Mount Usher Gardens Re-visited Part 3

These looked stripey where the leaves were peeling-it made us think of a zebra!

Below you can see "pond skaters' they were very active. Hundreds of them close to the edge of the river.

My eldest grandson with his mum and dad in the background.

Youngest grandson decided to try something a little more active!

Not sure he's looking too happy!!

Grandaughter looking serious!

I guess she was planning a change of hair colour as a couple of days later it looked very different to these two pictures!

Some debating about the camera!

Beccy with Embee in the background (he likes to be included in my blog posts!)

One last glimpse of the river before we headed back to the car.

(Click for an enlarged better view)

Mount Usher Re-visted Part 2

Thought I would share a few of the river photos

If you click on the first photo you should be able to get a better view as a slide show.

Long time no 'see'!!

Thank you to all my blogging friends for all the nice comments and emails to check that all is well with me. After being a dedicated blogger for three years, I suddenly felt that I had very little to say. I found the winter months so depressing and I virtually went into hibernation- a bit like my tortoises!!!
Currently I am staying at Beccy's Killiney (Dublin), where I have been for 10 days. The idea was that I looked after the grandchildren so that Beccy and Joules could pop over to Bristol, for 2 weekends, to help two of Beccy's oldest friends celebrate their big birthdays.
We were all rather worried about about the volcanic ash but the first weekend ran smoothly.

This weekend I think we got a bit complacent, Beccy was actually staying here . Her friend booked the castle for the weekend, complete with swimming pool! All went well until we heard this morning that her flight home this evening was cancelled. She tried to get on an earlier flight but that was full. She has now heard that there is no morning flight tomorrow so they are going to book a car and drive to Hollyhead and catch the ferry across. Well, that's the plan.....
Now I'm due to return home tomorrow evening and I won't know until the morning whether my flight will be operating. If it does then I will have to leave for the airport before Beccy gets home. You see it's beginning to get complicated and the sad thing is it's my grandaughter's birthday tomorrow and quite naturally Beccy is very upset she won't be home when the children get up. Mollie was actually very good about it and thought it was funny her parents were stranded....or maybe she was just being brave!

Ben and I went down to the beach this morning for a walk, it was very pleasant and the sun did shine, although you wouldn't think it by the photo (my bad photography!)

My eldest grandson, who turned 17 in March, had his first driving lesson this afternoon. I was amazed when the instructor told me he would get Dillon doing 'hill starts, reversing, and turns' I certainly don't remember doing that in lesson one! Anyway he came back after a 2 hr lesson, having thoroughly enjoyed it. The instructor thinks he will need about 3 weeks of lessons before he can practice with his parents, so I'm looking forward to the time when he can drive his poor old grandmother about...that won't do his street cred any good whatsoever!!!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Dillon sitting the car (sadly not too clear) and that's the instructor standing by the door.

I'm not allowed to put it on Facebook but I thought I would risk it on my blog as he doesn't read it!

Well that all my most recent news, time will tell whether I manage to get home tomorrow. I know my mother will not be too happy as she has a hair appointment on Tuesday, but hopefully Embee will be able to take her! Are you reading this Embee???

Killiney Beach in July

On the last day of my recent trip to visit Beccy and the grandchildren we decided to take a walk on the beach. Even though there was quite a strong breeze it was sunny and warm. The beach was deserted, which is quite unusual, and I think it might have been because it getting towards lunch time. I took this little video of the beach and the family having some fun.

Ben decided on the games, and the boys v girls...the object was to try and get a big enough splash from the stones to get the opponents wet. His second game was a surfboard race with stones being the riders on the pieces of wood. This is good old fashioned fun using imagination and things found on the beach. Better still it cost nothing and was fun! I thought it was a most enjoyable way to spend my last morning with the family.
If you are wondering why I said 'ow' it was the shock of getting wet and if you are also wondering why my grandson was wearing a hat in summer it was to keep his hair straight!

I will be showing you some more pictures of my trip when I have time to process the photos.

Archives:
2008: Witty Wednesday-57 Speech Therapist and Visitor Update
2007: Fun Monday-26

Marley and Me and Dillon makes Three!

Ages ago I sent away for a free little Marley and at the same time I was able to buy the larger one for just £3 which is very reasonable. I suddenly remembered last Wednesday that it was over a month since I placed the order and I hadn't received it. Would you believe it was delivered that day!
It is my intention to put the small one into my shoe box collection (for Romanian children) and the larger one was going to a Christmas appeal for soft toys for Women's Refuges. However now I've seen how cute it is I'm thinking do I want to part with it. I know, come the time, I will happily hand it over. However, in the mean time I can enjoy having a dog about the house again!

