Christmas Day Madness

...all in the name of charity, some hardy (or slightly mad) souls took to the water on Christmas morning, leaping into Lough Graney (then leaping out again and having mulled wine or hot chocolate)

Spot anyone you recognise ??


...don't let the photos fool you. It was absolutely freezing !!!

Visit to Santa...

On Sunday we had a trip out to the Slieve Aughty Riding centre to visit Santa. Lovely place, very festively decorated, ponies dressed as reindeer and helpers as elves, fairies, cats.



Free pony rides, food and drinks included in the admission


and of course the opportunity to visit the fella in red.

(L-R, Ellie, Santa, Donal, Colm)

Dad... I did it !!!

...after years of trying, I've finally mastered making Yorkshire puddings with a hollow in the middle !!!!

Persistence, and not overfilling the tins !!!

Random images.....

A few of Ellie's "cold and frosty morning" photos taken last week...

Oh Christmas tree....

Oh Christmas tree....
Finally got round to sorting out this year's tree. On Saturday morning 3 adults and 5 children set off in a VW Polo to the forest to cut this year's trees. Said VW returned fully laden with the 3 trees tied on the roof.

We picked a big 'un !! The layout of the hallway allows the tree to go up the height of both floors.

Most amusing getting it through the front door and up, but it was managed in the end. The finished result was ably decorated by Ellie, Donal and Colm.

Chicken carol singers...

.... it was just an amusing photo so though I'd share.

Return of the deer...

Cold weather bringing them down from the mountains ?? No idea, but the deer are back in the garden.
The fence keeps them out of the veg garden so we're happy for them to roam everywhere else and nibble the grass.

(click on the photos for a larger version)

Winter......

Blimey - almost 2 months since I last posted.
So what news ?
Well - the leaves are off the trees, the polytunnel is almost empty apart from a tenuous bit of lettuce and the remaining few carrots. Leeks and kale are the winter stalwarts in the veg plot and we've eaten most of the potatoes..... must plant more next year !!

Steve's joined the East Clare Musical Society in response to an appeal for male singers - the performance of Sugar (musical stage version of "Some Like It Hot") starts tomorrow and runs till Sunday.

I've started horse-riding again after a 20 year break since losing my nerve following a fall.... It's coming back to me and I'm beginning to enjoy it. I ride out 3 mornings a week with a local man (who has several horses and kindly lets me help exercise them)

I'm also back in the gym to combat the lethargy caused by the lack of daylight and gardening... beating the January rush...

Eleanor's looking forward to Christmas - Father Christmas letter has been written and posted today. School is doing a production of "Oliver" in January so they're busy learning songs and dances for that.

Still no luck on the job front for either of us - but we're hoping the new year may bring new opportunity.

That's about it for now... will post some photos of the frosty garden soon

Return to the UK

Decided to have a few days in the UK visiting parents before Christmas and doing a bit of shopping for things we can't get hold of over here (Stilton, macaroni and cheap booze)

Spent a lovely couple of days with both sets of parents, ate far too much trifle (thanks Grandma Rose) and managed a whizz up the M1 to see Dave, Mandy, Maddy and Kev in Yorkshire where we had a most excellent evening (and a most excellent curry too)

Pic of Ellie with Grandpa Ron

Smashing pumpkins...

OK - now I know it seems this blog is turning into somewhat of a harvest festival, but I've just been out to cut the pumpkins now that the weather's turning colder and the mice are starting to nibble at things in the garden.

Anyway - we had an "accidental" pumpkin plant that grew in the polytunnel - probably from a discarded seed... who knows ?? But I didn't plant it. It bobbled along quite merrily under the tomatoes.

Et voilá !!!
Not bad for an unintentional plant.

I predict pumpkin, blue cheese and sage risotto, pumpkin soup and of course, the mandatory Hallowe'en lantern.

One year on....

Yes - today is the first anniversary of moving into this house. In lieu of a celebration, we spend the day in Dublin at a climbing competition with Ellie (9th out of 20 in the Under 16's males & females category)

Doesn't seem like a year, but then again, looking back on the things we've done in that time, it somehow seems a lot longer.

Anyway - talking about it in the car and none of us have any regrets about the move whatsoever. Which is worth a lot.

Tomato heaven

Better late than never we're experiencing our latest glut..... tomatoes.

Despite an attack of blight in the polytunnel, probably passed on from the potatoes, we've taken remedial action - remove and burn all affected foliage and fruits, and it seems to have worked.

