I'll keep you in suspense for a bit. Last night we attended the ICA drama festival, night two. There were two one-act plays and 3 sketches. Several different ICA (Irish Countrywomen's Association) chapters had entered the competition. Thanks to Margaret who'd been one of the organizers, we had great seats reserved for us. Eugene and I had a super view of the stage and were close enough to hear every word. No microphones on these actors.
All in all an very entertaining evening - and I won a box of chocolates in the raffle! Yay! They will make a hostess gift very soon. I don't dare open the box - once open even a crack these darn boxes of chocolates just never stop calling my name. And of course, it's rude to ignore a call.
Around 11 pm we got home and Eugene and I headed right to the shed to check on the sheep. There was a very new set of twins, born to a Hoggett. (Sp???) This is a one year old sheep - first time Mommy. One was already dead, still in the sac and the other, very tiny, was barely alive. The hoggett really didn't know what to do for her babies.
Despite Eugene's best efforts, the tiny little lamb didn't make it through the night and the mama was put into a pen by herself to recover.
HOWEVER - the good news was that two sets of healthy twins arrived early in the morning and were only hours old when I took these pics!
Now I'm glad I cooked that leg of lamb last week. Still several servings in the freezer and I'll probably still enjoy eating - probably. Seeing these little lambs might change my view.
So, after that wonderful start, Margaret and I set out for Delgany for breakfast at a bakery-cafe-specialty food shop. It was overcast and cool but a pretty decent day. It did warm up a tiny bit and got sunny and was a magnificent day.
I have no pictures to show for it. I had plugged in the phone to charge it overnight but didn't realize there was a switch on that outlet so - dead battery and the camera was back in Bunclody. Sigh.
We enjoyed a tasty breakfast - in my case accompanied by a capuccino and then drove to Greystones for a tour and a trot. Lots of folks were out walking around the charming shops in this hilly seaside town. In a couple of weeks we'll go back and do the walk from Greystones to Bray along the coast. I will be equipped with backup equipment to be sure to get photos. We'll also wait for a clear day.
It took a while but we did finally find a clue to the start of the walk and it should not be too hard to find. There is parking available - pay and display - and we'll have to watch carefully. Some spots are for 2 hours, some for 4 and some for all day. Given that I don't really walk too fast, we'll attempt to find an all day spot.
Once back to Rossanna farm, the update was no more lambs had arrived. One or more could have made their debut between then and now and maybe a number of sheep will decide that "all together now" will be their theme and keep Eugene up all night.
So, with the thought of testing my bread-making skills this evening I decided to call Mary to see if I might borrow a round baking pan and a sieve. No problem - on to Coolross. I had driven back on the usual route - not the new highway. It's prettier and actually faster to my selected destination.
It was pretty smooth going - well, except for the blind curves, the one lane bridges approached warily not knowing if another car had the same idea but from the other side (none did) and progress was quite swift. Until Rathdrum. Up ahead it looked like a dozen or so cars had stopped. Why? Was it an Irish traffic jam - i.e. flock of sheep on the road? cattle? Nope. There appeared to be a bunch of people maybe at the side of the road. So, I concluded there had been an accident. Wrong.
Looking ahead as best I could with the twisting road, those darn people were still there. AH - another Trump protest parade? In rural Ireland where no press would cover it? Nope. As it happened, it was a funeral procession.
All in due time our little parade of cars, now dozens of vehicles long, twisted past a cemetery where the crowd of people were gathering - along with maybe a couple of hundred others. I was very glad I had not gotten too impatient.
Onward to Aughrim at which point I turned off the GPS as I knew the route pretty well. I hoped. Yes I did remember and did not make a single wrong turn. Safely arriving at Coolross I took temporary possession of a couple of cake pans and a sieve. I thought I was off directly to get baking.
Guess I don't know myself too well. I decided to drop in briefly to Egan's pub to say hello to Larry and Mary and try to get a phone number I've been looking for. Well I did all that but it was more than a few minutes. I wish I had the head for history that Larry does.
Eventually I had to leave, and just as I got into the car my Canadian cell phone rang. It was Tom and Heather, heading into downtown Toronto. We chatted for quite a while and caught up on news on both sides. It was a lovely surprise. The call got dropped and it took us a few attempts from both ends to reconnect. I drove off and when I was in Clonegal, I pulled over to the side of the road and was able to reach them again.
We quickly finished up our chat and I finally headed to Bunclody and got here more or less directly. No wrong turns - it's just not a straight line from there to here. Or from anywhere to anywhere else for that matter.
Assembling the required ingredients and reviewing the pictures I had taken of the process and quantities, I set about destroying the kitchen. There isn't a lot of space and I'm unsure of the oven. It's quite tiny but I don't know how accurate the heat. Best to prepare your excuses in advance!
Well,, I did make bread and it turned out reasonably well. It did look quite nice - I'll say so myself in case nobody else does. It was a smaller loaf than Kathy's had been but I hadn't skimped as much on the soda and salt as I had on the flour. A slather of jam is a reasonable antidote to to the salty taste. Not bad for a first effort.
So - I shall return to Coolross and see if they'd like to try a taste of the bread. I'll bring along the jam that Mary Harte insisted I take. How did she know I'd need it?
Genealogy alert- tomorrow's plan
Well, if the internet remains working I'll continue to dig for Kehoe info from here. If it doesn't I will return to the library and hope it's warmer there than it was yesterday.
I am also in search of the trail of Redmonds from Nova Scotia back to Ireland. That trail could be very cold but there are resources I haven't tapped before, not having looked for east coast records. These are not my folks, they are the ancestors of a friend. It's still just as much fun to search.
Enough rambling for today. Tomorrow's plans are actually more extensive than written above but you'll just have to wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment