Christmas 2013 update

Our Christmas really started will Ellie's travels on Saturday 15th.  Poor Ellie!  Her route was DUB-FRA-YYZ(Toronto)-YGK(Kingston).  Firstly the turbulence on the DUB-FRA started immediately after the drink service causing the man beside her to burn his hand when he put it over his cup to try and keep the tea from spilling, then her apple juice went flying while the guy across the aisle was upchucking into the air sick bag. Thankfully, as her connection was very tight, flights from FRA were delayed by the queue for de-icing and her transatlantic flight was uneventful, but her problems were only beginning on arrival ay YYZ.  Snow storms were causing severe delays and her lack of a phone (the curious incident of the apple and the toilet) meant sporadic communication.  Her flight to Kingston was delayed, due to arrive at 3pm, and it kept getting pushed back.   We were monitoring all sorts of sites to find out how she was getting on, anxious to get her before we had to go to Roisin's office party (one of a few) that evening.  Well it was 7.50pm before she got airborne which meant we had the dilemma of choosing between airport and party - we opted for party (its not the same in a three person office when 33% miss the party!) and were in the restaurant in Gananoque, 15 miles from Kingston when Ellie eventually took off.  Ellie was not impressed with the choice of aircraft - where the co-pilot doubles up as the flight attendant and where you can see the pilots consulting the manuals.  She now knows what seat belts in aircraft are for (to prevent you hitting the roof) and also realises that it is possible to land a plane with the aircraft at a 45 degree angle in three dimensions immediately prior to touchdown.  (She was lucky; our journey along highway 401 to and from the restaurant was probably hairier- residual smell of pot in the taxi, road verges disappearing in the snow/mist and the ditches showing evidence of those drivers who hadn't identified the edges).  Anyway we arranged a taxi pick up for Ellie (sin sceal eile) and we were all reunited just before midnight.
The following Sunday (22nd) Laura travelled DUB-JFK-SYR and her travel was uneventful, although she made the mistake of going to bed after gettting in at 5am, when she need to leave at 6:30.  Saved by having packed before she went out she made the airport in time.
Ellie was here in time for the ice storm.  When weather conditions allow for freezing rain, the drops freeze on contact with everything - trees, power lines, windscreens, everything.  The biggest danger is the power outages caused by the weight of ice bringing branches down on the lines or the lines themselves breaking from the weight of the ice.

Everyone stocked up on food, water, candles, batteries, firelogs etc. The hardware store ran out of de-icing salt!  Everyone here compares times like these to the famous ice storm of 1998 when power was out for five days or more and they had to get help from US power companies.

 Many people moved into downtown hotels or went to friends houses.  This didn't happen this time in Kingston, we did lose power for a few hours on a number of occasions, but some areas of Toronto still are without power as we write.

Our friends, the ten Hoves, were going to Florida for Christmas from SYR on the same day a few hours earlier than Laura arrived.  They made arrangements with Joy's daughter Marie and her boyfriend Harry, who wanted to do some shopping in SYR,  to travel with them and bring the car back to Kingston.  However a snowstorm (another one) looked like making driving difficult, so they asked me to go with them instead.  I was delighted to oblige as their Highlander was much more suited to the drive than our Civic.  Once again some sketchy conditions, but Syracuse was at +9 while Kingston was at -4  so it got better during the trip and by the time I collected Laura and was on the way back, the roads were clear and the trip was uneventful.  Snow ploughs are great men altogether!
Laura was delighted to see the wintry scenes in Kingston and we took a drive around avoiding the fallen branches and low lying wires caused by the ice storm as we did so.


On Monday evening we had a party (continuing our tradition from Ireland) and about 30/40 of our Kingston friends joined us for drinks and snacks.
Sinead (without kids) came to us on Christmas eve and joined in the queue for Santa, and although we don't have a stocking with her name on it there was probably a present under the tree for her.
Everyone enjoyed a great Christmas - Santa did his usual good job and of course the cook did a great job of producing the traditional Christmas fare.  Skype allowed us to say hello to
family, although we have yet to make contact with Lobinstown.
After dinner we went downtown to the market square and went ice-skating - well some of us did and that was great fun. Here's a couple of pics and also an interesting dedication on a bench in the park opposite the house.

On Saturday we went to Calabogie, a ski hill about two hours away.  Rosin was able to show off her skills to Laura - and its questionable who is the best skier now!

Wednesday, Ellie is going to Toronto to see Les Mis as an early birthday treat - just a day trip and then back here before the girls leave on the 2nd - Ellie to Dublin and Laura to NY where she will stay with Roisin for  a few days.

