Monivea and a new website to do

Well I had to visit a potential client in Monovea which is about an hour and a half's drive from here so Leona our present visitor from New Zealand, came along for the ride with the dogs. Went via Oughterard and the dogs had a swim and run around the footy park there,then we drove into Galway and picked up a couple of lavender plants at the garden center and visited Tescos supermarket. Movivea went well and I secured the job. We then went for a walk through the woods there to a mausoleum set in a clearing amidst the trees of Monivea Wood, the ffrench Mausoleum and chapel was commissioned by Kathleen ffrench in honor of her late father, Robert Percy ffrench. In 1914, the Pope granted an indult, permitting official mass celebrations on special occasions and under special circumstances.Designed by architect Francis Persse (younger brother of Augusta Gregory), the mausoleum took four years to construct, at a cost of £10,000 (near two million in today’s economy).Built of rough-granite blocks quarried in Wicklow, the structure resembles a small castle, approximately 25-feet-wide by 30-feet-high, with crenellation along the roofline, and featuring a back, left turret Stone steps lead up to a gothic-archway and heavy oak door secured with decorative rod iron hinges

Stopped at Spiddal so the dogs could get another swim and run on the beach

Did a wee bit gardening when we got home Leona is a deft hand with the secateurs and Gus got covered in mud so we had to go to a local peir for him to have his third swim of the day to get cleaned up again. I think Leona is in love with my garden.

The excavator arrived this evening so they should be starting tommorow morning.

Another top day

Well its another bonny day below is the view out of my bedroom window at about 0800 this morning

I went out to finish cutting the grass and managed to get a bit of wood stuck in the blade, tipped the mower on its side to get the wood out and it emptied the oil into the exhaust oops, I learnt something anyway dont tip the mower on its side unless you are very fond of blue smoke.

Jessy was dreaming of Australia basking in the sun

Its breezy today but would be great for a sail.

Heat wave

Well it feels hot in fact it got to 28 C today which is nothing compared to Sydney, we had one day that I remember because it killed off the ferns in my garden even though I was watering them all day, it got to 48 C. Mind you we had air conditioning then. I cut the lawn today well half of them anyway, and I was melting by the end of it, the plumber and his offsider were breaking up boulders with a jack hammer type drill and sledge hammers all day they struggled in the heat too. Sitting in a pair of shorts here trying to get a draught in he windows, strange fir ireland. There is a track cut for he excavator which comes on Tuesday and they wil use all the broken boulders to landscape the tank I think. Leona arrives from Paris on Tuesday evening and the forecast looks good until she arrives then rain lol typical ehh. Mind you I shouldn't winge it's been nice for most of our visitors so far.

Some of the colour in the garden at the moment

Here are a few photos I have just taken walking round the garden, I'm not sure what everything is right enough

I like this photo of some ferns with all the green and the close leaves in focus.

Not sure what this plant is called but the dropplet flowers remind me of jelly beans.

Irises are flowering around the pond now 4and I have these hugeeeeeeee skunk weeds that are also meant to have a nice flower later in the year, the leaves look like a huge cabbage and are bright green.

Climbing rose bush on the front of the house has a wonderful scent.

I have had to chop down a Rowan tree today to let the excavator in to install the new septic tank, there are lots of them around to keep the witches away or so they say, no wonder it was queit at Halloween. The unit I took to bits in the house yesterday has been reassembled and made into a work bench in the shed. Thankfully it came out without having to break it.

renovations begin

Well I have started my renovations on the house, the solicitor got the deeds yesterday so I guess its ours. My first job was to remove the 1970's varnished pine thing that was built into the wall deviding the kitchen from the living room. I am going to put an archway in its place, the amount of extra light that gets in is amazing. We are going to put wood floors in the living room kitchen and hall so it should look good. Also with sealing up the doorway to the kitchen we will be able to put in an extra kitchen cabinet and bar.

Excuse the mess in the photo but I was dieing to blog the photo so much I took it with things lieing around. The old kitchen door is behind the bookcase which will be moved after the gap is filled in as the bookcases are slightly different sizes.

Fresh fish for dinner

Well I went out in the yacht for an hours fishing and caught 5 pollack. They are a bit like cod with white flaky flesh. Was fun and I have a good set of marks for future excursions, 5 fish in half an hour is my sort of fishing. The bit I fished is just outside the harbor limits and not too rough. Angie picked up the cheque for the house this morning so the house should be ours tomorrow :) I have to chop down one tree and some bushes so the excavator can get down to the new tank position, they recon they might start next week and that we will only be toilet less for a day, I might take the chemical toilet off the boat for that day. I am just about to contact the window company to order the new windows and doors and we might go look at fires this weekend.

The sitter ooter

Spent most of the day making the Sitter Ooter or Tardis, cutting grass and burning branches. The Sitter Ooter is coming on nicely and I'm thinking of thatching it with bamboo, it sits on a wee hillock across from the house near the "Tunnel". I had called it the sitterooter initially but it sounded kinda crude.

