Thursday, March 6, 2008

Christmas at the OK Corral!



This is our home last night at 6 pm. Notice that it is getting dark, and the boys are still in their school uniform. Everyone had to have a turn on the new riding mower, that is except me. Remember my motto, try not to learn too many things because before long it will be your job!!!! I believe that the more demure I am, the less likely I will have to cut the grass, use the chainsaw, chop wood, and so on! Farmer Boy as usual almost killed himself, he accidently threw the gear into forward and the machine lurched forward in the trailer and the entire horse box and car banged forward. Yikes!!! Farmer Boy asked sidekick to go get him a hat (the temperature was plunging) and she returned with her grandfather's hat which of course made this picture all the more irresistable. Now the true test will be, how much nagging do you think I will have to do to get the grass cut???? Our oldest son has been assigned the job for the summer, no more free rides sonny boy. I'm sure the novelty will wear off in a matter of weeks!!!! FYI - in Ireland the grass mowing season is essentially all year round. Once or twice between November and March, then every week or 10 ten days the rest of the year.


On the quilting front, there is of course nothing new! I have made plans for an ex-pat quilty/craft day for the end of March. Quilting is not much of a hobby here or at least not like at home in the US. As a matter of fact I was poorly disappointed when I moved here over 6 years ago that there was no where to buy fabrics or yarn or anything. If you love doing crafts, Ireland is rather barren and you need to bring your stuff from somewhere else!! Another problem with this gorgeous country is that if you are an "outsider" life can be very lonely at times, I think clannish is the appropriate term LOL!!! Don't get me wrong, I love living here, but I don't have an American Club in the village where I can go visit all the other ex-pats like Farmer Boy had in the US. Our entire social circle was Irish, my beloved hubbie had no American friends in the US unless they were mine!!! Hence the ex-pat quilty/craft day!!! I have made it my mission in life to meet and find as many ex-pats as I can and form a nice supportive circle of people. My two dearest friends here in Ireland are yanks and I am so grateful that I have met them, sometimes they are the sunshine on some very dark and dreary winter days! I realize now how important it is to have that oasis. My Irish friends are wonderful, I know if I needed them they would be there in a heartbeat. But the girls from home really have walked in my shoes and I in theirs. So it is only natural that I combine the two. Now the point of this long winded paragraph is, if you are a lurker (and I know you're there I can hear you breathing - my kids say that when playing hide n' seek) and you just happen to be an ex-pat from any country and living in Ireland and you might be interested in joining us, PLEASE CONTACT ME !!!!

Take care and keep smiling!!! I'm going to go play with the lawn mower while no one is home!!!!!
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3 comments:

Cathi said...

When are you doing your crafty day? Hopefully we can have a little show and tell at Sherry's. Glad to hear you have found some other Yanks there locally! When I lived in Waterford it took years to make really good Irish friends, as everyone knew each other for years. I have some good American friends here now in Ballina, but they will be moving on soon, glad to know some other quilty Yanks are only a few hours away!!

Sherry said...

Well there you go, I was gonna ask about Cathi and here she is commenting before me!! Wondering with her new license and all if she'd but up for two weekends in a row, on the road?
Anyway nice new wheels. How did you manage all that grass before now?
Looking forward to our expat excursion!!

Anna K. said...

Boys and their toys...*sigh* Well, at least it's a practical toy! (The hat is just darling by the way...)
Yes! I think the ex-pat crafty day is a great idea and I hope it comes together for you all. I wish you lots of fun, inappropriate joking, laughter, and pretty crafties.