Still on Omey Island in Connemara basking in Glorious sunshine. Lilian and I have been walking round the island and just enjoying time together. Everything is so quiet here and the island virtually deserted except for the occasional tourist who walks across at low tide. Perfect "Crashing out" spot.

Have I died in my sleep and gone to Heaven?

Left home at 6.30am and drove down to Connemara. Absolutely scorching day driving down through Sligo and through Cong and Maam where they filmed "The Quiet Man". Eventually arrived on Omey Island near Clifden. You can drive across when the tide is out. Friends have loaned us their cottage on the island for a week, and it is fabulous! Omey is about a mile by a mile and a half and is covered in wild flowers. We have to bring our own drinking water but the cottage is well supplied with turf for the fire.

Obviously no Internet access which is why this is a week late. I will update this and the Sabbatical blog over the next couple of days.

For all you Canadians out there! Tim Horton's has arrived in Ireland. Stopped in a Tim Horton's in Blacklion just over the border from Bellcoo and had a Boston Cream donut and a coffee! Also saw a Tim's in Clifden. Apparently they are operating through Cuisine de France which is a bread and pastry company.

England appears to be having terrible weather with floods and rivers bursting their banks, but it's not too bad here in Ireland. This is Lilian and her mum having lunch outside and Winnie taking Reuben for a stroll.






Mark, Claire and Josh visited Dave, Stacey and Caleb in Medicine Hat and brought me back a tin of Tim Horton's coffee.

Thought I would have it in my "Corner Gas" mug wearing my "Corner Gas" sweatshirt. How sad am I?

Married Stato and Rachael yesterday. Nice wedding and the church was full. Lilian and I left the reception, which was still in full swing, sometime after 10.00pm and came home and put our feet up for an hour. Tracy took this photo of them leaving church, as I hadn't brought a camera.

Had dinner al fresco in the back garden yesterday. This is Reuben able to sit up and enjoy the picnic!

After the steady soft rain over the last few days (weeks!) the Australian Bottle Bush plant (or as we gardners say, "Callistemon Citrinus Splendens") in the garden, is looking particularly striking!

11th July, Bonfire night in Carrickfergus!

Who knows how much CO2 these are generating!

And to quote Delia Smith, "Here's one I prepared earlier." Sorry about the spelling on this one. They were obviously out collecting pallets for the bonfire when they ought to have been in school!

Holiday Bible Club running all this week. Good week so far, everything running very smoothly in both sections. Many thanks to everyone who has turned up to help.

Last Saturday morning was church cleanup day. Thanks to everyone who turned up on such a wet morning. We got quite a lot done both inside and out.

Caleb and dad after a hard day's work!

Took Thursday as my day off last week in place of my usual Friday. Thursday rained all day, Friday was beautiful! Typical! Went with Rick, Katie and Reuben to the swimming pool, (his first trip). He loved the water. This is us coming back to the car.

We had a couple of guys from Macedonia staying with us, Mirco and Joan (pronounced Johanne). They were speaking at church on Sunday, and on Monday I took them down into Belfast for a meeting they had with the Bible Society. Afterwards they had a look round a few shops and Joan bought an Ireland strip for his son Daniel. He sent me this picture when he got back home.

The church men's golf outing was on Monday night. About 30 turned up and we hacked our way round Bentra Golf Course in Whitehead.

Our home group barbeque was on Wednesday night. Weather wasn't that great, somewhay overcast, but we had stacks of good food and played a few games, and a good time was had by all.

Here is the latest pic of Reuben and his Dad!

The weather broke last week after lots of hot sunshine and it has been dreadful for the last couple of days. Winnie, Rick and Katie arrived yesterday with Reuben and we played "Phase 10" and watched "Britain's' Got Talent". Lilian and Winnie had a Precept Class on Saturday morning so I went down to Greyabbey with Katie, Rick and Reuben.

Rick had a race at the sailing club at 3.00 so I went with him in the afternoon but I'm fighting off a cold and didn't go out. I sat in the club house and watched the race through the double glazing. Saw Rick's boat capsize rounding a mark but they got righted again quickly, however it cost them a couple of places.

Good barbeque after the race despite the poor weather.

Bought this cheap climbing rose out of Woolworth a few years ago and it has turned out to be super! Thornless, nice flowers and sweet perfume! About January sometime I was clearing out the garage and found an old box of rose fertiliser which had gone damp and sticky and dumped it on the rose. It seems to have worked a treat! Great show this year.

On Saturday night Lilian and I went with Jackie and Nicola Whyte to see "Dancing at Lughnasa" in the Lyric in Belfast. Fabulous set and excellent production. (Lughnasa is an ancient Celtic festival to celebrate the harvest). I quote from a synopsis of the play.
"It is true today, just most certainly as it was true in the 1930's of Dancing at Lughnasa, that Ireland exists at a wistful - and sometimes mad - crossroads. One makes a seasonal pilgrimage to pagan festivals after Sunday church services. Voices are raised in earthy airs, just as they join with others in hymns. Morning prayers bless homes, sanctified with a light rain of holy water; while during harvest nights in the forest, blazing fires stoke an abandon to Lugh, an ancient god of Light. It puts the Irish on a unique temporal plane - neither living purely in the past, nor absolutely in the present - but in both at the same time. This poetic alchemy of time occasionally creates a stubborness, but often a selflessness, an art of life and a resilient grace; but mostly a capacity for hope."

Friday was my day off, so I headed down to Greyabbey on Thursday night. Rick was sailing on Strangford Lough and he had just come in as I arrived at the sailing club.
Really beautiful evening so I just sat on the verandah and watched the sun set over Scrabo Tower as I waited for him to put the dingy away and get changed.
Went down to his house for a coffee and picked up Lilian who was with Katie and then we headed over to Donaghadee to stay with Carl and Mavis for the night.
Woke up to another beautiful hot day in Donaghadee. Had my morning coffee on the patio and looking out over the fields and the morning filled with birdsong.
We were all going to a funeral in Comber at lunchtime, (Bill's sister-in-law) and the Parish Church was packed on a very hot day.
We met Bill and Catherine afterwards and all went out for a meal in "Hoops" in Greyabbey and then back to the Martin's for coffee and a bit of craic.
Bill and Catherine and Carl and Mavis had all been away for a long weekend in England and in one B&B Bill, who is in the Orange Order, had discovered that Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Fein, had previously slept in the same bed as he had! So he had to put up with all sorts of puns about "strange bedfellows" and "getting into bed with Republicans"!
After Bill and Catherine left I went outside just to check the horses. Beautiful evening. and a good day with good friends. We are truely blessed.

As I will be working on Bank Holiday Monday, I took off Saturday and went for a walk along the Lagan towpath with Pearl and Archie.
We parked one car at Shaw's Bridge and another out about Drumbeg somewhere.
Had a picnic and then drove back to Lady Dixon Park. Got a little showry in the afternoon but the morning was nice. Wandered around and had a doze in the sun before heading off for coffee in the late afternoon.





Tim and Kim had a suite at the Hilton in Belfast for the night and invited us over to play Rummikub. Didn't actually play Rummikub, instead we introduced them to a game called "Phase 10" which friends from Texas had brought over. We started off in the Executive Lounge with free drinks and nibbles until it closed at 10 o'clock and then went back to their room to finish it off.
Great views over Belfast at night from their room. Left about 11.00pm and made our way home.