….my most memorable moments
Time Spent With the Irish Cousins
Checking out Dublin With Our Son
Meeting Our Son’s Beautiful Girlfriend
Our Trip to Westport
Our Day at Howth
The Museums, Art Galleries and Beautiful Gardens
Spending Time With My Wonderful Husband
….and Finally, Finding a Good Cup of ‘Coffee’ in Ireland (something we had a hard time finding 9 years ago)
….with the emphasis on the ‘t’
When we came back from our trip to Howth and said we had been to How-th, K’s Dublin cousin laughed and told us that we were mispronouncing the name.
Regardless of the pronunciation, Howth was one of our sightseeing highlights while in Dublin. It is located north of the city centre, on the coastline and is accessible with the city bus. Our son had been there a couple of days before with his girlfriend but was happy to do the trek again with his parents.
We were actually glad that B knew about the terrain and ensured us that the walk was very doable for us. Of course the first half of the walk was all on an incline but the scenery was breathtaking. The only downside was that when we got to the top I needed a bathroom and there isn’t one on the trail. I’m not adverse to finding a secluded area and doing what I need to do but in this case we ended up at a busy parking lot. Apparently you can drive to the top of the cliffs.
Luckily for me, I’m not shy and I informed a couple of tourists who were looking at the information board with me that I needed to find a toilet. They told me that down the road (off the path) at the bottom of the hill there was a pub. What a godsend.
We found the pub easily, used the facilities, and continued back up the road to finish our hike along the trail. This part of the trail was on higher ground, with wider paths and a slight decline. Along the way we saw a few grandiose homes and as we got closer to the bottom we entered a subdivision of more beautiful homes. Eventually as we got closer to the beach area we passed some quaint stores and pubs and we decided it was time for some liquid refreshment. 
As with all pubs in Ireland the atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming. After their pint of beer and my half pint of cider we continued towards the beach and made our way to our bus stop for the half hour trip back into Dublin. In total the walk measured 7k.
All in all, a great way to spend our last day with our son. The next morning he would be flying back to the Netherlands, where he works and lives. Hopefully we’ll see him and his girlfriend again at Christmas. But in the meantime good luck B with your job interview in London, England. What a great reason to plan another trip overseas.
….after two glorious weeks in Ireland
We just got off the plane a little over two hours ago. I went through all the mail, threw away things in the fridge that I should have tossed before we left (yuck!!!), picked some vegetables from the garden and charged up my laptop. I’ve really missed the laptop. The iPad was okay but it gave me a lot of grief when I tried to keep up with my blog. I think I will write a critique about using an iPad when on vacation.
I’m anxious to upload the photos from my camera. I wasn’t able to do that with the iPad. I’ve a lot of wonderful moments and photos to share. Give me some time to sort myself out here at home (friends to phone, family to visit, and laundry to do) and I need to organize my thoughts and not repeat things that I have already posted.
First thing I need to do is go to the drug store and see if I can get some over the counter medication for pink eye. My poor husband managed to pick up a nasty case of it on his last day in Ireland; how or where he contacted it we’re not sure but I don’t want it. Poor Mr. Burgerhead. Don’t ask. It’s a name his cousin’s sons came up with after we spent some time with them. K actually loves the nickname and we miss the boys already.
….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.
….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.
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!
…. it’s Monday and I spent 3 glorious days at the cottage
I did something this weekend that I’ve never done before. I brought my laptop to the cottage. I charged it fully before I left and thought I might try writing stories while I was up there. To my surprise I was able to write 5 articles and uploaded photos and still had some ‘juice’ left at the end of the weekend.
I’m going to start posting the stories over the next 4 days as I get ready for our trip to Ireland. I also heard that my 86 year old dad had a bad fall on the weekend and I will probably take an afternoon to drive out to Oshawa to see for myself that he’s okay. When I talked to him today he said he was sore, bruised and scraped and may have a concussion. Did he go to the hospital after falling 10 feet, heard first off a cliff? No, of course not. He did, however, go to the doctor today and was told he was very lucky. No kidding! He did tell me that he learned a lesson. The next time the dog wants to go down the cliff, he’s going to let the dog go and he’ll take the stairs.
….today was the day
I woke up early, 6:07 to be exact. I put on my running clothes and made my way downstairs to make coffee. I checked my emails as I enjoyed my Crema and protein bar. It was lovely and quiet in the house, just what I needed before heading out to meet my fellow coaches, L and C.
We had decided ahead of time to meet at L’s house and go together in one car. There was very little traffic at 7:30 on a Sunday morning so we made good time getting to the race venue. The race this year was being held at the Vaughn Mills mall. When we got there, there was already a sea of pink t-shirts.
Our school was assigned a flag where our girls had to meet us. We handed out their numbers and safety pins and the moms and dads pitched in pinning the numbers to the fronts of their shirts.
It was great seeing so many parents get involved, not just by being there but also registering for the run so that they could run with their daughters.
There weren’t as many pre-race activities as last year but some of the moms had brought along coloured hair spray so that the girls could have racing stripes put into their hair. Even some of their teachers got into the spirit.
I’m not sure how many times I’m going to have to wash my hair to remove the pink dye. One mom, who’s a hairdresser, said that it might take three or more washes. Hmmmm!!!!!
Two hours after arriving at the mall, the race finally started and about 1000 little girls and their coaches and parents started on the 5k run.
