A Very Blustery Day

Although it was pretty warm - mid 50s - it was extremely windy and a bit wet. I began my day with a visit to the gym where I spent an hour. Love starting the day like that. Afterwards I went home and showered and got dressed to do a bit of shopping. I was planning to wear a long blue dress I bought at Chico's last summer, but it was too lightweight for this time of year. I went down to Dunnes and found a wool blend dress and bought a pair of matching tights. I took those home and then headed to find a pair of boots. I didn't know if I wanted knee high ones or ankle boots. I first tried on knee high ones, but they were too big in the leg. I bought a pair of ankle boots instead.

On the way home from the shoe store, I stopped at the corner pharmacy to pick up my prescription. It was even better than I expected. Instead of the $355 that I paid for a month's supply in Jackson, I only paid €29. That difference paid for my outfit with a couple of hundred bucks left over. By the time I got home from that errand, I was starving and my cupboards were bare. I headed down to main street once more and stopped into Stores for lunch. I chose the fish and chips. The fish was plaice and was really fabulous. The cole slaw was really good too.

I left there and walked down to Pettit's SuperValu to buy a few groceries. They had the lamb tagine again and so I bought some. When I got home I finished my book, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle, and gave it 4 stars. Then I took a nap before getting ready for the Tidy Town outing to the Ferrycarrig Hotel. 

The award ceremony was a bit long, but very nice. I went with Dennis and Philomena. We had tea or coffee, hors d' oeuvres of chicken and sausage and small tea sandwiches, followed by a dessert of an apple tart. The Wexford Tidy Towns group won an award.

Afterward we stopped at White's Hotel for a drink. When we got there we found that there was a political program being filmed for a television news program so we went in and sat in the back for a bit. I had a hard time understanding everything they were talking about, but the abortion issue was raised with much fervor from both pro and con parties.

We went down to the lobby area as the show was winding down and sat in very comfy chairs to have a drink. Phil and I gave some money for our drinks to Dennis and he went into the bar to get them. I asked for a black russian and explained to him what it was in case they asked. When he came back he had a quiet dark drink and a fizzy dark drink. Phil had ordered diet Coke, so I expected the fizzy drink was hers. But no, it was the black russian. The bar was five deep all around with all the people from the political discussion having made their way down, so I changed my mind about taking my drink back. It wasn't all bad, but it definitely wasn't a black russian. Once the bar quieted down I went to ask the bartender what he had used to make my drink. He used coffee liqueur, vodka and coke. What??????!!!!!!

Home before midnight and settled in my pajamas "talking" to you. I am hoping to walk with the group across the bridge in the morning, but if it is raining I will do aqua aerobics at the gym instead. I have finished all my library books so will have to make a trip there tomorrow as well. Hoping for a bit of sun tomorrow. We've had gray and rain for a several days now and I am ready for a change.

How are you doing?

Tata....

Rainy/Sunny Day

I heard heavy rainfall some time in the early hours before sunrise and it was gray when I got up, so I had a couple of cups of coffee and some muesli for breakfast and then lazed for a bit. Next thing I knew the sun was shining. I headed to my room to get dressed and put on a bit of a jacket with a hood and headed out. By the time I got outside it was misting, but I decided to walk anyway. I only got a couple of miles in before I was drenched. I came back home and got out of my wet clothes and got into snugglies.

I was expecting Richard to come over later to play cribbage and I needed to get to the library plus I had some lettuce and leftover trout from last night's dinner, but no tomatoes. I got dressed again and set out first to the library where I traded in the five books I took out on Monday and checked out five more.

Leaving the library I headed to the market at the bullring where I wanted to buy some tomatoes, but the vendor was out of them, and there was a small shop advertising lactose free goodies. I bought a piece of walnut coffee cake and a piece of chocolate cake, then headed down to Dunnes for tomatoes. I also bought a cucumber. I came home and made my lunch.

The cucumber is a bit different than ours, the baby lettuce is very tender and tasteful, and the piccolo tomatoes are like candy.

Seafood salad with baby lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, leftover oven baked trout and a bit of balsamic vinaigrette.

