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!