there's no place like gnome.

I’m back at it … finally. After a crazy couple of weeks of traveling and being ill, I’m deep into my Union Jack hexies once again.  (And linking up over at Life Under Quilts – can’t wait to join the conversation again and see everyone’s progress since I’ve been absent!)

However, photo-wise, I don’t have a whole lot to show. I could show you a picture of how I’m using my treadmill as the quilt staging area. (Totally why I bought it, right?) I could show you a picture of the jumble of hexes on my lap as I sew and remove basting strings. Yeah, in fact, I think I will show you both of those that essentially show very little related to progress.

I’ve almost completed the stitching together of two quarters of the quilt. Two more and then the big pieces will be an even bigger jumble on my lap!

One week ago I set foot again on American soil.  I haven’t posted on this blog since [except, you may know, that one post the casting people of Chopped made me take down].  So what have I been up to?  Well …

I unpacked and put away my suitcase.  It’s the first time in about three months that it’s been put away.  I’m glad to be settled in at home again for a while.  The fridge has food again and my bedroom is strewn with clothes.  All is back to normal.

I did not get a call back to have a skype interview with the show Chopped.  Oh well.  No doubt I would have been chopped all to quickly into the show anyways.

I made beer.  And when I say I made beer, I really mean that I stirred some grain and measured some hops and activated some yeast.  My new friend did the rest.  He’s the expert brewer anyways; we’ll leave it to him.  But I’ll certainly help drink the hefeweizen in a couple weeks.

It was indeed right and salutary that we [jD, Lauren, Paige, and I] play Oscar bingo while watching the Academy Awards.  It was unfortunate for all of our cards that Ellen did not wear a bowtie.

Mabel and I tried to go for a walk.  We were both desperate to get out of the house.  We lasted about five minutes before limbs and paws got too cold.  I can’t wait until it is 30 degrees.

And this week?  Lent begins, pictorial directory planning, a funeral, newsletter, and a haircut.  That’s quite enough for now.

I drew this picture of our modes of transportation for you somewhere over Quebec. (Someone was bored and a little stir crazy six hours into an eight hour flight.)

I’m on the bus from O’Hare now, soon to be home at my mom’s, going to pick Mabel up from my aunt and uncle’s house where she enjoyed her own mini vacation of sorts. (One day, she got to eat an entire loaf of bread that someone forgot to put away. *cough, Sam, cough* What a treat!)

Seeing as though my body thinks it is six hours later than it is, bed will soon in order. I anticipate an early morning rising to Dublin time and thus an early start back to Austin. Back to reality. Big sigh. Okay.

Today was probably our last day of grand adventure in Ireland. Right now, we are all cuddled up on the couch (by all I mean Emma, Mama Leanne, and I – Matt is now in a hotel a few blocks away with a friend who arrived a few days ago) with Miss Congeniality on the tiny television. (The apartment owners have a very limited DVD collection.) Emma is researching for her school break trip next week to Italy and Spain; Mum is reading; I am blogging. Happy Saturday night to us. Tomorrow there isn’t much on our schedule but to pack, tidy up, and eat at one last pub. We check out and leave for the airport at 9 on Monday morning.

So today’s adventures. We took another day trip, this time to the remnants of a monastic community at Glendalough and the streets of Kilkenny in County Wicklow. It was neat. See evidence below. Then we cooked a pizza in our oven and drank this super delicious Swedish cider we found at Aldi. And that is that.

This is a Friday leftover. Band on Grafton street.

Friday: we had our afternoon coffee at this cute shop.

Um, yum.

Then, on Friday night, we did a load of laundry. I had to take to YouTube to learn how to use the washer/dryer combo.

Glendalough.

A former monastic community in the hills of Ireland.

From death, new life.

This is Ireland.

Kilkenny Castle.

I’m waiting for my Mr. Darcy right here. I felt like I was on the grounds of Pemberly.

We warmed up in a cafe that served desserts like these. I had carrot-ginger soup and soda bread instead – super yummy.

I really like this description of Diet Coke. “sparkling low calorie soft drink with vegetable extract”

Yesterday, we toured Christ Church Cathedral and the Guinness Storehouse. I learned how to drink a Guinness properly. (And I dare say I made it through nearly the entire pint included in the tour price while at the Gravity Bar atop the storehouse. It appears one must be very precise in the inhaling/exhaling something-something. We went through a whole sensory experience tasting tour to learn that. I kid not.) Today so far, Mama Leanne and I have gone to Penny’s (a department store with scarves!) and Aldi for some goodies to bring back to the states. Now we wait for Emma to arrive before beginning an afternoon of more adventure.

Enough of me talking. How about some photos?

Christ Church – a fixture in Dublin since 1000.

The baptistry.

This is Bishop LINDSAY. Well, his tomb anyways.

How would you like to preach from that pulpit?

Quite impressive in all its gothic state.

Onto Guinness we went.

Ever wonder what the hell hops are? These.

