Trying to get back on the horse!

Hello, hello! How is everyone? Do you even remember me? It’s been nearly two months, I can’t believe it! I’ve actually had a lot to blog about but somehow it hasn’t happened.

We had a lovely holiday- three weeks of not having to think about anything very much and enjoying spending lots of time with my family. It has really helped me make a lot of decisions about where I want life to take me in the next number of years, as some of you know. I’ll do a password protected post on that though! Password will be the same as last time but please don’t feel weird about asking me for it if you’ve forgotten it.

So, until I can come up with something more fascinating, here are a loose collection of tales from our travels. I keep getting grief from my family for not blogging about the kids because apparently it’s the only time they get to hear about silly stuff they’ve done!!

Ricky spent most of the holiday in the sea! Even though the air temperature wasn’t very high, the sea stayed comparatively warm through our whole break (the sea in Donegal could normally cause frostbite even in the middle of summer!) and it was great to see him really gaining confidence in the water. We bought him his first proper wetsuit and he LOVED it!

It’s fascinating to me how all the kids on the beach are now wearing full body wetsuits- you hardly see any kid in a normal swimsuit at all any more. When we were kids we hardly even bothered to put a swimming costume on- you’d absolutely never see a butt nekkid child on the beach these days. I think it must be a combinating of fashion, protecting children from the sun, and, sadly, loss of innocence!

Ricky has also developed a new interest- kind of a strange one too. When out on a walk at a local Friary, we passed a shrine to Mary. Ricky was fascinated by it and wanted to know what it was for. I explained the principles behind it, and he was very interested. There was a little bench in front of it, and before I knew it, he’d plonked himself down and started doing this!

Ricky tells me that he is meditating and that this is what they do in China. I was very surprised that, coming from our household which is not very religious, he grasped the concept of spirituality and prayer with incredible ease!

That walk came as a surprise to me, because I don’t believe I’ve ever done it before, and the views were so stunning that I feel compelled to post some pictures of them!

As for Robbie, he’s my little animal guru- he’s totally mad about animals of all kinds at the moment.

I think I blogged before about his obsession with horses, and that definitely continued during the break! We were able to send the kids out along the beach on ponies from the riding school across the road, and seriously, if we’d let Robbie stay on for as long as he wanted he’d probably still be sitting there now!

He had THE best time and I will definitely have to arrange some riding lessons for him I think. Ricky enjoyed it but not to the same extent. I was just showing Robbie the pics from the holiday and he couldn’t stop talking about going out on the pony, and how much fun he’d had!

We also took the kids to some sheepdog trials, which was actually much more fun than I’d been expecting. The sheepdogs were great, and it was very interesting to see them in action.

They were also showing sheep in a different part of the field. Now, I come from a background of showing ponies and horses, which is very civilised and elegant. Showing sheep involves a lot of men sweating profusely and swearing under their breath as they grapple with a sheep that desparately wants to get back to the herd and that definitely doesn’t want the judge to look at its teeth.

The variety of sheep was amazing and some of them were as big as a shetland pony, which surprised me! Some were pretty and soft, some were ugly as sin with wiry wool.

Robbie predictably thought it was absolutely brilliant- the child has no fear! He had fallen and hurt his head the previous evening, which is why he looks like he’s been duffed up!

The eventual Champion of the sheep was crowned, and I managed to make a total pillock of myself by missing the photo opportunity- then, when I was surreptitiously trying to take a pic, they realised and went through the whole palaver of getting all the trophies and rosettes out again. To be fair they did this with a very good grace, but I felt like an idiot! So, here, for posterity, is a picture of the king of the sheep. Father Ted fans out there will know why I find this vaguely amusing.

There’s loads more but I have rambled on for long enough! Hope everyone is well. I do want to blog more but time is really against me at the minute. I definitely need to get some stuff off my chest though and will do so later today, with luck!

