Moved In!

Cheers, everyone!

This week we hit a major milestone in the resettlement process. With the installation of our entry gates, we are moved in. The walls have been painted, the curtains have been hung, the plumbing has been repaired, we obtained health, house, and car insurance, we have a support team in place to help manage our new home, the security system was installed, our furniture is in place, and we have an Irish car. Whew! It has been a crazy four months. 

Now we will move on to the more fun aspects of moving internationally with a pet during a global pandemic. We will become tourists in our adopted country and we will embark on projects to make our house truly ours, as was our place in the US. Our first tourist stop is Galway next weekend. It's on the west coast, about 90 minutes from where we live. It will be Velvet's first two nights alone in the house. Fingers crossed that she doesn't notice our absence. 

We've enjoyed spectacular weather over the past week with almost no rain(!!) and abundant sunshine and warm temperatures. The blue sky seems to go on forever when it's clear. There is no rain in the forecast for the next week, ensuring that August will end on a high note. 

We are learning more and more about life here in rural Ireland. 

• The milk run occurs every morning at 9:30 am  
• The passenger train behind us makes three daily trips to and from Dublin
• This weekend is the big peat delivery time. We've watched a steady stream of peat-laden trailers emerge from the access road adjacent to our property to deliver this very Irish fuel source to the neighbourhood. Check out the size of these tractors in the below photo!
• The swallows have returned on their semi-annual migration. Velvet is entranced by these swooping little birds. They are very fast!

My only complaint is that I am still dealing with a very painful case of sciatica. I've never had anything like this before. The pain is pretty intense and the only way to relieve it is to lie flat. I'm napping a little and am often reminded of my mother's belief that ageing is not for the faint of heart. She would enjoy living here as much as we do. 

Sláinte!

Goodbye, July!

 Cheers, everyone!

The title of this blog should tell you how I'm feeling these days. July was a particularly cruel month for us. I won't bore you with the details but it left me very discouraged and defeated. 

I have a very unfortunate, lifelong habit of berating myself for the things that remain undone instead of finding joy in the things that I've completed. This has followed me across the Atlantic. No matter how many tasks get ticked off the To Do list, I fret over the ones that didn't. We have accomplished so much in three months! During a global pandemic. At our ages. In a country where we know nobody and the citizens are just emerging from a soul-sucking lockdown. They, too, are feeling drained and looking for something about which to be optimistic. 

I am grateful that we found some solace on the last day of this month. We returned our rental car! We signed the paperwork to lease an Audi Q4 e-Tron, an electric car that will be significantly more affordable here than our beloved Saabs. This both introduces us to the era of electric cars and allows us to begin to build a credit history in Ireland. So, a good end to a bad month. The photo below is from our drive down to Limerick today to pick up the car. 

Velvet Jane is adapting so well to her new home! She has lots of perches where she can sit or lie down to watch the birds. There aren't any squirrels here (that we've seen), but she is loving the stairs and the space, zooming through the house like a kitten on catnip. 

We continued to by stymied by the number and variety of day-to-day fees and taxes that are imposed on Irish residents. We recently learned that viewers of cable TV must apply for a TV license and renew it annually. That left me shaking my head in complete bewilderment. 

Our house painting is complete, as is the follow-on sweeping and mopping to remove the dust from sanding. We have finally begun to place furniture in [potentially] permanent places.  The process of unpacking continues, although the number of unopened boxes is small. Curtains are going up, our gate is being installed in a few weeks, same with our home security system, and eventually we will begin to introduce colour in the form of artwork that we loved in our Virginia home. 

95% done, 5% to go. 

Sláinte!

Happy Independence Day!

 Cheers, everyone!

Today is July 4th, Independence Day in America, and Sunday in Ireland. I love fireworks and will miss them tonight. Fingers crossed that we'll see some via a streaming service tomorrow. I hope that everyone who reads this post has a chance to celebrate in their favourite way. 

Summer is in full bloom here and I'm craving summer foods. My first issue was finding hot dogs and pickle relish. Apparently hot dogs are seasonal items but they eventually appeared on the shelves. I made my own pickle relish and was really pleased with it. Now, I am trying to hunt down Crisco to make a pie. It's stone fruit season here and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and start rolling crust. My backup plan is a rustic plum tart, made from Jus-Rol puff pastry sheets. 

