Hello November Faves

 November 1st.  I can't wrap my mind around it being the eleventh month of this year.  Every week is speeding along so so fast.  Here it is Friday again.  Time for Friday Fave Fives with Susanne and others where we look back at our week and choose Five Faves of blessings and gratitude.

1.  Another wonderful walk under the autumn leaves.  And on the leaves (I might have jumped and stomped through them just to enjoy the sound of crunchy leaves).

2.  Mostly mild and sunny weather.

3.  Loads of fall clean up work in the garden.  In particular, we finally finished installing a large water barrel for rain water catchment.  It rained last night, so I checked the barrel today.  Several inches of water was diverted into our new barrel!  Success!

4.  Making a trip to the airport is not always my favorite road trip.  But this time it was one of my favorite events of the week.  We drove there to pick up Younger Son (Dr. M) who flew in for an extended stay.  Oh, I am a happy mom.  He is settling in and working his usual way-more-than-forty-hours schedule in the guest room.

5.  I am finally getting my photos from Ireland/England/Wales organized and posting them on the blog.  It has taken me a long time to do this, but I am so enjoying reliving those wonderful weeks through the memories the pictures bring up.  If you want to read them, you can just scroll down and find four post (so far) title Off To Ireland.

Bonus:  here is a photo I finally was able to download from last week.

May this month of November be overflowing with blessings for you all.

Off To Ireland: Part 4

All buckled up and ready to leave Dublin and head for the country!  Our first day out of Dublin took us south and east away from the North Sea.

No houses.  Just green fields.

And cows.

Our first stop of the day was at a farm owned by an American woman who inherited her grandmother's property, Zwartbles Farm.  She raises sheep. And alpacas.

Guard alpacas, guarding the sheep and the gate.

Could I live here, surrounded by this garden?  Oh yes!

After we waved good-bye to our hostess and this beautiful place, we drove on to Kilkenny where we checked in to our hotel and set out to explore.

That big building in the background?  It's Kilkenny Castle!

There were so many beautiful churches!

We explored the town's pubs.

And listened to Irish music.

And walked past, in, and out of, all the small out of the way shops, alleys and buildings.

Finally, we were ready to walk back across the river to the hotel and settle in for the night.

Random things you see in the store windows...

And in gardens.

The End of October Fave Fives

Again this week, I am skating in a bit late for Friday Fave Fives.  Yeah, it's been a busy week.  But now I'm here to share with you five blessings from this past week.  Now if I can just get my phone and my laptop to talk to each other, then I can post photos.  I will post my FFFs and if I can download the pictures, I 'll add them later.

1.  The Professor and the grandsons spent the weekend at a very large campout with Trail Life troops from several states.  Since 'we' are the host troop, my guys helped with various tasks like parking for A LOT of cars.  Earlier in the day on Friday, The Prof drove our little motorhome out to the site and then after school was out, I drove the boys over.  They had a great weekend!

2.  The weather has been lovely.  I do appreciate the sunny and warmish days so I can be outside working on garden chores like putting the veggie garden to bed and adding some mulch to areas that will need the cover over winter.  We even were able to plant a new dwarf oak tree in the front of the house where we cut down that invasive species tree that was there when we moved in here.

3.  The colors of autumn!  My favorite season here in Ohio.

4.  Have you even given blood at a Red Cross blood drive?  For the first time ever, I was allowed to donate my blood.  Until recently, there was a life time ban for me because I had malaria when we lived in Indonesia.  That ban was lifted, so I was able to donate this week.

5.  We took a walk (3 1/2 miles!) this morning with Younger Daughter and a lovely man she is dating.  The dogs thoroughly enjoyed the outing and we dodged the rainstorm that passed over us just before we left the house.  After our walk, we enjoyed a yummy early lunch at a cute coffee shop nearby (we may have planned to park right by that coffee place...so we could grab food and drinks afterwards).

I hope you have had a wonderful week full of bleassings!

Off To Ireland: Part 3

 Are you ready for it?  Random photos of buildings in Dublin.  If I know the place, I'll name it.  But because we were often in a bus being driven around the city, I didn't always have an opportunity to identify the buildings.

Who knew there is an Irish Rock and Roll Museum?

Everywhere we traveled in Ireland, we would notice references to the Irish Revolution or Irish Republic.  These people are very proud of their independence.

Another small church tucked in between larger and newer structures.

Dubliners like to decorate their buildings with images.  It is good to know how well protected the city is.

A rather large church.  Note the arched gate on the right which extends over the street.  Is there a walkway or room up there?

Wellington Monument.  In a large park near the Dublin Zoo.

This statue graced the pond in the park near our hotel.

We found a bookstore!  Eleanor was so excited!  Yes, I bought a book.

Maybe my favorite building in Dublin.  Saved for last.  Collins Barracks.  Home now of a couple of museums (National Museum of Decorative Arts and History), but it used to be a military barracks.

Because Collins Barracks was just a few blocks down the street from our hotel, we walked over and enjoyed coffee and pastries provided by this adorable coffee cart in the parade ground plaza.

Isn't this an adorable seagull?  Looking so sweet and innocent as it wanders around the parade ground of the barracks?  Don't be fooled.  It's an evil thief!  In the two seconds when we had our backs turned to our snacks and picked up a blown away napkin, this opportunist winged devil grabbed our goodies and flew off a few yards and ATE them.  Beware of pickpockets!

How can I leave such a lovely city with so many beautiful buildings large and small?

But ALL THE REST OF IRELAND awaits!