Now the challenge will be to get caught up with everyone else! 😀

Dinner at The Mill, Dunfanaghy

I mentioned before we went on our break that Ian and I were being treated to a dinner at The Mill, Dunfanaghy, which has always been one of our very favourite places to eat. We haven’t managed to have dinner there for about five years now, what with the kids, so this was a massive treat!

The Mill is a fabulous Georgian building stunningly set at the edge of the New Lake just outside Dunfanaghy. The restaurant is magnificent, and if you’re really lucky, you can stay there too. I never have, but I hear that the rooms are amongst the best in Ireland.

Upon arrival, you are greeted by their lovely staff and invited to sit either in the conservatory or by a roaring open fire whilst you look at the menu. They bring you your drinks and a couple of delicious complimentary tasters to eat whilst you make your decision- we had rosemary bread served with mackerel pate, and melba toast served with crabmeat, both of which were gorgeous.

The menus strongly feature seafood and local organically reared beef and lamb. The lamb in particular comes from just a mile or so down the road on Horn Head, and I’ve been told people come again and again just to taste it! Seafood is also sourced from Donegal. The region is spoilt for choice in this area, as it has a very extensive sealine and a strong fishing community.

Once our order had been taken, we moved into the restaurant itself, and were delighted to be given a wonderful table right beside the window overlooking the lake. What a gorgeous view! It was a beautiful evening, and you could feel the tension drain away as you looked out.

I had really struggled with my choice of starter, as I was in the mood for seafood, and the mussels and clam starters sounded delicious. However I eventually went for a mixed seafood starter, which featured crab claw, plaice fillet and scallop, served with guacamole. This was gorgeous, beautifully presented and a perfect size for a starter. Ian chose duck confit, served with redcurrant, and it was melt in the mouth delicious. I pinched some of his and really enjoyed it- but there was no way he was getting any of mine!!

For my main course, I decided on an open seafood lasagne, which featured (amongst others) crab claws, clams, salmon, and plaice. When it arrived, I thought it looked a little bland, but the flavours were wonderful- very delicate and perfectly seasoned. The clams in particular were perfection. Ian had a lovely steak, which was deliciously tender and well cooked. The accompaniment of champ was gorgeous, I used some to mop up the last of the creamy sauce from my lasagne!

We both decided to go for the chocolate delight with marmalade ice cream for dessert. The chocolate delight was a light sponge around a melting chocolate middle- very rich and delicious. The ice cream had quite a lot of marmalade in it (well, duh!) and wasn’t quite as sweet or mild as I’d been expecting, but was lovely.

Coffee is then served in the conservatory overlooking the lake as the sun sets, and they bring you home made fudge and petit fours to eat whilst you drink your coffee (as if you needed anything else to eat after all of that!!).

This is not an inexpensive place to eat. The set three course menu is currently at 42.95 euro per person, but believe me, this is truly excellent value. The food is of the highest possible standard and you can really taste the care and dedication that has gone into not only the preparation of the food, but also the choosing of the ingredients.

Wonderful food, lovely service from friendly locals, and a truly beautiful restaurant. I can’t wait to return, in fact, if I had loads of money, I’d probably just move in! 😀

Inishowen Peninsula at Easter

My plan for today is to completely fob you all off with some scenery pics- these are from the Inishowen Peninsula and were taken a week ago today, on Ian and my anniversary. It is so gorgeous up there!

We had a lovely anniversary. The forecast for the area of Donegal we were staying in wasn’t too great, so we decided to head east along the North coast to Inishowen. It’s the most northerly point in Ireland. As you can see, the weather wasn’t perfect, but we were really lucky and the rain mostly stayed off.

We stopped for lunch near Malin at a pub, which overlooked the harbour, and despite it being very, very windy, they were having a bungee jumping event, hoisting the victims, sorry, participants up a crane in a cage and then pushing them out- I couldn’t believe how close they were bouncing to the crane! We were too far away to get pictures, but it was a bit insane!

We went for a walk on a beach nearby but it really did start to rain then!

