December now in Northern Ireland

This post will be a catch up of several weeks.
It is now nearly Christmas.  It has taken some time to get a few more photos on this blog.  During Mom and Helen's visit we took in a show in Belfast with Irish dancing and Irish music.  It was wonderful.  My favorite part was two young people playing their bohrans (Celtic drums).  They were all so very talented. 

And then came a later fall than we are used to in Saskatchewan.  It was truly glorious with such wonderful colours.  Even after the leaves had fallen, many tree trunks are covered with ivy which stays green throughout the winter.  Mom, Helen and I spent an afternoon walking at Mount
Stewart. 

The white stag stood out so clearly against the red maples in the background. 

Helen was amazed by the height of this tree.  With her standing beside it, you have a good idea of how tall the tree really is.  It must be all the rain that allows trees to grow so tall. 

We went for dinner at the Old Inn in Crawfordsburn.  Helen and Dave and Mom are sitting on a bench outside the front of the inn. 

This is the lobby in the Inn.  There was a fire going in the fireplace as you came in.  There were also fireplaces scattered throughout the various rooms - pub and dining rooms.  For you C.S. Lewis fans, this is where C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham came and stayed for their honeymoon.  

What a beautiful day we had to explore the Walled Garden outside the Bangor Castle.  The Garden was just opened up to the public about 6 years ago so it was very interesting to see.
One part was for vegetables, one part for a rock garden, another area for fruit trees and vines, and another section for flowers.  It is amazing to see flowers blooming in the middle of November.  The gardeners were hard at work planting primroses that would bloom through the winter. 

Helen was delighted to find a holly bush complete with berries.  There were lovely walking trails outside the Walled Garden through the Castle grounds. 

We are back on the North Coast looking down at the sea from the cliffs over the Giant's Causeway.  Once again we had a beautiful day to explore the area together. 

Here is Helen, Mom and Dave down on the shore close to the basalt columns.  Helen and Mom were great travellers.  We had a good time together.  We rented a "self catering" cottage for the weekend. 

You can see Dave's back as he walks down to look at Dunluce castle, or the remains of it.  In the 1600's they were having a banquet at the castle and part of the cliff gave way taking the kitchens with it into the sea.  Shortly after the castle was abandoned. 

We couldn't keep Helen and Mom from the beaches.  We spent an afternoon in Portrush, had lunch in an amazing restaurant then headed to the beach for a walk.  There is just something about being near the sea, especially on a nice day. 

The sun is setting and this shot is looking back at Portrush where we had been. 

We went by the Bushmills Distillery but were too late for a tour so just checked out the gift shop.

As we were driving home via the north coast there was a detour and way out in the middle of nowhere was St. Killian's School.  It was an impressive looking place. 

One of our excursions when Dave was in school was to the Ulster Folk Museum.  The Museum is like King's Landing or Upper Canada Village where they have people in period costumes acting out the parts of various people in the village. 

One of the houses had the wardrobe open and period clothes hanging ready to wear.  My teacher curiousity was on full alert when I learned that school children get to come and stay in the village for a couple of days.  There are dormitories for students, their teachers and parent chaperones to stay in.  They are given period costumes to wear and get to learn first hand about the workings of a village from the early 1900's.  It is about the same time period as the displays at Government House in Regina. 

Mom Gorrie is just about to go into the garden in front of the Rectory, one of the nicest houses in the village. 

This shot was taken of one of the streets in the village. 
It was chilly the day we visited so most of the buildings
had fires burning in the fireplaces - some wood and some
coal.  It is definitely on the list of places to revisit. 

Daylight is nearly gone by 4:30 each afternoon. Here Mom is standing close to the shore in Groomsport.  Just after this we headed to Newtownards to pick up Dave from work. 

First snowfall of the year.  It melted within a few days.  We have quite a bit more snow now - maybe 4 or 5 inches.  Our neighbours say they have never seen this much snow in their lives.  Of course the children are loving it because school is canceled and they get to play in the snow.  There are great snowmen everywhere. 

Mom and Helen left for Canada Nov. 17th.  The next day Dave and I ended up in A & E (Emergency ward) at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.  I was admitted with gall bladder problems and stayed in hospital for two weeks as they checked and sorted me out.  We call it "Marion's home away from home".

In the middle of my time there I got to go home for 2 nights.  Here is Dave bringing me back to the hospital.  I thought this corridor was very much like  corridors in hospitals everywhere.  I did receive excellent care while there.
Dave did double duty working then getting to the hospital
each evening for a visit. 

Here is my corner of Ward 8.  There were 6 of us on the ward and I met some lovely Irish ladies while there.  The next step will be for me to have surgery to remove the gall bladder.  Hopefully that will occur early in the New Year. 

