The three 'R's ... Reading, Relaxation, Revitalisation!

Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another ... Anatole France (1844 - 1924), The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

I am kind of highly strung. It is just part and parcel of who I am. In work mode - I work. In baby mode - I baby. In school mode - I study. So why is it, if in all those modes I comply.................that when in relax mode, I cannot relax??

When I opened my University email last night (only five hours after finishing the final exam of 1st semester) I squealed with delight when I found a long and lengthy list of "Christmas Reading" to prepare me for what lies ahead in Semester two.


Reading for the course will include works by: Edgar Allan Poe, Stevie Smith, Arthur Conan Doyle, Samuel Beckett, Flannery O’Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Eleanor Brown, W. B. Yeats. In addition to these fine Authors we will also be delving into the works of John McGahern and the Art of the Short Story.

NUI Galway has a special association with the Irish writer John McGahern (1934-2006). He taught here for many years and the library now holds his complete literary archive.

The Chef is winding down quite nicely. He only has a couple of days left at work this week and then he is off for a few weeks too, and if nothing else but by sheer association, I have a feeling that there will be quite a bit of relaxing going on around our place.

Looking forward to Christmas with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Would ya look at that sky!

Be forewarned my friends when you hear an Irish person talking about the 'look of that sky' you can only expect to be headed into a lengthy conversation relating to the last few centuries of 'The Weather'. God knows if the weather was a little less rainy around here it would be Costa Del Ireland and a lot of what we love about our little island (rural and underdeveloped countryside, brilliant beaches and coast lines) would be long gone.

So the last few days have been a bit of a drag. OK - a bit of a swim would be more appropriate. If you are not wearing your wellies it is because you like having wet toes and wearing sodden socks at work or at school.

When the sky (above) looks like this, the outcome is never good. Because it does not get too warm around these parts (especially this time of year) the most you can expect is a great dumping of rain that might last for days, and days, and days. And when it's done - maybe a few more days.

For the most part, we all gather in the pubs (or canteen at school) and give the tired topic of the weather at least a half hours worth of due diligence before we realise we are as typically Irish as they come and it is time to change the subject and converse on more important things that may be going on outside the metropolis of Galway, Ireland.

Thankfully, a lot of people are totally uninhibited by the wetness of this island and carry on about their normal day and others just hole up in a local cozy pub and wait for it to pass.
There are times (like today) when something happens (due to the weather) that really makes you pause and think and probably even stop for a few minutes to be thankful that you are happy, and healthy and alive.

Four young women (students from the University) were killed last night in a car accident when their car hydroplaned hitting an oncoming truck. A fifth young woman and the driver of the truck are in critical condition.

Drip, Drip, Plop...................................

Drip, Drip, Plop................................

Please God - make the rain stop.

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

How's it going???

My first week is over and I am all the smarter for it! What a great way to feel after my first week of entering NUIG as a mature student. I suppose I can use the word 'mature' lightly as I was neither the eldest or youngest of the group, but more happily plonked right in the middle of a bunch of pretty cool people from all over the world. Yes, not just Irish people - quite a diverse bunch are we!

My first day or two were a little overwhelming actually. I was really pre-occupied the first day as it was Jack's first day at school (Rory's too - but she is a veteran at this stage), it would also have been my Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary (38 years - I think) and I still never know what to do on this one, because Dad has been dead ten years this year. Mum is still alive and kicking however. Note to everyone out there - do not ignore it. It is still the most important day of my Mum's life (aside from the day she had me of course!) and even though we are all madder than hell with Dad for not sticking around (may he rest in peace) it should still be celebrated as such. Sorry Mum........................

By the end of the 2nd day I was hypnotised (literally) into thinking that I could change the way I study and learn at University. We had a hypnotist for the entire day retraining our ways of thinking and helping us adjust to a new style of Memory Techniques. It was actually really really interesting and I am certainly going to utilise some of those techniques I learned when it comes time to start studying for all these exams I will have!

