Bits and bobs

Random thoughts about random things by a random person

Author Archives: Lucy C


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Day 6 (Sept 17/19): An artistic challenge!

My friend Shamima gave me an art journal for my birthday and I brought it with me on this trip.

Today I challenged myself to sketch the view from the table in the sunroom.

It’s not 100% accurate and is definitely not to scale (as you can see from the pictures in previous posts), but the main pieces are there. It turned out better than I thought it would, actually!

(The book pages already had the quote and the flowers in the bottom left and top right corners.)

I’m not, as you can tell, good at drawing, but that’s what challenges are about, right?

If you are already good at or comfortable with something, doing it isn’t a challenge.

I plan on doing some more of this scene, so maybe it will get better as I go. 🙂 In any event, I’m still happy with this first go at it and that I did it at all!!

My first attempt from my window

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Day 5 (Sept 16/19): In and out today, like the tide!

It’s been a day of not sitting very still.

This morning, I went for a few groceries that I didn’t think of on Saturday. I had also planned on going to the tourism office, but it was closed till noon. So I just went for a little walk before picking up the groceries and coming back home.

I then did the boring, but necessary, check in on the budget. It’s not my forte and if I’m not careful, I could spend the works of it within days and have nothing left for the rest of the trip. That would make for a very boring time!!

After that, I headed to the tourism office where a lovely gent named Barry gave me some really good tips and suggestions for things to do while I’m here. If I do only half of what he suggested, my FitBit will be very happy!

From there I headed to An Corcan restaurant for another late-ish lunch. I had the chicken panini and fries. The panini was delicious but the fries were meh.

I think they maybe had been through quite a rush during the regular lunch hour (I had counted at least 5 tour buses in town on my way to the tourism office). It seemed a strain for the owner to be friendly.

I don’t mean to imply that she was rude. She wasn’t. She just seemed…frazzled. Bless her heart.

After that, I popped into the post office. I had bought two postcards there this morning on my sojourn, but couldn’t find them when I got home. So I checked in and yup, I had left them there. (See…when I say I’m forgetful and easily distracted, I’m not joking!)

I came home again then, postcards and all my pamphlets from Barry in hand, and caught up on a few emails.

I opened the windows for a while, but dang…there were a kajillion little flies all over the place! I massacred a goodly number of them (they wouldn’t shoo out the window) and closed everything up. New investment idea: Window screens. One good marketing campaign and you are in the money!

We were heading towards 5:00 by then and I thought about putting the chicken in the oven. But then I figured that by the time it’s done and I’ve eaten, it would be dark.

I wanted to go for a walk and doing that in the dark isn’t the smartest thing. The roads, as you may know, are very narrow and there aren’t shoulders to speak of.

Ending up in a ditch (or the hospital) is not on the top of my list of things to do on a holiday (or any time, truth be told!), so I opted for the walk first.

I went to the south/east this time, on a path along the bay for about half of it and then along the road. I went as far as the Currane River and it felt like it might rain so I turned back.

I’m in now for the evening, I think. That’s enough in-ing and out-ing for one day I do believe! Except now (7pm) it’s a bit late to put a chicken in the oven, so I might need to go out again for supper. 🙂

Speaking of in and out, below are a couple pictures for you showing low tide and high tide today. (NOTE: They might not be the actual lowest and highest points – just the lowest and highest that I saw today.)

The third picture is for my cousin Juanita who is following along. 🙂

Low tide, Ballinskellig Bay, morning Sept 16/19

High tide, Ballinskellig Bay, late afternoon Sept 16/19

For the O’Reillys!!

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Day 4 (Sept 15/19): Fixing the WiFi, more switches, figuring out the oven, locking a door, a walk, and relaxing

I’ve been playing catch up on my posts because when I arrived yesterday, the WiFi wasn’t working. When I was at supper last night, I posted some quick things to Instagram, but the WordPress app requires a bit more attention than IG.

