Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Cabin Fever Abated

                                                                                    

This morning I attended the annual Cabin Fever Antiques Fair.  Lots of nice things, pretty fair prices.  Among my favorite items to peruse are the antique holiday postcards.  I zeroed in on St.Patrick's Day and Easter.  My favorite is this picture of a bunny playing the horn with an egg serving as the music.  It might be pretty to decoupage eggs with sheet music.  Easter is my favorite holiday of the whole year.

After the antique show, I proceeded to meet Linda and Donna at Linda's shop, Raveloe.  They were spending the afternoon warping two looms.  Linda was using a nifty technique which really got the job done quickly.  They had two different looms - the Schacht Flip and the  Schacht Cricket .  They are both mighty cute and a great beginner level loom.  I still have the dreadful mohair scarf on my rigid heddle.  

Here's a picture of the looms at the beginning of the warping procedure.  They were both using handspun singles which makes for a beautiful finished product, but can be a little pesky to work with because of a tendency to snap at inopportune times.

   

Ireland Chapter Three

I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the drive around the Ring of Kerry.  The landscapes were so beautiful.  Although the weather wasn't perfect, it was typical.  Again, traveling off-season paid off.  Usually the roads are clogged with tourists and coaches.  The day we went had very light traffic. 

Our driver made an unscheduled stop to view the gardens of Muckross House.  Even though not much was in bloom, it was gorgeous.  We also took a twenty minute hike in the Killarney National Park and were rewarded with a stunning view of Torc Waterfall.  It was really like a fairyland because the trees were covered from root to tip with a coat of shaggy, green moss.

   

    

While the rest of the group went to kiss the Blarney stone, my cousin and I had a shopping spree at the Blarney Woollen Mills.  I didn't buy much on this trip, but I'm really happy with the items I bough, including a large cone of natural colored wool yarn- the kind used to knit Aran sweaters.

After a half-dozen phone calls around Ireland and a panicky email home for addresses, we managed to make plans to meet the cousins we have in County Clare on Thursday afternoon.  Our guide Sean was extremely acccommodating and we were able to leave the tour group after a short look-see at Bunratty Folk Park.  The park is a collection of cottages which have been restored to the original condition.  It was a real treat to see how the homes were furnished.

     

     

Cousin Gerry was kind enough to pick us up and deliver us to Cousin Tom's farm.  We had a lovely afternoon and got to know some delightful children.  We had a little walk around the farm and met the bovine residents as well.

   

In the late afternoon, Cousin Tom drove us to another home to visit with another set of cousins.  We were able to see the cottage where our grandfather came into the world.  It has been entirely refurbished by Cousin John and is quite a showplace.  We chatted with John's mother Bridie and two of his sisters.  After three hours we were treated to a cup of tea.  Awhile later we were served a lovely composed plate with delicious slivers of ham and chicken.  The chicken, we were informed, was strangled just that morning by Bridie's own fair hand. A scoop of cold mashed potatoes graced the center of the plate.  The feast was rounded out by brown bread and margarine.  A slice of apple tart made with some astringent heirloom apples grown on the premises was served for dessert.  We said our goodbyes and Cousin John was kind enough to drive us the thirty minutes to our hotel in Ennis. It was a refurbished convent, and featured beautiful Gothic details.  The Waterford crystal chandelier in the lobby was exquisite.

 The ever-thoughtful Sean had instructed the hotel staff to leave a tray of fruit and cheese in our room, for which we were very grateful.

My Fingers Were Busy

As I rode the bus around Ireland, I kept my fingers busy.  I managed to start and finish an Elizabeth Zimmerman  February Baby Jacket from the book Knitter's Almanac.  The yarn is hand-dyed cotton made by Araucania.  It's a pretty apricot/orange sherbet variegated color. 

 

Trip to Ireland Chapter Two

  It was interesting to drive around the countryside and see centuries-old structures in almost every town.  I always wonder what life was like for the residents of the castle and the keep.  Daily routines intrigue me - what did they wear? What did they eat?

It was uplifting to get a preview of spring.  Ireland is temperate due to the warm ocean currents which surround it.  Forsythia, crocus and primrose were all beginning to bloom. 

One sight which I really enjoyed was the sheep in the fields.  It was lambing season, and it was sweet to see the little ones; many of them were twins.

 

We took a trip on traditional horse-drawn jaunting cars through a national park in County Kerry.  The park is not accessible by motor vehicle and it made for a pleasant morning to listen to the horse's hooves on the path and the birdsong in the thickets. 

Back on the bus later that day, our guide pulled over to give an impromptu tour of a peat bog.  It was interesting to see because I had seen an exhibit describing "bog bodies" in the national museum in Dublin.  Those are the human remains which are preserved by the conditions in the bogs.  It was an odd surface to walk on - springy and spongey, damp but not sopping.  The peat, after it is cut and dried is either used as is or processed into bricks.  It has a distinctive smell when it is burned, most people find it quite pleasant.

   

One of the many highlights of the trip was that when the bus would stop for a thirty-minute shopping stop, my cousin and I were always able to slip into a cozy pub and enjoy a pint near a fireplace.  Without exception, the local folks were friendly and most of them were eager to discuss American politics.

    

A New Recipe

On my trip, the group was served a lovely vegetable dish which outshone the rest of the meal.  The waitress gave a fairly good description of how it was put together.  This is how I attempted to replicate it. 

