More Bits and Bobs

On Saturday, one of our neighbors (from the house with all the flowers, not the house with all the door slammers) came calling.

She was bearing gifts:  A huge slice of chocolate layer cake and some brownie-ish little round treats that had a small square of cheese on top.  She said that the goodies were from a Filipino bakery they enjoy (I believe she and her family are Filipino).

We chatted with her a bit, and she thanked me for the kind letter I had written a month or so ago about how much I was enjoying all of the flowers and plants they have in front of their house.  If I heard her correctly, she said they posted the letter on their fridge.  🙂

I didn't try any of the brownie-like treats, but the cake was sooooo good.  I told Eli I wanted to have a tub of the frosting because it was so tasty.  I wouldn't use it to frost anything - I'd just eat it right from the tub.

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Also this weekend, there were pockets of time when someone was playing music.  We could hear the thump-thump-thump of a bass line, even over the sound of our TV.  Lower frequency sounds tend to travel farther so I did multiple laps around our block, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise.

I have very good hearing, and I'm quite sensitive to sound.  Hearing that repeated thump was driving me up the wall.  I was getting more and more stressed by it, and it was particularly maddening because I couldn't find from where it was coming.

Eli went out and also walked around the block to see if he could tell which house was producing the noise.  He said he was pretty sure it was our neighbor (the house with all the flowers, not the door-slamming house).

Yesterday, it was quiet all day.  But once someone came home from work, the thumping started up again.

I hate confrontation.  I will go out of my way and actually allow myself to come to harm in trying to avoid it.  But my skin-crawling irritation overrode my confrontation phobia, and I went over and knocked on the door.

There are six people living in this house:  an older married couple (the person who brought us treats was the wife of this pair) and two of their younger daughters as well as a husband of one of the daughters and their baby.

One of the daughters answered the door, and I politely asked if they were playing music.  She said they were, and I politely asked if they could please lower the volume.  I said the bass was bleeding through the walls and bothering me.  She said they would indeed turn down the volume.

My heart was racing when I got back home, but I was proud of myself for my accomplishment.

It was all well and good for about two hours, and then the music started back up again.  Granted, it was softer but that stupid annoying bass line was still bothering the hell out of me.

Eli was home by this time, so I said it was HIS turn to go over and have a conversation.  He went out and was back in about a minute.  The matriarch of the household was just coming home, so he was able to chat quickly with her about the situation and a few minutes later, there was quiet again.

I hate the necessity of this type of thing. I don't want to get the reputation of being a complaining bitch of a neighbor who gripes about every little thing, the wet blanket who smothers the joy of others.  And I felt guilty for putting my own needs (quiet) above the needs (listening to music) of someone else.  But the noise was honestly making me want to jump off the roof, and I have to keep telling myself it was for my own good.

Unfortunately, there are just some things that you forfeit when you live in proximity to others.  I love listening to loud music and singing along, but I don't do that here because I want to be respectful of the people around me.

I just hope I didn't cause any ill will because that's never my intention.

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Another thing causing me annoyance over the past few days has been our broadband service.  You may remember the nightmare we had last year while trying to get hooked up to internet services.  We couldn't get fiber broadband so we had to settle for non-fiber broadband with a company called Three.

There were times it would be glitchy, but unplugging the hub for a few minutes usually fixed the issue.  Not so much lately.

It's nearly impossible to watch a TV show or sporting event when the picture freezes every few seconds and/or the show vanishes and you get a "technical fault" message.

We switched our mobile phones to Vodafone, and we are switching our broadband from non-fiber with Three to fiber with Vodafone.

Imagine my surprise when we signed up over the weekend, and we already have an installation appointment for Friday.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the installation goes smoothly and that having a fiber connection makes the service more stable.

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The library was holding a couple books for me, and I had some to return, so I made that journey yesterday.

Waiting for the tram on my way to the library, I was sitting by a young woman who was rummaging around in a very full tote bag.  She dropped her phone, and I moved to retrieve it as she had her hands full.

She apologized with a "Sorry" (it cracks me up that in Ireland, people apologize for really no reason - reminds me of being in Minnesota).  I said it looked like she had her entire life packed in that bag.

"I wish I were the type of student who could just carry around a laptop and that's it," she said.

I asked what school she was attending, and she said she was going to a fashion school.  I further engaged her in conversation, asking how she'd gotten interested in fashion.  She said she'd always loved fashion and loved to sew, crochet, and knit.  I said I was terrible at all of those things and envied people who had that gift.

I pinned her accent as either Australian or South African so I asked if she had been in Ireland a long time.  She said she'd moved from Australia about three years ago, and I asked if she liked it here.

I mentioned missing the seasons, and particularly missing the snow.  She had said she was crocheting a hat with an attached scarf as it was cold here sometimes.  I said, "I'm from Minnesota so the temps here aren't something I call 'cold.'"  She said she could tell I was from Minnesota because of my accent.

