Great couple of days away

Had a good trip away on the boat, the wind wasn't in my favour until this afternoon when it sprung up and had me scooting along at 5 knots. Yesterday I had to motor into head winds for a fair while and it was flat calm when I left this morning and didnt kick in until 2 hours of my 6 hour passage. Anyway while I was becalmed off Golam head I got into two big pollack and more than a dozen mackerel, we are having fish for dinner.

 Golam tower on a very calm day, this point is open to the Atlantic and usually there is a swell crashing into the rocks there, this is where I caught the two big pollack today.

 It was cloudy both days but did not rain and was warm.

 Roundstone Bay

 The houses in this island (Inishlacken) were badly damaged by the storms that knocked down my trees this last winter, the swells were covering the island and on the mainland the roads were washed away and one of the beaches at Dogs bay was completely changed when the sand shifted.

I moored up alongside two fishing boats at the pier last night and there was no ladder on the wharf just two tires tied below each other so I waited till about half tide before going ashore, I was just going to have one beer but ended up in a hen night craic which saw me get back to the boat about 0200 thankfully the tide was ok for clambering back aboard, my head wasn't the best this morning. The navigation software on my phone was brilliant and I had a waterproof folder with chartlets I printed out which was great in the cockpit, nothing worse than a full size chart blowing around getting wet and creased. The boats bottom could do with a clean only got 14 knots out of her under power with the ballast out when it was flat calm this morning, gave me a shock how fast it went through petrol too and its just as well the breeze kicked in or I would be out there yet as I wouldn't have had enough petrol to steam the whole way. Was really nice to have had a leisurely sail back although I was touching 5 knots at one point, listened to tunes on the ipad all the way home and had the sails set properly so I could just leave her on a course and go below to make coffee etc and she wouldn't stray off course.

More garden pics

June is not as colourful as May but there are some nice flowers out at the moment.

Roses at the front door

Mophead just about to bloom should have a nice show of flowers by the time my Mom visits

Hedge along the driveway is covered in yellow flowers

Plant I was gifted by a customer is flowering

Fuchsia is like a weed in this garden
 

The pond is lowest I have seen it due to no rain this last few weeks and it is covered in lilypads this year

Carving a crocodile head but it is too heavy to move very easily so I haven't been working on it recently as that area of the garden is sheltered and has lots of midgies.
 

Millions to one

Calm ish overcast 18 degree day today and the midgies are loving it, I decided to cut some grass as the temp was down a bit but sheeeze the midgies are awful have been bitten that much on the eyelids it feels like the eyes are going to close. No more grass cutting till the breeze comes up a bit for me.

You probably don't hear much news from Ireland so here is how it is going here, 23% of Irish households are jobless, above the European average of 11%, the opposition Justice minister wrote to a judge on behalf of a drug dealer, (this doesn't surprise me as the politicians here are more bent than bananas) It was only 27 degrees yesterday according to the Met office so it wasn't the hottest day this year and a guy gets 3 years in jail for dumping his dead friends body in a ditch, and they say this is the developed world!!!

Its getting closer to my visitors arriving and I am looking forward to that, planning to head off now on Saturday morning sometime for a couple of days sailing and should be back on Sunday night.

Australia played well in the world cup and I think they were really unlucky to have lost both their games, Spain were the opposite and Brazil haven't really shone either, at the moment I think Germany are the strongest team but hey its football and all the teams are good to have made it to the tournament, its quite nice to have a competition that is so hard to predict results.

Swimming in the river

Top day here, just back with the dogs from swimming in the Fermoyle Costello river, tee shirt and shorts drying on my back in 25 degrees temps forecast to reach 29 C later. Flights DL42 from Atlanta to Paris and United airlines UA900 London Heathrow to San Fransisco leaving trails in the sky above at 39000 ft the only distribution to a blue sky. Poor Angie stuck in her office slaving so we have something to eat tonight. Will maybe go for a dip in the sea when she comes home but there is no way it will be as warm as the river was, last day I was out on the boat the water was still only 14C maybe on the sand you can add a couple of degrees to that but its still chilly.