It was still a lovely day out. I don’t really know Inishowen too well, so it was great to see a part of Ireland I haven’t been round much before.

Happy Memories

I feel good- great, in fact- at the moment, but my next round of chemo is looming large and will be next Tuesday.

I know that after the chemo, I will have about ten days of feeling ill and depressed, so I thought today I would concentrate on positives and write myself a list of some happy memories, which I can then read back over when I’m feeling rough. My hope is that it will remind me that I won’t always feel this way, and that life is good.

Add your own happy memories too! 🙂

– Going on our first ever family holiday abroad, when I was nine. We went to the Greek island of Crete. My Mum had worked through all her annual leave as a locum (she was a doctor) to pay for it. We arrived in the middle of the night, and went straight to bed when we got to the hotel. When I woke up, I went running to the window and pulled open the curtains. The sight of the huge mountains behind the hotel literally took my breath away in a way that can only truly happen when you’re a child! We ate swordfish kebabs and fried squid on the beach, fed a pony that was tethered in the olive grove beside the hotel, and each day begged the management of the hotel to fill the swimming pool (it was only Easter and I don’t think they could be bothered. They filled it the day we were leaving!). We drove all around the island in a bizarre little car that seemed to be made mostly from canvas. Tourism hadn’t really taken off yet in Crete- times have changed now!

– Waking up on the ward in the maternity hospital having had Ricky. It was about 10am, I was half crazed with lack of sleep following a long and bitter pregnancy and labour, and all I could see of him was the top of his hair as he slept in the little crib beside me. I had one of those very, very rare moments of complete peace and happiness. I had fought hard (mainly with my own body) to have him, and he was finally there!

– A meal had with some of my closest friends years ago in The Mill in Dunfanaghy. We’d all piled up to the house in Donegal for the weekend, and went out to dinner to celebrate. The Mill is an incredible, world class restaurant and put up with a lot from us- changing our dinner reservations at the last minute from 4 people to 12 people, and making a special vegetarian dish for Keith who “didn’t like spinach” (he has since changed his mind, I think!!). We then all turned up looking quite scruffy (in some instances, VERY scruffy, with many piercings and a variety of facial hair) to the very posh restaurant, ate like kings and were treated like royalty. The craic at dinner was fabulous, and it made the weekend. A lot of the people at the table that night have moved to other corners of the globe now, but will always be some of my very best friends. Love you all, guys.

– As a teenager, we used to take our pony, Morning, on holiday to Donegal with us. A local farmer kindly let us use one of his stables when it was too cold for her to be out, and let us put her out with his pony, Lily, when it was warmer. I used to get up at the first sign of light, go and feed her, and then take her out for a long ride- we galloped all over the place- jumped anything that came into our path and generally tore up the locale. We broke the fence surrounding the car park at the local beach as we jumped it. I let myself into the sand dunes on Horn Head, which was accessed via a small forestry, and then couldn’t get the gate done up again, so I left it open (BLUSHES!!) so I am sure my name was MUD with the local farming community, whose animals were probably then released into the wild and would have taken quite a while to get back…it’s not all that easy to hide when you’re leaving sodding great hoof prints everywhere you go. They will have known exactly who was responsible. Morning was my ally, my partner in crime, co-conspirator and friend. Everything was done with a sense of adventure and in the spirit of friendship. She’s retired now, and has earned it. She is a bright and shining light in my life, and always has been since I first met her at the age of eleven.

– Watching dawn break from near the summit of Slieve Croob in June 1996. Ian and I had been together for about two months, and were realising quickly that the relationship was something special. We were attending a none-too-legal party which was being held in the car park of Drumkeeragh Forest (don’t you do the maddest things when you’re a kid), which is too far off the beaten track for the loud music to have offended anyone, I hope. Ian and I wandered off around the forest for a walk, and ended up looking out over the most amazing vista as the sun came up. From the top of Croob, you can see probably half of Northern Ireland laid out in front of you. There was some early morning mist on lower levels, and the drumlins (round, green hills which are common in County Down) were poking up out of the mist. The first light of the sun turned the mist pink, and I do not think I will ever forget the sight. Magical.