With my being in the hospital and then recuperating at home, it seemed like we hadn't been to the sea for too long.  This is just outside Groomsport and a high tide.  It was wonderful to watch the waves crashing onto the rocks. 









Here is Dave checking out the rocks on the shore.                                                                           Dave and I want to wish all of you a Very Merry
                                                                                    Christmas and a wonderful New Year in 2011. 

Mid-November in Northern Ireland

 November News

We had a great visit with our nephew, James Walker, who is teaching in a school just outside of London for this year.  He came and spent the half-term break visiting with us.  His birthday fell within that time so we did some celebrating with  dinner out at the Old Inn in Crawfordsburn, founded in 1614.  It was an amazing place to celebrate his birthday.    Isn't he looking great?  He is on a bench outside the Inn, made out of an oak barrel. 

We set out for Dublin with our wee yellow
submarine and spent 3 days exploring the
sights of that fair city.  Dublin is a city of
approximately 1 million people and
is busy, but has a nice feel to it.  I loved the
vines with red leaves growing on so many
buildings. 












A popular stop for tourists visiting Dublin is the
Guiness Storehouse.  The tour was excellent and finished up with a pint in the Observation tower at the top of the storehouse where you can look out and see all around the city.  Dave claims the Guiness tastes better there than anywhere else he has tasted it. 

This is in the inside of the Storehouse and there
is a wall of water running behind James and I.
As we learned with the making of scotch whiskey, the right water is critical to the success of the brew. 

Those of you who are fans of Os Guiness'
writing might or might not know that he is related to the Guinesses of Dublin. 

The Ha'Penny Bridge over the Liffey River. 
Like a toll bridge, people crossing over had
to pay a ha'penny.   
As James and Dave have demonstrated in the
next photo, people had a way of avoiding
paying the full toll. 

This is the corner of Dublin where you find the Temple Bar.  The surrounding area is alive at night with people on the streets and pubs and restaurants everywhere.  

Once again we prairie people enjoyed a sunset, this time over the Liffey River running through Dublin.  

James is a big fan of U2 and knew of a hotel owned and lived in by Bono.  He had heard that the band members can sometimes be seen in the pub when they are around home.  So we settled in for some tea in a back room of the pub but no Bono to be seen.  It was a lovely quiet spot with a fire going in the fireplace.  The tea was good too!  

Here is "Sweet Molly Malone" on the street in Dublin.

On our second day we signed up for a walking tour led
by a Trinity College PHD grad in History.  He took us
about the streets and buildings of the city and gave us
a good grounding in the history of Ireland and Dublin. 
It was 3 hours well spent. 

James headed back to London and Dave headed back to work.  I continued my "life of leisure".  I finished up a course assignment and did some reading to get ready for the next. 

A few days later Mom Gorrie and her friend
Helen arrived.  This photo is of their first glimpse
of the Irish Sea.  It was a cloudy day but fine for walking.  They were just delighted to be able to walk on the beach and see the sea.  It is lovely for us to have them here. 

This is Dave and Mom waiting for the ferry at Portaferry.  We ventured to Newcastle and the Mourne Mountains once again.  This time it wasn't raining - hurray!  It grows on you living so close to the sea - there is a lovely rythmn to the tides.  

We got right down onto the beach in Newcastle and this photo shows why they say it is where the mountains come down to greet the sea.  It must be a lovely place in the summer.  

We stopped in Downpatrick and went to see the "grave" of St. Patrick in the graveyard next to the Cathedral.  This tree was so interesting with its branches stretching to the sky, covered with ivy vines.

We stopped for "gas" and I went in to prepay for some gas.  I handed the girl at the till my Visa and asked if I could buy some "gas".  She asked if I had a gas card.  I said no, was there a problem with using Visa?  She asked again if I had a gas card. I said that I had paid with my Visa before and all of a sudden her eyes lit up and she said "fuel" - that was it.  Gas is what you use in your furnace at home.  Interesting moment!









Katie and Joel Mason had told us about car boot sales and we had seen signs advertising them, but we found one to visit.  It is just what it says -   People drive up with their cars to a parking lot and set out the things they want to sell.  There are so very few garages here so they use car boot sales instead.  

Mom Gorrie and Helen and I set off for Belfast and did a bus tour of the city.  Dave and I had done the tour earlier with Viv and Keith, but it is hard to take everything in at once.  So, we enjoyed the tour.  This is a sculpture at the head of the Queen's Bridge.  The locals call her several names:
   The Doll with the Ball
   The Thing with the Ring
   The Girl with the Whirl 

I took a photo of the smallest house in Belfast.  It was the manse, attached to a church.  It was the home of the minister and his family.  I only hope that it is long to compensate for how narrow it is.   

