Au revoir.... rain in all the wrong places....lightinglittlefires

Off to France on Saturday. Sounds lovely doesn't it? Except this is my world so it all has to be slightly bonkers. So here's the bonkers bit. I'm here on the west coast of Ireland praying for rain so that the smouldering remains of the gorse fires surrounding my house finally die out. Yeah you guessed it. No rain. Instead there's azure skies and soaring temperatures and a long range forecast that doesn't say sunshine and scattered showers coming from the west. This is the funny bit. The Vendee, in France, our chosen holiday destination, is in the throes of storms, gale force winds and floods. I kid you not!

Won't talk here for a while unless the rain and the children drive me so mad that I seek out the company of an internet cafe while waiting for the husband to put the final touches on the Ark that will get us home form soggy France. Please check out an amazing blog - http//www.lightinglittlefires@wordpress.com
See excerpt below

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you A Midsummer Crafters Dream!

Starting on the 21st of June, the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, I propose a fortnight (yes, 14 days!) of crafting, baking, music, articles, fun, community spirit and with any luck a little bit of sunshine.

Every day for 2 weeks something new to make, do, eat, drink, laugh about, think about or listen to will be posted right here for your enjoyment, in the hopes of making your start to the summer that little bit sunnier (or for my friends Down Under a little less chilly…though really one summer in Ireland and you’d be thanking your lucky stars for a Brisbane winter)......more @

htpp//www.lightinglittlefires@wordpress.com
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Check it out. Sounds fantastic. I was involved in one that littlefires did at Christams and it was terrific - something new every day - a little present every morning!!!!
Off now to do a raindance in one country and a sundance in another...
Au revoir my friends.
P.s - yet another pic of my lovely new garden!!!!!!!!!

Gorse fires, broken laptops and summer holidays

Apologies for my long absence but rest assured I won't disappoint once again with weak excuses. Last time it was an earthquake in West Clare, this time it was a huge gorse fire that came dangerously close to my house. The origin of the fire remains a mystery but we have our suspicions. Suffice to say that I wish some people here would respect the beautiful place in which they live and use a refuse company to dispose of their rubbish instead of burning it - which I might add is illegal and dangerous. All the fields around me are now blackened and still smouldering - I feel like I'm living on the set of Apocalypse Now! But in a weird way I'm finally adjusting to my new bleak landscape...

And then the laptop died. It was oddly freeing without it and I've now resolved to put it away at a certain time each day - we'll see how long that lasts!

Can't wait to go on holidays on Saturday week - first real one in seven years! though had a wonderful morning in Clahane last Sunday with all the girls - Ireland is the nicest place in the world when the sun is shining and your back garden isn't on fire and your laptop isn't dead...
Finally I'm beginning to have an actual garden thanks to the husband. I included a pic - the new Landscape Man? Monty Don? Alan Titchmarch?

Seaside Stories

Going to the movies tonight in The Courthouse in Ennistymon, and I'm forcing the whole family to come too! The kids are not impressed but I know they'll enjoy it once we get there. The movie - Seaside Stories - was made by a local writer/film maker called Fergus Tighe - and was shot entirely on location around the Ennistymon/ Lahinch area. Most of the actors are local including the lead boy - 11 year old Fionn Burke. It's a full lenght movie - terrific achievemnet in itself and by all accounts it's really good. Full review to come.

Seaside Stories.
Fergus Tighe

Ireland | 2009 | 103mins | Beta | Colour

Seaside Stories...

Locky McNamara is 11 and has been flourishing since his mother, Anna, gave up the drink three years ago. When Anna's old boyfriend Mick gets out of prison on good behavior, she falls back into her old ways of daytime drinking while Locky runs wild in the streets with his mate Callo. Meanwhile, Anna's daughter, Sally, arrives home determined to tell Locky that she is really his mother, a move which sets the scene for a scabrous and vengeful series of events which have massive ramifications for all involved. Producer Fergus Tighe Print Source gallivantingmedia@gmail.com Website www.seasidestories.com
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Pandora Bell nougat, the indignity of falling down, plasma tv's.