OK, I could go on and on! I’ve had a charmed life. I’m an exceptionally lucky girl. Sure, I have some stuff to deal with at the moment, but I hope in six months or so I can put it behind me. In ten days or so, when I feel at my worst, I hope I can cheer myself up by thinking of happy times I’ve had, and look forward to happy times to come. I have so, so much to be grateful for. Life is good.

Dunlewy Centre, Co. Donegal

OK, this is my last post about our holiday, I promise! I use this blog partly as a diary, so sorry for spamming you all!

One of the days on our break, we took the kids to the Dunlewy Centre, at the base of Errigal, which is the biggest mountain in the region.

The Dunlewy Centre is a great place to spend some time if you have kids and are in the area. There’s a museum which covers the way of life in the area about 100 years ago (including a slide presentation which MUST offend English visitors. The area is rife with history of eviction and destitution, and to be fair English landlords were responsible for a lot of that, but the slide show is done in quite a confrontational and agressive way. Clearly old wounds are slow to heal!), and a number of interesting buildings showing how life used to be.

There’s a good but slightly rickety children’s playground, which both of our boys loved and which caters for a lot for different age groups. Also for the kids there is a bouncy castle, one of those rodeo bull machines and a pond for pedallos.

They have a farmyard too, with donkeys, pigs, sheep and a variety of chickens and other fowl. The animals look like they could be better cared for- the byres are filthy. Having horses myself if kind of upsets me. However the kids enjoy it.

There’s a decent cafe which serves a good choice of food and it’s really lovely on the inside, with a huge open fire and wonderful views of the mountains.

One of the main draws, though, is the boat ride you can take on the lake. This give panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and an interesting little speech on local areas and history. The kids love it! The surrounding countryside is spectacular- very beautiful and dramatic.

In hindsight, it may not have been the best day to do it. The kids had slept very poorly, so therefore so had we, and tempers on all sides were rather frayed. Still, the kids had a good time! I think we just needed more sleep!

On the beach in Marble Hill, Donegal

Marble Hill has one of the loveliest beaches anywhere, I reckon. It’s very child friendly too, being gently shelving, and there’s a good watersport centre for surfing and windsurfing, plus canoeing. There used to be a lot of massively irritating speedboats for waterskiing, and those annoying machines for one which are the equivalent of a motorbike on water and which seem to be mainly designed for middle aged men with more money than sense. Luckily the beach now has blue flag status, which means those are banned. I am not one bit sorry to see them go. Before, it ruined our days out- it was as if you permanently had a wasp (or multiple wasps!) buzzing around your head!

The kids had barely stepped off the walkway and onto the beach before they were befriended by three children of similar age and were soon tearing around the beach digging sandcastles and having a great time! It was nice for me and Ian to watch them having fun and we were able to take it comparatively easy while they played.

We had so much fun that we returned the next day with a picnic, and the kids played around in the sea for a while. It felt a little weird being on the beach as an adult with kids, rather than BEING the kid who has been taken there by the parent. The beaches in the area make me think of blissful and seemingly endless summer holidays with my own parents up there, for some reason in my mind the sun always shone, it never rained. I know now that this cannot have been the case, but it makes me hope fervently that my own children will have such sunny and happy memories of their holidays in Donegal.

This is not our dog. It was just a friendly old hound who was roaming the beach looking for spare sandwiches- a gentle big thing! It wasn’t a stray and had a collar- it really annoys me when people don’t take better care of their pets.

Glenveagh, Co. Donegal

I’m still trying to get some blogging done about our break in Donegal, but work is getting in the way of things!

Whilst away, we spent a couple of afternoons in Glenveagh National Park in Donegal. It’s a place of spectacular natural beauty- and few sunny days- but somehow the mist and murk often only serves to enhance it.