Well judge for yourselves. This was one day's worth of picking. The yellow variety is called "Golden Sunrise" and is delightful


For a marvellous pasta sauce, lightly oil a roasting dish, halve a load of tomatoes and place in dish, cut side up. Spray or drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Roast slowly in the bottom of a medium oven (about Gas 4) for a couple of hours (works best if you're cooking other things at the time as it does take a while) until the tomatoes look...well... dried out...
Blend with a food processor or similar.

You can experiment with adding cloves of garlic, chunks of onion to the roasting mix as well. Just don't add herbs till after cooking.

This freezes exceptionally well and when thawed, add herbs etc for a lovely pasta sauce, pizza topping, whatever you fancy.

Another recipe we love is Jamie Oliver's Mothership Tomato Salad.
Beautiful.

So far.... Solar...

Well we'd always promised ourselves that we'd invest more in renewable energy when we had the chance, and with the cost of fuel on an ever-increasing spiral, we bit the bullet, emptied the piggy-banks and had solar water heating installed.

OK - given the wet summer we've had, some might think we were being slightly optimistic, but the clever design of the panels as tubes gives an increased surface area to make the most of any available UV radiation, meaning that even on overcast days there's some degree of water heating.

We also had the hot water cylinder upgraded to a massive 300 litre capacity.

Initial verdict - well we've had a couple of weeks of September sunshine and the 2 panels have managed to heat the cylinder to an impressive 65C over a day. So we're happy with it.

Tidy little panels as well...

The Hairy Bakers

As we're big fans of Si and Dave, the Hairy Bikers, we were delighted to watch their new series "The Hairy Bakers" and even more delighted to watch them making the ultimate cheese and onion pie.

Had to give it a go - it works well with a chopped leek instead of one of the onions too. And the parmesan pastry..... fantastic !!!!

My offering...... Result !!!

This week I have been mostly eating....... courgettes....

Yes.
Due to the fact that we've had torrential rain this week, the chances to get out and garden have been pretty limited, with the only plus being that the courgettes have swelled to mutant proportions.

After roasted courgettes, courgette soup and courgette pasta, I turned to my mate Google.

Courgette cake - the outright winner. I put one of the cakes (un-iced) in the freezer as an experiment to see how it stored so will keep you posted on the result.

Chocolate courgette brownies - nice, but next time I would add in some chopped walnuts and half a teaspoon or so of salt to bring out the chocolate flavour a little more. Despite the amount of cocoa powder added, the chocolate flavour was a little bit lost. See what you think ?

Courgette chutney - This is cooking away as I type filling the house with a vinegary tang. I've not got much experience with chutney, and it's also best stored for a month before eating so I'll get back to you with a verdict on that one.

Awww

Time for the field to be mowed again - different lawnmowers this time...

Meet Lucy and little George...


and Cecilia and little Mildred...

Swim 4

As part of the Irish Water Safety scheme, local children are offered swimming and lifesaving lessons in a local lough (lake) for 2 weeks during the summer holidays.

Beats Peterlee baths......

The theory behind this is that it encourages stronger swimming.
In spite of swimming in all sorts of weather conditions during the 2 weeks - sun, rain and the wind which made some great waves on the lake, Eleanor went on to pass her Swim 4 certificate.

Swim 4 in action......

Graduation day !! Well done Ellie !!

Athlone Town 0 - Sunderland AFC 6

We make the trip to Athlone. Craig, Steve and Ellie take the trip-boat up the river to Lough Ree while I decide to have a look around the shops (there's a Marks & Spencers in Athlone !! but all I buy is food...)
Also manage a quick visit to the castle - here's Ellie sitting on the wall


Quick pint in Seans Bar (oldest pub in Ireland) and a pizza tea then it's off to the match. The rain holds off for most of the game. Sunderland put out all their new signings... Malbranque, Chimbonda and Diouf (Diooooooooooooouf) and it's generally a cracking evening.

Get back into town for post-match analysis and a pint, but we're not allowed in the pubs due to the "no kids after 9pm" rule.
Aye - fair enough, so we sit on the riverbank and Steve and Craig buy drinks in the bar and the chap on the gate lets them bring them out to us on condition we bring the glasses back and don't cause any trouble.

We're met by my mate Sandra from the Sunderland message board and her other half and her eldest lad (who's also not allowed in as he's got no ID on him) so sod them - we have our own little party !!!

Craig

Another first-time visitor from Sunderland, Craig comes to stay for a few days with a plan to see some of the beautiful surroundings and take in Sunderland AFC's pre-season games.

After a swimming expedition in Lough Graney, and a trip to the Aran Islands for the day plus the obligatory visit to see Father Ted's house he gets roped into making bonfires (tricky in the rain) and honing his hurling skills with Ellie.

Craig on Inishmore.....