Day 3 was spent in the company of a guy that looked like the dude from Sex and the City (think his name was Aiden) and this was a most interesting day indeed. This lecturer/writer was from somewhere in County Mayo (that is cool in itself as most of my family were born in Mayo) and spoke with an accent that reminded me of my Sisters husband Tom (years ago) before he moved to France and became so posh! Anyway, this guy was lecturing us on academic writing, telling us the best thing about college is that you go in with an empty mind and come out with an open mind! I really hope that I took solid notes and learned something from the day we spent with him - because I found out later that afternoon he is going to be my Creative Writing teacher. GAWD - I hope I did not make an idiot of myself!

So, after touring the old and new areas of campus and getting my feet very wet because it was raining most of the week - the general consensus is that National University of Ireland Galway, is probably the nicest University in the world, filled with a very engaging faculty that have very high expectations for their Mature Students and offer an amazing support system to each of us, in order to see us reach our full and true potential.

Feeling totally overwhelmed and under a fierce amount of pressure already!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Hi Honey! I'm coming home early and do I have a treat for you!

How it all works

by

Móna Wise

Scene One

Act one

Picture me standing at the kitchen sink preparing our evening meal,
dropping everything to grab my ringing mobile phone.



Myself: Hello?

Himself: Hi honey, it's me.
I am coming home early and do I have a treat for you!

Myself: Oh, great! What is it??

Himself: Well, it is unforgettable! I will be home in a few minutes.


End scene with me returning my mobile phone to the charger and
conjuring up visions of a lovely Italian Barolo or beautiful piece of foie gras or
even some baked goodies he created and was racing home to share with me.
Gotta love my romantic hubby!

I would love to continue with the rest of this story but as you can see from the above sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words!!!

Who, I ask you - in their right mind would just saunter in home from a days work with a bloody pigs head under his arm and not expect a certain level of disgust or horror from his family???
Only Ron. And to be honest, I was the only one that felt a little 'turned off' by the whole thing because I had set my sights slightly higher I guess??

What on earth possessed my handsome Chef to even want to do something with this beast? Well, he had read (and re-read) his Art of Eating rag (issue no. 80) and it was all about American Charcuterie - The cooked. www.artofeating.com

One of his favourite pieces was on something called Brawn. It is the cooked meat from a pigs head that is seasoned and pressed into a loaf/terrine shape. Supposedly it will be one of the tastiest things we have ever eaten.

Right now he (Jack named him Bob) is in the pot with a few carrots, onions, bay leaf, garlic, green peppercorns, salt, pepper and a few cup fulls of Franks Red Hot sauce. It takes several hours of cooking, and several hours of refrigeration, then someone gets to pick all the meat of the skull (Cathyann - when are you getting back to Galway???), then, after all this waiting around - it may be ready to eat by Sunday??

Thankfully it is happy hour where I am right now!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Family and Community Nurturing

I have gotten a lot of emails over the last week from y'all wondering how and where Ron got started with this pizza/bread oven business. A million years ago when Ron was still working at Chateau Pomijie in Cincinnati, Ohio - a wine tasting trip out west to sunny California where he saw a beautifully designed bread oven sparked his interest.

He has thought long and hard about this over the last fifteen years and has drawn out several different versions of his oven plans . When we moved back home to Ireland and went to the Bórd Bia www.bordbia.ie National Organics Conference (September 2008) and discovered COB building, this style of sustainable building spurred him to 'get started'.

He called up our local library to get the above book The Cob Builders Handbook as it was out of print (at the time) and although he finds Ms. Becky Bee to write like a "scary feminist" she has guided him through his project thus far teaching him all he has needed to know about building with Cob.

The other book (above) The Bread Builders he sourced was co-authored by Alan Scott/Daniel Wing - Alan (www.Ovencrafters.net) designed that pizza/bread oven Ron saw in California all those years ago. This is a great read with him speaking of the importance of family and community nurturing, which no doubt I do believe has always been my husbands mission in life. This book makes one want to drop what one is doing and run outside to the oven to bake a loaf of unbelievable bread, then invite the whole world over to share it.

If you are thinking about taking on this project, you need a lot of patience because this can take a while (depending on the climate) and be forewarned, working with COB (Clay/sand/straw) is a messy mucky job to be enjoyed by the whole family (even if you are the Mum/Wife that is responsible for cleaning it all!)

The upside of all of this is you have something sustainably built (not to mention affordability) that will last for generations to come. Your family, your friends and neighbours will enjoy every last crumb.