So we had a nice chat in the five minutes it took for the tram to arrive.  I wished her luck in her classes, and we parted ways.

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We have a large cat track toy on the floor in the living room.  This morning, Norris was sitting near it and watching something intently.  I figured it was a bug or a spider so I went to check.

It was a giant house spider.  And when I say giant, I mean giant.  The following is not a photo of me, just something I found on the internet so as to show how large these behemoths can be:

They're actually in people's houses year-round, but they're more noticeable around September when the males start actively seeking a mate.  They're venomous but aren't usually interested in biting humans unless they feel threatened; and their venom isn't much of a danger to people.

I moved the track toy, and the heavy ball rolled over this guy and didn't slow him down a bit.  He finally moved out of the toy and onto the floor.  I had my spider grabber firmly in hand, and it took me a couple tries to capture him.  Did I mention these guys are extremely fast?  They can move about 1.5 feet in a second, and it's hard to catch something that's sprinting away from you like that.

I eventually nabbed him and tossed him outside.

I don't mind spiders but they startle and spook me a bit when they're this big.

Gonna be a long month.

Bits and Bobs

It's been nearly a week since the incomparable Dolly Parton left her tired butterfly wings behind.

Tuesday night, I had been off my computer for a little while.  As Eli was scrolling, he asked if I had seen the news about Dolly.  When he said she had died, I started to cry and I said, "I hate this timeline!"

I cried most of the day on Wednesday, nearly inconsolable as I read tribute after tribute on social media.  I was more a fan of Dolly the person than of Dolly the artist.  Don't get me wrong, I think she was very talented and I enjoyed her songs.  But for me, my grief was caused by the fact that in a world of smothering darkness, we lost yet another bright light.  It angers me when kind people are snatched away while evil-doers continue to lurch around this planet.  It's not fair and it's not right.

We donated $185 to her Imagination Library:  $92.5 (nine-two-five) from each of us.

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For the better part of a year, THIS has been what the view out our front windows has looked like:

The construction company building new housing ripped out the adjacent meadow a couple of weeks after we moved in and eventually put up a dark brown corrugated fence that looked like the one in this photo.  Considering it was only about 10 feet from our front door, you couldn't help but notice it.  I felt like we were living inside a dumpster.

Imagine our delight when they removed this stupid fence last Thursday!  Even better, there's a strip of land between our walkway and the asphalt road/path in front of the new houses, and they've planted a ton of flowers, trees, and bushes in that strip.  Yesterday, a flock of house sparrows flew in, digging around in the new dirt and checking out the greenery.

So even though we lost the meadow, we've thankfully gained a variety of flora that will be nice to look at and will hopefully attracts birds, bunnies, and other creatures once construction is done.

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Over the last couple of months, Ireland had been in an extreme drought.  Shades of brown started taking over the Emerald Isle and sporadic wildfires were popping up every week.  The government enacted a hosepipe ban (a watering ban) in an effort to conserve water.

Within the last few days, the rain gods decided to pay the moisture arrears that had accrued during those two or three months which is good.  But they decided to repay the debt all at once which was not so good.  We had one night where the rain was just bucketing down; fortunately, we'd had a little rain in the days prior so the ground was softer and more receptive to the deluge.  Some areas in Ireland, like Killarney, experienced major flooding.

Hopefully the weather will arrive at some kind of equilibrium soon and our rainstorms will be a bit more measured.

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As you may remember, I've been feeding the birds for a few months.  It didn't happen all at once, but I've since accumulated a flock of pigeons who visit daily.

I know some people hate pigeons, calling them "flying rats" and so forth.  I think those people should feel like they're stepping on LEGOs the rest of their lives because pigeons are delightful and gorgeous creatures.

A couple of days ago, one pigeon was standing near the smaller feeding station I put out, and he was not interested in sharing the seed with anyone else.  Another pigeon tried to sneak in, and the first pigeon wasn't having it.  He grabbed the second pigeon by the feathered nape of his neck and proceeded to drag him around the yard, much like a stern mother pulling her kid around by his ear.  The beleaguered bird flailed his wings but did not squawk.   Even when they're upset or feeling territorial, they simply coo.

Our door to the back garden is full glass with a shade we can lower for privacy.  This morning, I lifted the shade so I could open the door and put some food out for the day.  One pigeon saw the shade go up, so he flew over and hovered in front of the door, staring at me and silently telling me to hurry up.  I wasn't fast enough so he repeated his hover two or three more times, flying to the ground when I finally opened the door.  He waddled along beside me and hopped up to perch on the edge of the feeder while I dumped in the seed and peanuts.

How can you hate on a creature who does that??