Veg out

The harvest has begun. Due to the combination of sun and rain, the veg plot is becoming extremely productive.

Trowbridge Village Pump Festival 2008

Yes, it's that time of year again.... Time for our annual pilgrimage to Trowbridge for the festival (now no longer a folk festival.... now billed as a roots and world music festival, and most excellent it was too)

Despite quite a lot of work, Steve working with Stage 1 crew and me running the crew catering with the help of the fantastic Mary (and Eleanor and Angie capably making hundreds of teas and coffees for all and sundry) we still managed to see quite a lot of performances including the fantastic Vin Garbutt, Devon Sproule (she wears a lampshade on her head) and the inimitable Ben Waters (even if Eleanor did point out when we met him backstage after the show that his bum-crack was showing)

Eleanor had lots of fun with her friend from last year's festival, Lizzie....

I think they kept the Lucky Dip stall afloat between them. See a lovely picture of them together HERE

Enthusiasts can check out David's other photos of the festival here.

Nearly missed our flight home due to the unbelievable amount of traffic lights on Bristol Ring Road (grrrr).... we WERE the mad family running through the airport.

It's nice to be home. Our chickens were well looked after by our next door neighbours, and the veg plot has gone crackers - courgettes and runner beans on the menu for the next 3 months by the looks of things !!!

Jam tomorrow...?

Due to our bumper crop of blackcurrants and redcurrants, I thought I'd have a stab at some jam-making. Never done proper jam before (the cooked stuff), only freezer jam.... link here.

Et voilá...

I'm unbelievably proud


Chutney is next on the list... Delia Smith has a recipe which should take care of some of our excess runner beans here.

Peapod wine

OK - I admit it, after watching repeats of BBC's "The Good Life" where peapod burgundy is alluded to in several episodes, I decided to have a go. Found a recipe on the internet seeing as we had tons of peapods which would otherwise have gone on the compost heap.

It did smell peculiar when I boiled the peapods for 45 minutes with orange and lemon peel, AND had a greenish tinge when filtered into the demijohn, but after fermentation, racking and clearing, looked and smelled quite pleasant.

I filtered it today back into the cask and put it under the stairs to age for at least 6 months, but couldn't resist a sneaky swig from the filter and I'm pleased to report that it's a very pleasant dry white wine - slight bouquet of fresh peas, but very smooth and a lovely golden colour.

Will report again at Christmas when we bottle (and drink) it.

Cheers

JanieP

My lovely lovely friend who I met due to our shared support for Sunderland Association Football Club came to stay for a few days.

We did lots of things - some weeding, lots of garden talk, hacking through wild forests to find the secret hidden lough (lake to UK residents)

Had a day trip to the Burren, Fanore beach and Doolin (photos to follow shortly) and even a boat trip round the Cliffs of Moher where the sea was a bit choppy and I was quite seasick (you'll be pelased to hear I don't have any photos of that bit !!

And we went to Father Ted's house and took mysterious photos !!
(more explanation here)

Community Games

Due to Eleanor's success in the qualifying rounds of the Community Games (first in the girls Under 10s 100 metres and 200 metres) she gets to represent Killanena in the finals.

Despite a horrendously rainy night, the weather clears and we head off to Ennis to the sports field where she tries really hard and comes 7th out of 12.

No medals, but a bag of crisps and some juice.

School's out for summer

Yes - School has now broken up for the summer holidays.
9 weeks !!!!!

(UK readers - never complain about 6 weeks again !)

Hoping we get at least a few days without rain, but I'm digging out the craft box and jigsaws just in case

Well and truly open.

Today marks the official opening of the new extension at Dromindoora National School.

Éamon de Buitléar the famous Irish natural history film-maker was to cut the ribbon (read more about him HERE)

In preparation, the pupils did a lot of project work on nature topics including native plants, birds and butterflies, colourful wall displays, as well as dance and music for the grand opening.

Typically after a lovely week, opening day was heralded by torrential rain as we all packed into the marquee for the speeches..... It did however clear up in time for the children to make full use of the bouncy castle.

After the last paper cup had been swept up, the stragglers retired to the pub next door for "a quick pint"...... for the next 4 hours.

Blaze of Glory

Today our local primary school hurling (boys) and camogie (girls) teams went to Cusack Park in Ennis as they had both won places in the county finals of their respective games.

The teams comprised pupils from Dromindoora and Flagmount primary schools, and the rest of the pupils from both schools went too as travelling support.

Fantastically, the boys AND girls both won their matches and returned back to the village in a massive impromptu parade of flag-waving, hooting of car horns and lighting of ceremonial bonfires along the roadway. This was all new to us, but is apparently traditional in the West of Ireland to welcome the victors home.
Marvellous !!

