottage...truly he is one talented guy ! I think I`ll let the pictures do the talking...and to crown it all he cut me a massive bunch of flowers to bring home , they are on my table to remind me of "home"... as you can see, his attention to EVERY detail is astounding...this is the place where my ideas for writing come flooding !

Country roads, take me home...

Wel, at last here are the photos I`ve been promising you all for SO long , spent a wonderful night in my big brothers house (it was my Fathers Homeplace) , and today spent the whole morning walking around the village of my childhood, Ballindaggin , in Irish "Baile an Dangin" ,which translates as "town on the (river) Daingain". And while photographing my old school , my principal called me in ,it was the last day of school, and would you believe it her last day as shes retiring !!! I`ve had such a hard time picking the photos to share...I literally took hundreds ! We also visited "Granny Jordan" ,the oldest person alive in the village ,aged 97 and still on top form, a grand lady. Its always SO hard to come back ,but we promise ourselves that each day that passes is a day nearer to us being able to move "home" for good...enjoy the photos !

As time goes by...

WHERE does the time go??? Is it true it goes faster as we grow older? Heres my "baby" who will be the grand old age of 2 next Sunday (5th)...and I just Can`t believe it , I truly can`t !!! Look at her ,she was smiling when she came out this one !!!! Her eyes have a permanent twinkle ,that remind me SO of her sister Shauna who passed when I was just 2months pregnant with Daisy...but I have a beautiful story to tell Daisy of how her big sister picked her name just before she died...and you know the name suits her to a tee :)
Without her I don`t know how Sean, Aideen and myself would have coped when Shauna passed...is`nt it funny the way things work out all the same ??? Imagine today, this "baby" told her dad while we were all sitting outside wating our supper that he "did too" when he said he did`nt do something !!!! Character is the one word that I think would truly cover this little one`s personality...as the old saying goes she`d make a cat laugh :) Her party will be a VERY small affair this year , as lots of friends, etc are away ,etc so it`ll be just us and maybe one or two more...but we`ll still put up the balloons and have a cake...also we`re heading to Wexford tomorrow to my brothers ,and we`re having a small "do" there for Daisy and Sean (who is 40)...I really can`t wait to get home and I hope the sun shines, I`d love to take some photos of the village where I grew up and share them with you all...

MAGNETificent !

Poor Aideen was permanently yawning earlier on, she had to go to the Drs. to have a growth removed from her hand, and she was given valium to relax her for the operation...in the end she was so "out of it" Sean had to ring a taxi to bring them the short distance to the Drs office, bless ! But , happily all went well ,and the offending growth was removed , her hand is still bleeding tonight ,but thats normal as the root was deep...so proud of her ,normally even the sight of a needle is enough to have Aideen run a mile !


As a family, we are in general against plastic...toys, etc...but poor Daisy really had nowhere (her size) to sit ,so today on the way back from the organic market we spotted this little chair and got it for her...as you can see she LOVES having her own special seat!

I thought I`d better take a pic of my magnet collection...now that we have some of the kitchen cleared ,etc in the cottage I have TWO fridges to cover in magnets :0) So, if you`re off on hols please do bring me back a magnet !

I find it hard to pick my fav ,but theres one always makes me laugh ,Sean got it for me, it has a picture of a rather haressed looking Mom on it and it says "Ok, so its NOT Home -Sweet-Home...ADJUST" !!!!!

A welcome visit...

on the needles...squares for charity blankets...

a bedtime story...

Today, our new Homeschool friends, Nora (the Mom) and Saidbh & Caoimhe came to visit...the kids , all 4 of them played along all day while Nora and myself chatted, and chatted and chatted...gosh the time DOES fly when two chatterboxes get together ! Also Nora brought alomg some amazing clothes that we can use for Daisy in time...I particularly fell head over heels in love with a denim & material skirt (SO cute)...we all had SUCH a great time together, and Sean had himself a ball, a whole eveing in his shed with no interuptions !!! Blessed day indeed...

as you can tell Noras girls are the clean ones :0)

Maynooth Festival Week

Tonight we packed up our fold-up stool ,some choccy bars and of course some tea and headed down to the castle grounds where a free open-air concert took place, the Maynooth Brass & Reed band played and also there was Irish dancing...everyone really enjoyed it and its lovley to see the community get together in ways like this. Aideen had a free Irish dance lesson which she thought was great fun and Daisy ADORED the music oh she clapped so hard all evening, EVERYONE just though it was adorable...nice way to spend a summers evening, especially with the ones you love...

The longed -for baseball mitt !

In clover...my brightly painted toenails (thankyou sweet aideen), and the AMAZING blue sky...it was pure Heaven, especially after so long in bed !

Aideen and Sean (particularly since meeting my wonderful friends in Florida last year) have a HUGE soft-spot for all things american !!!! Lately its cowboy hats (see photos) and todays bargain buy...a baseball mitt and ball...have you ANY idea how hard it is to get these in Ireland ??? of course the sun is splitting the trees so I got out my walking stick and we walked to the playground...as you can see a great time was had by all...I sat in Daisys buggy ...and boy did I get funny looks !!!! Also we took some origami paper that dearest Daisy Lila sent us a while back and Sean showed us how to fold paper boats...unfortunatley I didnt get pictures of them as it takes me ages to walk from one spot to another...but they were lovley ,floating on the still water...

Yesterday and Today

what do you think of this new patterned preemie hat I knitted last night ??? My right side is still very sore ,but I feel I shall go mad if I don`t get back to my knitting...

and heres Daisy "helping" Sean, who had to rip out half our kitchen yesterday and put it back together again...we rarely use the dryer as we are blessed with a long ,long clothesline, so it caused such laughter when we opened the dryer and discovered winter undies still inside :)

Aideen just HAD to pull and bring in some of her organic spring onions which she had on bread...said they were great !!!

Well, yesterday the postman arrived bringing a most wonderful card and magnet from Laura Q...along with speedy healing wishes ! Thanks Laura...

Homegrown goodness...

With all the rain and sun the cherries have rippened beautifully...they were SO delicious we all couldnt stop eating them ! We`ve put the stones into water to germinate...hopefully we`ll have more little cherry trees by next year ! And the red currents are coming along nicely too...I hope to make some red-current jelly...and last but not least this week our spring onions in a bucket are all ready to put in a salad...can`t wait !!!! Sadly while I`ve been healing in bed, my herbs were attacked,by the dog...Oscar !!!!! He missed me, and chewed my pots of herbs as a way to let the others know he wanted to come upstairs and lie on the bed with me...what can I say...I couldnt even tell him off...one look at those big puppy-eyes and I was smitten !

it only takes a moment...

WHAT a week its been ! I`ve really missed taking photos and blogging ...but finally today I was allowed up to do just that !!!! I`ve had the staples taken out of my skull ,and its healing nicely...another 4 weeks of "taking it easy" I`ve been told...Thank God for crafting and Homeschooling or I think I would go mad ! well anyway heres some pics of the garden , the kids and other little bits and pieces...thankyou all by the way for your lovley cards, prayers and good wishes...they meant SO much...