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Eli has a birthday coming up in November.  I told him, "I know what I'm getting you for your birthday - a weekend without me!"  🤣

To be fair, Eli is not the type who craves alone time.  For me, it's a necessity.  I HAVE to have stretches of time where it's just me alone in the house.  Eli is rarely home by himself as I either don't go anywhere or if I do leave the house, we're usually doing something together.

I enjoyed my December sabbatical so I felt it was time for another.  I like to plan these for a weekend so the cats won't be alone for long periods of time.

Clayton Hotel-Charlemont didn't have any weekend availability for the room I had last year, so I shifted my search to Clayton Hotel-Leopardstown, which is where my mom and her friend Barb stayed when they visited in April.  It doesn't have the same historical gravitas as the Charlemont location (or the same huge tub in the bathroom), but it should be fine.

I booked a Junior Suite mostly because that was the only style of room that had a mini fridge.  I like to save money by taking food/snacks I can eat for lunch and/or dinner, so it's always nice to be able to include some chilled items.

I sent an email to the hotel, asking which floor(s) the Junior Suites were on.  Their response was that this type of room can be found on floors 2 through 6.

If you know me, you're aware that I'm claustrophobic, and I avoid elevators when possible.  When Mom and Barb visited, their room was on the 5th floor, and I nearly had a stroke walking up all those flights of stairs.

Fearing that I'd be stuck on the damned 6th floor, I wrote back to the hotel, stating that I have a hate relationship with elevators and asking if I could be assigned the suite on the second or third floor.  A lovely representative took care of this for me, letting me know she'd reserved the second-floor suite for me.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this reservation holds so I can easily take the stairs and avoid the elevator.

Eli was amused by my assertion that I was doing this so he could have a weekend to himself.  I told him it was a win-win as we both would receive a gift.  😉

Disney Princesses and Blood

I had the best day today, which is interesting considering it started out with blood.

But before I explain, here's some backstory.

In January, I visited my new doctor so I could get refills of prescriptions I take for ongoing conditions, one of which is hypothyroidism.  This entailed a blood test to check my thyroid levels.

For whatever reason, I much prefer having blood drawn from my hand. This doesn't bother me as much as having it taken from my arm.

The nurse doing the lab work in January adamantly refused to draw from my hand.  I don't know if she were untrained/unskilled regarding that site or had a professional objection to it or what.

She applied the tourniquet, and it was painfully tight.  I usually experience some discomfort from this step, but this was outright pain.  And it seemed to me that the thing was on for an extended period of time.

The needlestick was quite forceful, and it left me with a large bruise.  I usually have a bit of bruising after a blood draw, but this was excessive.

In order to check the efficacy of the medication, I was supposed to have returned in March so another thyroid test could be run to see how things were going.

I did not return.

I kept putting it off and putting it off.  I thought I was procrastinating because I hate having blood drawn.  However, that didn't quite seem like the entire story so I did a little more reflection....and realized I didn't want to go back because I didn't want that nurse to attend me again.

After some hemming and hawing, I wrote a letter to my doctor to explain the situation. I said I didn't want to change clinics so I hoped we could find a resolution.  I also explained that the reason I was writing a letter for his eyes only was because I didn't want to send an email that other staff would see, which might cause some discomfort or embarrassment.

He reached out to me - wrote me an email that he said he'd delete immediately so no one else would see it.  He said that either he or the other doctor at the practice could do the blood draw or that I could have it done at a hospital.  I wanted the procedure to stay in-house so they would get paid for it, so I scheduled an appointment to see him this morning.

Friends, he was so kind and understanding.  He gently scolded me and said I should've told him this a while ago. I said, "You don't understand how my brain works. I didn't know WHY I didn't want to come back until I actually dug down a few layers and determined the root cause."  He said I certainly could've had the procedure done at a hospital, but I said I wanted them to be able to be paid for it.  He said that wasn't that important, and I was like "Oh yes it is!  Money is money!"

He drew from my hand, and the experience was leaps and bounds better than what had happened with the nurse.  No issues, my vagus nerve didn't freak out and try to make me faint, it was completely fine.  (Which is good considering I'll need to go back in another couple months to check my levels again.)

At the beginning of the visit, I had presented him with two containers of mini muffins.  I said that everyone was so kind there, and I wanted to surprise the office with treats.  I said, "I didn't want to give them to the receptionist because he seemed a little shifty, and I didn't know if he could be trusted to share them."  My doctor smiled and said, "Gavin is married to Dr. Niamh (the other doctor at the practice).  And yes, you're probably right."

As he was taking me back to the reception area, he passed the muffins to Gavin and mentioned that I had brought them in.  Gavin expressed his gratitude, which I accepted before grinning and stating I didn't give them to him because I didn't think he could be trusted to tell anyone else about them.  He laughed and said, "You're right."