 

The good weather looks set to continue over the weekend so I would love to get away in the boat, rather than the Aran islands which I have done a couple of times I am thinking of heading West leaving Cashla bay passing Greatmans bay (probably named after me) round Golam head, through the inner passage past St Macdaras Island ( "St. Macdara's Island, a tiny speck of green about a half-mile long, was home in the sixth century to St. Macdara, Connemara's most respected saint, who built a one-room chapel here, with a dirt floor, walls of huge stones and a steep stone roof. In 1975 the church was restored and today it is considered one of the finest early Christian oratories in Ireland) then up the Deer sound to Bertraigboy bay and Roundstone. There are two great beaches near Roundstone called Gorteen and Dogs bay and Angie could drive round and meet me in Roundstone  for a day sail and a dip there.

Amber Warning Amber Warning !!!!

Well this mornings forecast on TV had an "Amber Warning" woohoo, the day turned out beautiful, as we speak, well as I type actually, Angie is out on a sun lounger on the patio with wee beads of sweat on her brow, it has been cloudless skies and temps well into the 20's all day. Maybe an Amber warning is for sunshine here.

I have a customer who might come tomorrow or Thursday lol worse than the Telecom folks who say ohh yes we will be there between 1300 and 1430 and arrive at 1730. I tried texting to see if he has decided which day suits him but no reply, mind you I'm not really surprised as the quote for the website design was given over 12 months ago. Anywayyyyyy.

My fishing buddy Ron is coming over on Thursday so hopefully we will get out a bit further afield than we have been so far this year as the forecast looks great for the end of the week and weekend, I was checking out the charts for good reefs along the coast to the West of us so we can maybe get some cod or ling for a change, it gets boring just catching pollack and mackerel all the time. I fancy an area called Hadley shoals a bit of Golam head which is about 7 miles from the harbour. My friends boat will do 30 knots if its calm weather. Angie is away to the UK from tomorrow until Saturday so I shant be able to go for whole day jaunts due to the dogs being shut inside but hope to get out a few times while he is here.

I rebuilt a wall today that had been knocked down by two trees falling across it earlier in the year, rebuilding Connemara walls is just a case of chucking rocks on top of one another, my pal Keith from Scotland would be horrified as he is a stone dyker by trade. Wish he would visit.


 

There is a storm coming in

Well its a bit like the end of the Terminator movie here just now, rolling thunder and clouds building in the distance. You can see in a couple of the photos below how dark it looks in the distance.

There isnt as much colour around as there was when all the Roddies were in full bloom but still some nice flowers on the go and roses are starting to bloom.

In the way of projects I have started a donkey bust and the googly eyes arrived and look good on the sheep pine cones.

Booked the Stena ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast for my Mom and Dad and neice Cara and nephew Robbie who are coming for a visit in July, also booked accommodation in Carrickfergus at the marina where I used to load coal on the puffer. It has all changed now and is a yacht haven instead of working port. I will drive up and stay the night with them before driving back the next day. Looking forward to having visitors :) I hope the weather is good for their stay as there is a tent here that has never seen daylight and my boat and fishing rods need a workout.

'He painted Matchstick Men'

A one hit wonder from the 1970s was 'He painted Matchstick Men' by Brian and Michael, yep I had to Google that fact, anyway the song was about the artist Lowry who is famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures often referred to as "matchstick men".

I have my own artistic flair and it has manifested itself in creation of pine cone sheep. I am hoping that these will be a huge success rivalling the onion patch dolls and take off worldwide mind you if they do I shall quickly run out of pine cones. There are dozens of cones lying around so I was looking for something to do with them, the sheep idea came to my mind as we have a few NZ visitors come to Ireland and I knew they couldn't resist them, it would be like having a sculpture done of your girlfriend ehh. Hopefully I have some googly eyes coming in the post today thanks to Ebay and I can extend my sheep making into owls as well, saving on the cotton wool as well as enhancing the experience for my New Zealand friends :)