Ireland

 It’s been 6 weeks ago that we went on a tour to Ireland. The we was me and hubby, son, hubbie's two nieces with their hubbies and son.  The tour started in Dublin, hubby, son and I were a day late getting there because weather canceled our flight actually it was because weather backed up flights and our flight crew would have been on overtime and airline would have to pay a big fine. We rescheduled our flights drove home then back to the airport bright and early the next morning.  The trip was great after we got there. We spent a few hours at Glendalough which is like a national park with two lakes, trails to hike and the round tower and chapel ruins. There are ruins of stone churches and houses everywhere. We went to St. Patrick's Rock, Cashel dating back to 12th and 13th centuries. Blarney Castle was another stop once you start up the stone spiral stairs there is no turning back (absolutely no room to turn around) son got in position to kiss the Blarney stone, I did not.  I told the guide his grandmother kissed it in 1952 and they didn't have thick rubber mats to lay on then or a spray bottle of disinfectant.  Son didn't get backwards far enough to kiss the stone and didn't feel gipped.  Blarney Castle had information boards that explained the rooms and castle life.  There were also beautiful botanical gardens.  The scenery was beautiful and so green.  We toured the Ring of Kerry which is a scenic loop around a peninsula on the western coast and saw the Cliffs of Moher on a sunny day and the Burren then the clouds came in again.  The joke in Ireland is we had summer last Tuesday between 1 and 3. We had more nice weather than rainy.  --Ann--

Reading list #3 2024

Tis a lovely day for a Guiness.........

or a lovely day for an Irish coffee

1. A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tessa Arlen story about a young woman with 5 year old daughter who is abandoned by her husband in  late 1800’s in England. She starts designing dresses to support herself and daughter eventually opens stores in London, New York, Paris and Chicago. Also a Titanic survivor. Good story and wonderful descriptions of fabrics and color.
2. Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb as delightful the second time I read it as the first.
3. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich children’s book probably 4th grade reading level just for fun.
4. Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson murder mystery takes place on an island near Stockholm, Sweden. 
5. Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Rose nonfiction to keep my kindle streak going. About the importance of art in our lives for our wellbeing. Lots of studies and physiology of how the brain works and responds to the arts. Interesting.
6. The Women by Kristen Hannah for book club best book I have read in a long time about nurses who served during Vietnam war and their return to America.
7. The Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland I read this years ago and very few moments reading it the second time that “oh yeah I remember this” almost like I was reading it for the first time. It’s about a painting probably painted by Vermeer, the Dutch artist. Each chapter is about who owned the painting, how they related to the painting and how they acquired it.
8. Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger book # 15 in the Cork O’Conner series.
9. The Paris Novel  fiction by chef, food writer and editor, Ruth Reichl, delightful story about a young woman going to Paris after the death of her mother. A bit of a fairy tale in that the people she meets in Paris each contribute to her finding herself and understanding her mother. Short happy ending book.
10. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig for book club I just about quit reading it because I was going to miss the discussion but I said one more chapter and the action / tension picked up so I read to the end. The story takes place in 1909/1910 in Montana about a widowed father of 3 boys attending country school. Country school was the best 4 years of school of my life. 
11. Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier another book about Vermeer and his painting.
12. Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger #16 in the Cork O’Connor series, lots of twists and surprises.
13. Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes a mix up of gym bags and a drastic change of circumstances forces two women to literally walk in the others shoes. It’s a story of friendship and overcoming hardships and relationships. Very good
14. For All the World by Jean Grainger story takes place in Ireland at the beginning of WWI. 
15. Murder in the Marigolds by Fiona Grace a very short book murder with a horticultural theme just for fun. 
16. Lilac Ink by Jean Grainger Ireland about a young woman with polio in1938 overcoming obstacles and finding happiness and a letter in a bottle.
17. Last Port of Call: The Queenstown Series book 1 by Jean Grainger the story begins in 1912 in Queenstown, Ireland  reverted back to the original Irish name of Cobh with Ireland's independence from Britan. The story is about a young woman and her daughter who inherit the big house and turn it into a bed and breakfast to support themselves. Cobh is the departure point for many Irish leaving Ireland.  Rereading these books after visiting Cobh a few weeks ago.  
18. The West's Awake  by Jean Grainger book 2 of the Queenstown series. This series made me sympathetic toward those fighting for an independent Ireland.

I took a much longer break from blogging than I intended but then not much has been happening on the creative side.  We took a trip to Ireland with son and nieces and families.  It was a tour group and traveling with family was wonderful. We hope to travel together again in a couple years.  We toured the southern part of Ireland this trip.  My previous trips were all in the North to visit relatives so saw lots of beautiful new scenery. More about that in coming weeks.  I have been rereading the Jean Grainger books and trying to visualize  Cobh /Queenstown 110 years ago the only building that I'm sure is still in exactly the same place is St. Colman's Cathederal.

