SPORTS NEWS

Haley is officially allowed to play for the Castlebar Celtic in Ireland!!  She is currently in Wexford for a tournament semi-final for her team.  They are playing for the FAI Senior Women's Umbro Cup.  The team stayed the night before in a hotel.  It takes many hours to get there, as there is no direct way because you have to drive around the Wicklow Mountains.  They won their game 2 to 0 and that puts them in the Championship game for the Cup.  This has been an ongoing tournament, at least since July.  I don't know when the next Cup game will be, but it's wonderful to have Haley cleared to play!

Next week they have a regular conference game in Wexford, and we are planning to head down there for the weekend.  Hiking the Wicklow Mountains is another activity we want to do.  Maybe in October.

Haley is also playing Gaelic Football for her school.  They had their picture posted in the Longford Leader!  She is, of course, new to the game so there is a learning curve, but she reports that it is fast-paced and a lot of fun to play!

The senior men's hurling final tie-breaker match was held yesterday in Dublin.  Cork v Clare.  County Clare won!  I found myself rooting for Clare, I can't say why, as I have no connection with either team.  Maybe it was because Steve found himself rooting for Cork, as some of his co-workers are from County Cork.  Anyway, it was fun and we enjoyed the game.  It was a close match and lots of goals so it was very exciting.

Steve is currently grilling a Sunday night leg of lamb, Haley is on her way home victorious, the Hawkeyes kept Floyd, Connor made a safe venture to Ingleside and all is right with my world today!

Sheep, Cows, Pigs and Provinces

I have a calendar that I bought in Long Grove, IL at the Irish shop there.  It has lovely pictures of Ireland, taken by Irish native Liam Blake.  Some of the photos are of places we have now seen in person, and it also has some information about the country.

It tells me that Ireland is a country of about 4.3 million people.  It also tells me that there are an estimated 5.5 million sheep!  It does not tell me the cow or pig population.  I have been here for almost 3 full months now, and yesterday was the first day I saw a pig in a field!  I have seen lots of sheep and lots of cows, but so far only one pig!  I know they have them here because they sell bacon (rashers) ham and other fabulous pig products, but I never see any on our drives.  Bonus, I never smell them either!

The sheep are often spotted with color, like they will have a big patch of bright blue, pink, orange or green or other bright colors which I assume identifies who owns the sheep.  The cows are not so marked.

The country is divided into four provinces.  Ulster (which includes Norther Ireland) Munster, Connaught, and Leinster.  We currently reside in the province of Leinster.  There are four professional rugby teams and they are called by their province.  Steve bought Leinster rugby sweatshirts for the kids last Christmas, which they wore in our Christmas picture. 

Hawkeye Fans in Ireland!

The van going by on the road is the mail truck out here.  See the guy painted on the side flying in his cape?!

My Kitchen In Camlin Willows

My kitchen is finally organized for the most part.  Could only get one picture hung so far, but moving forward just the same!  Small oven, but it works.  Took these shots after attempting to get the wine stains off the wall...

Football, Hurling, Plastic Wrap, Sunglasses, and Wine

Finished all the unpacking and Rugby has his alligator!  Now the movers have to come back to pick up all the cardboard, paper, wood crates, bubble wrap, etc and we can finally finish  making the house a home!

Have gotten the kitchen together for the most part - a lot fewer cabinets than  we had back home - but honestly, who uses all their kitchen stuff anyway?  I have become a pretty able chef and grocery shopper!   I will say that American plastic wrap is easier to use.  The  stuff itself is fine here, it's just that they don't  provide a serrated metal edge on the cardboard holder to be able to easily remove a piece to use!  Petty I know, but it's amazing what a hassle it is to not have a way to easily cut your plastic wrap!  Fortunately, our Costco size roll of plastic wrap arrived with the shipment and now I again have the serrated edge to cut the wrap and make my life easier!  And, since it's Costco, I have plastic wrap that will last FOR YEARS! 

Saw the school kids again last friday at the mall while walking the dogs - they again petted the dogs and one boy commented to Chloe (the human) as he petted Chloe (the dog) "Ah she look just like ya Chloe!"  I don't know if they realize that Friday mornings at the mall are one of the highlights of my week!

Having lovely days here - lots of sun and temps in the 60's and  Saturday and Sunday Steve and I were able to sit out on the patio and enjoy the afternoon outside!  We have bought a charcoal grill and used it all weekend, extending our summer activities as much as possible.

Haley has started playing football for her school team.  This is Irish or Gaelic football.  It's kind of a mix of soccer and basketball in a way, and Haley says it's a lot of fun to play.  They have practices and games during the school day - another plus I suppose...Haley has already  had a sleepover at a friend's house and today is home sick with the flu!  We had planned to go watch the senior men's final football game at a local pub on Sunday afternoon, but passed as Haley was sick.  The game ended with Dublin beating Mayo by one point - and we were rooting for Mayo  since we have more ties to Mayo than to Dublin. Next big GAA game is the Hurling final on Saturday.  They played a championship game a few weeks ago and the game ended in a tie - so the teams come back to play another full game at a later date - and this Saturday is it!  Don't know what they do if this game ends in a tie as well, but may find out!   