I talked to the owner of the place today. She didn’t know how to fix it, but said she’d reach out to the guy who had installed it. She warned me, though, that he might have gone to Dublin for the football match yesterday and might not be back. Not a biggie…I could survive a day or so without Internet, right?

Before I go further, let’s step back. Remember the story about the light switches in the hotel in Killarney? Well, it turns out that switches are very popular here, too. Now, I haven’t found a master control light switch here, but alllllllll of the outlets have switches. One for each plug. So for each outlet with two plug sockets, there are two switches. You have to turn the switch on in order for that socket to work. (I imagine it saves on electricity, which is a great idea!! It just takes a little getting used to.)

And remember the windows without screens? From what I have seen nobody uses them. I didn’t see them on other hotels (or any building for that matter) in Killarney or on buildings (homes or otherwise) on the bus trip. This place doesn’t have them, either. A Google search has revealed that it’s actually common across Europe not to have screens. Apparently they don’t have as many mosquitos as we do in North America. Who knew!!

Now, back to the Internet. I had, like you would, done the unplug-and-plug-it-back-in thing with the router. It powered up. My tablet said I was connected. But there was no Internet.

While I was talking to Siobhan, I noticed that something else was plugged into the other socket where the router was plugged in and that 2nd socket switch was turned off. I turned it on. It didn’t seem to make any difference, so Siobhan said she’d try to reach that guy and get back to me.

About half an hour later, I thought I’d give it a go again and ta da! It worked!! So…that was fixed.

A couple of other “How does that work?” things also happened:

1. The door to the deck off the master bedroom would not lock, no matter how much I tried to coax it. Siobhan told me the tricks about that via text. (It wasn’t a big security concern as it’s on the 2nd floor, but I thought she’d want to know. I also didn’t want to end up having it look like I had broken it.)

2. I wanted to roast a chicken, but could not get the oven to work. Mary, the caretaker, dropped by to see how I was doing, so I asked her about it. She had no clue, beyond someone must have flipped the switch on the wall (again with the switches!!! Seriously – invest in switches in Ireland) and reset the programming on the oven. It’s not a fancy oven…I have no idea what programming is involved, but in any event, she said I should reach out to Siobhan, which I did, and she walked me through that fix.

In addition to working out those little bugs, I went for a walk today once the mist and fog cleared a little and did some colouring, totally relaxing with the sounds of the ocean. (You will hear me talk about that a lot…it’s one of my favourite things in the world, so yeah…it will be a repeated theme on this trip!!)

A foggy, misty morning today

On my way back from my walk

My perch, sitting on the rocks above the beach, across from my place

Some colouring after my walk


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Day 3 (Sept 14/19): Killarney to Waterville – the last day of travel!

This post was written on Sept 14/19, at various stages of leaving Killarney to go to my final destination of Waterville.

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Surprisingly, I slept better than I thought last night. A 5-hour time difference does do a number on you, but I think I’m good now!

My room booking included room-delivered full breakfast, which was definitely a great way to start the day. I forgot to ask for ketchup, though. Sausage without ketchup just isn’t the same, but I didn’t want to be a bother by bringing down for some so I somehow survived without!! 🙂

I toodled around again after breakfast before coming back to check out. There are loads of pubs and interesting shops – mostly geared towards tourists. I didn’t buy anything, but got some ideas for gifts towards the end of my trip.

Once I checked out, I left my bags at the front desk and headed off for lunch. I asked the girl at the front desk for a recommendation – there are loads of pubs around, but I wanted something different so I asked where she would go. She recommended the Cafe du Parc so that is just where I went!

I ordered the club sandwich. It didn’t come with anything, so I was skeptical as to whether or not it would be enough, but it was quit filling on its own. In fact, I only ate just over half of it. It was really yummy, too!

