We were at Tyson's cousin's place in Letterkenny, Ireland, in the early afternoon when the baby woke up from his morning nap. We had a big lunch of authentic Irish stew with mashed spuds, for them this may not be a special meal because it is a common one but for us it was new and delicious. We ate while the baby entertained us with his cuteness. Tyson`s cousin`s husband also came home from work for lunch which was a nice break in the day. After our tummies were filled to the rim, we headed out to the beach area of town and even though it was not warm by anyone`s standards, the place was still very nice to look at. The rain held up for the most part. We drove to Tyson Aunt's house in Muff (near Derry) where they have a dairy farm.
Some of Tyson`s cousins were hard at work on the farm and his other cousin had to run off to work herself so we were able to watch her son again. It was time to milk the cows so we went outside to herd them into the milking parlour. We had to stand at the end of the lane and block the road to send them in the right direction. Tyson wanted to help his cousin with milking so we all walked up to the milking parlour and jumped in. The cows are brought into the room ten at a time on either side of the pit and move into individual stalls where they are given feed to keep them occupied during the milking process. Each cow then gets its udders cleaned with a soapy rag and has four sucction cups attached to them to pump the milk. It is pumped into a holding jar that can hold up to twenty litres (roughly two cows worth) of milk before it gets transferred to the large holding tank. After the pumping is finished the suction cups are removed and the udders are sprayed with an iodine solution that prevents infection. This process is repeated until all the cows have been milked. The cows are then moved into a holding barn before getting herded back down the lane to the fields. The whole process takes about two hours and is repeated twice daily. I was carrying the baby so I watched and it was a fairly quick process but apparently there are bigger farms that have computerized systems for more cows.
We went back to Tyson's cousin's place in Letterkenny that night and Tyson went to work helping to fertilize some land in a big John Deer tracktor. I stayed back and baby sat a little for the afternoon shift. The baby and I went for a walk through some of the countryside where he intelligently pointed out many of the animals and the sounds they make. We came back to the house and enjoyed dinner together with Tyson's cousin. After the baby went to bed, we watched some television but both of us fell asleep on the couch and napped until the boys got home. We learned about a kidney transplant that Tyson's cousin has had several years ago. Her story is an amazing and inspiring one. She found out her kidneys were failing badly by accident as an adult and her life changed instantly. She went on dialysis for a few years and then as a result of a horribly unfortunate crime she and seven other individuals recieved the organs they needed to save their lives. In short, a very young man and his friend brutally murdered two men older than themselves in Dublin Ireland. The two men were stabbed through the temple and into the brain with screwdrivers over a tiny scuffle and their lives ended. As a result of their family's generosity however, their organs were donated and many people benefitted. It is a story that really touched me because there was light at the end of this tragedy.
In the morning, we babysat for a few hours and we really enjoyed it, the child is at a very fun age and his character is warm and funny. After breakfast Tyson's cousin brought us to the farm in Muff again and we had a tour of the grounds. We saw the dozens of baby calves who were only weeks old. They were frightened of us when we first entered but they warmed up to us after a few minutes and were even suckling on our fingers and letting us pet them. They are very cute with their big brown eyes and soft fur. We saw the chickens who were not scared of us at all and we fed them dry grass stems. We walked along a small river and took a look at all the big machinery that helps with all the work there is to be done. We walked up the hill to another fair sized piece of property with an old and destroyed house on it. It was the home of Tyson's grandfather's cousin. She has passed away now but the home was looted several times by hooligans who stole copper piping among other goodies that they could sell. As a result the place flooded and over time, the damage worsened. We walked around the area and Tyson was afraid the place was haunted so we left.
Back at the farm, we met another one of Tyson's six cousins in the area. He is married and has a beautiful daughter. She has huge bright blue eyes and makes you melt when she smiles, which she does a lot. It took her a few minutes to warm up to us but when she did, it was worth the wait. We spent some time with her while the boys were outside doing silage. Twice a year, they have to cut, gather and pile up grass to save for the cows' winter feed. This is a big job that can take several workers several days. The weather has to be dry so when there is no rain, they work hard to get it done. This is what the men of the family were doing most of the time we were visiting, only coming in for little bits at a time for meals. They worked from the early morning until the middle of the nights everyday to get it done.