Eli was off work today as he had an appointment in Dun Laoghaire, so we grabbed the bus at the Ballyogan stop and were off.  I'm telling you, even if I enjoyed driving, you could not pay me enough to drive one of those double-decker buses on some of these routes.  The roads to Dun Laoghaire (and other cities on the coast) are very narrow, there is traffic coming at you in the opposite direction (which is sometimes another huge bus) and there are cars parked on the shoulder.  That's a big nope on my part.

We got there early and walked toward the harbor, planning to kill a little time sitting there and watching the water.

There was a seawall right behind the bench we were parked on, and I glanced back to see some starlings perched there.  I began talking to them, as more arrived to perch on the top of the wall.  I carry bird-safe peanuts with me so as I was taking the bag out of my purse and pouring some in my hand, I said, "Will any of you guys come down and eat from my hand?"

AND THEY DID.

DISNEY PRINCESS TIME.

Starlings don't have large beaks so they were having trouble eating the peanuts.  A couple of them landed on my hand but couldn't make much headway with the treat.  So I scattered the handful of nuts on the ground near my feet, and they were not shy about getting close to us.

Even though they couldn't swallow the peanuts, a couple of them grabbed a nut and hurried away with it, as though to say "I can't eat this, but I don't want you to have it either."

Using my shoe, I crushed up the peanuts and boy, that did the trick.  They were squeaking and chittering and darting in to peck at the smaller shards.  I told them I was going to drop more and crush them again but not to be afraid, and none of them really retreated when I moved my foot.

I told the flock that I needed to go, and the majority of them flew away.  There were still a couple sitting on the seawall, watching very intently.  Eli and I stepped on a couple of wayward intact peanuts and pointed it out to them, and they flew down and started eating.

I really wish I'd had Eli take a video because it was pretty special.

Eli's appointment didn't take long, and then we were off to Nando's for lunch.  I still don't know how they manage to make plain ol' chicken taste so darned good.  It never looks like an overwhelming amount of food - one chicken breast, a handful of fries, and two pieces of garlic bread - but I was stuffed and had to split the last piece of garlic bread with Eli.

As we were leaving, there was a couple right outside the front door, and the woman asked if this were a good place to eat.  I said, "I don't know how they make chicken taste so good but they do!"  She asked what I'd had, and I told her I'd gotten the butterfly chicken with medium peri-peri sauce.  I told Eli later that I hoped they had a good experience and enjoyed it as much as we had.  I also told him Nando's owed me some money for providing free advertising.

Near the bus stop, there's a hole-in-the-wall place called Teddy's which sells ice cream.  I had always wanted to try it, and today we got our chance.  I had a plain cone, and Eli had the 99 - which is a plain cone with two pieces of Flake stuck in it (Flake is a candy bar).  I could've cried - it tasted just like Dairy Queen.  Same texture and everything.  Sooooo good.  I'm only sorry we had to slam it down because the bus was coming in a minute or two, and they don't want people eating on the bus.  Next time, we'll get cones when we can take time to actually enjoy them fully.

The S8 bus dropped us off at the Sandyford LUAS stop and happily, our tram to return home showed up one or two minutes later.  We had pretty good transport luck today.

As we were walking up the path to our house, there was a woman coming in the opposite direction.  She had one leash but it split into three short leads at the end, each one attached to a fuzzy white dog.  I said, "It's Cerberus!"  (Cerberus is a three-headed dog in Greek mythology.)  All three doggos were very excited about the prospect of getting pets from complete strangers so we spent a few moments loving on them before heading for the house.

All in all, it was a good day.

Tale of Two Parks

We visited two parks within the past couple of months, and I never sat down to write about them.  Thought I'd remedy that right now.

On March 8, I made my first visit to Ticknick Park which is a short walk from our house.

We saw a couple of kitties on the walk there.  One was huddled outside a patio door; I don't know if he lived there or if he were a stray looking for food/warmth.  The other kitty was inside one of the houses and had the most gorgeous sea-green eyes.

Someone's small front garden had some tulips and a butterfly bush, and there were daffodils lining the trail to the park entrance.

There are slopes in Ireland that seem almost imperceptible....until you're at the top and you feel your legs burning.  The road to Ticknick had one of those.

But near the top of the slope, I was rewarded with some pony frens who were out chilling in a pasture.

There was some signage which talked about bats.  They apparently have some bat houses up and said to look for them.  I didn't see any, but I didn't go that far into the park.

While Eli walked the trail, I went into a copse and found a spot to lie down and look up through the trees.  I was craving nature, craving a quiet spot where I could just listen to the wind and the birds and the land.

I couldn't get as connected as I wanted, distracted by the steady whoosh of cars going by on the M50.  Even so, I put my hand on the bare ground and cried, trying to absorb the steadiness of the earth.

Last autumn, Ticknick experienced a fire so there were patches of burned bushes and trees, which always makes me sad.  In the copse, many trees had been cut down.  I don't know if they did that as fire mitigation or what.