The club sandwich at the Café du Parc

After lunch, I scoped out info on some tours for when I come back in a couple of weeks, particularly for Killarney National Park because if I don’t go there while I’m in the area, my brother Bill might disown me. 🙂

Now I’m waiting for the bus to Waterville to depart. While standing outside waiting, I got hit on by an octogenarian (possibly even a nonagenarian) named Michael, so I guess I still got it…?

A little later…

While waiting my turn to load my bags into the bus, I saw a young fella putting a bag in the storage area. He had thick, fuzzy, fingerless gloves and I wondered if he was the bag loader, but he left and went back to the boarding line so I figure nope…he’s a passenger.

Then it was my turn to load and he came over and did it for me – before I had even started. So I changed my mind again and thought, ok, he must be the baggage guy.

But..the story does not end there!!! When I got on, there he was, a seated passenger.

He wasn’t the baggage guy. He was a nice guy who just took it upon himself to do a nice thing. And it wasn’t even as though I had been struggling with the bags. I hadn’t even started when he came over. He was just a nice young guy.

As I walked past him on the bus, I thanked him again. He chuckled a little, with a little shyness, and said, “It’s no problem…”

As it says in one of my favourite quotes:

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. (William Arthur Ward)

The bus ride itself was absolutely fabulous!!! If you are ever in the area, be sure to take a bus tour. It’s stunning. I didn’t take many photos – I thought about it lots, but just wanted to enjoy the view and not spend my whole time looking at it through my tablet camera viewer.

When I got to my place in Waterville, I unpacked, went for groceries, put those away, and then went for dinner at Dooley’s before hunkering down for the night. It was just soup and salad, but I tell you what – the dressing was delicious and the vegetable soup was the best soup I’ve had in I don’t know how long!

As an aside, from the time I arrived in Killarney and till now, everybody has been talking about today’s (Gaelic) football match between the Kerry team and Dublin. Being in County Kerry, everyone has been hoping for Kerry to win and green and yellow jerseys have been everywhere. Sadly, while I was eating, I could hear from the bar side of the restaurant that Kerry had lost.

As with all sporting matches — particularly rematches like this one – there was a super fun energy leading up to it the past two days since I’ve been here. Even the cashier at the grocery store was fully into it. She wasn’t thrilled about only being able to listen on the radio and not be able to see it, though!

Anyhoo…Here are some photos from today (Sept 14):

1. The bus

2. An ocean view on the route to Waterville

3. A video from my patio – the location is why I’ve taken this place. The sight, the sound, and the beautiful salty sea smell!

3. A sunset view from my place in Waterville

4. My dinner at Dooley’s

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Day 2 (Sept 13/19): More of Killarney!

(Written on Sept 13/19, as a follow up to my previous post.)

My room is lovely. It’s an older building but it was updated not too long ago. (The foyer, I should mention, is quite lovely – it was redone earlier this year, but I forgot to take a picture.) Three big, beautiful windows overlook a fairly busy street and let in loads of light.

The bed is quite comfy and there are at least two different types of pillows. That might sound weird, but I find that pillows are more important to a good sleep than even the mattress is. I’m so glad that hotels tend to provide different firmness options these days. (It’s the little things, remember?)

I’m off now to do a little exploring and see about a cell phone.

Much later…

After I got back, I lay down around 5:30 for a little nap, intending to get some juice back in my batteries before going out for supper and maybe checking out some local music. But that little nap turned into about 5 hours so, yeah, no supper and no music tonight!

I woke up in complete darkness and could not get any of the lights to turn on. They had been on when I first arrived, but it was such a bright day and the room was so full of natural light that I didn’t notice if any were on when I lay down. But when I woke up I had to use the light from my tablet to navigate around, flicking all sorts of switches. (There are an astounding number of switches in what is a relatively small room.)

EVENTUALLY I made it to the switches right by the door in the entry way and ta daaaaaa!!!!! It turns out that by the door, there is one switch to turn on the light in the entry and another switch that needs to be turned on in order for any of the lights in the room to work.

