Well today it got up to a whopping 20 degrees Celsius (about 68 F) and this is what happened to me:
Do I look pink to you?
This isn't even doing the maroon color, justice. It's awful. THIS is what 68 degrees does to me now? Clearly, I'm the poster child for fair skin but, also, I swear to you, the sun in Ireland is more intense. We're quite aways North of the States and I'm not sure if this has something to do with it.
Trysh, I'm sure you're laughing at me! I wouldn't survive a single day in Costa Rica (well not without 50 SPF)
Cutie Pie riding her "camel"
Tomorrow is going to be another "scorcher" - perhaps reaching 70 degrees! I promise to wear layers of sunscreen. We're also very, very excited that we're going sailing tomorrow with our friend Graham! I met Graham through my running group and he's become a great friend of ours. He's very big into sailing here (has been for 25 years) and offered to take us out so we're so excited!
This weekend we rented a car to 1) do some errands and 2) to Adventure!
What was I most excited about though? THIS!:
I get excited about the most simple and meaningless things. In this case: Ikea. It's essentially a store full of cheap crap but... I love it. I can't explain it. Well, seeing as how there are generally 5,000 cars in the parking lot (whether you're in Dublin or Kent, Washington), I'm not exactly alone in this sad love-affair. Well, the only reason we made the trek out there was that we needed a small table and chairs for our balcony and our landlord would only approve the price of something from here. =) I gave her quotes from several stores and (surprise, surprise) the only one she would reimburse us for, was the cheapest option.
This felt so weird. Not only were we eating at the Ikea cafeteria (which is more like a feed-lot for humans), we also had these carts that hold up to 3 trays! So we're being herded through the single-file lane with 'guard rails' along the side, and then have a device to carry our food choices so as not to exert ourselves.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the swedish meatballs and gravy (probably genetically modified in order to make you buy more Ikea products).
DRIVE TO AVOCA HANDWEAVERS AND MILL
(did not chop my hair...it's in the coat)
Look at that Patrick Swayze hair..
This is Ireland.
It takes up to 3 days for this first process where they string the wool together and add all the different strands of color for each type of blanket. When you see what their creation actually entails, the fact that the Avoca blankets are all 50-70 EURO ($65-90) makes a whole lot of sense.
And a short video of the weaver at work. This is the same machine first used in the early 1700s (with the small addition of a tiny shuttle which slides across each time to weave in the additional yarn color). So incredible that this is truly his job, everyday. I love it.
"In 1927 the faster and more efficient shuttleless loom came into use. The power loom reduced demand for skilled handweavers, initially causing reduced wages and unemployment. Protests followed its introduction. In 1816 two thousand rioting weavers in Calton, Lancarshire tried to destroy power loom mills and stoned the workers." So, there was push-back, to say the least, when the power looms came into existence. Pretty impressive that Avoca didn't even purchase a single one though until 1988! (And still, the majority of the blankets and textiles are made by handweavers.)
Here are two of the power looms.
Irish Countryside on the way home
We also took a slight detour on the way home to see Brittas Beach. If it weren't for it being about 55 degrees, this could be a tropical destination. There were miles and miles of sandy beach and huge sand dunes (Norah's favorite).
Of course, Day 2 with the rental car far exceeded Ikea-Day but both were incredible in their own very different ways. Ikea, because we finally got our table and chairs and I got to buy cheap, organization supplies (yay!!). Today, because we got to see "Ireland" in all it's incredible, mystical, jaw-dropping beauty. See, both very different and both exciting.
We felt so "normal" driving around the city. It felt like a real family weekend where you get to run actual errands and tour around a bit. We were also pleasantly surprised by how well we know the roads already (both in Dublin and over an hour outside the city). This is thanks to many, many hours on buses, my running, Wayne's bicycling and the many trips out to the mountains with Loren and Àgi.
This was a fantastic weekend! Also, in weather-related news, going into the week of May 21st, it might hit 69 degrees in Dublin. (whoa...bust out the sunscreen) Keep in mind, the "first day of summer" is May 1st in Ireland so the fact that it hasn't hit 60 in over a month is quite sad.
For the first time in my life, Seattle is a vacation destination. (it's been 80 degrees there for a week!)
Last week we decided to take a short trip up to Sandymount (only 3 train stops North of us, just prior to the city centre). There's not much around there but there is - what appears to be - about a mile of beach to be combed, at low tide. This is also the place that I will run my 2nd 10K race on Saturday May 26th so I was glad to see the landscape...(flat).
On our way to the train to go to Sandymount.
We've never been up here but we can see it from where we live. When the tide is out here, it's REALLY out (as in, it can take you 10-15 minutes to walk out to where the water starts).
Norah is ready to find treasures!!
We're always amazed at the clouds here in Dublin. Such an odd thing to take notice of but they really are different here - they're massive! (and they're around...a lot...)
This is the perfect beach for Norah.
Wayne, very tiny, walking out toward the water. He could explore on the beach for 8 hours if I left him to it. He loooves it!
Wayne taking Norah out. Notice the concrete fort thing on right (not for any interesting reason - just because I mention it in the next caption....)Anyway, it's a huge circular wall about five feet tall that must be a holdover from warring with the British.
This is inside this odd stone structure on the beach. It's filled with graffiti, ne'er do well youth drinking beers and, most importantly, tide pools. After Wayne and Norah went walking for about 25 minutes I decided to go and look for them. I found them in here catching baby crabs and teeny tiny fish in these tide pools. Norah and Wayne both, were in heaven.
And here's our sweet Norah, positively exhausted, leaning her whole body on Daddy's head.