On June 20, we decided to visit the park near the Milltown LUAS stop.  It was mostly cloudy and a bit warm.

As we waited for our train, a tram heading in the opposite direction pulled up.  There was a baby sitting by the window, just staring at Eli.  Eli waved at him and as the tram pulled away, the baby finally waved back.

We walked to Grace O'Donnell Memorial Park on a willow-canopied trail that ran along the River Dodder.  Lots of people and their puppers were also out on the trail, and we had to step aside multiple times for joggers to pass by.

I bet you didn't know there were wild rhinos in Ireland, did you?  Here is the proof:

Apparently, this statue was installed during the middle of the night back in 2002.  No one knows where it came from; no one has taken responsibility for it.

At least in this area, the river was only about knee-deep.  There was a man and his dog in the water.  The man was throwing large rocks for the dog to chase.  Pupper thought this was a tremendous game - he'd run to the spot of the splash, then look back at his owner expectantly.  Owner would toss a rock in the opposite direction, and doggo would happily gallop through the water to reach the spot where it landed.

On the map, this waterfall is named both Ritu Falls and Dartry Park Waterfall.  In the second photo, you can see two ducks who were standing in the falls.  I imagine they were finding insects, small fish, or plant matter as they stayed there quite some time.

  

There was a couple walking a pair of dogs as we stood near the falls.  We always ask if we can engage with any doggos we encounter so we gave them a good pet.  Our accents betray the fact that we're probably not from Ireland, so the guy asked where we were from.  

We said we were from Minnesota in the US.  He said something about Trump, and I said, "We're here to get AWAY from that idiot."  And the guy smiled ruefully and with great understanding.

A tree near the waterfall had this cool fungus/shelf mushroom thing going on.  I thought it was pretty so I grabbed a photo.

There's a pub called The Dropping Well near the park, and right at the edge of the parking area, there's a shipping container that was turned into a coffee kiosk called Box'd.

We had passed behind it during our walk to the falls, and there was a cut-out of an ice cream cone on the back wall.  As we were leaving the park, we went around to the front side of the kiosk to get an ice cream treat.

There was a hand-written sign taped to the window stating that the ice cream machine was broken.

Eli looked at me and said, "Is Box'd Irish for McDonalds?"

The Birds

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had started putting food and water out for the birds.  Let me provide an update on how things are going.

This guy showed up.  It's only the second time I've seen a gull visit, which seems odd to me.  It's easy food, and none of the other birds dare approach while these big boys are around.

A couple of minutes after the gull departed, this happened.

I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.

This seems ominous for some reason, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

This and That

I haven't written anything for a little bit so I thought I'd better post some content.  Gotta keep my readers engaged, after all.

*****

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, as it was hosting a pop-up market.  We had remarkably good bus-luck.  Got off the tram at Sandyford and our S8 bus arrived about four minutes later.

There was very little traffic heading into Dun Laoghaire, which seemed odd for an almost-Summer Sunday.  Maybe everyone was in church.  I wasn't complaining.

The market was being held on two floors of the hotel's conference space.  It wasn't too crowded so we were able to get close to the vendors' tables.  I always find myself getting overstimulated at these things - so much to look at, and I have a tough time zeroing my focus in on one particular area.

The only thing we bought were a couple of sweet treats from a vendor.  Some items are so pricey.  Don't get me wrong - I don't begrudge a creator for their pricing because I know a lot of work goes into some of these treasures.  However, I don't have €900 to spend on a painting of sheep, sir.

We ate our treats under a gazebo near the library and then walked along the coastline toward the bus stop.  The L25 bus came a few minutes later so we took that back into Dundrum rather than waiting for the S8.  At this point, there was a LOT of traffic headed toward Dun Laoghaire so I was glad we went when we did.

Eli wanted to go to the Polish market in Dundrum, so we headed there after getting off the bus.  He had been there before, I had not.  You wouldn't think I'd find much in a Polish market that I'd want to eat, but you'd be wrong.  I could have spent SO MUCH MONEY there.  It was a little tricky as many of the labels were in Polish; next time I visit, I'll need to employ a translator on my phone so I know exactly what I'm buying.

A school near Tully Park was having its annual festival which promised fun and food and ice cream and raffles, so we planned to head there in the afternoon.

There was a threat of rain so they moved everything indoors, which I didn't think would pose a problem.  But it very definitely posed a problem.

There was one entrance/exit open, and yet people felt it would be a grand idea to hang out on the stairs, blocking the way.  Once inside, it was chaos as you can imagine.  Hordes of children strung out on sugar and stimulation, people everywhere to the point you couldn't actually get near anything, no organizers handling traffic control to make things flow more smoothly.

We lasted about a minute, and then we were out.  Eventually.  After having to fight our way through idiots loitering around the entrance and the stairs.

