Funny the things I’ve gotten used to here in Ireland – little things that I notice throughout the day that make the time here sweeter.
I’ve discovered I enjoy hanging the wash in the back garden on a sunny day, and I don’t even mind using crispy towels after a shower. I like to hear the whistle of my neighbours’ tea kettles go off every so often, or the musical tones of a clock on the wall or a doorbell ringing. It’s a true community, the way neighbourhoods used to be – we all talk over the fences to each other and probably know way too much about one another’s lives in secret!
I also don’t mind the cats next door as much as I used to. This doesn’t mean I don’t still grumble when I find my plants dug up or when I smell their distinctive odour on a a hot day… but most of the little furry friends are not so bad. They keep Georgie company and some of them are very sweet. Frank and I find ourselves making up names for our favorites and looking out for them during the week – Daisy, the white, brown and black mischievous one; Archimedes, the soft orangey one with the goopey eyes who will let Georgie do anything to him; Ginger Biscuits, another orange tiger striped cat who lets out mournful meows but hardly lets you come close enough to pet him; Deco, the new, lanky white Tom cat with a shaved head…
It’s a nice place to live, though, overall. We help each other out, greet each other on the street, admire our gardens, discuss the prices of home improvements and shake our heads over one another’s misfortunes. Many of the people in this little cul de sac moved here together, back in the 1970s, so they’ve been there for each other for years, and they love to recall the stories. All in all, it’s a good place to be, and I am glad I see that more and more with time.
……….
On a sillier note… every once in a while, I DO just have to “get back to America” in some form. I revel over a care package filled with things like Saltine crackers, Mac & Cheese, Chocolate chips and Cheetos! When I can’t get a fix like that, I fill the space with my favorite Disney cartoons, or read some Laura Ingalls Wilder, or maybe just play some Tom Petty or Alison Krauss really loud. But the most guilty of all pleasures is when I sneak off to McDonald’s!
I did so on Friday, and treated myself to a Happy Meal, which, as it was intended to do, always lightens my mood. While I was sitting under the Golden Arches though, I thought I’d take note of some differences with the Irish McDonald’s and post my observations here. (Correct me if any of these also apply to USA McDonald’s… I’m going on my last recollections!)
Pros:
- Still make customer service a priority, making them some of the more pleasant establishments to dine in around the country
- Always busy and favored by multiple nationalities
- One in most large towns and at least 6 in Dublin.
- Cadbury Egg McFlurries
- Tastes mostly the same , filling the desire that sent you there in the first place!
- Good “Eurosaver” value menu
- Same or just as good toys in the Happy MealsCons:
- No children’s playplace, in or outdoors
- They charge extra for “healthy” options like fruit or side salads
- People never clean up after themselves, so the restaurants are usually quite messy
- Limited selection
- Often more expensive! About €7- 8 for a value meal, which works out to roughly $10. €4- 5 for a Happy Meal or about $6.
- Small “car parks” and limited drive thrus.
- There is always confusion about how to queue at the counter.So there you go! I also found it funny that they are promoting, throughout the month of July, four weeks of “Great Tastes of America” specialty burgers – New York, Chicago, Miami and Arizona (knowing that most Irish have been to at least one of these places). However, the burgers seem almost identical, at least to me – beef burger with bacon, cheese, lettuce and onions. The only thing they change is the sauce and they alternate the buns. I think the cheeses might be slightly different as well, but c’mon, it’s still American cheese. Haha! Are they selling these in the States now, too?
That about wraps it up for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed – now go out and get yourself a Large Frosty or a Rallyburger Meal for me since there are no Wendy’s or Rally’s on this side of the pond!
I have a few minutes before one of my favorite shows, BBC’s “Masterchef,” starts, so I thought I’d plug in a quick blog. (Incidentally, the other shows I really get into over here are “The Supersizers” and “Cash In the Attic.”)
So far it’s been a glorious summer in Ireland (as you can see from lazy Georgie above!). After two summers of straight rain, everyone was pulling out all the stops in prayers to their favorite Saints so we could get some real sunshine, and it must have worked! In a recession summer, no one can refuse free sunshine!