I must have turned it off when I went out earlier, meaning none of the lights would work when I got back. Mystery solved!! Not sure if that’s unique to this hotel or if it’s a common thing in Ireland, so I’ll keep that tidbit tucked away somewhere easily accessible in my brain for future use. 🙂

It’s quite warm in here, even though it’s a lovely cool night. But there aren’t any screens on the windows so I can’t leave them open. Several flies and mosquitos came in just in the maybe 15 minutes when I opened one a little bit ago. Ah well. I’m likely a bit too messed up now to sleep super well tonight anyway.

Plus…I’m on holidays in Ireland. So, really, who cares?


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Day 2 (Sept 13/19): From Dublin to Killarney

(This post was written on Sept 13/19.)

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The flight went well. An extra treat was that the seat reclined almost fully flat, which meant that I was able to doze a little on the flight. It was really nice and comfortable and I’m so glad I treated myself – I’m sure I’ll be equally glad on the return trip, too.

My comfy seat on the plane!

We arrived in Dublin as scheduled at around 8:30 am. Customs didn’t take too long and I easily found the Express Link desk and got my ticket to get to the Heuston Train Station. It was a lovely day which meant a nice drive through Dublin.

When I bought my train ticket a month or two ago, I got a flex ticket so I could take any train that day. I wanted the flexibility so that if all went well with the flights and customs, I could head to Killarney earlier. Which I did. Instead of having to wait around for the 1:00 train, I was able to catch it just after 11:00, getting me into Killarney about 2:15.

I found my hotel easily enough – less than a 5 minute walk from the station, past a few horse-drawn carriages – a sure sign that tourist season is still in full swing!

My room wasn’t ready so I’m having a bite to eat at the Sandtrap Bar and Grill, attached to the hotel, while it’s being prepared and then I’ll toodle around for a bit. From the quick look I took walking to the hotel from the train station, it looks like I’m in a good spot for twacking around!

Late lunch at the Sandtrap Bar and Grill, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

It will be an early night, though…As I said, I dozed a little on the plane – enough to keep me upright today, but I’m still pretty zonked. I’ve been up for about 28 hours so the betteries are definitely winding down.

There are so many similarities to how we speak in Newfoundland and how they speak in Ireland that I immediately feel at home. I don’t feel like I need to “edit” myself like I often do in mainland Canada. Of course, here I don’t want people to think I’m just mimicking them. They don’t necessarily know about Newfoundland like we in Newfoundland know about Ireland so it could easily come across that way. Hopefully not!

Well, my food is here (a yummy open-faced tuna melt sandwich with fries and a salad) so I’m off! More about Killarney to come!

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Day 1 (Sept 12/19): On my way continued – the Dublin flight

This post was written on Sept 12/19, just after boarding the Dublin leg of my flight.

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I just boarded Air Canada flight 818 to Dublin from Montreal. I boarded early as my seat is in Zone 2 – one of the special zones. Not zone 1 – I seriously couldn’t afford that – but still: Zone 2. We had our own special line and everything and were able to board when the folks with little children could! Whuuuut???! We even had our own path and entrance to the plane. Livin’ the life, I tell ya. Livin’ the life.

Mind you, I’m in row 1. There isn’t anything in front of me besides the loo, kitchen stuff, storage and the cockpit. So I don’t even know what Zone 1 could have been.

I know there was one because they called out for Zone 1 people and 1 guy came forward, showed his boarding pass and was let on. But I have no idea what he paid extra for.

I remember (from booking my ticket) it was double what I paid. So I’m definitely glad I didn’t go for that. Maybe someone comes to his seat and rubs his feet or sings lullabies to him. It is an over-nighter, after all.

You know what it doesn’t have, though? The twisty-turny air blowy thingy. I love that thingy. Oh well – I’m sure I’ll be fine. 😉

And in any event, it was fun to trot up early.

