Thanksgiving Week Fave Fives

Friday Fave Fives.  A weekly event of thinking back over the past week and remembering the things we can be thankful for.  And it was Thanksgiving Day yesterday here in the US.  So my gratitude is doubled this week.  I try to be thankful every day, 'giving thanks always and for everything'.

1.  We had a great day on Thanksgiving.  There were a total of thirteen people sitting around our table at different times of the day.  Family and friends.  It was a wonderful fun filled day for us. I hope our guests enjoyed it as much as we did.  And I never took a single picture...

2.  A quiet day today. I won't admit to how late I slept in.  And since our weather outside is frightful and we are letting it snow (just flurries and nothing sticking on the ground), I am glad that we can relax.  Although we did make a quick grocery run, we are NOT participating in Black Friday shopping.  Today is a day to stay inside and rest.

3.  Looking back over the week, I remembered that I drove closer into the city to watch a British soccer football game with my younger daughter and her boyfriend at the Irish pub.  I took the opportunity to walk over to the mall area and was able to find a pair of black slacks and a new pair of jeans to replace some really old ones.  After the game was over (sadly, the good guys lost), I walked back to meet them by the huge Christmas tree lit up in the square, and then we popped over to TJ's to grab some groceries.  Three for one on that trip.

4.  Before we left TJ's, my daughter got a call from the boyfriend.  His car had stalled and he was waiting for the tow truck to move it to the repair shop.  I'm glad we hadn't left the area so we could give him a ride home to his place.

5.  The best fave of the week (after Thanksgiving Day) was attending a concert of Handel's Messiah.  A somewhat local (twenty-five miles away) private university performed Messiah on Sunday evening.  It was beautiful and professionally performed.  And our grandson Warrior Boy asked if he could come along.  The drive up to the campus is through mostly rural areas and the chapel where the performance was held is lovely (good acoustics, too).  And a friend was singing in the choir.  The whole time was balm for our souls as we hummed along sometimes and remembered singing those same melodies in our college choir.  It really was the best way to launch our whole holiday season.

And this Sunday is the first week of Advent!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wherever the roads take you

It may be dark and dreary,

but there is always a rainbow!

May your day be filled with food, friends and family.

This is the day which the LORD has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Friday Fave Fives, Another November Week

 Since November is Thanksgiving month in the US, people tend to mention their gratitude more.  But gratitude should be weekly, daily, moment by moment. Sometimes, I forget.  Friday Fave Fives helps remind me to 'give thanks always'.  Thanks to Susanne who has hosted us for YEARS! (follow the link to join in)

1.  I just finished a zoom meeting a few minutes ago with friends-- we call ourselves the Art Girls because we started years ago as five of us who love making art and meeting together.  Watercolor painting, weaving, knitting, sewing, spinning, acrylics.  Since then three of us have moved away from our hometown, but we still keep in constant contact.  I am so thankful for my Art Girls.

2.  Our weather has turned.  Winter has arrived.  I am thankful for a warm house, warm clothes and cuddly blankets.

3.  Earlier this week I was doing some research on aran sweater patterns (aran is cabled knit designs).  Well, that led me to flip through some old Interweave Knit magazines I own.  And that led me to a new fascinating project.  Miniature mittens.   These will adorn a wreath or garland soon.  I'm loving this!

4.  An unexpected piece of mail.  And what was in that package?  SEEDS!  Nikkipolani knows my love language!  Calendula seeds for next spring!

5.  The Christmas tree is up and glowing.  No decorations yet.  I am thankful that my son Dr. Mike carried it up from the basement and The Professor put it together.

These are just five things in this week for which I am thankful.  There were many more like our weekly meet up with T and S, encouraging discussions with friends, the beauty of transitioning seasons.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Off to Ireland: Part 7!

I have been a bit distracted this week by life, so Ireland posts got delayed.  But now, let's enjoy Kenmare and Ladies View on the Ring of Kerry.

Kenmare, as the sign states, is a market town, a place within a rural area where goods are sold and farmers bring their crops to sell.  

Actually, the main reason our tour stopped in Kenmare (besides the ice cream) was because Kenmare is famous for its lacemaking history.  The Poor Clare Nuns brought lace work to Kenmare in 1861 to create employment for local girls.  Their beautiful lace creations became famous.  If you want to read more about it, here is the link to Kenmare Lace.  We were able to watch a demonstration and hear more about the designs and how it is still a thriving craft in the area.  Sadly, I got no photos, mostly because I was standing in the very back of the presentation area and couldn't see much.

After our quick stop, we jumped on the bus and headed on north and east along the Ring of Kerry.  Our main stop was at Ladies View.  Why Ladies View?  This amazing vista of Lakes of Kerry astounded Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during the queen's visit to Ireland in 1861.  Of course we had to take a quick hike to the best views.