I went into the cutest shop in Clare last Friday - Crosbie's in Ennistymon and Suzanne gave me a bar of nougat as a gift ( she loved The Clever One apparently- so I have at least one fan in the big town!) Oh my God!!!! This isn't nougat - this is heaven and Glee and cute puppies and sunshine all in one delicious mouth watering bar. Mine was almond and orange and it was probably one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. And guess what - it's made in Limerick!!!! Should have known that. Here's the link to the website - try it - I promise you utter delight.http://www.pandorabell.ie/

I fell over a bramble in the burren on Saturday - very embarassing i must say. I fell over like a toddler would and had to work very hard at not crying - Jeez you men have it tough - there's nothing like a good bawl to make the pain go away. Anyway the thing about falling down in the burren is that you'll more than likely land on limestone - which I did. And it will more than likely hurt - which it did. And you'll be mortified in front of your friends Maire and Martin - which I was. We were in a place called Eagles Rock which is amazing - like a set from a western movie - very cool and full of legends. (Real legends - not the "Johnny down the pub - he 's a pure legend" types.)

I finally gave in and bought a 42 inch plasma tv with all the bells and whistles. If I could marry this tv I certainly would. Everytime I watch it in all its glory I want to kiss it and hug it.....
Maybe it was my head I bumped in the burren?

Where were you when the earthquake came to Clare?

So the big news is that we had an earthquake last Thursday night in West Clare. It measured 2.6 on the Richter scale. We were sitting there watching the credits roll after an excellent episode of Wallander - the Swedish one of course - and there was this huge bang and then the house shook. Very scary. I thought that a truck had crashed into the house so sent the husband out to look for dead or dying bodies. Nothing. We went to bed but I couldn't let it go so sent him back out again into the pitch black night while I screamed instructions from my bed. Still nothing. It wasn't until the next morning that we discovered that it was an actual earthquake. So of course it's been the talk of the village since then. And the earthquake is growing in size and danger by the day.
For all of you waiting for placenta I must fess up - I bought you some and then used it all myself! That's what you lot get for not coming to visit!

The husband and the Beatles -mad teenage daughter are back from a trip to Liverpool - a magical mystery tour that they thoroughly enjoyed! The daughter paid homage to her heroes and her sister travelled up from London to join in. They loved it all and had the best battered sausage and chips in the world.

Off to France next month - on the ferry - now that'll be a laugh!

A weekend to forget.

What a weekend - full of lowlights.
Connacht beaten on Friday night.
Leinster beaten on Saturday.
And then the painful one - Munster trashed on Sunday. Don't get me wrong - I can take losing but it's the manner of the loss. Munster threw it away, never got the basics right, headless and careless - don't get me started again.
And Gerry Ryan died, R.I.P. Love him or hate him he was embedded in our psyche. And there were things that I admired about him - he was always a bit of a rebel, bolshoi, larger than life. And come on - admit it - Lambo was genius!
I am trying really hard to find something positive to say about the weekend just gone.....want to leave you on a positive note....this is difficult...ok - Liverpool lost so making it tough for Man U to win the premiership - which is very negative also...roll on next weekend. Oh - there was a lovely sunset in Clahane so here's a pic to cheer you up.

London, volcanos reviews and a rebus.

What a week. Mother Nature decides to give us all a little wake up call - just to remind us yet again how fragile our world really is. Nice one Mam! I'm glad that people have rediscovered ferries though - I've always loved them. So anyway we were going to London to see Arsenal play and to catch up with family and friends. And then we weren't going. And then we were. And then we weren't. And as of this exact moment we are going again. Fingers crossed the volcano doesn't start to belch again.

Ok. The Clever One. The reviews have been great and it's only when you get a bad one that you realise just how lucky you've been all along. And the bad one of course comes from your local paper! I figure she read about 20 pages of the book and that was that. And of course she's entitled not to like it. But she's not entitled to talk rubbish - " a lot of the book is written in the vernacular which could be offensive to Limerick people" - ????????????? Loads of books have been written in the vernacular - Roddy Doyle immediately springs to mind - so it's only the Limerick
vernacular that causes offense? The Dub/Cork/Belfast/NY vernacular is fine???????? Ridiculous statement. The Indo described the book as "raw, funny, sometimes politically incorrect but very relevant, an absolute page turner" - I'll stick with that review - I'm entitled to be selective!

And now a rebus.

A number of fingers. (five letters)