Last night my mobile phone rang at 11pm. I rarely get any calls on my mobile in the daytime let alone late at night. It was lucky I was still downstairs or I might have missed the call from my eldest grandson. He was ringing to see if he could come and stay again for a few days (I think with girlfriend). He is very eager to see the "Banksy Exhibition" at Bristol Museum and he'll away when his mum and younger siblings come in August. Although I realise he's not really coming to see us, I'm delighted that we'll get to see him for a few days at the end of the month.
Now I'll have to start planning a menu so Dillon if you see this let me know what meals you fancy!

Archives:
No Archive 2008
2007: Witty Wednesday-10

The visit is over

Anyone who read my post on Wednesday will know that I've had my grandson and his girlfriend staying for a couple of days. They came specifically to see 'Deathstars' a Swedish band perform. This band would not be my cup of tea but I gather they were very good and as D & R enjoyed the performance that's what counts.
While they were here they had a look around Bristol and did some shopping. In this picture, that I took as I dropped them off at the airport this morning, they are wearing new jackets; not that you can really see them clearly. They were delighted at how cheap things were compared to Ireland. Roisin bought a new pair of Doc Marten boots. As I said goodbye at the airport earlier this morning- I got the impression they might be visiting us again...so I think that means that they enjoyed themselves and we really enjoyed having them to stay.

Archives:
2008: Project Looking Through-1
2007: What's happening to the World + Witty Wednesday-3 21st Century Thinking

Happy 16th Birthday

Today my grandson will be celebrating his 16th Birthday. He promised that he would send me a photo but you know what teenage lads are like! So I've had to use what I had. The one above I took when I stayed with them last month and as you can see he found it difficult to take his eyes away from this laptop to look up and smile for the camera. I did find a few pictures from our holiday in Portugal last summer so Dillon happy memories.


We hope you have a lovely Birthday Dillon and we are looking forward to seeing you and Roisin when you come to visit us in April. Lots of love

Archives:
2008: Happy 15th Birthday
2007: Someone needs your help +Happy Birthday Dillon

Meme 6th of 6th of 6th

Recently I've seen this photo Meme on several of the blogs that I read regularly. So when Pamela threw it open to all her readers, curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see what picture I would find.

Photo meme 6th of 6th of 6th

HERE ARE THE RULES:

1.Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.

2.Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.

3.Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.

4.Tag 6 other peoples that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them.

Now following the rules this is what I found. I do believe I've shared this one before it was taken almost three years ago.

I'm glad it turned out to be some of my favourite people! There is no story but I took it while they were staying here during a summer visit.

I'm not tagging anyone but if you have a gap to fill it's a good one to do!

Archives:
2007: Witty Wednesday-35
2007: Food Cooperative cont.

Fun Monday # 96 and Shopping

I am totally disorientated and forgot that it should have been a Fun Monday post today! So this is a rapid addition to what I have already published below.

Sayre is our charming host, today, and she wants to know two things about our holiday:

What was the most touching, wonderful part of Christmas for you this year?
AND What was the craziest, stupidest, funniest part this year?

For me having the family here is always the best part of Christmas, and talking to Sam on skype as she can't be here. I have to say that this year I was in a panic because for some reason my turkey did not seem to cook properly and I thought my roast potatoes would never crisp up so it was an absolute relief when we at down to eat and everyone said it ws the best turkey we'd ever had. Mind you, I do recall we have said that in the past but not every year. I do think this year it was a melt in your mouth experience and the potatoes, cooked in goose fat, were perfect.

Normally I don't get surprised with my Christmas presents but this year the family managed it and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting. Beccy and family bought me a digital photo frame and Embee bought me a magnetic board to accommodate my overflow of fridge magnets, also I can use it for messages. So quite a novel idea, he even managed to get it into the house and hide it without me seeing it which has to be a first!!! (I will be showing a few photos tomorrow).

I don't have any funny, stupid or crazy things to tell you. Well my daughter would say I'm crazy because I buy too much food and it never all gets eating. I just want to make sure we don't run out of things (and it means I don't need to shop for at least another week!)

Sorry this is such a lame post...my New Year Resolution should be to do better but then I don't make *resolutions* because I would be setting myself up to fail!

