Award

Kim at The Narrow Path and Pam at Mom's Mutterings have blessed me with the Sharing The Love award. Memoirs of a Mommy created this award in honor of the donor that saved Noah's life. The purpose of this award is to raise awareness about organ donation and to share the love.

Thank you both, I'm honored to receive it. Had Miss T's cardiac reconstruction surgery been unsuccessful, she would have required a transplant. We know how difficult it is.

Cliffs of Moher

I'm guilty of blog neglect. Nothing new there. Thought I'd wind this up with a blurb about the cliffs of Moher but found a nice website that tells ye all about it. You can even take a little tour.

These photos were taken in Doolin with the cliffs in the background. The ferry to the Aran Islands run from this quaint little village. The volcanic rock around the sea front was pretty amazing.

I'm not sure what will be happening in September. Miss T is due for a reassessment in the south of England which is temptingly close to the channel and Europe. I was severely tempted to try and squeeze in a trip taking in Pompeii in Italy, old Corinth in Greece, Ephesus and Cappadocea in Turkey and Iran (the border crossing is a bit of a nightmare but once there, the country and warmth and hospitality of the people is amazing), however budget and my cute little night owl have scuppered that plan. At the minute I'm trying to arrange a home exchange in England although couples that can travel in school holidays don't necessarily want a pile of kids in their homes, and the ones with a brood like us, have them in school. Maybe Dad and T will just fly over. We'll see.
If I can get the old scanner up and running, I'll score the archives for past exploits. Thank you for visiting.

West coast of Ireland - Connemara

Photo album

Connemara National Park was founded and opened to the public in 1980. It features 29.57 square kilometres of mountains, bogs, heaths, grasslands and forests. Dotted throughout are peat bogs and mounds of cut turf that are being harvested for burning. The scenery closely resembled that of Skye and the Scottish west coast.

More to follow ...

West coast of Ireland - driving dangerously!

Total gridlock

Almost a head on collision

West coast of Ireland - Murrisk

Just as the big blue blue skies in America are amazing, the light in the west coast of Ireland is equally as fascinating. The first campsite we pulled into was at the foot of a fog engulfed mountain. Behind us was the sea and sunny blue sky. By late evening, the fog turned slowly black and the sun shone brighter. It never rained.

View from the tent

The following day we walked around an old abbey and stopped by the National Famine Monument and Croagh Patrick, which was only a couple of minute's drive. The bronze sculpture is monument to the Great Famine of the 1840s and depicts a 'coffin ship' with skeleton bodies in the rigging. This was of particular interest to the dc as they've been reading about it over summer.

We were trialling a tepee tent. Fantastic! Having looked at every other type out there, this is the only thing that ticks all the boxes. It's amazingly cheap, easy to put up (less than 10 minutes), has no inner tents to mess around with, has a sewn in ground sheet, is water proof and mould proof, exremely spacious - can sleep 12 and is lightweight to transport around. Cost £295 with free postage to Ireland. Total saving on equivalent - £1500! If you need details, get in touch.

West coast of Ireland - Drumcliff

We're back again after a whistle stop tour of the west coast of Ireland. Had three full days sight seeing - it was unanimously decided that after a second grim night in the tent with junior that we'd spend all day Friday tiki touring around and then do a long drive home late evening. Once we sort out his night time thing at home, we'll pick up where we left off :) Despite the sleep deprivation, it was a really neat and refreshing couple of days! I guess I'm used to running on not much shut eye.

We lunched in Castle Coole but didn't hang around for a tour as they were pretty booked up then drove to Sligo stopping in Drumcliff to see the high cross (above) and round tour which are all that remains from a monastic settlement founded by St Columba in 574.

The poet and writer WB Yeats is buried in the churchyard which houses the high cross where his grandfather was once the rector. Athough originally buried in France after his death in 1939, his wishes were granted in 1948 when his remains were brought back to rest at Drumcliff. I confess to knowing absolutely nothing about his work. The location is pretty with Ben Bulben visible from the rear of the church. The sun broke through and was hitting the mountain when we were there which was magical. The epitaph is taken from one of his poems which is entitled "Under Ben Bulben". Another excerpt from the same poem reads "Under bare Ben Bulben's head In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.

From here we headed south and set up camp in wild and woolly country at Murrisk.