Family Gatherings

Sunday presented as an exciting day, the first of many family gatherings. Henry was turning one year old and we were all meeting at Debra and Chris's home for dinner at 3:30.

The birthday boy
and his cake

About 24 were gathered to eat a huge meal. Chris told us that when he went to get the meat from the butcher, the butcher said that he had never sold that much meat in one order before! I think that was a bit exaggerated but a good indicator of how much food was prepared for us to eat. The salads were equally plentiful and what can I say about dessert other than it was very Irish... and then came the cake, firstly the birthday cake, then another one for John and then others just kept coming - and all chocolate cakes. Sunday was Father's Day in Ireland so we sang happy birthday twice and then happy Father's Day several times. We were on a roll!

It was lovey to meet the latest members of the family; new husbands, new babies, new inlaws and to greet dear ones again.

Howard insisted that we go up the road to photograph Lucas' vintage cars. Amongst his collection he had an amazing old pickup truck. It was his grandfather's and Lucas had restored it to immaculate condition, but I wouldn't like to travel very far in it. There's no padding on the seats and no windows on the sides. Not ideal for Irish weather!

There was a advertisement in the cabin dated 1916 for grinding and scutching.

Lucas showed us a room that he had 'fixed up' so they could use it for celebrations. It was a fantastic place, right up in the attic of one of the sheds in the yard with a potbelly stove to keep it cozy in winter.

We decided it was time to go home when a couple of Afghans gatecrashed our night..

Went to the Kilmore Hotel for lunch with Charles McCollum after a great catch up in the morning. He has a wonderful collection of pot plants around his home and a great outlook across the hills.

John had the shearers in to give the sheep their hair cut.

Allan enjoyed chatting to the men and they suggested that he have a go but unfortunately we had somewhere else to be so there wasn't any time. He was disappointed.

John had to jump on the wool to pack it down in the bag.

Visited Catherine and Noel, Sarah, Rachel and Conor in their new home. I can't understand why we don't build homes like this in Australia.

Noel has reused the stone, bricks and slate tiles on the outside. Inside there is a circular staircase, beautiful wallpaper and a lovely English style kitchen - everything is beautiful. It's delightful to sit inside and look out at the cows and the lake. We'll have to come back again to see the garden take shape.

The children were very excited and I don't think it was just because we were there, they are lovely kids. But we thought we'd leave so they could settled down to bed. We visited the Drumlane Monastery ruins which sit on the banks of Lough Oughter. What a pretty spot with the late evening sun resting over it.

The next afternoon we visited Barbara, Rodney, George, Robbie, Victoria and Scott in their new house. Wow is all I can say. I didn't even take a photo of the house, silly me! Barbara has the biggest AGA cooker I have ever seen. Allan and the kids had fun building the biggest tower they could manage.