However, there’s a funny thing you have to understand about the Irish: they’re superstitious about jinxing things. (In fact, I’ve probably just jinxed everything…) You won’t hear them saying much about this summer being gorgeous – they’re afraid it might go away! Instead, quite humorously, they complain. If I had a euro for every time I hear someone fan themselves and sigh, “It’s very warm, isn’t it?” or a dollar for every instance I’ve watched someone flop into a chair and declare “it’s roasting!”… I would be a millionaire, at least in one country. As for me, I’m finding it pleasantly warm (60 – 75 degrees F does not “roast” me, especially after eight years in Indiana…) and I grab all the rays of sun I can with gratefulness. Jinxed or not!
One of the nicer places to enjoy the weather is at work – yes, at work. The doctor’s office where I am a receptionist is in a tall old brick house on Fair Street – one of many interconnected houses of similar size and composition, most of which have been converted to commercial properties. The coolest part about the building, though, aside from the three flights of steep stairs patients have to climb (try that in America! Ha!), is that there is a secret garden out the back! See, the building, and subsequently all the neighboring buildings, were once stately family homes with walled-in Victorian gardens. Ever seen PBS’s show “1900 House?” Our garden is like that. It is completely private, with high ivy-draped walls, trees, climbing roses, and shrubs. The practice manager has actually been working the garden part of the plot and has all manner of vegetables and flowers growing. On nice days, the staff will take our lunch out to the picnic table and just soak up the air.
We are probably the only business on the street to take advantage of our space, though. It’s slightly sad, slightly romantic, to look over the walls into the other gardens, long neglected and overgrown, and imagine what they did look like, and perhaps what they could look like again. It’s no surprise that the history buff in me longs to see pictures or read accounts of what life was like 100 years ago on this street, and what little worlds were contained in each corresponding garden.
In the meantime… I’ll just have to be content with what my mind can make up!
I think if I ever get a second degree and the coolest job ever… I’m going to become a food historian. If anyone wants to sponsor me on that endeavor … I promise, I’ll thank you in the forthcoming book. *wink*
I was reminded this morning how much I am like my father. The doorbell rang a few minutes past 10 a.m. and I, still in my bathrobe, threw the banana I was holding into the air, let out a war whoop of fear, and charged into the bathroom to hide.
This knee-jerk reaction is just one of many traits I share with my dad. I also suffer his seasonal allergies, inherited crooked teeth, and I fight a perpetual battle with tardiness. Case in point – I haven’t sent a Father’s Day card to him… now two days after the fact…
So here’s a Happy Father’s Day, albeit belated, and thanks to Roger for all the good things he’s passed on as well.
Both my parents have always encouraged my writing, but my dad is the one I grew up hearing in the early morning hours as he hunted and pecked out his latest political manifesto for the local paper. Both my parents were great story tellers and comedians, filling our imaginations from birth with Bible stories, fairy tales, songs, poems, history and literature. But it was my dad who always (and probably still) reads “Mr. Lion’s Plum Pudding” aloud every Christmas. Both my parents are avid outdoors people with a love for camping, fishing, hunting and hiking – but it is my dad who is always ready to drop everything to join me when enticed with a rod and reel.
Yes, my father is a real character. No one else’s father I know of mutters the speeches from “Braveheart” to himself in the bathroom. No one else’s father spends hours in a dimly-lit basement, meticulously cross-pollinating miniature roses under heat lamps. No one else’s father collects barbecue sauces from all over the country… and had to get his own mini-fridge to store them all in! And few fathers I can think of have given up so much to root themselves so deeply in their beliefs.
I think of my dad a lot these days when I’m out in the garden. Like my sister Caroline, I don’t know if I really inherited my dad’s green thumb, but I do have a love of the earth ingrained in me. Of course, some could say it was not entirely my choice… as I can remember long, hot afternoons of being enlisted by my dad to scratch a noxious concoction of fertilizers into the upper soil of 40 or more rose bushes around the house… on those days, I was definitely grumbling “no one else’s father does this!” But now that gardening is by choice, I do enjoy it more, and I often find myself asking ol’ Dad for advice. And, while the results are nothing spectacular yet, I have been able to successfully grow a few roses.
Do you think that’s symbolic?
Anyway… I Love you, Dad! Happy Father’s Day.