So that's all our news - its been great having the whole family under one roof. 

Happy New Year

Paddy, Roisin, Laura, Ellen and Patrick 

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

I finally understood, for the first time, the sentiment in that question people ask each other in January - "Well, did you get over the Christmas alright?" because I would have to say that is exactly how it felt for our first Christmas away from home - we "got over it". We all found the lead up to Christmas very hard being away from family and friends and found ourselves reminiscing about what we would 'normally' be doing at home. And to be honest, there were quite a few tears shed between us.

Having said that, we had some very enjoyable occasions and fun evenings with some new friends going ice-skating and to dinner and for that we were very grateful. Then when Christmas day itself arrived, we were delighted to have Sinead, Chris, Robyn and Ben who came to spend a couple of nights with us, and they literally saved the day!! Santa came to everyone and thankfully everyone got what they had been hoping for (amazing how that happens every year??) Patrick got a surprise toboggan which came in very handy when we had a big snowfall over New Year and we had great fun trying that out on the local hill at Fort Henry.

A couple of weeks before Christmas Paddy had to go to Toronto for a meeting so we all went up to explore the "T.O." which we hadn't spent any time in before. It is a fantastic city, similar to New York, but definitely cleaner, not as noisy and easier to get around. We met up with Sinead at her office (she works for a gold mining company downtown and even their offices were worth a visit!). The city was all lit up for Christmas with the most magnificent Christmas tree in the Eaton Centre fully lit and decorated with Swarovski Crystals - it was spectacular! The shop windows and the decorations were also fantastic and we all thoroughly enjoyed taking in the sights and sounds of the Toronto Buzz. In the evening we met up with all the Bonthrons and went for dinner together and then the kids went home with Sinead and Chris, while Paddy and I went to explore the nightlife a little more. There are some great bars there and we spent a couple of hours happily sipping our cocktails and people-watching the trendy city folk of Toronto.

The next morning we went to Sinead's for breakfast and it was so nice to finally see where they live!! We completed our visit with a trip to the CN Tower downtown which was really great - it was a beautiful sunny day and the view from the top was spectacular. The kids had a great time with their cousins and after lunch in a cool little thai place that Sinead knew, we all went home happy from with our first proper visit to "T.O. city".

On the night before New Years Eve, Paddy got tickets to go to an ice hockey game in the K Rock Centre (Kingston's Point Depot) so we went along to watch the local team 'The Frontenacs' play. You have to understand that ice hockey is a national obsession here, seriously, they are all mad into it!! It's played at a really fast pace and they absolutely kill each other, shoving each other up against the barrier (known as 'checking') and there were a couple of good fights too between the two teams - all of which adds to the entertainment value of the evening - great sport!!

The local t.v./radio station had a reporter and cameras there and during the breaks they interview random members of the crowd. The reporter suddenly approached Patrick and his friend Nate whose delighted faces appeared on all the screens and they won two tickets to the next game which they were chuffed with - their 15seconds of fame!!!

On New Year's Day we packed a picnic, piled into the car and headed for the nearest ski resort which is called Calabogie Peaks. We didn't have all the gear to go skiing but we thought at least we could suss it out and have some snow fun. Its about a 2hr drive but it was well worth it!! lovely snowy mountains with ski lifts and - new to all of us - snow tubing!!! We got our lift passes and spent a great day slipping and sliding down the tube runs. It snowed a blizzard all the way home so the journey took considerably longer but it took us through some quaint little towns we hadn't seen before and we spotted some interesting local attractions including the local "Amish Store" picture attached!!! A couple of weekends later Laura and Ellen rented skis and boots from the local hire shop in Kingston, who also run a bus every Sunday to Calabogie Peaks and off the two of them went at 7am on the bus to ski for the day and were back home again at 7pm that night.

Just before Christmas Paddy spotted an ad for a house to rent, not too far from where we had been living but a lot more spacious and with a proper garden, off-street parking and a garage so we decided to go and take a look. We had been feeling that the house we were in was really too small and not having proper parking turned out to be a BIG deal as you can't park on the street in winter because of the snow ploughs. Anyway, long story short, it was a great house and we negotiated with the landlord and came to a happy agreement to move in at the end of January. It was completely unfurnished so over the period of a few weeks we painted a couple of rooms and did a couple of trips up to Toronto to buy all the furniture we needed (thank God for IKEA!!) and with the help of a few allen keys we were ready to move in on the 30th January!! attached are a couple of pics, not very good ones, but more to follow at a later date.................. We're all very happy with our new home and now have plenty of room - all visitors very welcome at 692 Brock Street, Kingston, ON, K7L 1V9.