I normally wait till the very end to board – when most of the squishy, crowded hoohah of “Excuse me. Pardon me. Uh. Oh sorry.” has subsided. I also usually get an aisle seat, which is even more reason not to board early and have to play the get-up-sit-down thing as the people in the middle and window seats by me arrive.

This time, though, I got a window seat. It’s a red-eye, as I said, and I wanted the wall to clean against. I didn’t want to be the one climbing over someone or making them get up so I boarded early. Plus, I knew the seats would be bigger and more comfy – more so than the airport seats – so I boarded as soon as I could.

I will add now that I thought the seat next to me was going to be empty, but a woman came and sat there a few minutes ago. Sluiced in perfume. Oh joy. But maybe it won’t give me a horrible headache and sinus congestion this time – I mean, a 6-hour flight will just zip by, right?

There was a glimmer of hope that she’d move when her travelling partner (spouse, boyfriend…?) came up and said there were two seats together in the back.

She didn’t even hesitate in her refusal. And, really, who could blame her? I don’t think there’s anyone I could possibly love enough to trade “up front” comfy seats for “in back” cramped seats for 6 hours. If our relationship couldn’t survive 6 hours apart, well, that’s even more reason not to make the comfy-cramped trade.

So, while her perfume (which is a lovely scent in and of itself) is rather irritating, I definitely gotta give her serious props for sticking where she is.

Ok…the flight attendant just took my order of beef tenderloin (like how I just slid that in there?) and I’m going to read for a while.

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Day 1 (Sept 12/19): On my way!! (Or…What am I forgetting…?)

Normally, I’m a pretty organized traveler. While I don’t start packing in advance, I have my lists ready wayyyyyy ahead of when I need them.

I am a bit of a list queen, I have to admit. Not because my world would collapse if I didn’t have lists, but because I would forget everything if I didn’t have them. I have discovered this from sad experience.

Enough experiences that you would think I would learn.

I suppose I do learn. But I also forget. (Does forgetting negate the learning?)

There have been too many times when I’ve convinced myself I could swing it. Lists are for sissies!!!

Yeah, well…that’s never worked out for me.

Serious kudos to those of you who can keep everything up there in the ol’ grey matter and access it whenever you need it. That is a gift.

But it’s not a gift I have. So I make lists.

This time, though, I only half sort of started a list a few days ago. And put it aside. In fact I couldn’t even remember where it was so this morning I started a new one.

Did you catch that? THIS MORNING!!!

I didn’t start my list in earnest until this morning. The morning of the day I am travelling.

Man, I am living on the edge!!! (I so don’t live on the edge. I can barely see the edge…And I like it that way.)

Anyway, I got the list done, did all the last errands I had and, right down to the wire, got the packing done.

Hmmm…actually, I was late packing….yup….there it is.

I was so late packing, I forgot to run through my list to see if I had forgotten anything. And, as I wrote that last paragraph, sitting here at the airport waiting for my plane, I remembered that I forgot my hair dryer.

I had thought about it several times. And even headed off to get it a few times. But as you may recall, I get distracted easily and now, voilà – no hair dryer!!

Oh well!

I’m pretty sure (I say, chuckling at my likely delusional optimism) I didn’t forget anything else…

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What’s that whirring sound? (Or…Am I going to have an expensive plumbing bill?)

I put a load of laundry in the washing machine a couple of hours ago. I live in an open-concept condo so the laundry closet is within easy hearing distance. Most of it isn’t at all distracting or disruptive – it’s just the final spin that requires the volume to go up on the TV.

So, as you can imagine, I’m quite familiar with the sound of the various stages it goes through.

Tonight…well, there was a different sound. There was a new, high-pitched, whirring sound. It wasn’t super loud or anything. It was just … there. And it’s not usually there. So it caught my attention.

The first thing I thought was, “Dang it… I filled it too full.”