That night, Tyson's Aunty and Uncle came home from their vacation and we got to see them. Tyson's Aunty and I went out and she bought us chips and hawaian burgers for a later dinner. We ate back at the house and caught up until the middle of the night when we all passed out.
The next day we all ate "dinner" together. "Dinner" is what we would call lunch, and what we would call dinner is called "tea" so this was a bit confusing at first but we caught on. After we had eaten dinner, Tyson's cousin, her baby, Tyson's Aunty, Tyson and I went out for the day to Derry. It is a nearby city that is well known. We explored the old wall that is still intact, we walked over the peace bridge which is new and very impressive looking. We went into a small church where the greeter took one look at me and asked me if I wanted a Spanish pamphlet. We met two people impersonating old soldiers, at first we were not sure if they were really actors but by the end of the conversation we realized that they must be. One other lady who also met them was completely buying their stories about the war and such. We stopped at the tourism office to find out about transportation to Dublin to catch our flight but they were not terribly helpful. In Derry, there are also a lot of extremist religious people fighting with each other. There was a really bad time of bombs and bloodshed that seems to have gotten better with time but some people say it is getting bad again. We saw many young people loittering about and being annoying by muttering things to people or even throwing things as people passed. Boredom seemed to be a part of the problem there.
Back at the farm, we had our tea with one of Tyson's cousins before he ran back outside to continue with the silage. They continued their work throughout the day and night until three am. At around midnight we brought them out tea, sandwhiches and snacks for energy. They finished the bulk of the work that night. In the morning, we were did not do much but just read and hung out. We ate dinner with everybody including a lot of family who came by. Almost all the cousins, kids and in laws were present. After eating a lot of food and sweets, the boys (including Tyson) went outside to cover the huge pile of silage with a tarp and hundreds of old tires. This took a couple of hours and when they came back inside in the afternoon, Tyson's Aunty took us out to see some more of the beautiful country. In addition to seeing the stunning scenery of greens and blues on the way, we went to Malinhead which is the most Northernly point of the country. The wind was so strong there that it was pushing us around. The lookouts to the country were really breathtaking and there were many other people there enjoying it as well. Dozens of people had written their names with white stones along the mountain for others to see.
After some shopping and errands, we came back to the farm where Tyson and I drove the quad bike around for a while. At first Tyson drove and then when I figured it out a bit I took over. It was great fun and we even took it over to Tyson's cousin's place nearby for a visit. This is the same cousin who has the beautiful daughter. We visited with them for a while and got a tour around their lovely home. We ate tea with them which was chips and burgers from the local chip shop. It started to pour rain so we passed on driving the quad and got a ride back to the farm where we slept.
On our last day with the family, we went into Buncrana which is a nearby town for some grocery shopping. Shopping for that many people must be difficult, but Tyson's Aunty who has been doing it for years, makes it look easy. We changed some cash from Euros to Pounds for our upcoming currency transition at an apparently crappy rate and head home. Tyson's Aunty and one of his cousins were heading to Canada that night as well. Their plan was to drive to Belfast and then catch the bus down to Dublin from there. Since we were leaving from Dublin as well, we caught a ride with them to Belfast where it would be closer for us to take the bus to Dublin. They were not leaving until the next day so we got dropped off at the bus station in Belfast. I slept during the ride down but I am sure that it was gorgeous. We said good bye there and ran to catch our bus. By the time we bought our tickets to get on and organized ourselves a bit, we watched the nasty bus driver drive away while ushering to us that we would have to wait. So we got a chance to explore the most boring city in the world called Belfast. I walked around with a camera trying to look for something to take a photo of in an effort to remember the city but it was hopeless. So we caught the next bus for the three hour ride to Dublin. We had a great time with family in Ireland but it went by too fast. It was a perfect visit for us and we got to do everything that we wanted to.
As opposed to Belfast, Dublin is a super exciting and interesting city. We arrived very late at night and decided to walk to my friend's house. About nine years ago, I worked for a marketing company in Vancouver where I met some Irish friends. I became closer with one girl in particular and it was her that we stayed with for one night in Ireland. We asked about five people for directions and each one told us that we should not be walking around with all of our belongings at that time of night in a place like Dublin. Since Dublin did not look half as scary as many of the other places we had been, we decided to ignore their suggestions. We did try to walk fast however and it still took us about an hour to reach her place. We arrived around midnight and my friend greeted us warmly. She had been very ill for a few days prior to our visit and she had not improved by the time we arrived but she was still very gracious and offered us drinks and dinner which we drank and ate. We caught up about nine years of life in a couple of hours and then she insisted that we take her bed while she slept on a cot. Yes, she is a very hospitable friend.