   

Peel and chop half of a waxed turnip (aka a rutabaga), two scraped carrots and two russet potatoess.  Add cold water to cover with a generous pinch of salt.  Let boil until the turnip is tender (the carrot and potato will be well-cooked by then). Drain the water, add half a stick of unsalted butter and 2-3 ounces of half and half.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I used a mixer to stir together because the turnip tends to be slightly fibrous and it would be difficult to mix it well by hand.  It's a really pretty color when it's done, and oh boy is it tasty.

In other news... my husband is laid off for the time being.  It isn't the dire situation it sounds to be.  As a union carpenter, being laid off is a fairly frequent occurrence.  He might be off for a couple weeks.  This is how I left him this morning - enjoying a cup of coffee, reading the paper and soaking his feet. How will he fill the empty hours?  Notice the dog lounging on the couch behind him.

Trip to Ireland Chapter One

I had a wonderful time on my trip.  I enjoy arranged tours because if your lucky enough to have a good guide, which we did, you will see a lot and get details.  If you pair this with a decent guidebook, you're bound to learn a lot about the place to which you have traveled. Well, nothing is more fun than looking at the vacation pictures of others, so let's go!

Day one:  We arrived in Dublin very early in the morning. The hotel had no room for us and the rest of the group had not assembled, so we left our luggage and started  off on our own.  We got on a hop-on-hop-off bus and made a complete circuit of the city of Dublin seeing 22 tourist attractions before 11:00 am.  I highly recommend this kind of tour to get acquainted with a city.  On the second go-round, we stopped at the Guinness Storehouse.  You get a really good presentation on how Guinness is made and at the end of the tour you find yourself in the Gravity Bar which is glass-enclosed so you get a panoramic view of the city to enjoy with the most wonderful pint of Guinness you could ever hope to drink.

That evening we met the rest of our group.  A nice assortment of travelers and happily, there were only fourteen of us and our coach (a.k.a. tour bus) held 44.  We also met our guide Sean Walsh.  I could run out of adjectives for this fellow.  Kind, patient, knowledgeable, humorous and thoughtful are a few of the descriptive words he deserves. Since the group was small, he drove the coach in addition to being the tour guide. 

Day two of the tour began with breakfast.  Here is a picture of a traditional Irish breakfast:

 

I did not eat it all, but what I did eat I will be digesting for a good long time to come.  Some of my fellow travelers wanted to know what the dark object on their plate was.  I suppose I could have called it "black pudding" but I used the other moniker "blood sausage" and I was candid when asked how it was made (with cow's blood and breadcrumbs, of course).  Some people were appalled which give you a heads up as to whether or not they were good sports. (I wonder what they think gravy is?)

      

We had a lovely tour around the city including the famous Georgian doors and St. Patrick's Cathedral (above) and then headed for Waterford.  Since I had last been to Ireland fifteen years ago, a lot of changes have been made.  I was there at the beginning of the Celtic Tiger economy.  The roads have vastly improved, for one thing.  But, sadly, the economy has recently made a dramatic downturn.  For example, a tour of the workshops at the Waterford Crystal factory, which was to be a feature of the tour, was canceled.  At this point, it looks as though the name "Waterford" will be sold and the goods will be produced in Poland or some such place.  If you have any of the original, treasure it.  I'd also suggest buying what's left of the old stock if you've ever wanted some. 

 

You've got to love a county where swans are seen on rivers and canals.  Our guide Sean also treated us to a rendition of the classic Irish Fable "The Children of Lir" during a leg of the journey. In that story, children get turned into swans for 900 years by a jealous stepmother.

The tour company I used was Gate 1 Travel .  I've used them to go to to Amsterdam and Peru and have nothing but good things to say about their tours. I'd also strongly urge anyone to take a tour off-season.  There's a sacrifice as far as the weather conditions, but, hey, I'm from Western New York for heaven's sake! Not having crowds of fellow tourists is a huge advantage.  You get to see the sights far more easily and the waiters, tour guides and townsfolk, for that matter are less harried and overwhelmed.

Edward Gorey

  Today was the birthday of one of my all-time favorite artists Edward Gorey.  I started watching the PBS series Mystery on the strength of the animated opening sequence done by him.  An amusing book of Gorey's is the Gashlycrumb Tinies, an ABC book wherein the children each meet an untimely demise.  My favorite is "X is for Xerxes devoured by mice".  Take a minute to read it here .

The Traveler Returns

It took 18 hours from door to door, but I've made it home frome Ireland.  It was a wonderful tour, and we saw a million different things.  I'll have a nice post tomorrow, but for now here is a couple of the pictures I took:

   

Having a Great Time - Wish You Were Here

(Pretend there's a lovely picture here)  I'm having a great time - so is my cousin Bridget.  Tonight we are in Kilarney.  I spent some time (and Euros) in the Blarney Wolllen Mills.  Ring of Kerry tomorrow and meet the cousins in Clare on Thursday night.

Happy, Happy

Today is Valentine's Day.  That makes me happy.

 

Monday is President's Day.  That makes me happy.

 

But... what makes me really happy is that today I leave for a week in Ireland!  I probably won't be able to post while I'm away.  Expect to hear from me in eight days or so.  Toodle-loo!