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

It is Do or DIE!

Well, after much deliberation and NINE LONG MONTHS OF WAITING, I finally got the word in yesterday's post that I have been accepted at NUIG! I start early in September and after 4 long years I will graduate with a degree in Creative Writing, English and Spanish.

Just think, my eldest child Rory will be entering into high school the year I graduate!!

So, here is the beginning of the next chapter of our lives, I hope you are all well and happy out there and check in on the blog posts from time to time or sign up as a follower!

Summer is here and in full swing, the Galway Arts Festival, Film Fleadh and Horse Races are all ahead of us this month and the Chef has taken a few weeks of work just to soak it all in.

Anyone interested in popping over for a visit, keep an eye on the side bar of the BLOG where it says school holidays - that will be the best time to come see us, unless you do not want us around, then feel free to come anytime you want!

Hanging out on cloud nine for now,

That is all the WiseWords I have for today!

WiseMóna

Up Close, and very personal....................

So here I sit with my little red laptop waiting for the phone to ring or the postman to deliver that all important letter. I started the process of applying to http://www.nuigalway.ie/ over 9 months ago (as a mature student) and after all my hard work on my portfolio, I am still waiting for a response.

It is normal for the University to let prospective students know the outcome (acceptance or rejection) 'early in July' which to me, still seems like an eternity away. There were over 3,000 applicants for the course I want to do http://www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/arts/baccreativewriting.html

I feel like I do not have a shot in hell at getting accepted and keep telling myself that I will just reapply next year if I do not get in this year. The damn recession has Irish people all flocking back to school like madmen - as there are no (decent) jobs and no likely hood of a job for the next few years - in addition to that, education is still free here in Ireland, so students are not saddled with huge school loans to pay off once they graduate and get a job. Nice, I know!

It has been almost a year since we moved back to Ireland and even with this cloud of uncertainty hanging over my head, I have never been happier. The Children (as you can see) are completely unscathed by all this moving around and are wrapping up their final day at school today before getting out for a lovely long 8 weeks of summer holidays.

They have started to develop into such funny cute little kids, I think my only regret is that we do not have a few more of them. (I know, can you believe I said that Out Loud) I have had several long discussions recently with my WiseOldMum about the way our lives will be for the next 5 years if I spend it in University studying the fine art of creative writing and one of the hardest things I have yet to come to terms with is the fact that I will no longer be with my wains 24/7. (Wains is a great Irish word, mostly used in the northern counties and comes from Wee Ones).

Obviously, when we had the restaurant I left them in the evenings, and when working in Switzerland I was away from them from 9am - 5pm, but Ron and I had made a decision way before we ever had children that if we were lucky enough to have them, we would parent them ourselves and not pay someone else to do it, we cut back on other non-essential materialistic stuff in order to do so.

I do not regret this decision at all - especially seeing how they have turned out thus far, but am thinking it sure would have been a heck of a lot easier if they had been in day care - Maybe I would not ache so much (now) just thinking of being with them for an hour or 2 in the evenings.

WiseOldMum has reminded me (ever so nicely - me crying, her telling me how it is!) that 'This is it'- once they are off to school, they do not need me so much or for that matter even want me???

Clearly, my Mother still thinks she knows it all.....................................God, I hate that she is right and that she has to bludgen me with the truth. (But if course, I still love her dearly and am so happy that she is almost walking distance from my house).

Rory's School magazine came out this week with her toothless smile and her statement saying she was going to be a vet when she grows up and her favourite thing to do was play with her brother.......................at Granny's!

When I asked Jack to taste a pizza sauce I was working on yesterday (for our supper) he sipped and savoured the sauce (like I would a fine wine) looked me right in the eye and said ' it's got tomato, basil, garlic, black pepper - still needs more salt and olive oil' - I was still crying with pride when my hungry Chef arrived home for dinner.

We have had a nice amount of visitors crossing the pond to see us, (pay attention here, if you are coming - head West to Galway/Shannon) and you have no idea how much this has lifted our spirits.

The very thought of someone paying all that money and taking the time off to come spend some time with us on this rainy isle just makes us sooooooooooo happy. So, I am saying this to all our friends - book your flight and stay a while (2-3 days is NOT enough!!!)