Our house painting is finally finished! The amount of dust from sanding is amazing. Much cleaning is needed before we can start placing our furniture in its intended space. We've been here for more than two months and our house still looks like we just moved in yesterday, except with prettier colors. I'm looking forward to having this behind us. 

Our imaginations are beginning to wander as we survey our yards. We aren't used to having this much space and it's allowing us to consider things we never could have in Virginia. My top two wants are a stone labyrinth and a gazebo in the back yard. I find walking labyrinths to be so comforting. The idea of having one in my back yard is exciting. Below is a photo of the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, one of my favourite places. The gazebo would be a lovely reading nook on warm days. Finding tradesmen has been an enormous challenge. During the Covid lockdown, so many projects were put on hold. Now, as we gradually emerge, the providers of carpentry, stonework, painting, etc. are overwhelmed with requests. It's good for them to catch up on the lost work due to the pandemic.  

We have faced some unexpected sad turns over the past two weeks.  

I developed some sciatica on my right side. I've never had it before and am surprised by how much it hurts. I went to our GP, who dispensed some pain killers that make me sick to my stomach. So I'm stretching every day in an effort to tamp down the pain and eventually end this. 

I learned this week that a friend of mine from America is critically ill. I've spent a lot of time contemplating what I would do in her situation. She is so stoic. I pray for relief for her. 

After working diligently to obtain exemptions from import fees for our cars, we learned that it will cost €4,600 (about $5,000) annually to register our two daily driver cars. Ireland is aggressively moving to a zero carbon output from cars, which we support. We just didn't expect to have to support it with so much taxation. We will likely ship them back to the US, where our Swedish team of mechanics have buyers lined up for them. That is a bit of consolation for a larger loss. Then we'll purchase an electric vehicle, a whole new world for us. 

We continue to fall in love with this beautiful country. We met more neighbours this week. They told us about when they shook hands with former President Obama when he visited Moneygall, a village about five minutes away from us. They were so excited! They stood in line for more than 12 hours to get tickets to meet the Obamas. Maura said that Mrs. Obama was "a real lady", someone she could speak to for hours. I do enjoy the warmth that Ireland feels toward America and Americans. 

Happy Fourth!

Sláinte!

So much light!

 Cheers, everyone!

I'm not certain of the proper greeting today for residents of the US. It's Juneteenth and the inaugural observance of this federal holiday celebrating the emancipation of African American slaves. I'm looking forward to seeing posts from my Facebook family and news reports of how the day was commemorated. 

Here in Ireland, we are having a glorious start to summer. The sky lightens around 4 am and does not get fully dark until nearly 11 pm. For sun lovers like me, this is heaven. Here's a photo of our back yard that I took at 9 am today. 

It looked the same at 6 am!

Thomas is struggling with this. He needs a cold, dark, silent room to sleep comfortably.  He's been wearing a heavy-duty eye mask to block out the light. It's been partially effective but there is just so much light that he hasn't been resting well. 

Velvet Jane views it as her personal responsibility to announce that morning has broken. I think she may have been a rooster in a previous life. As soon as she sees the first rays of light, she begins vocalising with her entire range of cat noises. She is a very loud cat who loves the sound of her voice. She's learned that standing in the entry area of the house amplifies her sounds. This is mildly amusing in the afternoon. At 4:30 am, not so much. She and Thomas have had some serious conversations about this, to no avail. Here's where her mornings start. 

Yesterday we hung blackout curtains in our bedroom. They were already hung in all the bedrooms when we arrived but we removed them for painting. Our bedroom is now fully painted and the furniture is in so up went the new curtains yesterday. Thomas finally got a good night's sleep! He's still sleeping, although I suspect that the recent arrival of the painters will change that soon. 

This is the difference blackout curtains make. I took the photos after the sun had moved over the house and the room is still much darker! Too bad darkness does not hide clutter. 