The next morning after some cereal and coffee for breakfast, my friend helped us to print off and mark a map to plan our day. We walked back into the city which looked a lot different in the daylight. We visited nearly everything on our list including the Dublin castle, Christchurch cathedral among many other churches and cathedrals including one that has been in operation for 800 years. Each had similarities, differences and unique stories that made them stand out amongst their peers. We stopped at the Guiness brewery at St. James Gate for some photos but we did not go inside for many reasons including that we heard it sucks. We continued to the Jameson Distillery and then to the St. Michen's church and crypts. From there we walked to the main tourist shopping area called O'Connell street where I bought a new pair of jeans. We took photos with the extremely tall and pointy sphire monument. We arranged to meet my friend for dinner at a restaurant called Marco something or other restaurant (I cannot remember the name). A couple of young guys who we asked for directions from told us that it is the most famous restaurant in the country with a highly respected chef so we were in for a treat. We walked through Trinity University grounds where the book of kells is kept, before heading over to the restaurant. The whole city is architecurally beautiful, the people were very friendly, the shops were unique and interesting and we had a great time. One day was definitely not enough to explore the place.
Luckily we changed out of our grubby clothes before we got to the restaurant because it was a very fine one indeed. The chef is most famous for making chef Gordon Ramsay cry. We ate steaks and chips and cokes out of glass bottles which were all very delicious but the best part was the desserts. Between the three of us we had a strawberry, merangue and ice cream dish, a chocolate, white cream and rasberry set dessert, and a creme broullet. It was all very unforgettable. We had great conversations to continuous Madonna hits (her concert was that night in town). Following this fantastic meal, my friend drove us to the airport and sent us on our way. It was great to see her and she went above and beyond (while being very sick) to take care of us.
We caught our last Ryan Air flight to Edinburgh, Scotland which is our thirty seventh country thus far. Because Tyson's aunt had kindly taken a lot of our belongings with her to Canada, we did not have to put on all of our clothing or hide our weight so everything went rather smoothly. In an effort to spend the last of our euros, we bought a few candy bars and a big golden coin from Starbucks but I can safely say that it was definitely not money well spent.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
Some of Tyson`s cousins were hard at work on the farm and his other cousin had to run off to work herself so we were able to watch her son again. It was time to milk the cows so we went outside to herd them into the milking parlour. We had to stand at the end of the lane and block the road to send them in the right direction. Tyson wanted to help his cousin with milking so we all walked up to the milking parlour and jumped in. The cows are brought into the room ten at a time on either side of the pit and move into individual stalls where they are given feed to keep them occupied during the milking process. Each cow then gets its udders cleaned with a soapy rag and has four sucction cups attached to them to pump the milk. It is pumped into a holding jar that can hold up to twenty litres (roughly two cows worth) of milk before it gets transferred to the large holding tank. After the pumping is finished the suction cups are removed and the udders are sprayed with an iodine solution that prevents infection. This process is repeated until all the cows have been milked. The cows are then moved into a holding barn before getting herded back down the lane to the fields. The whole process takes about two hours and is repeated twice daily. I was carrying the baby so I watched and it was a fairly quick process but apparently there are bigger farms that have computerized systems for more cows.
We went back to Tyson's cousin's place in Letterkenny that night and Tyson went to work helping to fertilize some land in a big John Deer tracktor. I stayed back and baby sat a little for the afternoon shift. The baby and I went for a walk through some of the countryside where he intelligently pointed out many of the animals and the sounds they make. We came back to the house and enjoyed dinner together with Tyson's cousin. After the baby went to bed, we watched some television but both of us fell asleep on the couch and napped until the boys got home. We learned about a kidney transplant that Tyson's cousin has had several years ago. Her story is an amazing and inspiring one. She found out her kidneys were failing badly by accident as an adult and her life changed instantly. She went on dialysis for a few years and then as a result of a horribly unfortunate crime she and seven other individuals recieved the organs they needed to save their lives. In short, a very young man and his friend brutally murdered two men older than themselves in Dublin Ireland. The two men were stabbed through the temple and into the brain with screwdrivers over a tiny scuffle and their lives ended. As a result of their family's generosity however, their organs were donated and many people benefitted. It is a story that really touched me because there was light at the end of this tragedy.