Hello everyone near and far! I think it’s safe to say, with caution, Happy Summer from Ireland! The last few days here have been gorgeous and sunny (reaching about 20 C or 68 F) and they came not a moment too soon! All the neighbors are out in their back yards, entertaining family and friends, and we’ve already had two barbecues to date (though just for us!).
The month of May just flew by… I was working quite a bit in the doctor’s office and in between we were trying to keep up with the garden, family and friends.
The last week or so has been the busiest, however! Starting last Sunday, Frank and I were able to meet up with a few college friends of mine, Aziza and Callie, in Dublin. We caught up with them in Temple Bar and had a nice lunch there while getting all the news from home. As I’m still working on making new friends here, it is always so welcome to see familiar faces when I get the chance.
This last Wednesday was my 27th birthday – my Golden Birthday! I took the day off from work and Frank planned a great little day trip away with his mum for us. We drove up to Newry, which is just over the border into Northern Ireland and about a 45 minute drive. It’s a really nice trip up, with views of the mountains and green fields, and the town of Newry is a picturesque village built around a canal.
For us “Southerners,” Newry is most famous for the great deals you can get while British Sterling is so low (€1 = 87 pence as of today). It was really a great day – so nice to get out of Drogheda for a few hours and do something new. We went through the two main shopping centres and also walked the more characteristic streets of the town. Frank bought me a nice new purse, which I’d been needing and not wanting to spend money on! We had lunch in a tiny cafe along the main street and I was even able to pop into a little local bakery for a birthday cake – coconut cream! – for myself. The whole cake only cost £3.70 (which is about €4.25 or $6!!!)
The rest of the week, we’ve all been preparing for little Chloe’s Christening, which was yesterday at Our Lady of Lourdes Church here in Drogheda. Frank’s sister, Lorraine, asked me to bake the Christening cake, so we picked out a design and flavors and I worked on that most of the week. It turned out fairly well – not perfect, under my critical eye – but it looked lovely on the day and everyone seemed happy. I can’t take all the credit, though – Frank was a huge help (as I struggled at 11 pm to get the fondant smooth!) and he even molded the little bears you see sitting on top. So, thanks Sweetie, for your help.
It was my first Christening experience, so it was quite interesting for me. Chloe was in with seven other babies and it was fun to watch them all come up in their little white outfits. Lorraine and Paul did their part as the beaming parents and Chloe did not cry or throw a fit! She was actually the cutest baby there, but that goes without saying! After the ceremony, we went down the road to Thomas Hanratty’s pub and restaurant and had a really fantastic meal with the Kellys, the Byrnes and a few close friends. Grandma and Grandpa Kelly took the baby for the night and the young folks headed out to enjoy the evening! It’s a bank holiday here today, so no one had to go to work. Frank and I were the party poopers and went home to Georgie!
I’ve been feeling a bit “off” for the last month or two… queasy, tired, emotional… you can probably already guess what comes next! Yes, Frank and I will be having our first baby later this year! It came as a bit of a surprise, but we are happy and excited! I don’t know my exact dates yet – doctors appointments can take several weeks here, so I’m still waiting for my first ultrasound, but I think I’m around 3 months along. So that’s the biggest news of all! I will keep you updated and be sure to post pictures when there are any worth taking! The good news is that all women in Ireland are eligible for a free “Mother and Baby” scheme if they choose to take it, so my pregnancy, hospital delivery and the first six weeks of checkups are covered. Part of me, in true Koopman form, wants to refuse the government help, but in reality, we’re too poor to do that and I am actually relieved that I will not have to worry about those extra huge bills. So God has been good to us!
On that final note, I will let you get back to whatever you were doing before you stumbled onto my blog. I hope you’re all having a great first day of June! Keep in touch! All my love…
I am so full.
We just had the most amazing Sunday dinner at Frank’s folks’ house! June did up a huge ham, chicken, potatoes, stuffing, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, gravy and then there was dessert! Wow. I can’t believe I helped myself to most of everything and still snuck bits off the platters after the plates were clear. I have landed in a very lucky family, indeed! June and Anthony Kelly are always so hospitable!
