Things are looking up ... and down

 My recovery from the attack of diverticulitis is well underway. A good dose of antibiotics seems to be doing the trick. And now that I'm feeling like going out and doing things the weather has turned absolutely foul. It's cold (feeling just above freezing with the wind) and wet (a test for our rain jackets). 

Leaving Wexford Hospital after round two of our surprise "inspection" of the health care system, we headed to Bunclody and picked up a few "soft" foods at Aldi and then proceeded into town to enjoy a bowl of soup and some white soda bread. We were too late to have brown bread as it was all gone by that time. 

We detoured to visit Mary Harte at Carnew and found her to be in good spirits. Some things never change and we were encouraged to have tea and brown bread and some small scones she had made. Our appetites  could never keep up with her encouragement to eat. 

For supper we ate up a few leftovers but it wasn't enough to call it dinner. Then spent the evening reading and on the computers. I caught up with the conference duties of registrar for the genealogy conference I'm not attending. Heather caught up with a task from work and with some reading.

I also managed, I hope, to find out how to unlock my phone. I'm to expect instructions from my carrier, VirginMobile, and the local SIM card should finally work. As of now, no instructions have arrived. Sigh. My priorities don't always mesh with the priorities of business.

The weather outside is frightful and inside it's not yet delightful. The heating seems to be mostly off until we push the "boost" button which turns it on for an hour, or two if you push twice. It would be nice to control it by a timer. Otherwise, the cottage is quite fine. I've emerged from under the duvet and pushed that button twice so it will shortly be quite pleasant. The heat doesn't actually make it to the bathroom. The hot water is always available but it's a case of grabbing that towel quickly after a shower.

Today there was no specific plan because of the rain, but it's not as bad as it could be so we'll head to Arklow after breakfast, probably visit the Maritime Museum, and have a view of the 19 arch stone bridge. There is a lovely shopping mall that will almost certainly provide some lunch options. Maybe from there we can go to Powerscourt. Given the amount of rain, the waterfall is likely to be quite spectacular. 

The long range weather forecast is pretty bleak. Our trek with alpacas was postponed until Saturday afternoon because of the wet. We have high hopes of a couple of hours without precipitation and maybe, just maybe a little ray of sunshine. Creativity in the selection of where to go and what to do, will certainly be needed. Plans for the Beyond the Trees experience have been put on hold for now.

Hopeful at all times that it will be clear enough to take a picture of something, that hasn't yet happened. I'm not holding back on the photos. There are none, well maybe one I can dig up of the view out our back door.