Next week (5/1/09) Summit Musings will be hosting. Be sure to visit for the assignment.
*********************************
Yesterday, the family chose to do some shopping on their final day here in Bristol. We ventured to The Mall and it was not really particularly busy, which was a pleasant surprise.
Embee went off by himself and came back with a shirt he had seen before Christmas. It was in the sale and £10 cheaper so he was delighted.
Ben wanted to go and see Madagascar -Escape to Africa so Joules took him to the cinema.
Mollie decided to spend a lot of her money on some shoes. I'm not sure about the height of the heels but apparently all her friends wear them. Beccy tried them on and though they were very comfortable. My guess is she won't wear them very often but I might be proved wrong!Dillon sat and watched proceedings and did his best to dissuade her.My grand daughter can be a very determined young lady when she chooses...I wonder who she takes after!!! Her mother and her Auntie Sam I think!!!

How much did I spend?...the grand sum of 50 pence (reduced from £1.50..the last of the big spenders!!) on a new ice scraper for the car!

Today-we were up at 5:30am and Embee dropped them to Bristol International airport-I've just had a text to say they are safely back in Dublin and in the car heading home.
We had a great few days and it won't be long until I see them again because I have already booked a flight for February.

Archives:
2007: Home from the big smoke
2006: Friday 29th

I'm home from the Emerald Isle.

I had a lovely week visiting my daughter and my grandchildren. They are live wires and the week went by in a flash. However, it's not long until Christmas when they will be coming here so I have something to look forward to.

Archives:
2007: London Bridges
Archives:
2006: Making the most of my Bramleys

Didn't he do well says a proud grandmother!

You must forgive me for jumping up and down with excitement but I'm feeling very proud of my grandson, Dillon, who is 15 years old. He received his Junior Certificate examination results yesterday and he did very well. The education system in Ireland is different to the one we have here the UK. So after only three years of study (UK they get 5yrs) he went the honours route where the grades are:

A= 85%

B=70-85%
C=55-70%
D=40-55%

Dillon got 3 (A's) in Geography, English, Religion; 5 (B's) Maths, Art, Sciences, History & CPSE (civil, social, political, education); 2 (C's) Irish & Metalwork; 1 (D) French.
You can imagine the whole family are delighted with his results. He now has a transitional year where he has to do some work experience and community work alongside school subjects. After this he begins the final two years of study for his Senior Certificate which will, hopefully, enable him to go into higher education at college or university.

Congratulations Dillon, you did very well X

Archives:
2007: What do you do when

Brotherly Love

Boys will be boys.

I grabbed the camera to snap this and forgot to check settings so it's pretty poor but they were having a lot of fun!


Archives:
2007: Are you smarter than me

Fun Monday # 78 Show and Tell

The hostess with the mostest this week is Aoj and at first glance she gave us an easy assignment...

"Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it's your favourite.

It can be one you've taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it's pleasing to the eye?

Show me and tell me!"......

howeverI have so many favourite photos that I couldn't choose so I've decided to show you some recent art work by some of my favourite people....

my oldest grandson drew the first two

Mollie painted the one below for her Auntie Sam's birthday.

....and here is a picture of the artists with their brother

I think we are going to enjoy a lot of lovely photos today thanks to Aoj so hop over to her place and see who's exhibiting.

Archives:
2007: What's in a name

Happy 15th Birthday Dillon

As you can see from the above photos my grandson has a great little job. He regularly cuts the grass for his other granny and grandad. See the beautiful view they have across the fields at the back of their house towards Sugarloaf mountain (just out of view to the left of the first picture).

Have a great day Dillon
We love you lots
Grandma, Grandpa and Granny Betty
xxx

Archives:
2007: Someone needs your help + Happy 14th Birthday Dillon

Mount Usher Gardens cont.......

You may remember seeing a couple of the photos I took when I visited Mount Usher Gardens. It was such a beautiful place, that I couldn't resist showing a few lot more of the, many, photos I took during that visit:
I really love this view and I was very pleased with the shot. I have played around with the lighting on all of these just to get some practise.
There are lots of little bridges over the river.........
and many different trees to admire!
Now, look at this little chap who was helping the gardeners. When we first arrived he was very intent on his task . Anyone like to hazard a guess as to what was keeping him so occupied!
Eventually he did come over and make friends and I expect by now you will have gathered I do love dogs.He was so sweet and he reminded me of my dog 'Titch' that I had when I was about 5 years old!
Beccy and Dillon underneath the arch!
Beccy with her mother-in-law.
Dillon is taking his own artistic photos of the pet cemetery. This is such a lovely little area and clearly from the dates on the stones it is still very much in use.
All the paths wind in and out. There were lots of crocus and daffodils (I'll be posting some more photos of those later in the week~ probably on my other blog).
A couple of other views of the river.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these and if you are ever in that neck of the woods it's worth a visit!!

P.S. Later this morning my mother has to go back to the hospital for the first check up. She is just beginning to move around more freely and her leg is less painful, so hopefully all will be well when they remove the dressing.

Archives:
2007: Mothering Sunday