It’s been a busy weekend over here… we started it off with an evening walk on Friday with our friend Kieran and all of our collective dogs. We usually go to the beach, but this time, we headed over to the ruins of Mellifont Abbey, a local historic attraction I’ve never seen. When we got there, it was nearly dusk and a crowd of young men were playing football (soccer) in the large green space amidst the ruins. It was fun to watch as we climbed around with the dogs.
Meanwhile, the Drogheda Arts Festival is on at the moment, so we went down to check out the stalls on Saturday morning in conjunction with the regular weekly outdoor market. We came away with some great fresh fruit and roasted nuts, listened to the band a bit, ran into friends and family, and then went for a quick turn on the Ferris Wheel! I haven’t been on one of those things in ages, and this one was very different from the American standard (less scary!). We finished off the afternoon by popping into a local art gallery and then picking some fresh salmon fillets out at a local fish mongers. It was a great way to spend a Saturday and the weather held out for most of it!
Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday, so I’m not sure what we’ll be up to yet. Frank’s sister, Lorraine, and her boyfriend and their baby, Chloe, just moved into a little house down the road from us, so maybe we’ll visit with something housewarming-ish? We’ve had some nice sunny spells lately and I hope it holds out. They say that England is up for a long, hot summer – I’ve got my fingers crossed that some of it will blow Ireland’s way as well! It’ll be summer before we know it in any case – in the meantime, I’ll be working, Frank will be continuing with his new film, and we’ll do our best to keep the updates coming!
Well, I’m sure I didn’t mean for a month to pass between posts! Sorry about that, faithful readers.
It’s a lovely April afternoon here in Drogheda and I am, indeed, looking out upon my back yard as I write. The ground is finally all dug for the garden extension, but I still need to incorporate new compost and do a final cleaning out of rocks and other rubbish just under the surface. I might push it a bit late again this year, just because I’ve had so much else going on! But my mom has sent me seeds from the States and I am determined to try and grow a few more things this year. BBC gardening shows are all the rage right now, what with the big “R” over everyone’s heads, so I have plenty of outlets for advice on TV, online, and in current publications. I’ll probably break out Jamie at Home again as well – a birthday present last year from Frank that not only has great recipes but pictures and descriptions for how to grow your own produce.
But Spring is already fully fledged here – last weekend I was in St. Stephen’s Green with my old college friend, Leslie, and the tulips and hyacinths were unbelievable. The trees have been blooming for weeks now and the pink-blossoming cherry tree in front of our house is covered at the moment. It’s still not warm enough in my mind to go around without a jacket… but that doesn’t stop most of the other population!
Frank has been busy with a new short film and was shooting that for five days at the beginning of the month. It was quite an education for me, to go from working with filmmakers out of an office to working hands-on with them out in the field! The actors and crew were all really great to have around though, and despite a few days of pouring rain, we had smooth sailing. I tried to keep everyone fed and watered and helped where I could. Frank is editing the film now and it’s going to be great to see what it looks like when he’s got it all finished! So much work! I’m actually hoping to get a little baking done this afternoon to thank some of our generous neighbors who let us film in front of their houses!
Meanwhile, I have changed jobs again and I am now working part-time as a receptionist in a local doctors’ office. It’s just a ten minute walk from where we live and the staff are all really nice and fun to work with. It’s definitely a change for me – I never imagined myself near the medical profession – but it’s a great way to meet lots of people, use my brain and computer skills, and feel like I’m helping people as well. So that has been a real blessing to us.
That’s the news for now! I have more old friends coming to Dublin and Belfast next month, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with them at some stage. I am also keeping my fingers crossed that we might make it back to the States for a visit this year, but we’ll just have to see how the finances go. In the meantime, do keep in touch and let me know how things are in your neck of the world!
Frank’s 32nd birthday was yesterday. As I sit here writing to you, I am enjoying a leftover piece of his Devil’s Food cake with chocolate frosting, raspberries, blackberries and stiffly whipped cream. It wasn’t the most skillful cake I’ve ever baked, but it did not disappoint, just the same!
We had his parents around for dinner, and I served a variation of my grandmother’s Chicken Cacciatore. It was nice to sit and talk and eat good food! I am very thankful for a great set of in-laws who are always fun to have around.