Sorry, Cherrywood Educate Together National School.  We'll try again next year when maybe you'll be able to set up outdoors.

*****

I got some plant pots and soil about a month ago.  I'm sick of looking at this stupid construction wall and wanted to have something pretty to see instead.

I bought some bee bombs, which are flower seeds encased in little balls of clay.  You're supposed to be able to just throw them on the ground and as the clay gets worn away by rain, the seeds will take root.

Some of my bee bombs have appeared to be....well...a bomb.  I'm not sure if the clay isn't wearing away or what; I'm hopeful that maybe they'll break down at some point and release their seeds.  I do have some little green sprouts coming up so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll turn into actual flowers at some point.  I should've just bought loose seeds as they may've germinated more quickly.

*****

In their infinite wisdom, builders in Ireland (and much of Europe) have determined that there's no need to put window screens on any structure.  Most places don't have air conditioning and some places (like ours) don't even have a handling system to move air around, so people are made to open their screen-less windows if they want to be comfortable.

As you can imagine, bugs are delighted by this situation.  I do have to say, however, that we don't seem to have TOO many critters entering our home on a regular basis.  Until yesterday.

A bumblebee managed to bumble in through the ajar window, getting more and more agitated as she smacked up against the glass, buzzing furiously.  The noise activated Norris from his nap, so I was conversely trying to keep him away from the window and trying to keep the bee close to the window.  I got a piece of paper and attempted to shepherd her out, and she wasn't having it at first.  I was like "C'mon, honey, move a few inches to your right, and you'll be free."

Finally she figured things out and went buzzing away.  I shut the window after that.

*****

It has been hot here this week.  Granted, I realize that "hot" is a relative term.  It's been in the mid/upper 70s - unsure if it hit 80 here or not.  I know that Minnesota is currently staggering under temps in the 80s and 90s so my kvetching about 77 seems weak.

However, on sunny days when it's this warm, it feels like the sun is right on top of your head.  We're talkin' "I feel like I'm wearing a hat made of lava."

Eli and I have mused about this phenomenon.  We didn't know if it felt this way because Ireland is farther north than Minnesota or what.  That didn't seem like a complete or satisfying answer so I did a little research.

And yes, the sun DOES feel hotter here.  Ireland has a maritime climate, and it's constantly being swept by ocean breezes.  This removes a lot of pollution from the atmosphere, so the sunlight isn't filtered by dust and another particulate matter.  On one hand, yay, less pollution; on the other hand, the sun here is trying to kill me.

*****

Our backyard (or garden, as they call it here) is bereft of anything nature-like or beautiful.  It's got ugly wooden fences and a carpet of fake grass.

I HAVE to have nature around me.  At our house in Minnesota, we had nearly an acre of grass and trees.  Lots of critters came through - squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits, deer (we were honored many times by Mama Deer leaving her baby in our yard because it felt safe to her).

Here....ugly wooden fences and fake grass.

So a few days ago, I started putting out food and water for the birds.  I didn't want to spend a lot on supplies - bought a Pyrex roasting pan for €10 to use as a birdbath and jury-rigged a cheap seed starter tray to a cupboard riser with unfurled paper clips to use as a feeder.  Put some seed and bird-safe peanuts out, filled the bath, and waited.

It took a little while for my efforts to be noticed but since then, we have been quite the hit.

The crows found it first, and they've been stuffing themselves with peanuts.  I'm still waiting for one of them to bring me a sparkly gift though.  Get on that, corvids.

We also have magpies pop in every now and again.  They don't seem as frequent as the crows, unless I just haven't seen them come in.

The group most thrilled with the set-up is the starlings.  Sometimes there will be one or two out there, but they enjoy showing up in double-digit numbers.  I think I counted 11 of them one day.

They're amusing to me because there will be "babies" out there (I put the word "babies" in quotations because they're the same size as the adults).  They will literally be standing on top of the seeds, beaks open and shrieking for an adult to feed them.  Sometimes they'll hop out of the feeder, go perch on the lip of the birdbath....and scream to be fed.

And they LOVE the water.  I haven't noticed the crows drinking, but the starlings are all about sipping the water and then getting in for a proper bath.  It looks like we've got a sprinkler going because they get some good height on those splashes.

This has also been good enrichment for the cats, who usually don't have much to look at here.  They'll perch near the backdoor or on the windowsill, ek-ek-eking at the birds coming and going.  That's been an added bonus.

Today for the first time (that I've witnessed), we had a gull getting a snack and a drink.  Patrick saw him fly in and jumped up on the windowsill.  The gull flinched but then just stared at Patrick and didn't budge.

And this is what I have to say:  Y'all, gulls are H-U-G-E.

Teenage Drama and Cows at the Airfield

On Saturday, Eli and I each had an eye exam scheduled at SpecSavers in the Dundrum Town Centre.  Mine was for 11 a.m., and his was for 11:10 a.m.