In the morning, we babysat for a few hours and we really enjoyed it, the child is at a very fun age and his character is warm and funny. After breakfast Tyson's cousin brought us to the farm in Muff again and we had a tour of the grounds. We saw the dozens of baby calves who were only weeks old. They were frightened of us when we first entered but they warmed up to us after a few minutes and were even suckling on our fingers and letting us pet them. They are very cute with their big brown eyes and soft fur. We saw the chickens who were not scared of us at all and we fed them dry grass stems. We walked along a small river and took a look at all the big machinery that helps with all the work there is to be done. We walked up the hill to another fair sized piece of property with an old and destroyed house on it. It was the home of Tyson's grandfather's cousin. She has passed away now but the home was looted several times by hooligans who stole copper piping among other goodies that they could sell. As a result the place flooded and over time, the damage worsened. We walked around the area and Tyson was afraid the place was haunted so we left.
Back at the farm, we met another one of Tyson's six cousins in the area. He is married and has a beautiful daughter. She has huge bright blue eyes and makes you melt when she smiles, which she does a lot. It took her a few minutes to warm up to us but when she did, it was worth the wait. We spent some time with her while the boys were outside doing silage. Twice a year, they have to cut, gather and pile up grass to save for the cows' winter feed. This is a big job that can take several workers several days. The weather has to be dry so when there is no rain, they work hard to get it done. This is what the men of the family were doing most of the time we were visiting, only coming in for little bits at a time for meals. They worked from the early morning until the middle of the nights everyday to get it done.
That night, Tyson's Aunty and Uncle came home from their vacation and we got to see them. Tyson's Aunty and I went out and she bought us chips and hawaian burgers for a later dinner. We ate back at the house and caught up until the middle of the night when we all passed out.
The next day we all ate "dinner" together. "Dinner" is what we would call lunch, and what we would call dinner is called "tea" so this was a bit confusing at first but we caught on. After we had eaten dinner, Tyson's cousin, her baby, Tyson's Aunty, Tyson and I went out for the day to Derry. It is a nearby city that is well known. We explored the old wall that is still intact, we walked over the peace bridge which is new and very impressive looking. We went into a small church where the greeter took one look at me and asked me if I wanted a Spanish pamphlet. We met two people impersonating old soldiers, at first we were not sure if they were really actors but by the end of the conversation we realized that they must be. One other lady who also met them was completely buying their stories about the war and such. We stopped at the tourism office to find out about transportation to Dublin to catch our flight but they were not terribly helpful. In Derry, there are also a lot of extremist religious people fighting with each other. There was a really bad time of bombs and bloodshed that seems to have gotten better with time but some people say it is getting bad again. We saw many young people loittering about and being annoying by muttering things to people or even throwing things as people passed. Boredom seemed to be a part of the problem there.
Back at the farm, we had our tea with one of Tyson's cousins before he ran back outside to continue with the silage. They continued their work throughout the day and night until three am. At around midnight we brought them out tea, sandwhiches and snacks for energy. They finished the bulk of the work that night. In the morning, we were did not do much but just read and hung out. We ate dinner with everybody including a lot of family who came by. Almost all the cousins, kids and in laws were present. After eating a lot of food and sweets, the boys (including Tyson) went outside to cover the huge pile of silage with a tarp and hundreds of old tires. This took a couple of hours and when they came back inside in the afternoon, Tyson's Aunty took us out to see some more of the beautiful country. In addition to seeing the stunning scenery of greens and blues on the way, we went to Malinhead which is the most Northernly point of the country. The wind was so strong there that it was pushing us around. The lookouts to the country were really breathtaking and there were many other people there enjoying it as well. Dozens of people had written their names with white stones along the mountain for others to see.
After some shopping and errands, we came back to the farm where Tyson and I drove the quad bike around for a while. At first Tyson drove and then when I figured it out a bit I took over. It was great fun and we even took it over to Tyson's cousin's place nearby for a visit. This is the same cousin who has the beautiful daughter. We visited with them for a while and got a tour around their lovely home. We ate tea with them which was chips and burgers from the local chip shop. It started to pour rain so we passed on driving the quad and got a ride back to the farm where we slept.