Then it was back to Killarney through the national park.

And past fields full of grazing sheep.

And Irish barns.

And our day wasn't done by any means.  Great Southern Hotel provided an informal dinner meal (note the Irish brown bread!) and then we walked into the center of town to watch the Celtic Roots show.  

A quick detour to walk past St. Mary's Cathedral

Gaelic music and dancing!  It was amazing!  If you are ever in Killarney, go see them!

Not a great photo...but L and D and I with the singers, dancers and instrument players. (D's photo shared with me)

Early to bed; early to rise.  Because the next day we were off to Cliffs of Moher!

Friday Fave Fives, November, Week Three

Happy Friday.  That means Friday Fave Fives.  Being grateful is a discipline.  I think that is a great way to look at gratitude.  We discipline ourselves and practice seeing the good and being thankful for even the hard things.  That's gratitude.  (credit to Becoming Minimalist blog for reminding me of that this week)  This weekly exercise helps me to discipline my mind and heart to be thankful.  Thankful for even the rainy days we had this week.  Here are five things that stood out to me in my week.

1.  On Saturday, we realized that there was nothing! nothing! on our calendar.  So we jumped in our car and drove to a State Park about an hour's drive away.  The weather was perfect for a hike in the woods.  After stopping to pick up coffee and a snack at the cutest little coffee shop, we hiked a couple of miles tromping through the fallen leaves and sometimes walking the trail paralleling a lake.  It was a great way to spend our free day.

2.  Veteran's Day.  Or Remembrance Day.  Our friends T and S met us at Denny's for breakfast.  Because our guys are both veterans, their breakfast meal was free.  We had the best time celebrating our veterans.  While we were sitting in the booth drinking our coffee, a young girl and her mother walked up to us and asked if they were veterans, thanked them for their service and gave them each a paper that the girl had colored with crayons saying "Thank you!"  It was so sweet and made their day so much brighter.

3.  Happy Anniversary to our son and daughter-in-law!  Eighteen years!  (old photo, but one of my favorites)  Yes, they were married on Veteran's Day :)

4.  Another hike.  This time with Younger Daughter (the nurse) and the dogs.  We were walking one of the local paved paths and noticed a side trail off to the left.  Of course we had to take the detour.  It was so much fun to explore somewhere new!  And beautiful.

5.  We have a good friend from our Los Angeles days who lives and ministers in Southeast Asia.  Her mother and brothers live not that far from us.  She is in the US visiting her mom right now and we arranged to have lunch with her and her mom.  What a privilege for us to spend that precious time with her.  Of course, we were so busy talking that we didn't remember to take any pictures.

Bonus:  I took photos of the two items I have knitted for the baby shower later this month.  Because the new little girl will be born near Christmas time, I am hoping to finish a red newborn size sweater for her, too.  It's so much fun knitting for babies!

Off to Ireland: Part 6!

 We woke in the morning to a grey day in Killarney.  At least it wasn't raining.  Breakfast was wonderful.

honey straight from the honey comb

We hopped on our bus.  Eleanor was very excited for the day's trip around the Ring of Kerry.  (Note for any knitters here:  I knitted this white sweater and almost finished it before I left home.  The sleeves were made on the air flights across the Atlantic and during our first two days in Ireland.)

Our first stop was at a small homestead which shows how people lived in Ireland during mid 1800s.  I had read books about Ireland and particularly the Irish Famine.  But here I saw it with my own eyes.  Our tour guide Karl told us that as we drove through the countryside, we would notice many broken down buildings in fields.  Most of those were once family cottages, but they were abandoned during the famine, burned down and ruined by landlords to keep their tenants from returning.  (I will be posting some of these places which we noticed during our travels.)

It would have looked much like this when it was still inhabitable.

There were (and still are) Romani people living in Ireland in caravans such as this.

So.  What is the Ring of Kerry?  It's a road trip (and can also be a hiking trip) that follows the coastline in the southwest of Ireland.  The views of mountains, lakes and beaches and ocean are incredibly beautiful.  Some photos are a bit fuzzy because I took them through a traveling bus window.

 Our three main stops on the tour were Waterville, Kenmare and Ladies View.

Waterville is a coastal village.  Its main claim to fame is that Charlie Chaplin was a yearly visitor to Waterville and loved the excellent fishing opportunities and the anonymity of this quiet, small, out of the way village.   I loved it for the beach and ocean and the lovely St. Michael's Church.

Eleanor and Charlie

Testing the waters of the wild and chilly Atlantic Ocean

My friend L loves the beach as much as I do.

Waterville is one of those places where I could have stayed for days or weeks (like Charlie Chaplin).  I know that I want to take The Professor there some day.

I think this post is long enough!  Come back soon for Kenmare and Ladies View.