Unsurprisingly, everyone then ended up at the pub.... of course.

Ellie the naturalist...

Ellie's been spending a fair bit of her time outside lately. Inspired by the BBC's "Springwatch" she's been watching our 2 resident nests. We have a swallow nest in the outside toilet and a great-tit nest in the postbox at the end of the drive.

She was delighted that the swallow-chicks fledged on Monday - we're awaiting the flight of the great-tits (mainly so that we can use the postbox again)

There's also been a lot of life around the pond that's in the woodland. After a quick lesson in how to use the macro feature on the camera, she vanished for ages and came back with some absolutely splendid photos.

Click on them to open a larger version....



(Incidentally, the swallows are going for a second brood now and building nest number two just outside the front door. Updates and photos to follow)

Bloom 2008 - Dublin

Bank Holiday for Ireland and a rare day off, so Jeanette and I went to Dublin for the day to the "Bloom" garden show (Ireland's Chelsea)

We had a lovely day - weather was sunny and warm which is rare for a Bank Holiday, but came back with loads of ideas and of course, one or two plants

Broke(n)back mountain...

Got a phone call from the local hardware merchant to say he had some turf from last year's harvest to shift to empty the warehouse for this year's cutting.
The price he quoted us was a reasonable discount on last year, and seeing as its our main heat and hot water source we decided to grab it while we could.

For anyone who wants to know what 5 tons of turf looks like when its dumped on your yard...



The only problem being the design of our turf store. Turf is quite solid and heavy so can't be shovelled or forked by hand. Each brick has to be picked up by hand and thrown into the shed !!

2 days later and a lot of back strain....



Suffice it to say that by the next delivery we'll have sorted out a better system with the shed so that it can be tipped straight in. Or hiring a digger.

We are considering solar water heating at the moment as well in an attempt to cut our fuel bills even further. The size of the grant application form is astounding...perhaps we could just burn that !!

Mowing the lawn....

With the meadow reaching knee-height, drastic action was called for.

When we asked Joe if we could borrow his lawnmower, we were chuffed to bits when he lent us 3 !!

Meet our new lodgers Benny, Feather and Winnie

Good news

For readers who can remember back to the forestry inspection and subsequent tree planting, I'm happy to report that our forest passed its inspection and we were awarded the grant money... probably to spend on Ralgex and knee-replacements ;-)

It's finished

The pergola / hammock-stand was finished today

Planting up the trellises is clematis montana, jasmine and honeysuckle

Asparagus !!!!!

When we tidied up the garden last October I found half a dozen or so asparagus crowns.

Having always fancied an asparagus bed, I decided to replant them in a dedicated plot.

A couple of weeks ago, having a weed around the plot, I discovered some small purple shoots emerging - and look !!! Our first asparagus stem !!


OK - it's got an amusing bend in it - but nothing's ever 100% perfect.

Coming to life again

After what seems like a long winter, it's nice to see the trees beginning to show a haze of green again.

A sad day

Today's the first day of summer.
Turned out to be a sad one for us.

The hens were all let out as usual this morning after breakfast... I did some gardening and came in for a cup of coffee. A casual glance out of the window and I noticed something not quite right so ran out to look.

There was a little mound of ginger feathers blowing about on the front field meaning only one thing - something had taken one of the hens.

I brought the rest in and shut them in their run, based on the likelihood that if a predator finds a source of prey it's very likely to come back. It's the first hen we've lost to predators, and despite the fact that we tried not to get too attached to them , it was still very upsetting.

Grand Designs

We missed having somewhere to hang the hammock, and based on a design we'd seen at Preston Park children's playground, had always fancied a hexagonal pergola.

A lot of the logs we'd been left for firewood remained uncut, so we decided to use some of them for construction rather than combustion.

With the help of Leo, one of our neighbours and his digger to dig the post holes, construction began.
Just the 2 of us heaving logs about - some expletives were uttered, but in the end, the frame was up.
4 of the 6 sides will eventually be trellis with bench seats

Potato bed

At last - the mound of earth we discovered concealed beneath black plastic and old pallets has become.......


a potato bed.




Planted Charlotte (salad potatoes) and Cara (maincrop) in it
This is in addition to the Arran Pilot growing in the main plot which are just starting to show above the soil now. Yay !!

Another visitor

Joanne, Ellie's babysitter from Easington Lane comes to stay for a week. She finds there's not much to do in the middle of the field, but we manage a couple of trips out - shopping and to the pub.

And of course the mind-blowing experience that is Galway Airport !!!