We continue our nomadic migrations from room to room as the house undergoes painting. The upper level is finished, except for my pink project room. The ground level is moving along. Today, the second coat will go on the walls of the entry and the sitting room will get its first coat. Then, we will move things from the kitchen/dining/sunroom area to...I'm not sure where...so the main living area can be done. We are very much looking forward to settling in - arranging furniture, hanging pictures, shopping for household accessories. (I'm probably looking forward to the shopping more than Thomas.) 

To all the dads who follow my blog, my warmest wishes for a Happy Fathers Day on Sunday! 

Sláinte!

What I Do And Don't Miss About America

Cheers, everyone! 

It's been 40 days since we arrived in Ireland! We have been on a wild ride of learning how to live in this beautiful and mysterious country. Each morning, I look out at the mountains, hear the cows moo and the birds singing, and I'm astonished that we live here. Thomas teases me that this has become my new mantra: we live here!

We've experienced one seasonal change. Summer arrived last week. The pounding rains of April and May transformed to warm, sunny days that begin around 4:00 am and end around midnight. Very long days with lots of sunlight! I woke up at 5:30 am today and almost took a photo of our back yard to show how light it is that early. Once I'm asleep, burglars could come into our room and steal the bed from underneath me - I wouldn't notice. Thomas is the opposite. Even out here in the country, he needs a cold, dark room to sleep. He still gets up for second sleep almost nightly. We're adapting differently. 

While every day is a gift here, not everything is all rainbows and shamrocks. There are some aspects of Irish life that completely affirm our decision to move here and others that are...less fun. 

What I Miss About America

The DMV - I am not kidding. The #1 thing I need right now is a surly clerk at the DMV who acts as if he or she is doing me a favour and gives me a driver's license. The process of obtaining an Irish driving license involves a written test, a vision test, and a road test. If I pass all three, I will be given a Learner's Permit. I must hold this for two years before I can apply for a "full license". During my Learner's Permit phase, I may not drive without a fully licensed driver accompanying me. I'm sitting for my written test on August 9. Ouch. Fifty years of driving with a mostly clean record and I'm back to being 16. Our cars are sitting in the garage, undriven except for an occasional trip around the house. 

Hot dogs with pickle relish - these are two foods that I have not found anywhere here. Anything that is Irish and ends in "relish" is to be strictly avoided. I would love an Oscar Meyer all-beef dog with relish. Yum. 

Food delivery - this is not an Ireland thing. They have loads of food delivery services. But we live in the country. There is one Chinese restaurant that delivers and their food suuuuuuuucks. Plus, their driver called me to ask for directions. It was ridiculous. DoorDash, we hardly knew ye. 

Knowing where everything is and who to call for what - our Irish angels, Hugh and Eileen, have been consistently generous with their time and assistance. Our neighbours have stopped by to say welcome and to offer any assistance we might need. It's really been gratifying. Today, one or our bathroom sinks started to drip from the hose. I am completely clueless about whom to call AND it's a bank holiday weekend. In America, holidays mean longer store hours and lots of sales. Here, it means nobody is working - and I mean nobody. Even our painter is taking tomorrow off. 

What I Don't Miss About America

The helicopters - living in the DC area, there were helicopters swooping overhead morning, noon, and night. Crime choppers, Pentagon brass, other DC helo-worthy folks. It was obnoxious.

Lawn mowers and leaf blowers - it seemed as though every person in our neighborhood association knew when we headed to the deck with a glass of wine and grabbed their leaf blowers. Here, our neighbour across the road mowed his lawn today and we were surprised by how quickly he finished it. Our lawn guy, Mac, appears during the week when the weather is good, does his work, and is gone. The rest of our surroundings are mostly fields. Blissful silence!

Militarised police - we needed to register our presence with the local Garda (police) station. We stopped in the Shinrone office and spoke with an official there. She welcomed us to Ireland, talked about where we are living, and asked us to come back when we have an invitation from the State (part of our visa process). A lovely woman who bore no arms and gave us lots of reassurance and numbers to call in case we need help. 

Every customer care person I have ever spoken with - sometimes I felt like I was in a jousting match with any company's "Customer Care" team. Two weeks ago, we bought a chair from Ikea, returned it because it was defective, had another delivered, it was also defective, and we called Ikea. They apologised for our trouble, picked up the offending package at our convenience, and gave us a €15 gift card for our trouble. THAT is customer service. I'm going to apply those €15 to something for my project room. 

