Not the best photo I know, but here is Trudi delivering her traditional Christmas message. Special mention was given to her favourite Aunties, Annie and Bertje for their Summer Lovin’. Merry Christmas everyone.
The Amsterdam girls are heading home soon. That means it’s the end of the Summer. Trudi will be bereft without them. So will I. It’s been wonderful having them here. They were so kind to house-sit for us too.
The Amsterdam Girls have arrived for the summer and I have made a cake to celebrate. Trudi is very happy to see them as they take her to the beach every day… sometimes twice. It’s lovely to have them both here. They are also known as the Fairy Dogmothers.
It’s an orangey/lemony cake. It was not half bad, even if I say so myself. The frosting on top looks lumpy I know. That’s because I have no patience and made the frosting without sifting the icing sugar. Lesson learned.
Here’s Trudi who seems very unimpressed by our new weather station. It was Al’s birthday present. All of the data from the weather station is uploaded to the Currane website, together with the pics from our web cam. You can see them here. Images and data are updated regularly and there is a large archive so you can see what’s what… apart from when it’s dark!
In list form…
Were snowed in for a week, ie. we couldn’t get out of our drive.
Our place in the snow
Fridge stopped working because it was too cold in the kitchen. Who knew such a thing could happen??
Frozen water pipes and gas regulator. Poor Al spent hours outside with the hairdryer.
We had a lovely quiet Christmas and New Year.
Here’s Trudi, decorated for Christmas:
Trudi with her Christmas present. A squeaky rubber chicken dressed as a banker.
Al went to Vienna for his work Christmas party and brought back some macaroons, sachertorte and a VERY bad cold. What a wonderful gift!
I’ve produced a poster. It’s for sale on my ILoveMayo.com site and on GarrendennyLane.com. It’s large and fits perfectly into an Ikea frame.
I can tell spring is coming. There are buds everywhere, it’s nearly 6pm now before it’s dark, the daffodils are on their way and the cockerals have started fighting. If you know anyone who would like a cock let me know. (We have 5). Wagner (named after Wagner on the X Factor) is just visible in the picture above.
Anyway, that’s me caught up. It really feels like we have hibernated this winter and in a way, we have! Hope the winter has been kind to you!
The view of Croagh Patrick across Clew Bay from The Mulranny Park Hotel
I’ve been painting quite a lot recently. I’ve put 3 new paintings in my online portfolio. There’s the one above, one of Trudi and one of the view from the shore in front of our house. Mounted prints of the picture above will go on sale at the Mulranny Park Hotel in the next few weeks. The original painting is quite large. Full sized digital prints on canvas (Edit: I originally typed ‘giclée prints’ here. It’s the same thing but giclée sounds too pretentious) will also be available for sale there. I’m quite excited about the whole thing.
I do still have things to say about RTÉ.ie and alcohol advertising. I just don’t know where to start! I was happy to get a response but I’m left feeling quite deflated and annoyed by it. Will have a go soon.
Meanwhile, we’re trying to get the house as watertight as possible for the winter. The days are really starting to shorten now. The chickens are doing well. Of this year’s chicks, it’s clear now that Bruno is definitely a boy and that Janet probably is also. Hopefully Latoya and Tito are girls. It’s early days for Tito still.
We have huge changes to the site coming soon. List item numbering will be ‘rolled out’ (as Al would say) across the site soon. Numbering will mean that items can be inserted into a particular place in a list. You’ll also be able to make list items (or just selected text), bold or italic or ‘tada’…. a link!
The picture above was taken on one of our last summery days (Note: Trudi’s head).
l-r Trudi, Janet, La Toya and Tito
We’ve been leaving the hens in the run recently as little Tito is too small to be roaming free outside even with his mother. There was sunshine today and who knows when we’ll have some more? The weather was nice enough for me to sit out on scarecrow duty so I opened up the run. Tito has now had his first trip out. He didn’t venture very far, but it’s a start. As you can see; Janet and La Toya are growing up fast and Trudi is still fascinated. I still don’t have a clue what sex any of these birds are!
Trudi with Henny-Penny, Beaky, Midge and Mungo.
She could sit there all day among the chickens. She thinks they can’t see her if she doesn’t move and so she stays, just swiveling her eyeballs, ready to pounce. Thankfully, she never does.
