We are finally ready to start accepting sponsorship for Donal and his race from one country to another!! The 21km race is going to be held on June 12th, and we will be trying to raise funds for the Jack & Jill Foundation because they have helped the Crabb family so much!
Click here if you would like to donate…
I have been working on a website for Millie Harbour to promote and advertise her paintings. Have a look here…
For some reason, on some computers, and some browsers, the thumbnails appear squashed.. if its the case when you have a look, would you comment below with info about which browser and version you are using? Thanks 
Here are a few tasters of the photos from last Saturday’s football match in Athlone!
I will be posting more in the gallery asap…
If you would like me to email any of these photos in a better quality format, go to the Contact Page & I will send them on to you
Here are some great close up shots that Donal took of a busy bee (Click on thumbnail to see the whole photo)!
Below is also a photo that Donal took – he came accross this brightly coloured creature at work. Anyone have any idea what it is?!
Today we had temperatures of 27 degrees and over
I know that this isn’t really news for most of you reading this – but here in Ireland, its BIG NEWS! Huuuge big news!
We have had a long weekend of totally wonderful sunshine. We went to our first BBQ of the year on Sunday (compared to none the whole of last year – that’s how bad it was). Apart from delicious food, we played a bit of one-handed rugby (see exhibit photos 1-3), and then a few rounds of poker. Fun, fun, fun..
Yesterday we were out in the ministry for while, and then I actually joined the lads playing 5-aside soccer. I managed some dreadful shots, and lost the ball a few times – but overall I didn’t do too badly .. for a girl I even scored the winning goal!! (Although I think that may have had something to do with the fact that everyone was hot and tired by that time and couldn’t be bothered to run!). I managed to get dreadfully burned though as the sun was sooo hot!
Today I had to come up with an excuse to be outside, while at the same time supposedly doing something useful, so I went round garden centre with mum, and then we tried to put together some boxes for her garden. She has been trying to dig out some flower beds in the garden, but the soil is just a pile of builders rubble under some dried up old grass, so Tim suggested doing something like their “Square Foot Garden“. So we spent the afternoon putting together some boxes (see photos 4 &5!). It was a little tricky as the drill battery was a bit flat, so we had to do a lot of it by hand, but we managed to get two boxes made, and filled one with soil. We are hoping to plant some sweet peas, lettuce, rocket, spinach, coriander, carrots and more. Hopefully the sunshine will continue to shine on mum’s little garden and may there be salad and flowers for all!!
Just a quick post to say that anyone who would like prints of any of the rugby photos from the other week – click here!!
There are also a good few from the match in Birr last September – click here!! (The tumbnails have gone all squished again, but if you click on them they should show up ok – I will try to resolve this!!)
Here are a few more photos from our little trip to Kerry that were on my phone!!
In recent months, rugby has become more and more popular around here! It may have a lot to do with the World Cup and the Six Nations.. Especially as Ireland did so well.
Anyway, I always had the impression that rugby was a fairly rough sport, and it looked like all the players did was huddle up in weird little groups and jump on each other. However, after learning more about the game, I have begun to enjoy watching rugby much more than soccer! There are a lot of rules, but the more you understand them, the more the game makes sense. I have also noticed in professional rugby that the players are WAY more respectful of each other and the referee than in soccer. For example, when a player is going to have a go at kicking a penalty over the bar, in general, the crowd and the other players go quiet to allow the player to concentrate - there is no jeering or booing. One of the rules regulates the way a player is allowed to tackle – they are not allowed to tackle too high so that there is less risk of injury.
Our “Lads” have been learning to play over the past months, and get together now and again for a match. Up until now, the “Greens” (Our team!!) have given the “Blues” a beating in all but one match (I think!). Unfortunately, the score on Saturday in Birr was Greens 5… Blues 19. However fun was had by (nearly) all!
Here are some of the photos from Saturday.
The photos are pretty unclear and poor quality at the moment, but I am working at trying to upload some better and clearer versions without the server telling me I have exceeded the upload limits!!
Last week, we had a wonderful short break in Caherdaniel, Co.Kerry. Alison organised for a group of us to rent a house, and cover some territory that hasn’t been worked in over a year!
The ministry was relaxed and interesting – a nice change from familiar maps in this area. Many of the houses were holiday homes however, but we left something for the occupants to read come holiday season.
We also managed to fit in some fishing, and some walks on the beach. The weather was really warm and springlike, so the outdoors was even more enjoyable!
If you would like to see a few more photos from our trip – click here.