It was someone else’s birthday yesterday as well! Frank’s sister, Lorraine, had a beautiful 7 lb. baby girl named Chloe at 10:15 a.m. She is truly a model baby – perfectly formed with delicate features and a quiet (so far!) yet independent demeanor.
This is the first in the next generation of the Kelly family and we are all celebrating! Mother, father and child are doing well and we enjoyed visiting with them just a few hours after the birth. Can’t wait to start babysitting!
Springtime never neglects to inspire me… so even with my mixed gardening results, I can’t help planting a few seeds indoors to try again to have healthy vegetable and flower beds in our little space. Above are the tender shoots of lettuce that have popped up in the sitting room window, just a few days after planting.
Fingers crossed! I’ve already had one new bed entirely ruined by the cats next door, so I’ll have to start again with that one… I think the only foolproof way to keep them out is by covering everything in chicken wire. Sigh.
It’s a lovely evening, though, and the days are definitely getting longer and milder. We have birds building nests under the eaves by our bedroom window and the trees around town are beginning to bloom as well. It’s a hopeful time of year, and one can’t help but daydream.
It’s amazing how fast news travels.
You’d think that the hometown goings-on from Montana, over 5000 miles and seven hours away from Ireland, would take a while to reach me. I know the mail certainly drags from here to there.
But not when it’s important, I guess – not when it’s something that really matters.
So I was shocked and dismayed last night, literally moments before heading out the door for Frank’s film fundraiser, to find out about a major explosion on Main Street in Bozeman that had happened only hours earlier.
It was “just” a gas explosion that “just” destroyed three buildings and at least six businesses. Currently, there were no injuries or casualties reported, “just” a missing woman. In the grand scheme of world news, this is a calamity, yes, but not a tragedy, and I think we are all thankful for that.
But still, to me, especially living so far away from those streets on which I grew up, this is immensely sad.
In my ripe old age of nearly 27, I’ve been realizing more and more just how important history is to humanity. Each place I live is older and older, civilizationally speaking (if that is even a word!). Here in Drogheda, I can see a 300 year-old prison wall and the remnants of Medieval Magdalene’s Tower out our front window, and I know that just a few miles away are ancient tombs older than the Pyramids. In Indianapolis, I soaked up tales of the Underground Railroad and The Civil War, while admiring buildings that dated back hundreds of years. And Bozeman? It still blows my mind that my hometown was little more than a row of tents in the 1870s. I think about the Gold Rush, stagecoaches and Indian raids going on in the Wild West of Bozeman… which was really not that long ago.
So it makes me sad when I see the history of that town, young as it is, turning to dust and smoke in a freak explosion! I know civilisations come and go and rise and fall… but there is so little left as it is! These businesses were some of my favorites, and were housed in some of Bozeman’s oldest brick-and-wood false-front structures. I am glad for the safety of the town and the capabilities of the city employees to put out the fires and turn off the gas… I am very thankful. But I’m sad that I won’t get to see the Rocking R Bar, or Boodles, or Lilly Lu, or the American Legion, or the Montana Trails Art Gallery, anymore. At least not in their beautiful, whole and original forms.
And this makes me feel even stronger about historic preservation.
Bozeman has already lost some of its finest mansions, the Opera House, hotels, schools… and the town is not even 200 years old! Indianapolis was the same – just look at the photography in “Indianapolis: Then and Now.” It literally makes my stomach ache, to think of losing the past so blindly! I do understand – fires happen, costs to update are staggering, and, to be blunt, sometimes old buildings just aren’t that attractive! But there has to be a way to make it right to our forefathers (and mothers) who worked and built and lived and died to pave the way.
OK, so maybe I’m being melodramatic. (I can hear Frank saying to me, “You? Dramatic much?” -sigh-)
But let me leave you with this – take a lesson from history when you think it’s not such a big deal when some old buildings collapse.
Here in town they’ve recently uncovered about 40 skeletons down by the river as they’re building a new parking lot and cinema. Big deal, right? Hardly any news or chatter about it (though here is one speculative article). Then I found out the bodies might be ancient – perhaps not just hundreds of years old, but possibly thousands. And the construction has been stopped several times, only to resume soon after. Furthermore, I found out that there was a similar situation years back when the neighboring shopping centre was built. As they were laying the foundation where Scotch Hall sits, next to the river, they found remnants of an ancient civilisation, probably as old as the neolithic tomb of Newgrange. There was talk, as the building proceeded, that the site would be preserved and glass floors would be installed in the mall so shoppers could witness the historical wonders that lay beneath. That was several years ago – Scotch Hall is finished and full and the floors are plain tiles. And no one talks about it, seems to care, or possibly even knows.
