Rathcoursey & Igthermurrah

I'm afraid I'm going to butcher this one because I'm rushing it, but I really have to get to aerobics class this morning. I went for a run on Tuesday and had to walk the last km, which was lame, and even with taking it easy on Tuesday I'm sore now. Vacationing took a toll.

Rathcoursey is an estate that was in Ken's direct family line. Today it is owned by Finn-bar & Claire and their two daughters.  They were delighted to have us show up on their doorstep, particularly because Sue was so knowledgeable about the history of their home.

A large estate is impossible for a family to keep up on their own. The grasses and flowers are swallowing up the shorter walls in the former stable area.

Though I'm not sure I'd try to keep it up, there's something picturesque about all the decay.

Ken coined a new phrase while we were there. Something about Rathcoursey being a "5M" or "5 Mexican" estate, referring to the need for hired help to restore and maintain it.

This wall is the oldest part of the estate - the tiny pink roses were so fragrant, too bad there's no digital scratch and sniff options out there.

Clearly the house is newer than the rest of the grounds - it dates as 1773. Like all estates, ruins, castles, and churches we visited, Rathcoursey was built in phases.

A large part of the finances that went into building Rathcoursey came to James Tynte Smyth from his brother, Beverly, who lived at Igthermurrah, but it's a tragic story. One evening Beverly was taken captive in his own home and threatened by robbers to give up his gold. Beverly had instructed a servant to throw his bag of gold into a nearby lake, and refused to reveal his hiding place. This enraged the robbers who threw him into his own fireplace. Beverly was brought to his brother, James' home, where he succumbed to his injuries and died three days later - leaving his gold to James.

Igthermurrah today.

We had to battle nettles and shrubbery, but it was well worth the effort.

Possibly the fireplace into which Beverly Smyth was thrown. It's easy to romanticize the past,

and fantasize about how much my kids would love romping around a large estate, but this
sight was a little sobering.

Irishtown

There were times that everything in Ireland seemed set up as if we were in a theme park. How could Ireland be so Irish???

(Lunch at The Old Head was not one of those times. Palm trees, sun, surf - so unexpected! We'd had our moments of getting lost along the Irish backroads but how did we end up in Bermuda?)

Most of the time Ireland was:

Sheep,

Quaint shops,



and Shamrocks.

At other times Ireland was:

Military escorted bank security trucks complete with machine guns. How Ken's dad was comfortable chatting him up, I have no idea!

Driving was quite an experience. I managed my stomach on the twisty-turny tunnel vision roads with healthy snacks while Ken managed the road itself.



Look again: double white line in the centre (sometimes a single white line) with dotted yellow lines on the shoulders.



The speed limit on these backroads was always 100 km/hour!



Ken rarely topped 60 km/hour.



One awesome tour we did was of Ross Castle in Killarney, a restored Tower House. All the formal tours we did were very well done, the guides were engaging and knowledgable. This tour stands out for me because later we visited tower house ruins with family connections and knowing what we were looking at in the ruins added to my understanding.



The best tour guides of all, and our travel companions: Ken's mom and dad - Sue & Harry.



I wish I'd taken more pictures like this one. In a perfect world where Ken could collect cars like he used to collect match box cars, he would have one of these: a righthand drive Land Rover Defender complete with snorkel. Ken saw so many Land Rovers, I could have done a whole post. I'm just a little too oblivious to cars, which became more obvious when we got to London which according to Ken was one long parade of spectacular cars that didn't catch my eye at all. It's amazing we get along so well!

Rossmanagher

Ken's mom is 1/4 Irish, which makes Ken 1/8th Irish I suppose (it doesn't show in his height).

While Ken's heritage is primarily peasant, and all traces of them have been long ploughed under, the Irish ancestors were land owners and gentry, therefore landmarks remain.

Rossmanagher is an estate near Bunratty and was once in the possession of the D'Esterre family.

An interesting thing about Ireland is that it seems the house is always on one side of the road while the stable and other farm buildings were built across the road from the house.



A river runs near the estate, and apparently at one time it was a difficult river to cross, as well as inconvenient to travel around, so Henry D'Esterre built a bridge.



Though you can't see it in the picture, this stone reads:

THIS BRIDGE

WAS BUILT BY

HENRY D'ESTERRE

AT HIS OWN 

EXPENSE 1784

The river isn't so intimidating anymore. Pretty, though!



Anyhow, Henry was an enterprising man. He saw the chance to make a penny or two, and since stone is readily available everywhere, in fact he was probably looking for something to do with all the stone he  was picking out of his fields,  he built a toll booth in front of his bridge and gated it.



Typical oppressive upper class - good thing Ken is only 1/8th nobility - ha!

Again, pretty though. And it gives us a spot to stand and say family once stood here, built this, worked and lived.



 Even I could feel it, and I'm not one bit Irish.

City Champions

(Just a little something we missed while we were across the ocean.)