Being the queen of efficiency, rather than having to do two separate, small loads, I put everything into the one load. I thought, then, that I had maybe filled it a titch too full. Not crazy full. But more so than I usually do and a friend and I were recently talking about flooding washing machines and such, so my mind couldn’t help but go to a place of “Uh oh…”

I tried to talk myself out of it for a while – “It’s fine. You’re being paranoid. Don’t worry about it.”

But, after about half an hour, the whirring eventually won out and I got up to go check.

I opened the doors and listened. I could hear the whirring still, but it wasn’t coming from the washing machine. It was coming from behind me – the spare bedroom.

I can’t quite say if I was more relieved that the washing machine wasn’t about to explode and flood everything on the even of my much-anticipated trip to the Emerald Isle or more confused as to what the heckledy schmeckeldy could possibly be making that noise in the spare room.

I turned around and looked in. There are no “machines” to speak of in there – the router, a telephone and a TV. Nothing “whirrable”. But the sound was most definitely coming from there.

Huh.

Then I looked further in. The window was open. Ahhhhhh yes.

There was a lovely cool breeze this evening and I had opened both bedroom windows to get a nice cross breeze going – something other than AC air for the first time in a couple of months.

But I had forgotten the windows were open. Oops!

So, yeah…no explosion. No flood.

Just somebody doing some work outside, with what sounded like maybe a circular saw, oblivious to the state of anxiety and confusion they had innocently caused.

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It’s not what you see…it’s what you SEE.

This is my view when I’m working or crafting in my den.

Your first thought might be, “Well, that’s nothing to get excited about – it’s a parking lot.”

And, technically, you would be correct.

But it’s also a voyeuristic peek into the theatre of life.

“Whoa there! You’re getting seriously corny now. Back off with the hyperbole, would ya??!”

I know…but it’s true.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, on a Friday afternoon, I saw a big SUV pull up. A couple of young women got out and a couple of other young women from my building came out, laden with backpacks and such. To say they were excited would be a serious understatement.

It was a beautiful day – the start of what promised to be a beautiful weekend and I immediately thought, “Girls trip!”

I couldn’t help but be affected the excitement of their moment. I was immediately thrown back in time to girls’ weekends I have participated in and a flood of wonderful memories washed over me.

My main cast of characters, though, are of the “lower” orders of Kingdom Animalia. Squirrels, birds, chipmunks, caterpillars, flies, and – oddly, for apparently a one-day-only showing – two cats.

The caterpillars were a fleeting seasonal thing, but when they were here, boy oh boy, were there a ton of them. I don’t normally mind caterpillars – I enjoy watching their furry little bodies inching along. But there were so many that I would have to say that their show bordered on the Stephen King side of things. But still, it was a free show and they didn’t eat all the leaves off the trees, so who am I to complain?

The birds – robins, mostly – have their annual shows in the spring. Wherever they’ve been before that, they have most definitely been well-fed. No scrawny, starving actors in that troupe! They proudly show off their red rotundity for all to see!

The chipmunks are the primary stars, though. They are around from spring, through summer and into fall. They are quite active and constantly alert! I don’t know how many of them are around – there might just be one or two repeats or there could be a bunch of different ones. They flit around so much that it’s hard to notice individual markings. In my head, though, there’s just one and, with my genius creative mind, I have named him Chippy.

Just yesterday, though, Chippy perched on the window well for quite a while and had a LOT to say in his monosyllabic chirpy voice. His favourite place seems to be at the exit of the downspout, though. Frequently my attention will be grabbed as I see his head pop out and up from there. (I’ve tried to get a picture of him – them? – but he’s just too fast. They’ve all come out blurry.)

The weather can be a character in and of itself, too. Beautiful, sunny days show the traverse of the sun – through shadows, as my window faces mostly north. Wind and rain or snow evoke a sense of coziness and gratitude for the warmth inside. Fog reminds me of growing up. Even if there are no living characters in the scene, weather can inspire feelings as strong as the most populated stage!

All that to say, while the parking lot, in and of itself, ain’t no great shakes to look at, the view from where I sit is really quite grand after all.

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