National Museum of Art and Dublin Castle

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Mama Cormier

……exploring art and history in Dublin

After visiting the Museum of Natural History, we made our way to the National Gallery of Art. It was surprisingly smaller than I thought it would be but there were numerous areas that were undergoing renovations and were closed off to the public.

We were treated to a variety of paintings from a very diverse group of artists, including Rembrandt, Caravagio, Picasso, Vermeer and Jack Yeats. Yeats, in fact had a large number of pieces on display. Personally I liked his large abstract pieces done with oils the best.

Unfortunately, but not surprising, I was unable to take photos in most of the gallery rooms. The one place I was able to take pictures was in the large, spacious cafeteria on the main floor of the gallery. Our son took the photgraph of me and my husband after we rehydrated with a bottle of water and split a muffin three ways.

Not too far away from the art gallery is Dublin Castle. Neither my husband or my son were very interested in seeing the interior of the castle but they were willing to check out the building, walls and courtyard. The castle itself is over 700 years old and was built by the English to implement the will of British royalty over the Irish people. In 1922 the power was handed over to Michael Collins and the Irish. Today the castle is used for for fancy state and charitable functions.

A tour of the interior is available but even the guide book described it as a boring room by room walk through. It was also the first attraction, today, that charged a fee to enter the building. Later we discovered that most of the historical buildings, including the churches charge an admission fee.

The Museum of Natural History

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….a zoological museum, opened in 1857, famous for it’s Victorian cabinets and display cases

I’ve been having some problems with the iPad, especially with the text portion of my posts so I’ve decided to keep the writing to a minimum and focus on sharing the photos that I’ve taken.

After dropping off our laundry today we met up with our son and started on 8k walking tour. Our first stop was the National Museum of Ireland Natural History. It is one of the oldest museums in Ireland, housing over 2 million species of wildlife from Ireland and the four corners of the world. Some of the species still exsist today but many are long extinct.

The Best 10 Euros I’ve Ever Spent

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

……having someone else do my laundry We knew when we were packing that at some point on our trip we would have to do some laundry. Little did we know how expensive the hotel laundry service would be. We’ve been away for almost a week and tomorrow we’re taking the train to Westport. It was time to do some washing but laundromats are not as common as they are in Canada. We knew that the hotel laundry was not an option. A single pair of under pants would have cost us € 4 to have washed. In the city centre, we saw a cleaners that advertised doing your wash for €10 for a 5kg bag with same day service. It looked like our best option so I separated our dark and light coloured clothes and stuffed them into one of our carry on bags. We had arranged to meet Brendan at 11:00 at Stephen’s Green today so we left a little bit earlier so that we could drop off our laundry at the cleaners. Everything fell into place like a well orchestrated symphony. The distance we had to walk with the bag of laundry was very short, arranging for the wash was painless, the shop owner was very friendly and we could pick it up at the end of the day when we were ready to go back to our hotel. We had a great day with our son and I figured out that we saved ourselves over €120 by not letting the hotel do our laundry. No convenience or service is worth that much money.

Walking, Double Decker Buses, Grafton Street, Buskers,

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Mama Cormier

……and another full Irish breakfast and more walking

Today I slept till almost 8:00. I slept for at least nine hours. Heavenly! I might have slept longer but my husband woke me because he wanted to start our morning walk. I quickly got dressed and without a cup of tea or coffee to start my day (K had been up for two hours and was well hydrated) we started our hike to Phoenix Park.

We took a slightly longer route today and headed toward the area where herds of deer are often sighted. We saw signs that deer had been in the area, such as scat and fur that had been shed; however, it was pretty late and the park was already busy with walkers, runners, cyclists, dogs and crews setting up for the afternoon concert.

I was just about to say that we were too late to see deer when all of a sudden we spotted one in the distance. By the time we got our cameras ready the deer had already disappeared into the forest. We also came across a pond with a lot of ducks, many which were unfamiliar to us. One looked like a cross between. a black chicken and a white faced duck. A little girl came by with her grandfather and fed the ducks bread. I’m not sure how healthy it is for the birds but there certainly was a massive feeding frenzy. Ducks from all over the pond ascended on the shore where we stood.

As the morning wore on I started to feel the effects of being dehydrated and the lack of caffeine. I love to walk but I was really dragging myself during the last third of the walk. Just before we got home we picked up some water and bananas from the local Spar Store. That little bit of nourishment helped me to motor on. Once home we saw that we’d gone for close to three hours and we had walked at least 8 k.