On our first trip, we took the kids round the visitor’s centre, which mainly concentrates on the wildlife in the area. Unfortunately, the exhibits included a massive scale model of a horsefly, which terrified Ricky and gave him nightmares for days! They are nasty little buggers, but he now thinks that every bluebottle in sight is a horsefly!

The visitor’s centre is a useful place, with helpful people at the desk, a nice variety of displays which are interesting to both the kids and the grown ups, and a good cafe (especially for puds- YUM!). Outside is a children’s playground and a variety of nature walks, both through the glen and around the lake.

A mile or so away, by mini bus, is Glenveagh Castle. Before the place was owned by the National Trust, I was taken there by my parents and some family friends on a special invite to see the famous gardens. We were warned that the eccentric owner at the time did not like children and that we were to be on our best behaviour! I remember meeting him, and he was perfectly nice to all five of the children who were present that day (we were all under ten years of age). Henry McIlhenny donated the estate to the national trust shortly after our visit- I wonder if we drove him to it!! Here is a link if you are interested. The castle can now be toured and is an interesting place to visit.

http://www.glenveaghnationalpark.ie/

The gardens in the place are legendary, and I have included pics below-

The Gardener’s cottage- what I would not give…

There are also stunning walks up the glen, with beautiful views of the mountains and lakes. The chief draw of these walks for Ian and I, however, is the reintroduction of Golden Eagles to Ireland in this locale. We’ve spent basically every visit for the last four or five years scouring Donegal for these beautiful birds- and we have seen them on a number of occasions. They always appear when you least expect it, and NEVER appear when you most want them to!! It’s a very worthwhile project- if you want to read more, here is the link-

http://www.goldeneagle.ie/

Here is a pic of the glen, taken during our all too brief walk before Ricky announced that “his legs were sore” and he refused to go any further! Growing up is hard to do, apparently!

There’s also a wonderful and little known drive you can take around the back of the glen. From Dungloe, you take the road towards Glenties, from there turn off towards Duchary, and then just as you reach the village, take the sharp turn round to the left at the base of the hill. This little road leads you past the river up to the mountains and is a hidden treasure and a delight. It is also part of the Glenveagh National Park.

You eventually come to another lake, where we recently saw some red throated divers. Here are a few pics-

One of my favourite pics of the moment!

A view from the top of the glen- not the best pic I’m afraid!

Some of the nicest places you could ever visit. 🙂

The Rosses, Co. Donegal

Warning, long post…I have too much to say it would seem! Certainly, I have too many photos! 😀

During our recent holiday, we spent a couple of days around The Rosses, an area on the west coast of County Donegal which encompasses a mountainous region and wonderful granite cliffs, and the beaches are absolutely to die for.

Our favourite beach is probably at Carrick Finn, close to a tiny (even after recent expansion) airport which now ferries people from both around Ireland and Scotland to this amazingly scenic region. I often look at the little planes flying in (you know, the sort known in Ireland as “vomit comets” 😀 ) and wish I was on board because it must be one of the most beautiful places to fly into anywhere in the world, bar none.

Ricky had THE best time at Carrick Finn last year, spending the afternoon with a little Scottish girl called Holly who was just the cutest thing ever. They spent the day catching hermit crabs in the shallow water and looking for fish. The beach is so safe it’s untrue, in a natural harbour so even in windy conditions, it’s flat calm and slopes very gently. Brilliant if you’re holidaying there with kids!

Regrettably, this year the weather wasn’t so kind- rather chilly and threatening rain- we started out along the beach and suddenly a sharp shower came and got us!! We all ended up galloping for the car! Here are some pics anyway, for what it’s worth!

Ricky in typical, “I’m about to go and find something taller than me, climb up on it and JUMP” pose…

A natural harbour

Brotherly love- though in reality, they were saying something approximating to “f me, it’s cold!”

