Eating West Cork: January 2011

Thursday, 20 January 2011

20th January 2010 - nothing much to report

Hello everyone. It has been very quiet over the last few weeks. Girls started back at school on the 10th after quite a long Christmas break (seemed long to me anyway!) so we are slowly getting back into our groove routine again. The weather here has been really nice with lovely sunny days and very little rain although sometimes quite chilly. The Irish government is keeping us entertained with bumper filled news, scandals and current events every day which I think peaked this afternoon with the general election finally called for on 11th March.

Gwen and Jessica did a quick trip up to Dublin last week for her mother's 82 birthday while I held down the fort with the other two "playing puck" as they say here. The visitors still keep coming and last Saturday we had the pleasure of my very old and good friend Patrick and his lovely new wife pop in to visit us while in Cork for a wedding. They stayed for a few hours while I force fed them local delicious cheese! (we are getting a bit obsessed by the great cheese here!)

Other than that I have been digitizing photographs and music every night. I took a bunch of old photo albums from my parents house over Christmas and have been busy scanning and saving them for future generations. I also spent hours and hours ripping hundreds of old music CDs into iTunes. Been meaning to do that for years.

That's about it. No news is good news as they say.

Sunday afternoon comic reading at the Grey Hound

Me and Patrick

Patrick, his lovely new wife and our three

Saturday, 8 January 2011

Béal na mBláth

Today we made the short drive to Béal na mBláth where Michael Collins was ambushed and shot on 22nd August 1922 at the very young age of 32. It is quite a beautiful spot but you can really see how the location was quite ideal from am ambush with the high ridges and the blind bends in the road. It's a place everyone in Ireland has heard or read about but do not think very many get to see it as it is a bit off the beaten track which I believe is why is chose that route way back the 1922.

Very moving and sad but glad we got to visit it eventually.

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Random pictures on a nice walk yesterday (5th Jan 2011)

There is a lovely trail that follows the sea from Charles Fort to Middle Cove that we walked with the girls yesterday. It was quite late in the afternoon so starting to get dark but we got some nice pictures along the way.

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! If 2011 is half as eventful and fun as 2010 then it will be a great year. Since last writing we have been busy celebrating our first Christmas in Kinsale. The weather was the big story this Christmas and I just read that it was the coldest December on record in Ireland. Amazing I still think it sometimes gets colder in Dallas so it did not bother Gwen or me too much but in fairness it did get mad cold. Christmas morning in Kinsale was -11C which is cold no matter where you are from.

So what have we been up to? Santa was very good to the girls who were surprised with pairs of roller skates and a giant Barney for Jessica. The skates were a huge hit and they have been pretty much wearing instead of shoes since then. Dinner on Christmas was traditional turkey (brined) stuffed and served with roast and mashed spuds as well as a nice selection of winter veg. I made gravy using the giblets and neck which turned our really well if I may say so! It was a lovely quiet family day and we never left the house the entire time.

St. Stephen’s day (26^th Dec) was another quite day where we had several rounds of turkey sandwiches and the trifle that we could not fit in the day before.

On Monday 27^th we packed up the car and headed up to Dublin and Bray to visit family. My sister and her husband were over from England and they and my parents got to spend some time with our girls while Gwen and I absconded into Dublin and checked into the Shelbourne for the night! This is the Hotel where we had our wedding reception way back in 2002 and the first time we stayed there since then. We ended up having a lovely day in town being tourists and got to meet up with some good friends for dinner and drinks.

We headed back to Kinsale on the 30^th when later that evening our must frequent guests, Kiara, Neil and Shane arrived to spend New Year’s Eve with us. New Years eve day started with a drive to Baltimore and a subsequent ferry trip to Sherkin Island for a picnic in the middle of a field with all the kids! It was freezing and mucky but the views and quietness of the mostly abandoned island was really nice. A quick pint in the epic Bushes pub in Baltimore and then headed home where we cooked up huge steaks that Neil and I had the foresight to pick up at the butchers that morning.

Our visitors departed on Sunday afternoon (lots of tears!) and now everything is starting to get back to normal again.

Happy New Year everyone and as always some pictures follow.