I started this post yesterday. I had so many problems with the iPad that I put it aside and went to bed. Anyway I wanted to say that 8 k didn’t seem right when we regularly walk 5 k in one hour. Well sure enough when we went over the map again I discovered that I had missed a huge section of the walk. We had actually walked 9.5 k and with the time spent at the duck pond and stopping at the Spar this made more sense.

Later in the day we took the bus into the city centre and headed toward Grafton Street. This is a pedestrian mall that is always busy. It was particularly crowded yesterday because a football game had just ended and it was Sunday and sunny and warm. A sure fire recipe for swarms of people on this popular street.

We enjoyed numerous street performances but my favourite was a group of bearded musicians who played modern Irish music. Another busker played an electric guitar made out of a Castrol oil can. After enjoying the sights and sounds of Grafton Street we made our way to Bewley’s Cafe, an icon in Dublin, for some much needed refreshments.

All told we walked a total 15k Yesterday. Today we met up with our son B and met his girlfriend. More about that tomorrow.

The Full Irish Breakfast

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….still suffering from jet lag but this breakfast keeps me going for a good part of the day

On Friday, when we arrived in Dublin, we got a taxi and drove to my husband’s cousin’s home near Phoenix Park. Our plane arrived at 9:30 in the morning and unfortunately we had next to no sleep on the plane because passengers near the front decided to party all night long. It was the noisiest flight that I’ve ever experienced. It was going to be a very long day.

Fortunately, our hostess, P, made us feel right at home and quietly and almost effortlessly made us a great full Irish breakfast. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this protein heavy breakfast, let me describe it for you. It consists of the following meat: black pudding, white pudding, sausage, and ham or bacon. Of course there are eggs.

This breakfast kept us going but by 2:00 in the afternoon I had to take a nap. Kevin lasted a little longer but he crawled into bed soon after. We got a few hours of sleep and then we stayed up till 11:00.

The next morning we were up at 4:40. We just couldn’t sleep any longer, even though we were still tired. I think we were a little bonkers. While P slept, we drank 2 pots of tea and ate a couple of slices of soda bread. When we figured out that there was no alarm system we went out into the garden and did a few exercises. Still restless, we decided to go for a walk through Phoenix Park.

The walk is just what we needed. We went for about 5.7 km. When we got back to the house, P made us our second full Irish breakfast. What a life! We’re still experiencing jet lag and I’m hoping after a good night’s sleep tonight I won’t be dozing off in the middle of the afternoon or at the table during meals.

Canoeing

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Mama Cormier

This is the last of the stories I wrote on the weekend. In hind sight I’m glad I took the time to write then because over the last few days I’ve been very busy getting ready for our trip to Ireland. We leave tonight.

Canoeing to the Northern Most Tip of the Island

….to try our hands at fishing (casting style)

It was hot today but the lake was cool and calm. Perfect for a ‘long’ canoe trip. Well it seemed long for a novice like me. I was placed at the front of the boat and I paddled on my left. D was at the back, in charge of steering and her daughter was in the middle.

We packed the fishing rods, water and kneeling pads into the canoe and I put my trusty little camera into a ziplock back to keep it from getting wet. We all put on our life jackets (we were travelling over very deep water) and tied down the extra paddle, the bailing bucket and all our gear….safety first.

Getting into the canoe was a bit challenging. It was then I realized how tippy this vessel actually is. I started to worry about my camera. If we did tip it would go straight to the bottom of the lake. Once we were all in place the paddling began. There was a slight ripple on the lake on the way to Salt Cove (a name we made up years ago) and D had a bit of trouble keeping the canoe on track. The trip to the point took us over an hour to complete. As we got closer the water became very shallow and we had to look out for rocks sticking out of the water.

We were able to beach the canoe relatively easily and we walked over the stoney shoreline to an area where we thought the fish might bite. We were using casting rods today and artificial bait. I had never used either. The actual fly fishing was very relaxing and I can see why people like it so much. A few times I thought that something was nibbling on my fake worm but I think that most of the time I was getting caught up on the rocks. Both D and her daughter swear they saw fish in the water but all I saw were the reflections off the water made by the sun.

After almost two hours, we called it a day and got back into the canoe. By this time the water was as still as glass and the paddle home took only an hour. Empty handed and exhausted we pulled ashore and were greeted by D’s family. Funny how the fish stories of the ‘one that got away’ start.

No fish for dinner tonight but I was famished. It was almost 9:00 o’clock before I ate. I had a huge kale and cabbage salad with cold chicken. It was no fresh bass, pickerel or lake trout but it did the trick. Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow. D wants to go to the lighthouse side tomorrow and cast a few lines there. Hmmmm, isn’t that where the bears were last seen?