Mum and Dad left on the half seven bus from Galway this morning so they left here at 0620 and will get to Glasgow this evening around 2120, long day but better than travelling from Sydney I suppose.

They catch a bus up to Oban tomorrow morning. The weather was quite good for their stay with only showers on a couple of days, its meant to rain overnight and tomorrow I think so my vegies will get a watering, I put sugar snap peas out the other day. So far there are onions, broccoli, courgette, carrots, lettus and spuds growing away quite the thing.

Arbor type thingie

Well Dad and I were making an arbor type thingie today, its got as far as the front and back sections but the drawing below is how its meant to look

I think it will be called the Tardis and inside will be one of my amazing log benches, it measures about 3 ft square on the bottom and I will probably thatch the top with bamboo as there is lots of it around and make small branches intersect like crazy paving on the sides and back. So come on back to see the finished article.

The new septic tank got delivered this afternoon and will be installed shortly, we are going to settle on the house this weekend coming and keep back a wee bit untill the thing is certified so at long last Derrykyle Lodge wll be ours, wooohoo.

It has been pretty good weather for Mum and Dads visit and they head back tommorow early and go as far as Glasgow by bus and ferry, will be a long day for them.

Grand day out at the Aran Islands

Well we visited Inishmor in the Aran Islands today and it was very interesting, and quite an insight into how harsh an existence must have been in the days before tourism. Off course nowadays its fleece the tourist with fleets of mini busses and over a thousand bikes for hire and dozens of horse drawn carts, the mini bus run covers the whole island which is about 7 miles by 3 miles wide so we took that option today. Seeing them all touting for business was vaugly reminisent of Rome's tourist attractions and maybe the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, but there were no camels.

The ferry takes about 45 mins to cross from Rossaveal to Cuan Cill Ronan, and we had a sunny day with only one shower of rain all day, it caught Angie and I climbing up to a prehistoric fort on the cliffs on the West side of the island called Dun Aonghasa

The landscape is stunningly barren, limestone with hardly any soil at all, they used seaweed to try and grow spuds and there wasnt even any peat or wood on the islands to burn for fuel so the peat had to be imported from Connemara by boat.

We had a mini bus to ourselves which was good.

The seals dont bother about tourists.

Dont tell me the Bodach doesnt look like a local and Angie sort of has that Choochter stance too:)

Was a very enjoyable day out and I would reccomend it.

Belfast trip and a vist from my parents

Well I picked my Mum and Dad up from the Stena Ferry in Belfast on Tuesday Evening and we stayed in a Travel lodge in the city overnight before driving south on Wednesday. I had a couple of hours to waste waiting for the ferry to come in after I had booked into the hotel so I went for a run to Carrickfergus,  Carrickfergus (from Irish: Carraig Fhearghais, meaning "rock of Fergus"), is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king of Dál Riata. It is County Antrim's oldest town and one of the oldest settlements in Northern Ireland as a whole. 

When I used to visit the harbour on cargo ships back in the distant past it resembled this old photo of the place but it has changed a lot and now it looks like there is no commercial traffic just a marina, anyway maybe the marina could be useful in the future if I get the boat over to that coast as it is a good base for heading out into the Irish sea and up to Scotland.

The Travel lodge was noisy and worth as much as I paid for it I suppose, theres some truth in the saying "you get what you pay for"

We have had a nice day today and went for a drive round the local Connemara area

Perfect day for a sail

Well it was near perfect sailing conditions today, could have done with 10C more in the way of temp but hey you can't have everything ehh. The wind was in the SE about force 3 gusting 4 with flat sea and I clocked 9.3 knts at one stage. My pal Mark has a pal coming to visit from Australia before he himself heads back there, apparently the bloke races yachts so he has booked in for a sail. I will be sad to see Mark head back to Aussie but he can't find any decent work here. Not sure if this link to a photo of the cliffs Ono the West coast of the Aran isles will work or not as I,m on my wee ipad and blogger uses a flash method of uploading photos etc and of course mr apple don't do flash, it's one of the only things wrong with this machine. Was looking through the freezer for dinner and have found enough ingredients to make a fish curry, saves going shopping.

nice sail

Well I had a lovely solo sail with just the headsail up about a third of the way to the Aran islands and back, towed a lure all the way but no bites. The wind was between force 2 and 3 and it was sunny so it was braw out on the high rolling seas that werent high or rolling lol.

On the way into Rossaveal Harbour you pass this Martello Tower on the shoreline its a fine example of a Martello Tower dating from the start of the 19th century and built to curb invasion attempts by the French. I put a few waypoints in the GPS incase its ever foggy or I need to pick up the first bouy outside the entrance anytime when the visibility isnt good. Other things I saw on the coastline were a graveyard  

Its situated on a point called Temple Point and there is a ruin of a church, nice spot to be buried I suppose, until its blowing a hoolie from the SW anyway.

The small Aran Islands ferry and a landing craft passed me when I was heading back in.

When I got back I had a wee walk round the garden with the camera and took some shots of some of the seats I have been making and bits and bobs round the place that I thought were photogenic.

All the hard work is paying off.