I met Richard on one of the festival tours. He is from California and has lived in Wexford for about 20 years. He came over around 2. He bought Upwords, but forgot the cribbage board so we walked over to his place to get it. We came back here to play. We played 3 games of cribbage and then a game of Upwords. Big fun. We had coffee and goodies while playing. I hope we can get together again some time. I miss playing games face to face instead of just across the internet. 

It was almost dark by the time we finished playing (it was just after 5, but this time of year that doesn't seem to matter) and I wanted to get another walk in, so I ambled down to the main street and went to Penneys to get a single duvet to put under the bedspread on the twin bed in the guest room.

I have started reading Behind Closed Doors and am getting into it pretty well. After a bit I warmed up the leftover beef stew from last night and toasted a piece of spelt bread. Yummy! Hard to believe but I got almost 6 miles in today. 

I hope you had a great day today, too!

Tata....

Friday, 6 November

Hard to believe it is November; the temps are so mild, and even warmer in Michigan! The day began cloudy and very windy. My fitbit was in need of charging so I walked without it today. I didn't go far, it was actually more of a ramble. I looked around in the second hand stores, but didn't find anything I thought I needed. Then I decided to look in some stores for Christmas gift ideas for my grand girls.

While I was in Penneys I found a nice flannel shirt for myself. It is soft and quite long - fitting enough to wear with yoga pants.

On yesterday's walk I stopped in the butcher shop and bought stew beef and some fresh liver. The only way I could find liver in Michigan was in the freezer section. This was so fresh and absolutely yummy! Here are the onions and mushrooms getting ready to be put over while the liver cooks.

Today while rambling, I stopped in Meyler's fish shop and got some 'just caught this morning' sea trout. I took it home and cooked it in foil with garlic and tomatoes with a touch of rapeseed oil. What a fabulous dinner. I have about 1/2 of it left over for a meal tomorrow.

This post is certainly not in chronological order because I am thinking about yesterday's outing again. I went to Shaw's and bought bedding for the guest room and a new table cloth for the dining table. I showed the guest room to Morgan this morning while FaceTiming and she likes it much better than my plain bedding.

I almost bought the one with chickens and roosters on it, but decided to go with this patterned one instead.

I found some small baskets to organize the stuff on my bookshelf in the living room and except for the smell of sea grass coming off them when I am close, I am quite pleased with them.

An acquaintance I met on one of the festival tours is coming over early tomorrow afternoon to play cribbage. He lives just around the corner across the street from the Garda station so will walk over. When I met him he had a young man with him that I thought might be his son, but we were listening to the presenter and didn't spend any time talking, just exchanged phone numbers.

A new small cafe/bakery opened just around the corner and Sarah and I went there for lunch yesterday after aqua aerobics (which was fabulous by the way- great workout). She had a lovely, huge seafood salad and I had broccoli, pea soup with a hint of mint. Glorious! Sarah treated, so I am looking forward to our next lunch out so I can take a turn to treat.

I've had a pretty lazy day, except for cooking and reading. I tried to get into a book called The Way Inn. I actually read almost half of it, but just couldn't get into it, so I put it aside. I have started The View on The Way Down and think I will like it. This is the last of the books I took out on Monday, so I will go to the library in the morning to take these back and pick out more.

What are you reading? Do you recommend it?

Tata....

Wednesday, 4 November

In Michigan there is a saying, "Don't like the weather? Just wait a bit". You could easily substitute Wexford for Michigan. I headed out this morning around 8. It was chilly, but sunny and blue skies as you can see in these pix. These two buildings are right around the corner from me. I actually think that ruin is a former Abbey that my apartment building is named for.

This wasn't anything special, but the red doors against the tan building catches my eye every time.

I walked across the bridge, but got too cold in my light jacket so headed back home to put on something warmer. On the way home it became very grey and misty so I took a break. I headed over to the gym for a class at 11 only to find that it was blue and sunny again. Excellent class - step, running in place, jumping jacks, bit of weights and some ab work. I decided to resume my walk before taking a shower.

I planned to do the bridge again, but Sarah called to see if I wanted to meet her in town so I took a walk along the quay until we met up and we decided to have lunch instead of just a beverage. We went to Simon Lambert's. She had Colcannon Soup and I had the Guinness and Beef Stew with rice. Really good and I took half of it home for supper.