We had heard about a Winter Festival held in Ottowa during the month of February, so once we were settled into the house and Laura had a weekend off, we decided to go to Ottowa and see what the "Winterlude" was all about. We brought our ice skates and headed for the Rideau Canal which is where all the action takes place. It was a great event.............. the canal is completely frozen over so you can skate for 8 kilometers without stopping - the biggest ice rink in the world. They have stands set up at the side of the canal selling hot chocolate and a local delicacy 'beaver tails' which are basically a hot pastry smothered in nutella - and only about a million calories per serving!! delicious!! After the skating we went around the park where they had massive ice and snow sculptures of everything from mobile phones to beavers to giant ice-skates. There was also a huge ice slide so naturally we had to have a go on that too - cold but fun!!

Other than that, Paddy has had a few trips to Miami and Vancouver, the last one during the Winter Olympics where he said the atmosphere was absolutely electric with literally thousands of people out on the streets enjoying the comraderie and bon viveur that goes with the olympic spirit. I'm not sure if any of you were following the action, but it was full on here between downhill moguls, figure skating, bob sleigh and of course the big finale of the ice hockey play off between USA and Canada last Sunday night - there wasn't a car on the road or a person to be seen - they were all glued to the T.V........ Think 6 nations/triple crown decider between Ireland and England and you get the picture. It was a nail-biting finish right into extra time with Canada coming out victorious, much to the collective relief of all Canadians (and a few blow ins too!).

Winter has arrived in Kingston!!

I know, I know - the blog hasn't been updated for a few weeks - mea culpa!! but honestly, we've had various internet/computer problems recently and then what with visiting sisters and friends and life in general, I'm only getting to this now so apologies ok??

Well, where to start? We had a couple of interesting incidents recently here. The first involved a small mouse. I had noticed some evidence of a nocturnal visitor in the kitchen - didn't mention it to the kids but went and got a couple of traps (don't you hate even the look of those things?). The trap was discreetly placed in one of the kitchen cupboards with some peanut butter (crunchy rather than smooth) which apparently mice love - well Canadian mice anyway. Next morning Paddy checked and the peanut butter was gone, the trap had been sprung but no sign of our friend! We re-set the trap and continued to check it for the following couple of days but nothing happened and there was no sign of any night visits which we thought was kind of strange. Was just the snapping of the trap enough to frighten the mouse away we wondered??

A couple of days later we arrived home and Ellen went to go into the kitchen - next thing she let out this blood-curdling scream and ran back into the living room hysterical - we couldn't get any sense out of her but I reckoned the mouse had finally made a reappearance. Paddy and I went to the kitchen and there was the mouse, dragging his back legs across the floor painfully slowly - obviously the trap had broken his back but he'd managed to get away. Well, I don't know if any of you have ever seen a paraplegic mouse before, but its not a pretty sight! I'm ending this particular little story here and lets just say that all's well that ends well................

The next thing that happened was Laura accidentally setting herself on fire. It was actually so scary and she/we were very lucky - she came in from work and put the kettle on and was chatting to Ellie and I in the kitchen. I looked up from sorting the recycling (see how exciting my life is??) and told her not to stand with her back to the cooker so she moved. Next thing there are flames leaping up her back and her coat was on fire! she dropped to the floor and I rolled her while Ellen screamed her head off (she got an awful fright) and we got the flames out. Needless to say her coat was destroyed and her cardigan underneath but she was ok - luckily she still had the coat on as if she didn't and it was one less layer............. lets not go there........... Thank God it wasn't that serious, but it was a timely lesson to all of the dangers of gas rings.

Now to our recent visitors (no, not more mice - humans!). Our first guests to Kingston were Sinead, Robyn and Ben who came for a weekend. It was great fun - the kids loved having their cousins to stay and all went to see a Christmas movie together. We had a short tour around Kingston (I could see my sister from the "Big City" was a little surprised by the size of our new hometown!) and Sinead and I got to have a few cups of coffee and chats so we were all happy with our weekend.