I had set a goal for myself to run the 5k without stopping and try to do it in 45 minutes or less. Last year I think it took me about 55 minutes and I walked at least half of it. It was very warm and humid today. Before I left my husband asked me not to overdo it and to be careful not to get caught up in the excitement of the race. I know that the recent heart attack of a very close friend who lives out west was leaving him feeling a little apprehensive about me running today. I have to admit that the our friend’s heart attack was also in the back of my mind. The attack was a mild one and she’s doing much better but she’s the last person we would ever have suspected of having a heart condition.
I set a very reasonable pace for myself and was able to run the first half without stopping to walk. When I did stop it was at the water station but I started to run again almost immediately. The heat did bother me and I walked a couple more times but never for more than a minute. In the end I finished in a time of 47:27, 2 1/2 minutes slower than I hoped for but this year I felt so much better than I did last year. I didn’t experience those moments of dread like I did last year and I wasn’t as emotional….no tears.
Now that I have an official time I can work on getting that number down. I should plan to do another 5k sometime this summer. It’s good to have a goal.
Time to work on my art piece.
Cheers!
…..we bought our tickets yesterday
We’re really hoping that our son will be able to meet the Irish side of the family. Maybe we should have checked with the family before we booked our flight but we had to coordinate our time in Ireland with our son’s conference in Dublin. Well actually it’s his girlfriend’s conference but that’s neither here nor there. They will be arriving on the 14th of July and leaving the 21st and 22nd. Our son is staying one extra day to spend a little more time with us.
We will land in Dublin on the 12th and will be leaving on the 25th. We’re not sure where we’re staying but our son and his girlfriend have booked a room at a hotel. We don’t want to burden anyone so we’re in the process of checking out AirBnB.
We’re hoping to take in some art galleries. Maybe some of my Irish followers can suggest a gallery or two. We’re definitely going to check out the Royal Hibernian Academy, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Museum of Natural History and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
It doesn’t look like we’re going to get over to Germany on this trip. Sorry Philipp. My family will have to wait until next year before we can visit. We’re looking forward to catching up with the Irish cousins. Hopefully some of them will be in town when we’re there.
Cheers!
…….you decide
My son lives in the Netherlands, so whenever he posts anything on Facebook I have to check it out. Today I came across a video that he posted on YouTube. I’m not sure what he’s cooking but he does seem to have a flair for the flambé.
My entire family seems to have the cooking gene. My father loved to cook and for a short time he and my mother had their own catering business. For 17 years I taught Family Studies and demonstrated cooking techniques to my young students. When our youngest daughter expressed an interest in becoming a chef my husband supported her by cooking along side her and together they experimented with new recipes and techniques. Even after she decided that cooking was not what she wanted to pursue as a career, my husband continued to play in the kitchen and to this day he still prepares most of our meals.
Even though she decided not to cook for a living, my daughter and her husband are both foodies and they love to entertain and prepare elaborate and interesting dishes for family and friends. My oldest daughter is also very capable in the kitchen and both her and her partner have prepared some memorable meals and enjoy competing in cook-offs that J’s family hosts on a regular basis.
Our son has lived on his own for quite awhile and is basically a self-taught cook. He has shared some very tasty dishes with us when he visits and he isn’t afraid to try new and sometimes ‘dangerous’ cooking techniques, as you will see in the video. Take note of the paper towel roll behind the stove….could have been a bit of a disaster. As my husband said upon viewing the video, “That is so B…..”
Deep frying the turkey.
My husband stirring the tomato sauce that we eventually canned.
My Irish soda bread.
G preparing her homemade pasta.
A feast at my oldest daughter’s and partner’s home.
….I imagined the worst
The school day had barely begun. I was in the library getting ready for my first class when AM paged me from the office. My neighbour was on the phone and had our dog, Frances, in her house. K was nowhere to be found. I had the call transferred to my office and spoke directly to N. Apparently she found Frances sitting on the front lawn and she was quite upset.
My neighbour on the north side of my house, L, got into her car and drove around the neighbourhood looking for my husband. While I was talking to N (my neighbour on the south side of my house) L returned and hadn’t found my husband. I described K’s normal walking/running route to N and how she could get Frances into our house. I got off the phone and waited for her to call me back. I waited and waited and waited.
It seemed like forever but in reality it was only 15 minutes. My colleagues encouraged me to drive home to find out what was happening. When I got in the car and started on the short trip home (15minutes) I started to think the worst. What if he’d fallen down the rocky edge by the lake? Maybe he’d suffered a heart attack and was lying on a path less travelled. I didn’t know what to expect when I got home.
Half way home my phone rang. It was my husband. He was fine, just a little shaken up for having lost Frances. He let her off the leash while he ran along the lake and normally she runs along side him and occasionally checks out a path here and there but always pops back up and joins him.
For some reason, today Frances lost track of K and when she didn’t see him she ran home. K thought that she had passed him at some point so he turned around and ran back to where the path ended. He found some other dog walkers and they tried to help him find Frances. When he couldn’t find her he was beside himself with worry. He finally decided to run home.
As he got closer to the house he could hear her barking. He found my two neighbours outside the house and Frances was already inside. Needless to say K was very relieved. The problem was that at this moment in time I didn’t know that he was okay.
Did he call me right away to let me know he was home? No! He went back to the park to let others know that the dog was safe and sound at home. When he got back home the second time he called the school but I had already left. He told me later, very apologetically, that it had never occurred to him that I would be worried about him. Hmmmm! What can I say? I love him and I’m relieved that he’s okay.
Mama Cormier 