Gone Green But Now I’m Back

It’s been a while, three weeks in fact.  I’ve been away like this before but it seems that it felt longer without the Internet or a way to really know what’s going on.  We stayed in a cottage in Callingford, Ireland that is about a half an hour from Drugheda, a suburb of Dublin.  The weather was very difficult, lots of rain, lots of terrible wind that even broke large trees and it was very cool.  The bright side of it all is that it was still Ireland…it is oh so beautiful and this time we weren’t in the city…it was out in the countryside where there was little but countryside cottages like our own and hedgerows and stone walls where sheep, horses and cows and even one ostrich grazed peacefully.  It was the Ireland I’ve always dreamed of.  Come on and walk with me! 

 

I had to catch my bearings a little since I was used to being in the city last time.  Scenes like this lamb helped me begin to really soak up the peace of this wonderful country.  Note the barbed wire with the wool that the sheep rubbed off when they scratch themselves on the fence!  The many ewes that we saw had young ones with them…they were a joy to behold!  I never tire of the Irish green…it is in fact my very favorite color!  The hedgerows were in blossom which added splashes of color to the green.  The damp weather provides and excellent environment for vines that seem to find their way around walls and trees alike.  One day we walked and saw these interesting berries on the growing on the hedge on the side of the road…I didn’t know what they were so I just called them “cow pie berries”!  One color that surprised me quite a bit was the amazing yellow that could be seen everywhere.  I’m quite used to the mountains and pine of Montana.  The hedgerows and low rolling hills was a change for me.  Often you couldn’t see what was on the other side of these hedges for many meters then there would be a gap and you could see for miles.  White, yellow and green seemed to be the colors of the year!  Here in our state you see barbed wire most often on farms but in Ireland it’s thick rows of hedges and stone walls…often the hedges had nasty thorns in them and bushes that remind me some of our sagebrush.  Not far from our cottage we ran across what I thought was an unlikely sight!  I never thought I’d see an ostrich in Ireland!  She was quite friendly and almost always approached the fence when we walked by.  Our friend Julie was observing this ostrich and an Irishman was there who said:  “we have them all over Ireland you know.”  Julie replied:  “Really?”  to which the Irishman replied:  “no.” and walked off!  LOL!  You’ve got to appreciate the dry Irish humor!  I wonder if the ostrich was also a smart alec!  I didn’t care whether the fields were full or empty, they were always beautiful.  Occasionally a little butterfly would cross our path and land on the flowers…total photo opportunity!  This one was amazing though its colors well mirrored the flowers it was on at the moment.  My goodness, what a beautiful country!  You know what?  Mossy rocks have character!  Dublin has its doors but we had one of our very own!  Now I will walk through one of my very own and bid you all good day.  It’s great to be back, thank you all who prayed for us and have been so good to us.  I look forward to sharing more of our trip as the days go by!