Then Aedeen came to stay - major excitement all round - someone from HOME!!! It was really great to have her here for a whole week! We did our Kingston tour to point out some of the places of interest which have become part of our lives now: Ellen and Patrick's schools, Paddy's office at the CYA, Laura's shop on the main street, the Gym and YMCA - she even came to our ice-skating lessons at the Invista Centre. We had several catchup sessions over large cups of coffee and even larger glasss of wine, nice long lunches at various locations, some fun meals out with the whole family, a few visits to the local bars, we had coffee in my Canadian friend Beth's house, we had Laura's friend Rachel over for dinner, a swedish massage, a few martinis and lots and shopping!! all in all, we thoroughly enjoyed her visit and are all hoping she liked Kingston enough to come back again some day (right Aedeen??!) By the way, the plane in the photos is the one that goes between Toronto and Kingston which Aedeen came and went on!

Just after Aedeen left, the snow came! It co-incided with the opening of the ice-rink in front of the Town Hall and the lighting of the Christmas tree so it was a pretty magical event! We had had a few snow flurries during the week and a big snow storm had been forecast, but to be honest we didn't think it would happen so suddenly. We were ice-skating down town after dinner the evening beforehand and there were just light flurries. We went to bed with no snow and lo and behold - woke up looking at the scene you see on a Christmas card!! There was plenty of snow (10cms) which transformed the place into a winter wonderland overnight. The kids were so excited (me too!).......... Ellen's school declared a 'snow day' but Patrick's was open - he didn't mind as all the kids just go to school in their snowsuits and they had a ball at break time making snow forts and having snowball fights. It snowed for about two days then stopped and the snow is now mostly in banks at the road side (courtesy of the fleet of busy snow ploughs) and is pretty much frozen solid as the temperatures have not risen above freezing for the past couple of weeks. It was -9 on Friday which with the wind chill factor was -15!!! our coldest so far........ we'd better get used to it - thankfully the house is nice and cosy. We're hoping it'll be a white Christmas - apparently its quite usual so fingers crossed.

"The Fall" and Halloween

'The Fall" is well and truly under way here and it is really quite beautiful - the trees are all shades from yellow to dark red and as there are a lots of trees around Kingston its looking great!

Halloween is quite the celebration here in Canada with the whole place dressing up, adults and kids alike. We couldn't get over how into it they are - in addition to the costumes they also decorate the houses so elaborately like haunted houses etc. with cobwebs covering the entire front of the houses and smoke machines, dangling full-size skeletons not to mention the carved pumpkins everywhere! The parents of the kids trick or treating also dress up (I was the only one not in costume!) and even the people at home opening the door to the kids are dressed up - it was great fun and eveyone is invited to house parties afterwards. Then of course all the college students dress up and head out to parties/gigs later on so basically it seemed like the whole town was on the move for the night. The kids really enjoyed it and so did we. We were all invited to a party on halloween night and met some more of the parents from Patrick's school who were nice people so that was a good night and we made some new friends. Laura had a couple fo halloween parties over the weekend too and again everyone without exception was dressed up in fantastic costumes! I think we'll have to be more prepared next halloween now that we are "in the know". We had also been invited to a 'pumpkin carving' evening at a work colleague of Paddy's, but the daughter of the house got the "swine '09" so it was called off. Then the daughter of the house we were in at the party on Saturday came down with it on Sunday so we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that we escape this dose as its really rampant at the moment. From what we hear, it's the same back at home.

Paddy was in Ottawa on Monday/Tuesday this week and then headed off to the ISAF conference in Korea on Wednesday morning. I didn't envy him the journey - first a short flight to Toronto, followed by a long flight to Tokyo (12hours) and finally his connection onward to Korea. He'll be tired out by the time he arrives to his final destination. It was funny actually, cos it was the first time we had experienced the airport here in Kingston so naturally we left in good time to arrive a good hour before his flight. Well, we were the only people there!!! apparently 20mins is fine and there were only 5 people catching the flight anyway!!! also the journey to airport at 6.50am took about 8 minutes so we were laughing at the contrast!.

Ellie and Patrick are both continuing to enjoy their schools - although the swine flu is rampant and every day we hear of more people going down with it, particularly in Ellen's school where they are running at about 25% absenteeism currently and lots of teachers out too.

Laura is really enjoying work and the responsibility of opening/closing the shop and reporting back to the owners on the days business patterns etc. so its been good for her. She has been pursuing the winter semester with Queens but it now seems from her latest info that the course will be a correspondence one so that doesn't appeal to her so she may skip on that. Anyway, she has plenty to occupy her time at the moment so we'll see.