This second shot shows just how the house is dwarfed by the church - Great Victoria Street Baptist Church.

Something I learned this time through was that the high walls separating the Catholic and Protestant areas (called Peace Walls) are not just from many years ago, they are still being built today.  A new one was completed just 7 months ago. 
I think the peace process still has a way to go. 

We found a lovely little tea shop after our bus tour. 
It is chilly now - it is November.  A cup of tea or a
bowl of soup is very welcome after being out for a while. 

Then we headed to Victoria Square.  All you shoppers would love the place.  It is a shopping center, but designed on several intersecting levels.  Escalators zip you up and down from level to level.  There is an observation deck on top that you ride up to in a glass elevator.  That is where Mom and Helen are standing, with the hills in the background. 

More adventures to follow - stay tuned............

October in Northern Ireland - Oct. 17, 2010 - The Adventure Continues

This is where I spend some time each Monday with a group of ladies who have been meeting to swim together for many years.  It is out in the middle of the country, built behind a private home but rented out for various groups.   I am appreciative of the chance to meet some ladies here. They have been a great source of advice - like where to buy a warm coat; where to find a good doctor; where to get a hair cut, etc. 







School begins for children at age 4 in Northern Ireland.   I walked by the playground just as the 4's were on their way home.  They do full days every day but Monday when they go home at 1pm.            I love the childrens' school uniforms - they all look so cute - at all ages.  There is also so much red hair about.  I asked the parents if I could take a few photos of the kids playing in their uniforms. 

Big sister with her school uniform and the little sister, not quite ready for school yet. 

Every town we have driven through has a nice playground for kids.  They are always fenced and some overlook the Irish Sea - what a great place to spend time swinging and playing. 

This was an interesting kind of merry-go-round which several kids could ride on at the same time.  There was some discussion about whose turn it should be.  That seemed very familiar. 

Parents and Grandparents are there to pick up children after school.  There are no school buses for primary students.  The local school has an after-school program as well for parents that are working. 

Some of the Movilla High students were invited to a fancy reception at City Hall in Belfast because they were involved in a project to refurbish an old greenhouse area in the school.  They had received a grant from a lottery fund and along with other projects, they were invited to an evening to showcase the results of the funding.  It was held in a gorgeous ballroom in City Hall. 

Here is Dave just making his way into the central rotunda
of the City Hall.  It was an impressive building built in the late 1800's.  At the time many people opposed the money being spent on it, but it is a city treasure now. 

We went to the Waterfront Theatre in Belfast to hear the Ulster Symphony play.  It was quite a new building and beautiful.  You can see we were in the nosebleed section, but the music sounded wonderful even there. 

One of the beauties of fall - hydrangea in so many different colours.  This plant was a lovely fuschia colour with purple-blue centers. 

This beautiful beach with sand dunes behind it was on the Irish Sea near Cloughey.  It was a beautiful sunny, warm fall day. 

Here we are back in Portaferry, looking at the town from the ferry.  The ferry ride is only 10 minutes to get across to Strangford. 

Just south of Strangford is Castle Ward, a castle built by Lord and Lady Bangor.  The story goes that they had trouble getting along and they had strong ideas of what their castle should look like.
So, this side is classical in its design - as Lord Bangor wanted it.  

How I wish I could take all my students for a ride in this "Cinderella-like" carriage.  It was there at the castle giving rides for 2 pounds during the Pumpkin Fest. 

Here is the other side of Castle Ward - very Gothic in design to suit Lady Bangor.  She had come into their marriage with money so was able to make some decisions about what she wanted.  The inside of the castle is built and decorated with the two distinct styles as well. 

 I loved the colour of the leaves both on the vines and on the ground near this doorway in the stableyard. 

























This photo doesn't give an adequate sense of the hundreds of people who were there for the Pumpkin Fest.  They had many food stalls and artists with tables of crafts and art and musicians and activities for kids.  In the British tradition, there were also oodles of dogs that came along with their families to enjoy the day!

Here is another look at the carriage with the horses. 

There was a huge pumpkin pile where you could choose a pumpkin and then go into a tent to carve it. 

Castle Ward has extensive grounds and so we took a walk up a hill to the Temple - it wasn't so very fancy but had a wonderful view up Strangford Lough. 

This was just one of many families heading home after a good day at the Pumpkin Fest.  It was a great place to take children as there was lots of room to run, lots of activities, two great playgrounds, a farm yard and things to see. 

Here is part of the Farmyard which was open for people to see the animals and look about. 

All good things meet their end and so we headed home driving a different route along the Lough.  There was a beautiful sunset over the Lough and we had to stop and take a few photos. 

Perhaps these Prairie People were missing seeing the wonderful skies that we see on the Prairies.  It was a lovely end to a great day.