Going Fishing

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

Written Saturday, July 6, 2013

…..I can’t remember the last time I did this

Today I’m getting into a canoe and paddling over to and around Salt Cove to go fishing. I think the last time I did this I was a child. I remember liking the experience, even putting the worms on the hook. Today I think we’re fly fishing, so we’re not using live bait.

D keeps saying we’re going to catch our dinner. I know there are fish in this lake but because it’s so big the only fish that I’ve ever seen caught were with a net. I’ve bought some great lake trout from the local fishermen. Until this week I’d never seen fish caught with a fishing pole. Both D and her daughter went out earlier in the week and came back with a 14 inch bass, well that’s what we think it was.

The only other time that I’ve ‘caught’ a fish in Georgian Bay happened several years ago. I didn’t use a net or a pole. In fact I just picked it up off the beach. D and I were walking along the shore when we spotted this beautiful fish. It was dead but the eyes were still clear, there was no odour and there were no marks on the fish itself. We just happened to have a plastic bag with us so I picked it up and took it to my neighbour to see what he thought of our find.

W was amazed at the size of this lake trout. We took it back to his cottage and he brought out his scales. It weighed in at 8 pounds. He opened it for us and gutted and cleaned it and cut it into numerous steaks. The flesh inside was clean and we couldn’t see anything wrong with it. We debated why it ended up on the beach and the best scenario that we could come up with was that it had been trapped in one of the fishermen’s nets, died in the trap trying to escape and then was washed ashore with the waves.

That night we shared our ‘catch’ with W and his family and we invited cottage friends over for a feast. My favourite saying of the day came from our friend C from down the beach when she told all her neighbours that she was going for a dinner of ‘road kill’. That lovely fish fed over 10 people and we all lived to tell the tale.

How Not to Treat Poison Ivy

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..I’ve only had it 3 times in my life

In the 25 years that I’ve been coming up to the cottage I’ve become very familiar with what poison ivy looks, where it is, how to avoid it and how to treat it. I’ve only had 2 very minor rashes in all these years and I mean minor, 4 or 5 tiny blisters all in a row. In the past I’ve always left it alone, washed it with Sunlight soap and if the rash became too itchy I would apply calamine lotion.

My son and D’s son, on the other hand always managed to get some serious bouts of poison ivy when they were young boys. Somehow they managed to get it on their hands and where ever they touched themselves that’s where the rash would show up. They had poison ivy on their faces, legs and groin area.

The worst case of poison ivy, oak or sumac (we’re not sure which one she came in contact with) that I’ve ever seen happened to my cottage neighbour and friend, D. After a hike over on Hope Is. she broke out in a rash all over her body but the worst part of it was on her face. She looked like a boxer at the end of a fight. Her face puffed out and her eyes were swollen shut. Her case was so serious that it required a trip to the hospital where they prescribed a round of steroids to reduce the swelling and ease the pain.

One of the side effects of steroids is that it makes you quite aggressive and D found she had an over inflated sense of her actual strength. We had a delivery of building materials delivered to the cottage at the time and she was carrying twice as much drywall and in record speed than the rest of us. When she started to complain that her heart was racing we made her stop. This happened over 20 years ago and we still talk about it today.

This brings me to my third bout of poison ivy that I picked up two weeks ago at another friends cottage. I saw that the roadside was covered in the shiny three leafed plant and I thought I had stayed clear of it when we went for our walk; however, two days later (it takes a couple of days before the rash appears) I noticed a small patch on my right ankle. It was quite itchy and I tried not to touch it. I remembered a remedy that my friend L swears works every time so I thought I would give it a try.

The remedy involves rubbing salt into the blisters to break them open and then washing away the fluid that would normally cause the rash to spread. I recently received a wonderful salt scrub that I thought would do the job. It felt great when the blisters broke and they seemed to heal right away. The problem was that 2 days later another rash appeared somewhere else on my leg. I repeated the procedure and 2 days later another area broke out.

Now the thing with the scrub that I was using was that the salt was packed in an oil and after I rubbed it all over my legs it left the skin feeling soft and hydrated. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the oil was spreading the fluid in the blisters to other parts of my leg and because oil and water don’t mix the fluid wasn’t being washed away. Too bad it took me three treatments to realize what I was doing to myself. I’ve decided to leave this new batch of poison ivy to dry out on its own without any help from me.

Live and learn!