This weekend Sinead and her kids Robyn and Ben are coming for the weekend so we're looking forward to having our first visitors! the kids are thrilled and are planning swimming and skating and going out for pizza on Saturday night and I'm delighted to have Sinead needless to say! Chris has to stay in Toronto as he has his work farewell on Friday night and with Paddy away, I think he'll be enjoying a quiet weekend. Then we also have Aedeen's visit coming up at the end of the month so I can't wait for that!!!! it'll be fun showing Sinead and Aedeen around and seeing what they think of Kingston - I'll get Aedeen to take pics too so that she can show you all what it's like.

Weeks 4 & 5 - Thanksgiving!

Weeks 4 & 5 and our first Canadian Thanksgiving!
The "settling in" period has really begun to "settle down"......... Laura has now finished all her driving theory lessons and just has to wait awhile for the on-the-road lessons as the driving licence people are on strike at the moment. This also affects Paddy and I as we can't apply for Canadian drivers licences yet 'til that's over. In the meantime, we have been having numerous phone calls back and forth to Quinn Insurance trying to get my insurance for the new car sorted out and finally today (after 2 weeks of calls back and forth) we have made progress and I am now insured to drive again - hurray!

Ellen and Patrick have both had "School Photo Day" and so we will be able to send home some pics of them in their new schools shortly! We have also begun our ice-skating lessons in the Invista Centre.......... Patrick is in a junior group on Wednesday evenings which is great fun and he is coming along nicely. Paddy, Ellen and I are with the adult group on Thursday evening and we are making (slow) progress. On the first outing, I thought I was doing brilliantly until I did quite a spectacular wipe-out and landed flat on my back/ass on the ice! thank God they insist on helmets cos it was quite a thud...... in fact, I'd swear I had whiplash for about 4 days afterwards!! Last Thursday was better tho and none of us fell at all!

Thanksgiving in Canada is earlier than the USA - it fell on Monday 12th so it was a holiday day here - no work or school!...... The Grand Benders had invited us up to join them at the cottage again and also very kindly extended the invite to Laura's pal Rachel to come too. Luckily we had the new car with the extra seats in the back which was still a squeeze with 6 of us and our various bags, some food etc. but off we headed on Friday evening. It was a slow journey through driving rain the whole way (reminded us of home!) but eventually we got there about 11pm!! It was great to see the Sinead and family again, and Al & Shelley too. We had a great laugh with them all on Saturday over dinner and played the game "head bands" which had us all in stitches. The girls ended up staying up til 2am with Chris and Alex playing rock band on the Wii so a fun night all round. Al and Shelley had Laura and Rachel stay over in their cottage and they got 5 star treatment - they even got a chocolate on their pillows!!! The kids had great fun playing with each other - its great that they all get on so well and love being together.

Then on Sunday we had Thanksgiving - it was great! Judy (Chris's mum) joined us all and we had a delicious feast of Turkey with all the trimmings including butternut squash which was a new vegetable for us Irish, and finishing up with Judy's desserts of pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake and carrott cake - it wasn't just the turkey that was well stuffed!!! It was gorgeous and no mean feat to serve up such a great meal for 13 people, so once again our thanks to the Grand Benders for looking after us all sooooo well.

Other news is that Laura started working properly at the shop "blueprint" and they want her to be a keyholder and do opening and closing so good for her! she is enjoying it so far..... her hours are mixed during the week as they are open late some evenings and at weekends so she is still managing to enjoy her social life as well. On Friday we had our new oven installed - halleluia! and after an initial fault which was fixed by a technician on Saturday, we had our first roast dinner at home - might not sound like its worthy of mention, but believe me, it is!!! On Wednesday last, the girls and I got tickets to see Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance which was on in O2 - nothing as fancy tho from what I've heard. The show was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed our night out.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day - tempertures were up again to about 12/13c and the sun was shining so Paddy, Ellen, Patrick and I (Laura was working in the afternoon) got the car ferry to Wolfe Island and went to a corn maze (i could have called it a maize maze but that would be too corny) where we spent the afternoon trying to find our way out of the maze!! it was great fun and good excercise too since you're basically walking around in circles for hours!!! Anyway, we all enjoyed the day. In the middle of the maze, we had a phone call from my mum and dad who were just back from their hols so that added to the enjoyment for me too!!