We have the space, and assuming you can handle the racket from the wains and the puppy, the fresh organic eggs from the hens and the year round veggies my handsome chef is growing with love should entice you. (remember Eggs Benedict - oh God - even thinking about it right now makes me drool).

Wish me luck - as soon as I find out I will let y'all know!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Happy in the garden, fighting with his weeds!

My handsome Chef has been gardening organically for as long as I have known him and I am sure for quite some time before that. His gardening skills have really started to show here in Ireland as he can grow 12 months of the year. This is a very cool concept for Ron and he is a few weeks away from getting his very own poly tunnel! (plastic dome that hopefully will not blow away).

One of the many challenges organic growers are harnessed with is trying to come up with clever ways to dispose of the nasty snails/slugs, caterpillars, bugs etc. that want to share the delicious veggies he has labored so hard for.

Luckily for my Chef, he has 2 avid helpers. He has taught Jack how to pick and smash the snails or caterpillars with his bare hands (aaaaagh - yeuch!) and even Ms. Rory Belle is trying her hand at picking off the bugs and tossing them! The garden is in full bloom right now, and we are eating most of it as it comes into season. Lots of rainbow radishes, green onions, salad greens - Rocket, endive, chard and some beet greens too! Potatoes and Cabbage are coming on strong but not in season unitil late next month!

He has even planted a few tomato plants in the hopes that he will get a ripe one or two, but without a poly tunnel it would be highly unlikely for this to happen. However, they sure are thriving!

All in all, the growing season has gotten off to a great start and there is lots more to come!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Birthday Girl - Age 6 going on 16!

It is hard to imagine, but Rory turned six last week. She woke up early - her usual pleasant self and hopped into bed with Chef and I for a quick snuggle. As I was still snoozing, she gave me a few minutes to acknowledge the all important day - and when I neglected to do so in a timely manner she finally said in her soft little voice 'Mom, happy birthday to me' !!

Needless to say, the party was well planned - per her instructions a few days earlier, right down to the lovely Black Magic Cake Ron had baked and decorated it with smarties for her..........I think he enjoyed it more than anyone - go figure!

A few of her buddies from school, and some neighbours popped over to help celebrate her big day and we even had a few face painting attempts.

There was complete and utter mayhem when Granny arrived with a lovely little playhouse for the children to play in and thank goodness - it was for outside. Granny's sure do know best!

All in all, a great day was had by our eldest child. We sat back looking at her for a very long time that evening after she had passed out sitting straight up in her bed and remembered how teeny tiny she was when we brought her home almost six years ago. Where, oh where has the time gone too! Hope you enjoy the photos - I know we do.

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Gone Fishing!

Depending on where you are calling home these days, you may or may not have heard that Ireland is having a heatwave! I have been offline for the last couple of weeks due to the fact that there is sooooooooo much sunny weather and children addicted to the beach bum lifestyle that the very last thing I have had time or passion for - is laptop land.

We only live a few minutes from several great beaches and less than an hour from 3 AMAZING beaches, so the hardest decision each day has been 'Which beach' do we spend our lazy afternoons at. One of our favourites - about 40 minutes from our house is Fanore, in County Clare. In order to get there, you have (only one road in, and same road out) to drive along the coast road which in its entirety looks like the above for 35 of that 40 minute trip.

Stopping in to one of Ron's favourite pubs 'Monk's' on the way home has become more than a habit and the owner there is getting rather attached to his little helpers.

Ron swears that the Guinness tastes sooooo much better in Ireland - but now that the sun is shining and it is reaching the high 70's or 80's each day - the only problem he is encountering is how to drink it faster!!

Upon returning home the children and Ron usually spend a half hour in the veggie garden weeding, and watering (who would have thunk it in good old Ireland that you would have to water your veggie garden!!) and the fruits of their labour of love is throwing us a bounty of goodies almost daily already!

More blogging to follow my friends,

That is all the WiseWords I have for today!

WiseMóna

Irish Aioli!

The smells of all things lovely growing in our garden is getting out of hand! Due to all this lovely rain we have been getting everything is just flourishing! The garlic that none of us remember planting before Christmas when preparing the vegetable beds has come through in bunches and is oh, so divine!