Living Without Electricity

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….little did I know that this was going to happen here in the city, yesterday

When I wrote the following story there was no warning of the storm to come. We set record rainfall levels here in Toronto. In two hours 90 mm of rain fell and continued to fall until 124 mm fell in total. We haven’t had this much rain since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Roads, highways and underpasses were flooded and closed. Over 300 000 homes were without power in Toronto and at one point 80% of Mississauga was in the dark. We had no power for 10 hours. Luckily our basement stayed dry but thousands of basements flooded.

The biggest story yesterday was how the GO train ended up in a flood zone and started to fill up. Passengers were stranded on the train for over six hours and had to be rescued by the Marine Unit.

GO train flooded

People inside the train

The irony is that if I had stayed up at the cottage for one more day I would have missed all of this. Here is the story I wrote on the weekend:

Living Without Electricity

….power failure? what power failure?

The one time I’m happy about not having electricity at the cottage is when we have a power failure. Up here a power failure can last for days. I’m sitting here in semi-darkness with only a few candles burning and a couple of oil lamps aglow. I charged my laptop before I left the city on Friday morning and now, Sunday evening, after writing 4 stories and up loading all my photos I still have 30% left on the battery.

It’s not that we can’t get electricity up here, we can. When we first started building in 1989 there was no electricity on this side of the island. People had been up here for 20 years and more and got along just fine without it. In the mid 90’s Ontario hydro installed power lines up to Big Sand Bay. Many cottagers didn’t want it at first but slowly, one by one, cottages started to be powered with electricity. We are one of the few last hold outs.

People often wonder how we manage without power. Well my fridge runs on propane, I use my BBQ as my main source for cooking and our water pump is generated with gas. As I said earlier, I light the place with oil lamps and candles, and battery operated lanterns and in recent years I’ve started purchasing lights that are solar powered. Don’t get me wrong, there are days that I wish I had electricity, like on rainy days when I have to cook outside. Of course that could also be remedied with a propane stove. Lugging propane tanks back and forth, off and on the island can also be a pain but it’s better than the alternative (cooling with ice and cooking over campfires).

At least when there is a power failure I’m not leaving because I can’t keep my food cold, my water pump doesn’t work and heaven forbid I can’t watch TV or play video games. I’m happy with my battery operated radio and my favourite station, CBC. I also read a lot, walk, swim, play board games with my neighbours, and occasionally paint. The one convenience that I do have and don’t need to have electricity for is my land line phone. Cell reception up here is very dicey. We can receive messages but we can’t always reply. Literally, directly north of us lies hundreds of kilometres of open water. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a cell tower in the middle of Georgian Bay any time soon.

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Luckily our fridge kept our food cold and nothing in the freezer defrosted. I did put a few things in my cooler bag with ice packs to take some stress off the fridge. I lit candles, used flashlights and battery powered lanterns and I was able to keep in touch with family and friends through texting. My little transistor radio and Twitter kept us up to date with the news.

My husband and I had a huge salad for dinner and we kept ourselves entertained with a marathon game of scrabble. I won. Teeheehee!

Sitting by the Dock of the Bay

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…...waiting for the ferry at Cedar Point

As I drove down Cedar Point Road I had 10 minutes to spare before the ferry departs; however, today there was no ferry waiting to take on cars or cruising through the waters towards the dock. Today the ferry is at least 30 minutes behind schedule.

On the way here I debated about stopping to get paraffin oil for my lamps at the local hardware store in Lafontaine. I knew that stopping was risky and it could mean missing the boat. It wouldn’t have been a problem today. Hopefully I have enough oil left in my lamps for the next few nights, otherwise I will be totally dependent on candles or my one solar powered lamp. Of course the other option is going to bed early. This might be a good opportunity for me to catch up on my sleep.

I decided to take my laptop with me to the island so that I could do some writing while I’m up here. I made sure it was fully charged and I’ll have to be extra careful to shut it down when I’m not using it. It’ll be interesting to see how much I can do on one charge.

I’ve had mixed messages from followers as to whether I should take the laptop or the iPad with me to Ireland. I’m still undecided. I’m sure my husband would rather that I didn’t take either. I’ll have to limit my time blogging, maybe setting aside 30 minute blocks of time first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I must admit that I’ve become a bit addicted to writing this blog, following other blogs and checking out new sites. I think I’ll have to forgo reading everyone else’s blogs until I return home.

Well, the ferry finally arrived. We all ‘backed’ onto the boat (my least favourite way to board the boat) and we finally departed, 36 minutes behind schedule.