So it turns out that my presence in the stands isn't as essential to the team's success as I like to believe it is.

Greetings from Ireland

It''s as beautiful as you imagine - stone walls, shrubbery fences, ruins everywhere. (This is a building at The Rock of Cashel, which we toured on Tuesday afternoon.)

But in the morning we visited somewhere more significant to the family - the home of Raymond S. He and my MIL are distantly related by marriage, and he is in possession of a family coat of arms and the original documents granting the coat of arms to the De Herez Smyth family. It was so exciting and interesting to see, he and his aunt and brother were so hospitable, it was just delightful. Raymond works the family farm that dates back generations and historically changed hands from his mother's and father's side more than once. See the castle in the background? The project was halted in the 1800s by a combination of war and accident. I thought it was so cool, but I wonder if ruins in the back yard are so commonplace here that they could be a bit taken for granted?

One of the original parchments in Raymond's possession.

(Comic relief yesterday at a wollen mill store. The jacket was actually very nice, the hat was just to be funny.)

We slept at our first B&B last night, which was fun in some of the same ways as meeting Raymond - just a closer interaction with the 'locals' than you'd get in a hotel. However, the pillows were lacking, Ken woke up with a sore back. We probably need to raise our standards tonight and get a little more particular about our inspection before we choose where to stay!

Good News

Mr. Janmohamed is a 2011 recipient of the Alberta Excellence in Teaching Awards!

Mr. J was Jaclyn's Chem AP teacher last year and is really the reason that Jaclyn is majoring in Biochemistry next year. We only found out about his award at Jaclyn's graduation ceremony yesterday - his achievement was mentioned in a speech by the principal. I sat there and thought, "I can't believe Jaclyn didn't tell me!" But it turned out she didn't know either. In fact when Jaclyn crossed the stage and shook hands with the principal (before his speech) and he quietly congratulated her ("Nice work with Mr. J") she didn't know what he was talking about, but tells me she just quietly replied "thank-you" out of politeness.

(Jaclyn was the student who nominated Mr. J for the award.)

Earlier this year I suggested she make the effort to nominate someone as an act of gratitude for all her wonderful experiences in public education. It was a pain-in-the-butt with forms to fill out, a short essay to write, recommendations from other faculty members in the school to collect, deadlines to meet. But how could she not take the opportunity to publicly thank this amazing teacher? The nomination was an expression of appreciation, and a worthwhile exercise for any student.

Mr J. told Jaclyn yesterday that she has, "no idea of what she's unleashed."

Ha!

So he's miserable, and she has nothing to be sorry for, which is so amusing and satisfying.

Congratulations Mr J, you deserve the recognition - even if it's a little uncomfortable.

The Long Weekend

We had an extra long weekend just past. It was Victoria Day on Monday and to make it even better all the schools had the Friday before as a day off as well. We planted some vegetables on Friday, then on Saturday I took Carmen and Chloe to Heritage Park opening day. It was hot enough for ice cream (yeah!) but Chloe had to have Sherbet because we have established she can't do milk anymore. She's been milk free for more than 3 weeks and she feels so much better.

Anyhow, on Sunday and Monday we took a little trip up to the Columbia Ice Fields in Jasper. I guess we were missing the snow already? 

On the Athabasca Glacier

(Maybe a back-up Christmas card photo?)

Sipping some pure glacier water. I wish we'd been advised to bring water bottles up to the top with us!

We learned a few interesting things like the Columbia Ice Field feeds three oceans: the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic.

The monster truck buses that transported us onto the glacier were pretty cool. The road up the mountain bends and changes constantly with the movement of the glacier, and it was steep - a 30% grade.

The view of the Athabasca Glacier from our hotel window. It has receeded 2km in the past 150 years, but it is only a small outcropping of the Columbia Ice Field that sits just behind these mountains.

Okay, this is just for my own personal entertainment. Chloe started playing with the video camera as we drove up, and Carmen jumped in with sound effects. (The rest of us did a really good job stifling our laughter so as not to ruin the video.)

Lucky Me

Well, I'm going to Ireland! Which turns out to be rather distracting. There's been a little bit of pre-trip shopping: a raincoat, pants for tromping around graveyards and such. Mostly I've just been occupied mentally with planning food for the kids while we're away, arranging rides for their activities. Luckily I don't have to worry about the travel itinerary at all - Ken and his mom are taking care of everything.

We're travelling with my in-laws who have been to Ireland many times (lots of family history in the country) so it's going to be like having our own private tour guides. At the end of our time in Ireland Ken and I are spending a couple of days alone in London, which Ken has covered! Who knew I could be so happy not in charge?

I will miss a few soccer games . . . Chloe has learned to be bold this season, I can hardly wait to see what she can do when I get back!

Thankfully, choir is all done so that's one less thing to be managed while I'm away.