We moved here seeking a peaceful and quiet existence. We found it! We bought a house without ever seeing it because Hugh and Eileen told us it was perfect for us. When we arrived, bleary eyed and jet lagged, we were amazed by what we own. It is much more than we expected in so many ways. We still walk around the yard, each trip ending with my saying, "We live here!". 

Sláinte!

Painting!

Cheers, everyone!

We are still unpacking - just enough to decide what needs to be retained and what will go to the local charities. Our Virginia house was packed and shipped before we settled on its
sale. This resulted in us moving linens for a bed that we left behind for the new owners. American and Irish bed sizes are different, so we're sorting through queen-sized linens for donations. 

We had no idea how many wine glasses we own. It became a joke as the movers brought in box after box labelled "Wine Glasses". We filled almost a wall of cabinets before I asked the team to just set aside the rest. Eventually the glasses will live in the sitting room after shelving is installed. And then we can truly organise the kitchen instead of randomly stacking things in drawers and hoping we remember where we put them. 

Our unpacking was also limited to what can be quickly shoved into a pile in the middle of each room. The painter arrived this week so we need to be able to quickly flip rooms from "in use" to "available". We're excited about this change. Once it's complete, we can finally exhale and start the process of actually settling in to where we will live and what we will live with. Our artwork and photos are presently packed away; we're anxious to unwrap them and see where they belong in our new home. 

Yesterday, the painters finished the two bedrooms that are currently guest bedrooms. We plan to remove the wall between them to create a master suite. Here's a photo of them that gives an idea what the combined room will look like. Next up are the bathrooms and sitting room. 

When we bought our home, the entire interior was the palest of yellow. This is not my favorite color and does not coordinate with any of the furniture we moved over. We are using some of the colors from our Virginia house and some based on those colors. 

The painter was pretty skeptical when he saw the colors we chose. Today, he and his assistant declared that the colors are perfect. The blue changes with the light throughout the day. The lead painter said, "It will look warm in winter and cool in summer!". Success! I doubt he will be so enthusiastic about my pink project room. :-) In the meantime, he's promised to paint "anything that does not move". 

Sláinte!

 

Memorial Day

 Cheers, everyone!

It's Memorial Day weekend in America, the unofficial start to summer. Many years ago, I went to Arlington Cemetery to be present at the Changing of the Guard ceremony on Memorial Day. I arrived at the exact moment when Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife, Marilyn, were stepping out of their limousine. Times were different then; they mingled with the crowd. It seems like a lifetime ago!

All gave some. Some gave all. 

I hope that many of you have  plans to grill or share a meal with family or friends at some point over the next few days. Enjoy! Please also remember that the holiday is a remembrance of all who gave their lives in service to the nation. The past 15 months have provided us with searing reminders of how precious life is. I'm grateful that people are getting vaccinated and an end to this pandemic is almost in sight.

This is our first holiday since we left America. I feel a twinge of missing the traditions of US holidays. I want to make potato salad and I crave a hot dog. What I miss most is the music of patriotic America. I love the Sousa marches, the anthem, the host of patriotic songs that commemorate the military branches. I'm a sucker for America The Beautiful. I don't know enough about Ireland to be able to correlate America's music to what is tradition here. I'm looking forward to learning about it. 

This looks yummy!!

Instead of grilling or going to the beach, we'll spend the weekend prepping for the painter who arrives next week. We're weary from the move and the endless unpacking. On Monday, we're driving down to Limerick to shop for a guest bed and pick up some vegan cupcakes from a bakery. Not typical Memorial Day activities!

The Republic of Ireland, where we live, does not celebrate Memorial Day. It does recognise Remembrance Day, although not as a national holiday. The citizens of the Republic of Ireland (the southern part of the island) have a somewhat troublesome relationship with the British, who celebrate Remembrance Day with great fanfare. Thomas and I  have so much to learn about the history of this nation!

However you celebrate, please be safe and enjoy the time off from work if you are fortunate enough to get it. 

Sláinte!