On our last day with the family, we went into Buncrana which is a nearby town for some grocery shopping. Shopping for that many people must be difficult, but Tyson's Aunty who has been doing it for years, makes it look easy. We changed some cash from Euros to Pounds for our upcoming currency transition at an apparently crappy rate and head home. Tyson's Aunty and one of his cousins were heading to Canada that night as well. Their plan was to drive to Belfast and then catch the bus down to Dublin from there. Since we were leaving from Dublin as well, we caught a ride with them to Belfast where it would be closer for us to take the bus to Dublin. They were not leaving until the next day so we got dropped off at the bus station in Belfast. I slept during the ride down but I am sure that it was gorgeous. We said good bye there and ran to catch our bus. By the time we bought our tickets to get on and organized ourselves a bit, we watched the nasty bus driver drive away while ushering to us that we would have to wait. So we got a chance to explore the most boring city in the world called Belfast. I walked around with a camera trying to look for something to take a photo of in an effort to remember the city but it was hopeless. So we caught the next bus for the three hour ride to Dublin. We had a great time with family in Ireland but it went by too fast. It was a perfect visit for us and we got to do everything that we wanted to.
As opposed to Belfast, Dublin is a super exciting and interesting city. We arrived very late at night and decided to walk to my friend's house. About nine years ago, I worked for a marketing company in Vancouver where I met some Irish friends. I became closer with one girl in particular and it was her that we stayed with for one night in Ireland. We asked about five people for directions and each one told us that we should not be walking around with all of our belongings at that time of night in a place like Dublin. Since Dublin did not look half as scary as many of the other places we had been, we decided to ignore their suggestions. We did try to walk fast however and it still took us about an hour to reach her place. We arrived around midnight and my friend greeted us warmly. She had been very ill for a few days prior to our visit and she had not improved by the time we arrived but she was still very gracious and offered us drinks and dinner which we drank and ate. We caught up about nine years of life in a couple of hours and then she insisted that we take her bed while she slept on a cot. Yes, she is a very hospitable friend.
The next morning after some cereal and coffee for breakfast, my friend helped us to print off and mark a map to plan our day. We walked back into the city which looked a lot different in the daylight. We visited nearly everything on our list including the Dublin castle, Christchurch cathedral among many other churches and cathedrals including one that has been in operation for 800 years. Each had similarities, differences and unique stories that made them stand out amongst their peers. We stopped at the Guiness brewery at St. James Gate for some photos but we did not go inside for many reasons including that we heard it sucks. We continued to the Jameson Distillery and then to the St. Michen's church and crypts. From there we walked to the main tourist shopping area called O'Connell street where I bought a new pair of jeans. We took photos with the extremely tall and pointy sphire monument. We arranged to meet my friend for dinner at a restaurant called Marco something or other restaurant (I cannot remember the name). A couple of young guys who we asked for directions from told us that it is the most famous restaurant in the country with a highly respected chef so we were in for a treat. We walked through Trinity University grounds where the book of kells is kept, before heading over to the restaurant. The whole city is architecurally beautiful, the people were very friendly, the shops were unique and interesting and we had a great time. One day was definitely not enough to explore the place.
Luckily we changed out of our grubby clothes before we got to the restaurant because it was a very fine one indeed. The chef is most famous for making chef Gordon Ramsay cry. We ate steaks and chips and cokes out of glass bottles which were all very delicious but the best part was the desserts. Between the three of us we had a strawberry, merangue and ice cream dish, a chocolate, white cream and rasberry set dessert, and a creme broullet. It was all very unforgettable. We had great conversations to continuous Madonna hits (her concert was that night in town). Following this fantastic meal, my friend drove us to the airport and sent us on our way. It was great to see her and she went above and beyond (while being very sick) to take care of us.
We caught our last Ryan Air flight to Edinburgh, Scotland which is our thirty seventh country thus far. Because Tyson's aunt had kindly taken a lot of our belongings with her to Canada, we did not have to put on all of our clothing or hide our weight so everything went rather smoothly. In an effort to spend the last of our euros, we bought a few candy bars and a big golden coin from Starbucks but I can safely say that it was definitely not money well spent.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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