Photos of 1st cottage visit

Week 4 - The Cottage update

We've had an eventful week! As I had told you, we were going to spend last weekend at Sinead and Chris's cottage up at Grand Bend on Lake Huron with the Bonthron family (hereafter to be referred to as the "Grand Benders" - no offence intended). We had such a good weekend! it was so nice to relax and enjoy the weekend with extended family - Chris's aunt and uncle Shelley and Al were there and also Chris's dad, Brian, Brenda, their brother in law Alex and his kids Mia and Alexa. It was a long journey (took us 6 hours but includes two stops for petrol, food etc) but it was well worth it as we had a great time. Sinead cooked us up a lovely breakfast on Saturday of "strata" which is a like a full Irish in a pot - it was yum! On Saturday night Chris and Al treated us all to their B-B-Q ribs and home fries which were absolutely amazing!! our contribution was to make Caesar salad using Brenda's recipe for the dressing and we also had fresh corn on the cob. After dinner, we went over to Al & Shelley's cottage where they have a fire pit and we toasted "smores" - these are made by toasting marshmallows on a long skewer then when they're all mushy you sandwich them between two biscuits and add your favourite chocolate (the girls made them with Reeses peanut butter cups) and eat - delish!! and of course excellent for diabetes - NOT! I had to have one - it'd be rude not to? and all in all, it was a great night with lots of fun so a big "Thank You" to the Grand Benders for all of that .......


Other news for the week is that we got a car on Tuesday - its a Ford Taurus station wagon - 10yrs old but only 15k on the clock and in great condition as it was owned by an elderly couple who didn't really go anywhere. The main advantage is that it has those extra dinky seats in the boot so Patrick can sit in there and the girls have more room in the back - it was a bit of a squish on the way to the Cottage last weekend so next trip everyone will have more room ....... Paddy is the only one insured on it at the mo cos we're waiting on some papers from home to arrive for me but hopefully that will be sorted before the week is out.

I have an admission - after all my saying that I was having no diffs with the driving, I actually reversed into a neighbours car on Friday (in the rental)! We were trying to get away early for the journey to Grand Bend and I have to admit I was fairly hassled!! Luckily it was only a small scratch on his car and he was really cool about it - he more or less said sure its an old car and you wouldn't notice another little scratch! There was more damage to the rental car - the rear bumper was pushed in and it had a good scrape - but the neighbour actually popped the dent out for me - he was really nice!! When we left the rental back I was cowering in the new car which we had just collected, but the rental people walked around the car and didn't notice the damage so I got away with it - phew!!

Laura had her first few hours at work - she's allowed work part-time til her work permit comes thru and she really enjoyed it - they seem like a nice company and she's looking forward to getting stuck in there. Ellen and Patrick continue to settle into new schools, homework etc. Our current routine is that Paddy drops Ellie off to school (she has to be in for 8.15) on the way to work and Patrick and I walk to his school which takes 15 to 20 mins - depending on how many squirrels we see along the way as we keep stopping to watch them. I can totally see where the expression "squirreling things away" comes from 'cos they always have something either in their mouths or in their paws - its a great start to the day. Ellen then walks home at 2.30 when she's finished (I know - its very early!) and I walk with Patrick at 3.30pm. So we'll keep that up as long as the weather allows, which will hopefully be for another 4 - 6 weeks. Everyone keeps saying "wait til the winter comes" so we're waiting with great expection for the massive snowfalls!

On the home front - some further cabinets have been installed in the kitchen so its looking better but still some work to be done on replacing the sink and sorting out the oven. At the moment only the gas rings on top work so my limited stove-top repertoire is wearing a bit thin............. I don't have my cookbooks yet either as they will be coming with the rest of our bits 'n pieces in another 4 or 5 weeks so if anyone would like to send me any suggestions other than Spag bols, stir frys, eggs, pasta I would be very grateful!!! We also had phone, internet and t.v. installed this week so everyone is delighted with that. After some initial set up probs we now seem to be fully up and running and look forward to easier communications with everyone.

Paddy is enjoying the CYA - the president is arriving this week for a couple of days with him so he will have a busy week ahead. They are also preparing for their AGM next month so plenty to keep him occupied. Breaking news - I have joined a Gym!! so now that I've gone public with that, I'd better make it work! so far so good and I'm enyoying the workouts - you mightn't recognise me next time we're home so be prepared! Paddy, Ellen and I are also hoping to start ice-skating lessons together this week and Patrick will join the junior class (Laura can skate already) so that should be fun!! We have to get some kit first today to get us started but I'm really keen that we learn as they put a skate rink in front of the Town Hall from December onwards so we want to be able to take advantage of that and enjoy it. Laura has a 21st party tonight and Patrick has a school friends party tomorrow so that's it for this week from all of us here! Keep the news coming folks, it's great!