When I was at the market on Saturday, I could not resist the temptation of buying an enormous bunch of this tasty treat as it is one of our favourite spring snacks! This afternoon, myself and the children roasted (slightly) several of the entire bulbs with a drizzle of olive oil, some black pepper and salt sprinkled on top.

Normally, I would allow the garlic to roast and get really soft and spreadable, but with fresh spring garlic, I usually only allow it to cook in a fairly hot oven for just 15 mins. or less. The garlic cloves remain a little firm, and seriously explode with flavour when you pop them in your mouth!

When my handsome Chef kissed me goodbye this morning on his way to work he requested that I make an Aioli sauce with some of this lovely garlic. 'Sure thang honey and have a nice day!' In the words that only both my sisters will understand and appreciate - WTF???

I have made aioli before. I get a jar of Hellman's, I add raw garlic.

Viola - Aioli!

However, this time around, the Chef had a better idea and mentioned this as he handed me his current food bible Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray. OK, I will say this is also one of my favourite books too so I humoured him!

With lovely fresh eggs still warm from the nest this morning on standby, I began the arduous task of 'mayo making' only to find out it was rather easy and tasty to boot!

So, be brave, try it!

All you need is:

2 lovely egg yolks

Sea salt to taste

2 entire bulbs of roasted (spring) garlic

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice (or red wine vinegar - your choice)

Put garlic and salt into mortar and pestle bowl and muddle into paste. Add a drop or 2 of water if you feel the need. Add in the egg yolks and keep muddling. Slowly and carefully drip by drip add in the olive oil. This takes time, and patience (esp. if your olive oil pourer is aged 5 going on 17 and more interested in the portabello mushroom fries that will be accompanying said sauce). As you can see from the color below - it was almost orange in color.

Really rich and lovely and surprise surprise, I added a drop of Franks Red Hot Sauce.

Oh, Yes - it was finger licking good.

There you have it! Make your own Aioli. It is so inexpensive and really so much tastier than Hellman's mayo!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today!

WiseMóna

Weekend shots anyone??

With the arrival of our friend Eric, things have been a little crrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzyyyyyyy around the house!! Ok, so maaaaaybe only a little bit crazier than our normal hectic lives (ha ha) but we had a stellar weekend and here are a few little photos courtesy of my little sister Cathyann. She and her hunk a hunk a burning love Johnathan took care of traipsing Eric from the Airport in Shannon safely to our home in Galway (only stopping at a few pubs along the way).

On Saturday, Cathyann took the kiddies into town and got their face painted whilst Ron took Eric around town to show him the sights. A lot of it looked very black and white to Eric - but he has been in training and is well able to hold his own with Arthur Guinness himself!

After spending several weeks looking for a fleece lined rain jacket because I had warned him about the inconsistent weather - Eric has not even unpacked his jacket. The weather has been sunny, bright and not a drop has rained on our little town since last Wednesday. He is thinking he will go home with a sun tan - then enter into the Guinness Book of World Records as the first tourist ever to get a tan whilst on holidays in Ireland!!

As you can see, the children are just as cute as can be and getting scarier by the minute. Granny was kind enough to take them off our hands for the night (Thank you!) and we headed into town to share some gourmet treats and a little more of the black stufff! We stopped in at 'Kettle o'Fish' for dinner and got 5 orders of fish and chips to go. Then stopping in at the local off license we picked up some Chimay Blue and sat down at the Spanish Arch watching the sunset and listening to the buskers play their tunes.

After a few pints in The Quays Pub, we headed off to The Crane bar, where there is always traditional Irish music playing. We spent the rest of the night listening to a local girl band from Galway - hearing some of the best harmonies we have ever heard!

A great night was had by all!

That is all the WiseWords we have for today,

WiseMóna

Henrietta and the first egg!

Easter Sunday 2009

What a treat for the children yesterday, when they went out in the afternoon to give the hens a little snack they found the first egg, first of many to come we hope!

They have been with us a little over 3 weeks and we were eggspecting our first egg sometime late April - so this was truly a wonderful treat - on Easter Sunday.

So, no interest in the Easter Bunny here today - just lots of attention on the hens!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Wise WINE Alert!

Magna del Brujo
2006
from the Calatayud region of Spain!