I spent a good part of the concert trying to capture Carmen and Chloe with 'normal' singing faces, which was quite a challenge. Now I don't know what I was thinking - their funny singing faces (which they seem to use most of the time) would be more fun to share!

I need to set up some kind of training schedule for Carmen for while I'm gone. She's signed up for a triathlon on Canada Day so she'll need rides to the pool and I should ask Steven to take her biking. I think we'll skip the running for now - her hip flexors are killing her, I can't imagine why.

Two things I won't be missing are Jaclyn's high school and Steven's junior high school graduations, we managed to squeeze our trip right between the two events.

I'm thinking it would be fun to give the kids my blogger password and post our happenings back and forth while we're apart: "Dear kids"and "Dear Mom and Dad". What do you think, too risky? Might they prank my blog beyond repair?

Roasted Rabbit

In Cub Scouts last week we had an Easter Egg hunt followed by toasting marshmallows over a fire. What do you think, too morbid to roast Peeps? The boys didn't think so.
("Cool! I melted his ear off!")

Slam Dunk

Last year our school raised money to build a school in Kenya, and now that we have made that connection I imagine we will continue to fundraise for education in that area of the world. At Christmas we raised funds for desks for the school, and this week we raised money to build a separate kindergarten because the wild elephant herd nearby was making it dangerous and difficult for the small ones to walk to school.

Part of the fundraiser was a dunk tank, which I was sure would be very popular, particularly when the junior high teachers took a turn in the tank. Then a notice came home that students in grades 6-9 could enter a raffle to have their own turn in the dunk tank (yet another way to collect money). I wasn't surprised when Carmen asked if as long as it was her own money, could she buy some tickets for a chance in the dunk tank?

(Funny story: she didn't just enter her own name, she also entered the name of a friend who was very surprised to be selected to sit in the dunk tank, but was a good sport and afterwards told her mom she was 'so grateful Carmen entered me!')

Carmen is a lucky kind of kid, so she also was selected for a turn in the dunk tank:

Ken questioned me allowing this, especially with snow on the ground. Carmen said, "Dad, we're Canadian. We don't wait another day for better weather." Ha!

A couple of boys from Carmen's class took a shot (she had to sit in the dunk tank for 5 minutes and however many dunks that involved). Then Chloe got a turn - she missed, but Mr. M obligingly hit the button for Chloe.

Carmen says you don't have time to feel the fall, just suddenly you're in the water.

The water was heated, so the real cold didn't set in till after she got out. Still happy, though!

(Uncle Kevin recently suggested there may not be any limits to what Carmen would be willing to do for a good cause.)

The Secret Life of B.

I'm totally converting to Lush products. I got *Big* shampoo for a gift, and I have since added the conditioner, facial scrub, cleansing cream, astringent, and moisturizer. This is a far cry from the hand soap and Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotion I've been using for the past 20 years on my face. Going high maintenance? Throwing pennies in the fountain of youth? Not really my goal - it just smells really good.

We're nearly finished finishing the basement. Ken developed the basement himself in our first house, and it's taken awhile to bite the bullet and pay someone to do the basement for us this time. After we signed the papers Ken told me he felt like a failure not doing it himself. I suggested maybe he should feel like a success that he can afford to pay! 

A-ke-la! We'll do our best! I've been aspiring to Cub Akela for 10 years, and it's finally happened. I sorted through the materials from the previous Akela yesterday and found these photo corners, clearly included in the craft supplies because they look like wolf silhouettes (almost as cute as my actual wolf cubs).

Football: the year-round sport. Ninth grade is the beginning of the best 3 years: fall and spring football! In the high school years community football runs in the spring so as not to interfere with school football in the fall. And then Drills and Skills run all winter, and Steven may possibly (hopefully) help coach Pee-Wee football in the summer for 10-12 year olds. Not that we're obsessed or anything - Steven was still capable of making the choice to miss practise on Monday in order to study for a science exam.

I need to dress better on Fridays. Monday through Thursday Ken goes to work in dress clothes and comes home and changes into grungy clothes. But on Friday Ken wears business casual (nice jeans, nice shoes, sharp shirt) and then if we go out on Friday night he looks great, whereas for me, especially if it is a 'spontaneous' outing, not so much. I need to get out of my mom-i-form on Fridays. (Though Ken was a little over-dressed for our Costco date last night.)

I've been practising yoga for awhile now, maybe that's been a secret, but not on purpose. I just don't know what to say about it. Sometimes it's totally invigorating, sometimes it's defeating. I'm always glad I did it. Marie asked me: Isn't it boring? (Not when you're old like me.) Besides, it gives me practical skills I can use like when I'm putting on my second dress boot crouched on one foot of the first high heeled boot and don't fall over in my in-laws front entrance after a Sunday dinner. Plus I'm totally bought in: I'm chanting along at the beginning of class, I feel the earth supporting me, I'm all about allignment and side-body-long and leading with my heart and opening to grace. I've go it bad. (And better muscle tone than anything else I've done.)