I know it might sound dumb, but eye exams create a lot of anxiety for me.  I don't like the air puff (not many do, I'm sure), and the whole "Which one is better, A or B?  Which one is better, 1 or 2?" thing is a gentle form of torture.  THEY BOTH LOOK THE SAME WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?

I got a text around 9:30 Saturday morning stating that my appointment needed to be cancelled due to staff illness.  Reprieve!  I'll still need to get my eyes checked, but it was nice to released from the task on this particular day.

I had planned to shop for some clothes so even though my exam was cancelled, I still headed out the door with Eli to make the trip.

We walked past the empty unit next to us, and I said I hoped no one moved in for a long time.  Eli said that maybe the person moving in would become my best friend.  I said that I'll probably never have another best friend in this life, and that the person/people moving in might be three times worse than the tenants on our other side.  In case you haven't noticed, I am sometimes very good at pessimism.

On the tram, we were seated near a man with a stroller.  I said hello to the young boy, and he had absolutely no interest in returning the greeting.  The man - I assume the dad - told him to say hello, and he wasn't having it.  I said, "You don't have to say hello to me.  It's okay to be shy.  I was shy when I was a kid too and didn't like talking to strangers."  I was proud of the way I handled the situation.  I hate it when parents try to force their kids into doing something they don't want to do (give someone a hug, say hello, etc.)  If a child is being rebelliously rude or something, yes, by all means, go ahead and give the kid some direction.  But otherwise, if that child doesn't want to say hello, don't make them do it.

I wished I had a small trinket or toy to give him, just to spread some joy.  I thought about the little plush toys I'd seen while browsing the Ikea website which were only about €2 each.  The idea popped into my head that I needed to start some kind of venture that gave toys to people to provide some smiles and some light.  I'll need to give that notion more thought because it was a loud, insistent whisper, and I've learned not to ignore those when they come.

As we were about to detrain, I said goodbye to the boy and waved.  We were blessed by a small smile and a wave from him, which made my heart happy.

We were early for Eli's appointment, so we sat down on a bench near SpecSavers.  Gino's Gelato was right across from our seating area.  There was a huge mountain of vanilla gelato in one of the bins, and I told Eli I wanted to go and just smush my face into it.  Gelato is sooo good.  Quite pricey though so definitely a treat you have only once in a while.

Around 11, Eli got up to go check in for his appointment, and I wandered down to Penney's to look for jeans.  That took all of about 15 minutes since Penney's does not seem to cater to larger people.  I wandered around Dubray's and Easons (book stores) and then parked myself back on the bench, content to people watch.

A man walked by wearing a Golden State Warriors cap, and another one passed me wearing a Chicago Cubs jacket.  I'm not sure why it always startles me to see someone here with some kind of US-sports-related apparel, but it does.  (As a sidenote:  Someone needs to explain to me why so many people here wear a damned NY Yankees hat.)

Eli texted me to state that they needed to dilate his eyes to get a good reading on one of the tests so his appointment was going to last a bit longer than normal.  I thought about wandering around some more to kill time but wound up staying put.

A few minutes later, a woman sat down next to me.  She had all the outward signs of someone who was upset about something - looked distraught, kept bowing her head with fingers resting on her brow.  Even so, I still would've known.  As as empath, there are many times I can feel a person's emotions.  Feelings radiate from someone almost like an aroma, as strange as that sounds.  I can't smell those emanations in a literal sense, but they're in my face unbidden all the same.

I watched her from the side of my eye, planning to offer a tissue if it appeared she had given in to tears.  I wanted to ask her if she were okay and warred with myself over if that seemed intrusive or not.  In the end, I mentally sent peace and comfort to her instead.

Moments later, she shyly asked if she could ask me a question.  When I consented, she asked if I had a teenaged boy.  I said I didn't but that I'd be glad to listen to whatever was going on to cause her distress.  I said I might not have any advice to give, but sometimes just talking about something could be helpful.

For context, her family is from Libya.  She stated that her teenaged son wanted an iPhone (€1500).  Rather than just giving it to him, she and her husband stated that they wanted the son to start learning Libyan.  An agreement was made that in exchange for the phone, the son would read/learn 20 sentences of Libyan per week.

The son did not follow through on his end of the agreement, so his father wanted to take the phone back.  As you can imagine, this set all kinds of drama in motion.

At some point, the son trotted out that old chestnut:  "I hate you, and you don't love me."  He also said they were forcing him to learn a language he didn't want to learn.

It was obvious that she was quite upset by this situation, and she asked for advice.

