Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Quick notes on the day, will expound later . . . . maybe, working hard and very weary, but extremely happy . . . .

Woke with no alarm after being almost too excited to sleep.

Kevin & Renee, with John, removed barbed wire that was overgrown in a tree and still a booby trap for man and beast. We drove a little two-gear machine called a "gator".

Crazy ragwort grows wild in the fields and is against the law, literally, to be allowed. Fields must be gleaned continuously of this potentially fatal flowering weed. One must pull them out by their roots as they are found while walking. They have a long tap root and can be quite stubborn to remove.

Renee worked with Sonja, groomed the gelding, mucked stalls, groomed the mare, and helped treat the abscesses on the filly.

Kevin helped pour cement for two floors of the culinary school rooms. High stakes driving, the cement truck could have taken down the whole building, whew! Safe by a hair’s breadth.

Chicken, roasted potatoes, and turnips for lunch. Yummy.

FULL moon tonight.

Still raining, but no boddah me/us.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW . . . . . what a day.

We had a very restful stay at Tara House in Mullingar proper. The proprietors, Maureen and her husband Jerry, had a fine accommodation which we only used to sleep and eat breakfast. We were so jetlagged from our long day of flying that after arriving at noon we napped for three hours, showered, went to city center for a terrific meal of fish and chips at the Newbury Hotel, then returned to Tara House and slept until morning. Upon waking we were served a traditional Irish breakfast of sausage, bacon (more like our ham), one perfectly cooked egg, an assortment of homemade breads and scones with marmalade and jams, accompanied by a pot of tea and a press pot of coffee. All of which would keep us in good stead way past lunchtime we would discover later. Then we were off to find Mearsecourt House.

Forgive me for repeating myself, but WOW!!!! What a beautiful drive through the countryside. Then more Wows. The photos did not do this place justice.

We drove up the tree-lined, mile long drive, flanked by fenced pastures and parked in front of the manor house. No one answered our knock at the door so we followed the music around to the side. Dylan was blaring from the outer building. A voice from the fourth floor hollered out the number code for entering the gated building where huge amplifiers were blaring, the Harley Davidson was stored and the helicopter was parked, yes, George flies his own chopper. Someone was busily working away. After a brief introduction and conversation Peter brought us to the kitchen of the manor house for a cup of tea. It was soon lunch time and we met a parade of people as they took their break. Afterwards, the lord of the manor, George, gave us the grand tour and explained his plans, ideas, and expectations for the property and our involvement. My cheeks were sore from smiling all day!

What a warm welcome.

Venison stir-fry for dinner . . . . Some onolicious, and TENDER! Now we know what they do with their deer . . . .

Later we were shown to our room and after “making our bed” (which involved a welder - no joke!) we enjoyed a restful sleep, looking forward to tomorrow with excited anticipation.

http://picasaweb.google.com/KevSRQ/September12009Ireland?authkey=Gv1sRgCNjviY6B267OVA&feat=directlink

WE MADE IT!

Quick message to all...

We made it, we're in the Dublin Airport, we have our luggage we are VERY tired and VERY happy.

Will write again soon#


Kevin and Renee

WE'RE AT THE AIRPORT, in Tampa !

Greetings, loyal and new readers,

It's about 4pm, Tampa time and Renee and I are sitting here at the Continental Airlines A-4 gate awaiting our departure to the fair state of New Jersey. All has gone really well today. Our airport limo showed up on time and got us here early. Our luggage, our massive amount of heavy luggage, got checked in smoothly. I wasn't anticipating it going THAT well, but it did. The people at Continental acutually worked with us on that one and helped us save a BUNCH of money by shifting 3lbs. of stuff from one bag to another. Amazing...

We have partaken of some overpriced, but not too bad airport food at TGIFridays. We have made it through the inspection team with little or no mishap, Renee and I both forgot to take our laptops out of our carry on bags. Whoops! No problem, though. Our flight out of here is scheduled to take off about 20 minutes later than it was supposed to, but we'll see . . .

Our spirits are high, and our best wishes go out to all of you and thanks again for your understanding and support of this adventure.

Slan, (Irish for "see you later")

Kevin and Renee

Our luck continues, we're off tomorrow . . . .

Our luck continues. I just arranged for us to travel from the US to Dublin in the bulkhead seats of the airplane . . . . yeah!!!! Our long legs will be able to stretch out while we (hopefully) sleep. Thankfully, no one will be traveling in a wheelchair, which makes the bulkhead seats available at the last minute. Glad I had the dakine to put the phone call to Continental (24 hrs before departure only) on our "to do list" when I made the reservations last month. Whew! Also glad I remembered to look at the list this morning.

The airport limo will pick us up in Sarasota from our friends' house, where we have been staying (most comfortably) for the past few days while they are away enjoying the mountains of N.C.. They return as we depart tomorrow. We acknowledge your generosity here, and thank you again, my dear friends.

Our past few days have been filled with swims in the Gulf, trips to Dunkin' Donuts, visits with family, and wrapping up last minute postal and financial errands. This afternoon we sell "Nellie," our Mercedes Estate Wagon whom has served us so well, and all will be done and dusted. We are now ready although we miss you all already! We're not telling anyone goodbye, just aloha hui hou, (so long, until we meet again).

Tomorrow, Sunday, we depart Tampa at 5pm, depart Newark 9pm, and Lord willing, arrive Dublin the next morning at 9am. We will stay at Tara House B&B in Mullingar for the day, eradicating any jet lag. The manor house anticipates our arrival on September 1st. We can't wait! Let the adventure begin.

This blog easier to use than it looks

One week and counting. We feel like astronauts waiting for blast off. For sure, anticipation will not be greater than realization, . . . . gaarans ballbearins {guaranteed, for all you hauolis}. After our month of December visit in 2006 we know already what to expect and we cannot wait to return to the land of rainy weather, loose chippins, and grand people.

We want this blog to be fun, so please keep in mind it is easier to use than it looks. FYI:

Unlike social networks you DO NOT have to sign in, subscribe, or join anything, if you don't want to, to follow our blog, or read or post comments. At the bottom of each "posted page" is the word "comments" with the number of how many comments posted. Simply click on the word "comments"to read them. Also, you can post any comment anonymously (just click "anonymous" in the drop down box), again, no need join anything.

Hello, loyal readers. Right now, it is Wednesday the 19th of August and we are staying in Port Charlotte, FL at my brother Billy's house. Thanks again Billy and Judy.

We are broadcasting from Bob Evans restaurant in Port Charlotte.

And now, the news, The house is officially SOLD! Both our Bon Voyage parties were wonderful!

We are still re-packing our suitcases and scanning photos into the computer so we can take the images but leave the physical pictures behind.

That's all for now.

Kevin and Renee