Friday 27th October
Pretty wet until fairly late on so we lay about and read and ate. When the sun came out I went for a leisurely walk along the beach towards Greencastle and took some pictures. Came back and had dinner, and read some more. Really lazy day today, great to be able to slunge about like this and do nothing without feeling guilty. That's what holidays are about I suppose!

Thursday 26th October.
The day started off a little grey but we decided to climb Slieve Muck, (The Hill of the Pig) which turned out to be quite a slog. However the sun came out and it started blowing a gale which was a real help as it blew us up the hill!
When we reached the top there were superb views over Doan, Lough Shannagh, the Silent Valley and Slieve Binnian, making it well worth the climb.
Had our lunch sheltering behind the Mourne Wall out of the wind which was still going strong. Took some pictures of the view which I stitched together into a panorama.
Eventually made our way back down to the car again by late afternoon and drove back down the road to Kilkeel and on to Cranfield as the sun was going down.
Super day out!

Wednesday 25th October
Dull and overcast but we headed off to the Mournes. Rain had started when we parked the car and after a short respite came on again and got progressively heavier all the way to Lough Shannagh, a couple of miles over the mountains.
Was really teeming down all the way back. Arrived home soaked to the skin after a couple of hours in the driving rain.
Lit huge fire in the front room and dried out! Watched, “The Remains of the Day” with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson” on DVD.

Tuesday 24th October.
Lilian and I headed off to Rostrevor today to do some geocaching. We did one called “Narnia”.
Interesting note on this cache.
'When Disney scoured the world looking for a location to play Narnia's mythical landscape, they chose New Zealand's fantastical soaring mountains and sun-scorched grassy plains. It would have pleased CS Lewis, Narnia's creator, but it wouldn't have resonated with his love of 'Northernness'. For Lewis the portal into Narnia was far closer to home - Ulster.'

'I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge,' he wrote in his essay On Stories. While living in England he spoke of the magic of Northern Ireland: 'I yearn to see County Down in the snow, one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true. That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.'
Turned out a beautiful late afternoon and evening.

Monday 23rd October, the start of our Winter Week.
Glorious day down here at Cranfield. A friend has loaned us his house for the week.
Great location with the sea at our front door and the Mournes at out back.
Doing lots of reading and sleeping and really feeling the benefit. Started a book, “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” by Eugene Peterson, which describes itself as “A Conversation in Spiritual Theology”. The title is taken from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of my favourite poets. In his introduction he describes “Spiritual Theology” as “… a protest against theology depersonalised into information about God; it is a protest against theology functionalized into a programme of strategic planning for God.” Finding it quite stimulating and provocative.

Speaking to a school SU on Friday which knocked the day off on the head a bit as the SU was at lunchtime. So spent the morning and afternoon tidying the study and moving it to another room in the house. The idea is that Lilian and I will have a desk each and be able to work together in the same room. Pearl had come on Thursday and she and Lilian had painted the room in prep for the Friday move.
it's a fairly big job and is going to take another day to finish.
On Saturday morning we met Lois at 7.00am and headed up to a car boot sale at Dunsilly.
The field was pretty busy, maybe over 100 cars there flogging stuff, so we set out our stall and started to flog some of the junk out of the garage. Plenty of people about
Stayed until about 11.00am and came home again and stuck into the study. I must have about a million books! It's going to be a major job sorting them out.

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. "

John Keats

Saturday lunchtime, picked Lilian up from her "Precept" class in Belfast and headed down to Greyabbey to collect Katie and go to a Food Fair in Mountstewart. Rick was at work. Lilian dropped me off at Mountstewart while she went on to pick up Katie so I lay down by the shore and read my paper in the sun, (which was very pleasant) until they came back.
The Food Fair was OK, some nice local produce but actually not that big a fair so we had a walk around Mountstewart Gardens on what turned out to be a very pleasant Autumn afternoon.
Mountstewart is sitting on about 100 acres and contains some interesting trees and shrubs from around the world and some fascinating topiary in the formal gardens. The National Trust do a good job of mantaining these old places.
Mount Stewart was the home of Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry during the famine. Lord Londonderry, one of the ten richest men in the United Kingdom, was criticised for his meanness during the famine: he and his wife Frances gave £30 to the local famine relief committee, but spent £150,000 renovating their house!

Tied up this weekend with an event at church so couldn't get a full day of. Took two half days instead, but it meant we couldn't go very far. Went up to Junction One on Friday morning and did some shopping. Met Campbell there and had a coffee.

Rick's birthday on Tuesday 3rd so we had a meal together in his gran's house. How old am I to have a 28 year old son!!

Weather has been wet and cold and we've both been very busy so we haven't got out much over the last couple of weeks. Here are some up to date pics of Caleb.
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