Here are a few more pix I took from the quay.

I love the reflection here.

You know I love the bridge. I didn't mean to get my shadow in the photo. Does this count as a selfie?

This nice gentleman gave me permission to take a photo of him practicing his violin. He sounded pretty good to me.
Looks like another selfie!

Lovely, lovely day. Nothing quite like spending time on the waterfront!

At 2 I headed back to the gym for an orientation and health appraisal. Everything checked out good except for my body fat percent. I am going to work on that with weight training and striving for more elbow control (you know, the motion where you put edibles in your mouth). I did a circuit at the gym and am planning to do aqua aerobics in the morning. I think Sarah may be meeting me there.

I had a pleasant surprise when I got home. I checked my bank account to see how it was doing and imagine my surprise when it showed that both my cashiers check and my November social security check were now in my account. I think it may be time to get online and find a good fare for a visit to Michigan in late May.

I am now at home; I've had a warm shower and am in my jammies looking forward to a quiet evening with a good book. How was your day? I think it is only early afternoon in Michigan so you still have quite a bit of time until you get in your nightclothes. Hope your day turns out to be as pleasant as mine has been.

Tata....

Manic Monday

Got up a bit after 6 this morning and decided it looked like a good day to go to the gym. Got there around 7 which is a good thing because they don't open on weekdays until 6:45. Did just one circuit in the gym which included a lat pulldown, chest press, shoulder press, leg press and a 2 leg curl machines - one for quads and one for hammies. I then spent a few minutes on the rowing machine. I have been away from the gym for much too long. But this one is less than a block from me, so no excuses. I hope to get my strength back in no time.

After I left the gym I headed out for a walk. I went around by Dunnes and across to the train station and then headed across the bridge. It was a bit foggy/hazy and a bit chilly, but I was already warmed up. Instead of turning around at the other side and coming  back to this side as I usually do, I decided to walk the path the group walks on Tuesdays and then cross back over the bridge, down the quay and back through town to home. I had walked almost 5 miles by the time I got back. I made breakfast of fried courgettes (zucchini) with onion and tomatoes and with scrambled eggs over. I had one piece of multi-seed bread toasted. Yummy!

I really need some laundry done, so I packed up my dirty outer clothes including the hoodie that I planted daffodils in on Saturday. I headed over to the laundry carrying my library books with me. From there I went to the library, returned the ones I read last week and checked out five more. But reading must wait. I did a load of undies and towels here and hung them on the line.

I then noticed that the floors needed sweeping so I did that while the dishes were waiting in a sink of overly hot water. Once I was done sweeping the water was okay to put hands in, so I did the dishes and took out the garbage. I started reading one of the books, but was dozy so I put some quiet music on the iPod and snoozed for a bit.

Sarah called around 2 to see if I wanted to swim this afternoon. We agreed to meet at the gym/pool at 3. We spent a good 45 minutes swimming down and back and visiting in a very nice pool. I think it is what you call a lap pool - it is the same depth throughout. We split up then and I went to collect my laundry and went to the ATM to get some cash from my credit union in Jackson and put it into my Irish account. I am now back home and in my pajamas and think I will call it a day. I was planning to go to Heaton's to get a few kitchen things, but there is always tomorrow.

I took some pix on my walk to Tesco yesterday afternoon and thought I'd share them with you.

Look at these - it is November 1!

You can tell it is Autumn, but still flowers.

I took some photos this morning on my walk, too. You will notice it is quite gray and foggy, but some of them are worth sharing.

Another lovely garden.

Wexford on the other side of the Slaney River.

The bridge is really quite lovely.

Love the light coming out of the sky.

Tomorrow I am planning to walk with the ladies across the bridge and then take my list to Heatons. No gym tomorrow, but on Wednesday I am going for a fitness class, it's called Fabulous @ 50; and then I have an assessment in the afternoon and will get a suggested gym program. I actually was able to balance on my knees on the balance ball for several seconds this morning and will keep practicing that until I can do minutes.

Hope all is well with my friends and family in the States.

Tata....