Some scenery-

Another of our outings involved a trip to a restaurant called Skipper’s, at Burtonport. We’ve been to this place many times before, both for the lovely seafood and friendly, child-appreciative service, so we almost always head there when we’re in the region. They’ve just been refitted, and it looks great on the inside. I had seafood kebabs for lunch, which were absolutely outstanding. Ian had scampi which was also great. Robbie had some yummy soup and Ricky some pasta- they really should serve some sauce on the children’s pasta- plain tagliatelle and cheese is not appetising! The puds looked phenomenal, but the kids had sadly got restless and we had to forgoe. Later, we deeply regretted not asking if they could pack us up a couple of portions and we could have had them at home. If you’re in the area, it’s very worthwhile to visit, very close to the harbour at Burtonport.

After our meal, we visited a local beach which I hadn’t visited before (beaches in the region are all spectacular and two a penny!). We had a lovely walk there, the kids had a ball and it was, as with everywhere else in the region, visually stunning. Robbie is walking really well now and was able to walk most of the way. The main problem is keeping him out of the sea these days!

I always find the “car driving off the pier” signs amusing, for some reason. Less amusing is the memorial to a fishing disaster in the area 25 years ago. Very sad, and the area was littered with little crosses in memorium.

I think this is a fascinating beach- look at the boulders of granite against the sea and beach, and the tide line on the cliffs. Stunning!

Ricky in “I’m gonnie jump” mode…

I find myself wondering what feat of nature left these boulders here all those millennia ago!

At the top-

At the bottom- rolls eyes-

OK, so my oldest son is something of a stunner, ha ha! And doesn’t he know it too!

Robbie directs his Daddy-

So, noone else is going to photograph me obviously…so here I am for those of you who don’t know me! Excuse the lack of makeup and hair do…

A lovely region- definitely worth a LONG look if you’re in Ireland!

We’re home from Donegal!

Well, we’re home! We had a great time, though the weather was unseasonably cold for July, even for Ireland. It kept dry most of the time, though, so we had a great outdoorsey time anyhow. I had packed fine for the boys, but ludicrously optimistically for myself, so wished I had some winter clothes with me! You win some, you lose!

I’ll be posting loads of pics over the next few days. Those of you who are my personal friends can check out loads of pics of the family on my facebook page and those of you from my baby boards can expect to be spammed in days to come!

The boys had a great time- Robbie had his first encounters with the sea (from a going-in point of view!) and LOVED it. Ricky had an even better time than last year! His main hobby this holiday was “climbing onto stuff and jumping off”, which I think amused him more than it did me and Ian. He also developed an amazingly annoying habit of flat out refusing to walk anywhere and wanting to be carried on Ian’s shoulders all the time. The below is an accurate assessment of how Ian spent the holiday-

Ricky also got an ear infection last Tuesday, which kind of ruined a few days, poor wee love, he was miserable. Robbie has now got the flu, so is also miserable! It never rains but it pours.

Here are a few pics of the house in Dunfanaghy and the village, mainly for those in New Zealand who know and love it well. Miss you guys!

House is in the terrace in the middle of the pic-

The view from outside the house-

One of my very favourite things about the house!!

Oh, I also went out on a horse on the beach for an hour too. The hotel across the road from the house does beach rides. I really enjoyed myself- it was a gorgeous afternoon and the views of the mountains and sea were wonderful. I was crippled the next day though- age is telling!!!

Lots more to come over the next few days!

Visit to Doe Castle, Co. Donegal

Here are (to get you going) some lovely scenic pics from our trip to Doe Castle on Donegal’s north coast. It’s an amazing place, steeped in all the history of the flight of the earls. As you can see, it wasn’t the best of days, but sometimes I like it better like that, with the mountains looking all moody in the background! 🙂 Ian and I both independently used to go there as children on holiday, so we both love to visit now. For health and safety reasons (presumably) they have recently roped off the battlements, which as children we used to play on a lot (no doubt at great risk to life and limb!!). A shame.