The celebration for my 59th birthday started on Friday. We had an event planned for the evening, and Eli took the entire day off rather than having to go from work directly to the event.
As we had the whole day to work with, we headed for Bray on the L14 bus. We were sitting across from a woman with a young child in a stroller. Eli and I looked at each other when we heard the woman say "Oh oh, spaghettios" in an Irish accent.
I had wanted to go to Circle K for breakfast (don't judge me). Online photos showed that they had a seating area, and the online information said their deli had vegetarian options like mushrooms and beans. It seemed they had neither of these things, so we headed into Bray to eat at The Pantry. We had been to the Leopardstown location of this restaurant and knew we liked the food. I had my usual full breakfast, and Eli had his usual veggie breakfast. He also had a cinnamon bun, and I had a chocolate donut.
As we were finishing our meal, it started to rain and pretty much rained the entire time we were walking toward the sea. I hadn't thought to bring a rain poncho, which made for a damp experience.
At the swan sanctuary, there was a woman closer to the water, and she was pouring grain from a large bag into the shallows, swans dipping in to collect the food. There was another woman (perhaps a relative?) standing up closer to the sea wall, and she pointed out a male swan who had flared feathers. She said he was protecting a female from the other swans; however, she said when the female was sitting on eggs, he seemingly abandoned her and didn't bring her any food. What a jerk.
Pigeons were flocking on the sand near the woman with the grain bag. I had a small amount of peanuts that I threw down to them. They determined where the peanuts had come from, so I had a gathering of them on the sea wall in front of me. I put the remainder in my palm, and they began fluttering around me, reaching in to peck the treats from my hand. One landed on my palm, and I had tell him I didn't have any peanuts left.
We continued up the street as I wanted to visit Back Strand. In a Facebook post many years ago, I had asked people what they would want named for them. Lissa had said a beach, preferably by the ocean. So Back Strand is now known as Melissa Beach in my mind.
I picked up a rock and wrote her name in the sand near the approaching line of the tide. We walked down the beach, encountering some pretty shells and rocks. I found a marble and a couple pieces of sea glass which I put into my purse.
We walked back up the beach, and I saw that the water was coming in to wash Lissa's name away, as I knew it would. Seeing her name being erased made me start to cry. I told Eli, "I miss my friend. She would've loved it here."
We sat and watched the water for a little while, still being harried by a steady rain, before heading back up the ramp to the street. A couple of women with dogs in tow were coming to the beach as we were leaving, and all of the puppers looked extremely excited at the prospect of tearing around on the sand. I hope they all had a fun visit.
The L14 bus wasn't due for 20 minutes once we got to the station, so we walked across the street to a new Polish market. We bought two large soft pretzels and a cheese danish (we ate it later that day, and it was sooooooo good). Standing again at the bus stop, I studied the apartment complex across the street. One apartment had a huge garden on their balcony - lots of plants, flowers, and statuary. There were also more plants in the large living room window that looked out over the street.
Our bus was on time, but it took us a long while to get back on the main street. Had to sit through lots of red lights. I told Eli I felt like I was sitting on Main Street in Elk River, trying to get across Highway 169 (I'm still a little salty that just as we left, that situation improved with the new flyovers on 169).
Once back on the main drag, we flew home in good time.
Our scheduled event for the evening was a bat walk at Airfield Estate (I wrote a bit about Airfield in a previous post). A bat walk is exactly what it sounds like - walking around looking for bats.
We exited the LUAS at Balally and walked the short distance to Airfield. There was no signage or information about where to gather for the event so we stood near the ticket scanners looking a bit confused. I had printed our tickets and scanned them but the QR code was not found. A couple minutes later, a staff member emerged from the ticket office and said the ticket gate was open and we could come in.
The walk began at 7 p.m. We were about 20 minutes early, so we sat on a bench and enjoyed the cool breeze as we waited.
More people arrived. They were also confused about where to go so it wasn't just us. I was a bit annoyed when I saw a woman arrive with a child. They have walks that are family-oriented and walks that are only supposed to be for adults. Ours was supposed to be adult-only. Fortunately, the young boy wasn't a menace so it turned out fine.
The guide had us introduce ourselves (as an introvert, I feel my soul leaving my body when someone leading a meeting wants people to do this) and give a bat fact if we had one. I was first, and I said that bats are mammals. This perfectionistic school kid was NOT going to admit she didn't know anything about bats.