Have found that an ideal item to have in Ireland is glasses that transition for sun and shade.  Even on cloudy days, it is often still rather bright out - not enough for regular sun glasses, but if you have the transition lenses, they tint just enough to keep you from having to squint.  I have been wearing my glasses a lot for this reason. May need to invest in sunglasses that do this for when I am wearing my contact lenses too!

My big task today is cleaning the kitchen.  Largely because I had a wine mishap and sprayed the wall and ceiling accidentally with red wine.  Let me explain - when a cork cracks off and doesn't come out fully, you can't get the wine to pour out, so it seems sensible to push the remainder of the cork into the bottle, right?  (I know, if I REALLY cared about the wine, I would discard the bottle because the  bad cork could mean lousy wine - right?)  But, sometimes it's just the need for the wine that drives me, so I pushed the cork in  with a knife.  Well, obviously, if the bottle is full and you push something down into it, the liquid will be displaced upward (I am not a scientist, but I understand this concept)  Still, who knew it would shoot so high?!  Yes, I still drank the wine because, I am an attorney...  What?!

Now I am off to see if I can get the stains off the walls and ceiling.....

Found His Alligator

Weather, Dogs, Soccer, and Friends from Overseas

This has been quite a week for weather!  We had 100 km/h winds on Sunday, pouring rain on Monday, and then a regular day of clouds with spots of sunshine on Tuesday and it's warming up a bit again!  Crazy stuff! 

Haley had a soccer game on Sunday, and Celtic won 4 to 2.  It was fun to watch, but will be even better once Haley gets cleared to play.  To be able to play, she needs international clearance from USA, FAI, and FIFA.  No, she's not a professional soccer player - why do you ask?!  Seriously, seems like a lot of releases needed for her to just play soccer here, however,  they want proof that her parents know she is here, proof that  we are here legally and with a legitimate job, all that evidence that would show that she wasn't just brought here to play soccer for the Castlebar Celtic. I can report that so far, all the soccer clubs have provided food and drinks  after the games for all the players and  spectators.  Really is pretty cool!  Everyone has a nice clubhouse.

Last week we trekked to the Garda station to meet with immigration.  We were granted our VISA extensions, so Zach, Haley, and myself are good to stay through September of 2014!  Which is great because we are really enjoying Ireland!  The Garda also took new photos for us, as the ones in the computer system were taken at the airport after our flight overseas, and we all looked  terribly tired!

This week I have been just trying to get more stuff unpacked - got the last items unwrapped - and trying to sort through where things should be, getting rugs for the hardwood floors, and hanging pictures.  On  Tuesday morning I walked the dogs at the mall as usual, and since it was pouring rain, there were not many people there.  We had a good walk but lots of other animals were out enjoying the rain.  Chloe was beside herself and  kept running and then barking and making an absolute nuisance of herself!  At one point she had Ducks to the left of her, Cows were to the right, and there she was, stuck in the middle on lead, she was, stuck in the middle on lead!  (Yes there is a tune in my head as I write it and I am sure all you clowns and jokers can figure it out!)

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of driving south to meet Sarah Megan for lunch!  She is a co-worker from Prairie State Legal Services (actually one of the people who interviewed and hired me there 17 years ago!)  She was touring Ireland with family and so we were able to meet at the Grand Hotel in Moate for lunch and to chat for a bit.  I  failed to get a picture - RATS!   It was great to see her and it made me think of all the people I worked with and what a great job I had!  I LOVED MY JOB!  Anyway - I salute the hardworking attorneys at Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois.  They are an incredible bunch of people. 

The drive to Moate was interesting.  I took some R numbered roads which are not too bad - they have markings and all, and also took two L numbered roads, which can be hit or miss - generally no markings and tight  lanes, but not usually a lot of cars so it went well.  The Google maps GPS actually worked great at getting me there, though sometimes it would say, "In 500 meters, turn left" and then it wouldn't give a name for the road I would be turning on!  Fortunately, I had the road numbers written down and got it all put together and made it to Moate in record time!

Nights are starting to get pretty chilly so we turned on the heat last night and had a kerosene delivery today to get ready for the cooler temps.  Today is lovely again, up in the 60's and spots of sunshine so it's all grand!

Final bit of information - we have accepted an offer on our house in Illinois!  If all goes as expected, we will be closing at the end of October.  It's sort of bittersweet, as I absolutely loved my house and the people on the cul de sac, but it will be good to reduce our expenses while we are living in Ireland. 

So, off to run errands and all those things I can do during the day since I am home!