I told her that I was basing my response on only one side of the story but that she and her husband had done nothing wrong.  "He entered an agreement that he would study the language in exchange for the phone.  He did not hold up his end of the bargain, and he needs to learn that there are consequences to actions he takes.  If you let him keep the phone even though he didn't follow through, you will be doing him a disservice because he will get eaten alive once he gets out into the world on his own.  You also did not force anything on him.  He agreed to study so he could get the phone.  If he didn't want to learn the language, he shouldn't have agreed to the deal."

Although I can imagine it hurts when your child says he hates you, I advised her not to take it to heart.  "There is probably not a child on this planet who hasn't said that to a parent.  It's usually a form of manipulation to make a parent feel guilty and cave in."

She said they were going to have continued conversations, and I told her "There doesn't need to be a huge amount of drama.  He committed to something, he didn't honor the commitment, and now there will be a consequence."  Perhaps this is simplistic, but I don't think it needs to be more complicated than that.

Eli had joined us somewhere during our talk.  I said something about teenage boys being horrible and got confirmation from Eli that yes, indeed, boys at that age can be terrors.  Although I gave my opinion that I thought teenaged girls were worse.  Boys use a blunt instrument on you; girls use tiny little needles that get under your skin.

We engaged her further on her story, and she talked about how bad things were getting in Libya.  I'm not sure how we got on the topic, but she said when she was younger, her family wanted her to go into medicine.  She wanted to sing or be a creative, but she became a doctor instead.  I said that I hoped she was finding time to sing or something during her off-hours, and she said she was.

Her phone rang as we were talking, so she looked at it with a bit of a grimace.  She showed the screen to us and said, "That's my son calling."  She answered the call and said she'd see him in a minute (he and his father were also in the mall).  As he approached, she looked at us with a small smile and said "Pray for me."  She introduced her son once he arrived, and then they were off.

It's interesting because on Friday, I had the thought that I want to be a lightworker.  I know that sounds woo-woo or something but honestly, it just describes someone who wants to share healing and knowledge and love with the world.  Quite frankly, I've always been a lightworker and just didn't realize it - I feel different from others, am drawn to helping people, am sensitive to energy, am a healer, am connected to nature, and feel like an old soul.  So I've been assigned the role, but I haven't really done a good job in fulfilling my duties.

I want to be driven by light and joy rather than by hate and rage.  I have been so angry for such a long time.  The evil chaos taking place in the world right now is overwhelming to me.  So much unnecessary suffering is being perpetrated by vile creatures cosplaying as human beings, and it makes me sick.  I have every right to be furious and hateful these days, but I also need to be mindful about combatting that with peace.  People are desperate for goodness right now, and I need to do my part in providing some.

I also want to give a shout-out to the Universe for causing Eli's appointment to run longer than it otherwise would.  If he'd gotten out of the exam without delay, I would've missed having that interaction and missed being able to (hopefully) bring comfort to a suffering human.

Considering I was quietly shaken by the whole lightworker idea the day before, it seemed fitting that I had the chance to fulfill my mission less than 24 hours later.

With dilated eyes for one of us and a full heart for the other, we headed to Nando's for lunch.  How can they make plain ol' chicken taste so darned good!  I had a medium peri-peri spice/sauce for my chicken breast, and it had a nice little kick to it.  Eli had ordered some spiced nuts as a starter.  I had a couple of those, and they had some heat that snuck up on you as well.

On the walk back to the tram at Balally, I pointed out the following sign.  I said "Why does the sign for an airfield have a cow on it?"

Once we got home, Eli did a little research.  This place is actually a farm.  The house was built in 1830 and was named Airfield Estate a few years later.  I thought perhaps the family name was Airfield but no - it was just a name given to the place.  I read a little more about it and was tickled after learning about two daughters from one of the families who had owned it.  Letitia (1880-1977) and Naomi (1900-1993) were considered eccentric because they enjoyed driving their pre-war cars around and refused to sell the land for development (when their father died, he left most of his money to the women in the family, which was pretty rare for that period).  I was like "They weren't eccentric.  They were just enjoying living their damned lives!"

The estate has various events and activities.  I saw they offer a bat walk once a month, so Eli and I will need to check into that.

Later that day, we had this creature show up on our doorstep.

Apparently, the Universe has put a homing beacon on our house because this is the third cat we've had visit within the past month.  Mid-April, there was Yaya (who got reunited with his family).  About a week after that, another kitty showed up and was eating like she had never been fed before.  She had a microchip, and a local vet was able to track down the owner.  Nope, the kitty always returned home at night so she wasn't a stray.  Her name - get this - is Jill.

This kitty, however, doesn't have a microchip and eats like she's starving.  She will hop up onto the living room windowsill and stare in at us.  When I get up to move to the kitchen to get her food, she tracks me - looks in the door as I pass through the foyer and then jumps onto the kitchen windowsill to stare at me while I get her food ready.

I've posted her photo on a few Facebook lost/found pet sites so if she belongs to someone, I hope they see it and get in touch.

All in all, it was a very good day.