Creative week

Hubby was off fishing for the week, I had a week of unlimited creative time. I moved the watercolors and a bunch of other creative resources to the dining room table ( I can eat my meals anywhere) the light was better there. I continued work on my little travel sketchbook. The second day of the trip it was raining so hard we stayed in the hotel since plans changed. No excuses not to sketch……I had enough photos on my camera and phone I had a starting point. The first few sketches were done in Italy and not in any particular order as the computer does its own thing when uploading….

 

My sketching improved with practice and my colors are brighter with my larger paint palette. I also got out my old Artist Sketchbook magazines and reread some inspiring articles and “how to” articles. I was trying to capture the gloominess of the weather we were experiencing some sketches are better than others and the really bad sketches didn’t make the post. But it’s okay to do a bad sketch I gave myself permission to make bad art and a couple days later it doesn’t look as bad. I also sent the inner critic out the door.  

I need to improve my workspace downstairs so I spend a little time everyday sketching.  Ann

A little travel.....

 

My Sister-in-law and I went on a trip to the Amalfi Coast of Italy with the alumni association of South Dakota State University.  There were 37 in the group and I knew the names of at least a third of them but didn't know them well.  We all got aquainted!! They were a fun bunch to travel with and everyone was on  time for all the departures.  The only negative to the trip was the rainy weather, I said pretend we are in Ireland then it rained hard so pretend we are in Scotland....... One day we all wore our blue SDSU t-shirts.  We stayed 4 night on the island of Ischia and took ferries to the islands of Capri and Procida then spent 3 nights in Sorrento.

Me and sil.  We ate lots of good food, really good food and wine and limoncello.  Pasta and pizza with fresh mozzarella and more wine.  Pastries for breakfast.....too much sugar for me, they did have yogurt, cheeses, coldcuts with lots of fresh breads.  And espresso and lattes and cappuccino.  Did I mention the food was wonderful?

Just wish we would have had more blue sky and sunshine.  It was a really fun trip and great travel  companions. An interesting observation of the group the first couple days people would ask would you take our picture then it was here let me take your picture.

I’m ready to go on another trip but haven’t made any plans.  Ann

Fly over

South Dakota is a fly over state. One day last winter when we went to see the little girls I went outside and looked up there were 17 vapor lines in the sky from planes and jets.  There were also a few geese in the sky. On the way home from our last visit there were v’s and strings of geese scattered across the sky like the threads on my design wall. We saw a couple fields covered with Sand Hill Cranes, and snow geese were landing in pastures further down the road.They come like a tornado dropping in elevation as they circle, thousands of geese. We also saw a couple swans on a prairie slough and pelicans and hundreds of ducks on some small lakes.  A murration or two of blackbirds, they move like the calligraphy of a broad edge pen. Some blackbirds were roosting in the bare trees of an abandoned farmstead it looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie.  Cruising down the road at 70mph I didn’t even try to get a picture of the flocks flying overhead.  What more might I have seen if I wasn’t knitting.  It’s a 4 hour drive I can knit while hubby drives…….Ann

Happy fingers

 

Knitting with this sock yarn and kid haze is a dream, I had the first little sweater knit just past the arms so I finished it as we drove across North Dakota. We left the corn and beans of eastern South Dakota for the wheat and sunflowers of the north central part of the state. Then more of the same in central North Dakota. We followed 1804 ( highway named for Lewis and Clark’s trip up the Missouri River in 1804.)  

Fields of sunflowers in bloom always give me a thrill but I have never gotten a good photo of them. The scenery changed to hills and hay bales and beef cattle. And more wheat fields and canola and into Saskatchewan, Canada. Then to start the next sweater on our way to Moose Jaw to pick up hubby’s moose head. More wheat, canola and lentils and a road that was flat and straight just like the land.

The return trip was much the same a few more wheat fields had been harvested and in the few days between the sunflowers began to droop, their glory faded with the waning summer.

Why didn’t I finish the first sweater completely before starting the second you ask? I like to knit on cable needles in the car, I’m afraid of loosing a double point needle in the car or worse outside the car. I’ll knit the sleeves at home.  Happy fingers when I like the feel of the yarn for happy knitting.  Ann

Road trip

 A little road trip with darling daughter to the Black Hills.

Slow going through the buffalo herd in Custer State Park. I could have reached through the window and touched one, they came around the car so close and so fast but it’s not smart to touch the “fluffy cows” those two are bulls.

We did some hiking in Spearfish Canyon and up to Roosevelt tower. Then went to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Mother daughter time ........my favorite time!  --Ann--