Time, just like news, travels faster than you think, and before you know it, our young history will be ancient… and what will we be leaving behind for our descendants to learn from?
OK, I’m getting off my soapbox now.
Just wanted to let you all know I am back on the job trail! As you may remember, I finished with The Wine Buff after the holiday rush. Now, after hours being cut and other factors getting in the way, I’ve finished my time at the Salthouse – but I am ready to embark on something new!
This time I am trying for something more administrative/secretarial/entry level… maybe that will serve me better for the long term. Film and writing jobs are sparse and, to be candid, breeding grounds for the whole “it’s who you know, not what you know” scenario, so I have figured it’s best to look at some other angles. Besides, I’ve always found that alphabetizing and collating can be quite Zen! Haha!
So… please keep that in your thoughts and prayers! I’ve applied for about 20 jobs (that I feel well-qualified to take on) since February, but no luck yet. Hopefully this will be my week! I’ll keep you in the loop.
We had a nice weekend – sunny and clear with lots of time spent in the garden, cleaning house, and reading Harry Potter. We also had dinner for my friend Wendy’s birthday last night at this great American-influenced restaurant: The Eastern Seaboard. Really great food and classy atmosphere for extremely reasonable prices. Frank had roast chicken with sausage stuffing, green beans and sweet potato wedges; I had crab cakes on ciabatta with sweet potato wedges also. Then we had to split a creme brulee, which was fantastic. I hope to get back there again soon!
We have come to the conclusion that, while the other opponents in this race were worthy, nothing says “Easter Eggster” quite like a Cadbury Creme Egg.
The judges found that MILK-chocolate Cadbury simply had the kind of finesse and approachability that chocolate lovers can return to again and again. It must be said though, that the recession did not escape this year’s ceremony, as the Dove nominee had to withdraw, citing flight costs as a reason. On the other side of the coin, though, some contestants (hint: Lindtog Millionare) were so overly confident of winning that they did not even bother to appear on the momentous night, and were thus disqualified. A close friend to Lindtog has implied that the rich, foreign egg may have been seen sharing drinks with Leonardo Di Caprio at the Ivy instead of hitting the red carpet, and was possibly captured on camera there by The National Inquirer.
The eggs who did show their yolks on this special night did so in sophisticated style, putting all other celebs on the red carpet to shame. The Mark/Spencer “outrageously gooey egg” came dressed to the nines, adopting the large bows and diagonal lines so popular this season. However, style did not help Mark/Spencer Gooey, which was proclaimed by one judge as “bland.” Sources claim to have heard Gooey later on in the ladies room, complaining to a friend that “the Academy just needs to get with the times! They don’t know how to appreciate free range yet, even in chocolate eggs.”
The host for the evening, Mr. Aero Flynn was dressed in his own classic, simple brown and white cellophane suit. While not nominated for a performance this year, Aero was the life of the party and impressed the judges with his “depth of chocolatey range.” He was joined by his partner and close friend of Mark/Spencer Gooey – Mark/Spencer Rattle and Roll Egg, who was proclaimed by the press as ”sweet, fun and crunchy, but ultimately unmemorable.” Sources say it was Rattle who comforted a tipsy Gooey during her bathroom outburst.
But the star of the show, as we said before, was MILK-chocolate Cadbury Creme Egg. She positively glowed in and off-the-shoulder vintage white Oscar de la Renta gown as she accepted yet another gold statue for her work. In a brief but gracious speech, she thanked the Academy, her fellow nominees, her agent, Dairymilk, her husband, Bourneville Dark, and dedicated her win to her 16 little hard-shelled eggs at home in bed.
Unfortunately, Cadbury Creme Egg avoided the red carpet this year, stating that she felt too old for the glitz and glamour. Sources say, however, that she was just self-conscious about her recent outbreak of Eggsema.