Sorry the label looks like hell - but that was the best one I could find out there on the World Wide Web :-)

I went off into town looking for a nice bottle of wine to have this evening with the Chef and forgot - it is against the law for any public houses or off license's to sell alcohol today - Good Friday.

So, I had to consult my little wine stash at home and was tickled pink to find this gem. I had picked it up around Christmas time and had forgotten about it!

Initially, I was thinking a Pinot Noir would have fitted the bill for dinner tonight, and this is in the same shape bottle - which is why I grabbed it off the shelf.

HOWEVER, it is no Pinot Noir!

Here is the concoction we were drinking tonight:

Garnacha Viñas Viejas 65%
Shiraz 15%
Tempranillio 15%
and my personal favourite
Manzuelo & Monastrell 5%

Ok - so it is not my favourite, I have never heard of these grapes! BUT, the others all blended together alone would have made a damn fine wine, so I can only imagine that the addition of the latter made this choice exceptional.

Some vaguely interesting information - the Wine has been aged for 5 months in French and American oak. It was 'bloody purple' when we poured it into our glasses at the dinner table and I knew it would be yummy based on colour alone. (I know, I have drank way toooooo much red wine to know this information!).

Think smoky, black cherry, blueberry, and a little vanilla. All this with the first whiff followed by a full-jammy bodied, ripe, intensely flavored wine with excellent depth, balance, and length.
Although this will live for many years in your wine cellar (I swear until at least 2018 or 2020)it is lovely to find a delicious and affordable (EUR 15.00) wine at our disposal!

OH - think MEAT when you have this with dinner! Big RED mooing steak, grilled pork chops, lucious lamb chops........................even good old Spaghetti and meatballs. For anyone that wants a good cry in their soup - we had the infamous Rondo Burger with ours and we enjoying a mild food coma for the rest of the evening!

Bottoms up!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

As the banner states!

I have been absent from the blogging world for the last 5 or 6 days because last Friday my children were granted a lovely 2 week holiday from school. One only knows how lucky one really is when one has NO TIME left to think about it!

In the last five days I have had many items in my house broken - i.e. including curtains ripped from the rails, dishes smashed on the floor, doors hanging off hinges, coat racks knocked to the ground of the wall. Trust me the list is long and it pains me to even be talking about it.

The children are apparently very normal children and left to their own devices (i.e. If I am outside feeding the hens and they are left alone for 46 seconds) they can cause an amazing amount of damage.

The naughty chair in my house has now been extended to the naughty chairs - as one is as bad as the other, and I have come to realise that they cannot be left in time out unattended as one of them was found hanging out an upstairs window 'waiting for Daddy to come home'.

However, all this being said, we have spent a nice few hours yesterday catching up with yet another of my high school friend whom I had not seen since the last day of school 19 years ago (God, I feel old.) She (Mary) is now the happy Mum of 2 children the same age as mine, so our visit was long and full of similar stories :-) which is how I found out my children were apparently just normal. (Phew).

What I have come to realise is that whomever came up with the idea that children needed long Summer Holidays or Easter Breaks - apparently DID NOT HAVE CHILDREN!

Despite my longing for 'my time' we accomplished a wonderful afternoon of 'feet painting' today and I will be cleaning up from that mess for a week I am sure. Thankfully, the Chef arrived home a little early today and just in time to take the tots out of their comfy time out spots and dump them into the shower before bedtime :-)

Thank God for husbands coming home with a nice bottle of wine!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

A little jaunt to the bog!

The Mother, The Brother & myself took a little walk down to the bog earlier this week to see what condition it was in and figure out what needs to be done in order for us to be able to cut and save turf (fuel to heat our home) this year.

As you can see from the photos, the sun was shining (again) and we had a lovely morning filled with memories of sweet tea and ham sandwiches from our childhood.

The bog has not been cut since 2004 so it is really very overgrown. We have a lot of work ahead of us in order to prepare it for cutting. I will be blogging about this all the way - as this is most likely the last time we will be permitted to cut the bog - as it has been stripped at a rapid pace over the last 40 years since the introduction of large machinery and the fact that no one really cuts turf by hand anymore.

By the time we are finished, we should have some lovely stacks of turf in our back garden that will hopefully look like this photo above. Here's hoping!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today!

WiseMóna