We walked a bit and stopped so the guide could tell us about bats in Ireland. There are nine species in Ireland; the estate seems to attract three species: the Pipistrelle, the Leisler's bat, and the Daubenton's bat. All of these bats are quite small, weighing about as much as a US quarter and only being a few inches long. They have good-sized wingspans from 8-12 inches or so.
We had been given hand-held detectors that would pick up the echolocation from the bats and depending upon the noise heard, it would reveal which bat was in the area. The guide said one bat would sound like clicking noises, one would sound like holding a piece of sheet metal in both hands and moving it back and forth, and one would sound like marbles being dropped onto a hard surface.
As we were standing there, I looked down the path and saw what may've been a fox slinking into the woods. Later in the evening, I saw what could've been a badger on the path - also may've been a cat, I'm not sure.
We wandered deeper into the estate, pointing the bat detectors toward the sky, passing by fenced-in cows and sheep. During one stop, a chicken came strutting up to the fence and stood there. In my head, I was like "Dude, you didn't pay for the tour. Get outta here."
It took about an hour before we started hearing any bats. There were some picnic tables on a grassy hill next to a big field, and many of us sat down to rest. Someone's detector started going off, and that sent everyone into a frenzy of trying to get on the correct frequency to pick up the signal.
Eventually, we continued our walk, going through the barnyard (got to see some young pigs in the barn), and the guide stopped by a building to show us some bat houses that had been installed. I had asked about bat houses earlier, and he mentioned we'd be seeing some closer to the end of the walk. He said they didn't seem to get much use. There are so many big, old trees on the estate grounds, and bats usually prefer that roosting environment over a box.
We got a lot of bat signaling in this area, and some people were actually seeing the bats flying around the tree tops. I finally saw one flash by, and then saw one with wings extended in full flight so that was cool.
It had started to rain as we reached the end of the event, and we walked back to the LUAS stop to make the journey home.
It was a quiet day on Saturday. We thought about getting pizza but shelved that idea as we don't have the best luck dealing with the local pizza establishments. We've tried more than one, and they either forget something we ordered, give us the wrong thing, give us a pizza that looks like it was carried vertically, take forever to arrive and seemingly shut off the phone to their restaurant so we can't even call for any updates. We just chilled and watched soccer instead.
I had suggested on Saturday that we replace Saturday-night pizza with Sunday-morning Nando's.
We got there a few minutes past their 11 a.m. opening time, and there was only one other family there. At some point, the parents sang "Happy Birthday" to the toddler; I was tempted to go over there and tell that child that all the best people are born in September.
I got my usual: butterfly chicken, peri-salted fries, and garlic bread. Eli and I each ordered the bottomless soft-serve ice cream whereby they give you a little bowl, and you can fill it with as much ice cream as you'd like. I had planned to eat a bowl of ice cream before my meal, just to ensure I'd have room in my stomach for it....and the ice cream machine was broken. One of the staff tried to get it to work, but it was a no-go.
Renata (the hostess who had seated us and who had tried to fix the ice cream machine) offered us unlimited scoop ice cream to replace the soft serve, so we took her up on that. It was sooooo good - very creamy and very vanilla-y. She gave each of us two large scoops and said to let her know if/when we wanted more. After the meal and that much dessert, neither of us could eat another bite. Renata came over to see if we wanted more, and we were both like "We want to say yes....but we've gotta say no." She was very attentive and personable, just a delight. So despite the soft-serve situation, it was a win-win - good food and good service.
We walked down Main Street to visit Polonez, the Polish shop we like. We got more of the cheese danishes like those we'd found at the shop in Bray, chocolate chip mini-loaf cakes, and some differently flavored chips (mine are garlic, Eli's are forest mushroom).
Eli wanted to get some steps in, so he said he was going to walk down the tram line for a bit. I took the trip back home solo.
Maybe it's true for others, but I find that I get introspective when my birthday rolls around, and I thought about how crazy this life can be with all of its twists and turns.
If someone had told me in 2022 that by the time I hit 59, I'd have spent three birthdays while in Ireland and four birthdays without my best friend....well, I would've thought that person was high.
Friends and family are always so effusive and generous in wishing me good tidings on my birthday. It makes me feel guilty that despite all the love, I can't help but feel the absence of greetings from my bestest.
We should've been able to celebrate more birthdays together. It makes me sad that we didn't get the chance.
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