The sensory tasting experience. It was here, with our tiny glasses, that we learned to breathe in through our noses, drink, swallow, exhale through our noses and taste the beer on the front, back, and sides of our tongues. We were also instructed to stand up tall and look towards the horizon. That’s how you drink a Guinness.

The end of the tour was drinking a pint in the Gravity Bar. It was pretty cool; a 360 degree view of the city.

Can I interest you in some bubbly? It’s bubbly bubbliness. And chocolate, not champagne.

We are taking an easy morning at the apartment this morning so while I sip my (surprisingly super delicious) instant caramel latte (10 packets for € .85), I thought I would share with you yesterday’s adventures to the United Kingdom, aka Northern Ireland.

I’ve said since we have planned this trip that seeing the Giant’s Causeway was my one must do. It’s in Northern Ireland, about an hour and a half outside of Belfast. Turns out there is no good way for one to get there short of renting a car (and none of us are sure we could do the driving-on-the-opposite-side deal) or taking a day tour from Dublin. Day tour it is.

We met our bus and guide early in the morn and made for Belfast. The tour included two main stops – one in Belfast and one at the Giant’s Causeway. In Belfast, we had two options for our time. Spend it at the newly constructed and opened Titanic Museum (The Titanic was built in Belfast.) or take a black taxi tour, which was a guided tour of the struggles between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast. We opted for the taxi tour and, as our guide, Paul, told us, we didn’t miss much at the museum. (Imagine a strong Irish accent: “Let me tell you what you missed. The boat was built here and then it sank. It was a fuckin’ disaster.”)

And so we rode around in a taxi, Paul telling us all we needed to know about the protests, the struggles, and the physical wall that still stands to separate the Catholic and Protestant sides of town. A lot of what he told us was indeed terrifying- what a scary place it was to live and raise families. It’s beginning to shift … but there still is a long way to go. The wall still stands and houses still need to have gates on their windows to prevent rocks thrown over the wall from breaking them.

Paul dropped us back off so we could meet up with the bus once again and we headed for the causeway. The drive to get there was the picturesque Ireland you see in movies and postcards. Sheep grazing, proper estates, fields marked by neat and tidy hedgerows. It was beautiful. We arrived at the causeway and had two hours to explore. I say no more about that; the photos will do the talking about the wonders we saw and climbed. I’m glad we went.

It was a long bus ride ride back before we were dropped off. We grabbed some Turkish chicken doner for take away and settled into the apartment, a tired bunch of travelers. Today? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe a little Christ Cathedral touring; some Guinness Storehouse learning. It’s hard to believe that it is Thursday and already we seem to be making plans for our return.

A cathedral on our tour.

Our taxi in front of the (very high) wall, now covered in murals and names. (Including ours.)

Paul. Oh, silly Irish Paul.

(Taken from a moving bus but still -) Isn’t this what you’ve always imagined Ireland to be?

Hello, North Atlantic. I will watch for falling rock.

Very large rocks.

So the Giant’s Causeway is this shore where the rocks are pillar, hexagonal shapes. Volcanic eruptions more than sixty million years ago or something. OR as Rick Steves writes, “It’s as if the earth were offering God his choice of 37,000 six-sided cigarettes.” Well played, Rick Steves. Well played.

Matt.

Mum and I.

Give way.

We had to. We were in the UK after all.

And then we saw the ruins of a castle. NBD.

Trinity College.

The Long Room at Trinity. Felt a little bit like I was at Hogwarts.

Another day. Another cafe.

I’ve been waiting for this moment – macarons!

Waiting for Emma to finish her school afternoon at The Hairy Lemon pub.

Dublin Castle.

Temple Bar. The district in which we ate dinner and were serenaded by live music.

How about I let the photos do the talking today? (Check out the captions for a little info about who/what/why.)

That counts for something, right?

We have this great pub just down the block from our apartment and we are becoming regulars. (Two nights in a row = regulars, right?) The lovely lad who bartends with his attractive Irish accent is becoming our friend. Last night, after a long day of walking and shopping and the very hard work of drinking strong European coffee at a table outside a cafe, we popped down. I really wanted an Irish coffee. Alas, they were out of cream. Did I want a Guinness?

Err, did I? Me drinking beer of the light, wheat, fruit variety has only happened in the last few years. A Guinness? That is not light or fruity. Mr. Bartender had mixed Emma’s with some black currant syrup; he said lots of the ladies like it that way because it takes away the bitterness. Sure, I’ll try it.

And it wasn’t half bad. But I couldn’t quite stomach it all. I will still claim that I drank a Guinness at a pub in Ireland. Check.

Like I mentioned, the rest of the day was quite a bit of walking. We walked south of the river to where Emma lives/has class. We bummed around a notable park and Grafton Street (shopping district) while she attended class. We walked to her apartment and then back to ours. Today is another day of exploring Dublin on foot. Tomorrow? Northern Ireland by bus.

Beautiful flower vendors on the street.

Entrance to St. Stephen’s Green.

Sitting outside, drinking coffee and sharing cake. Perfect.

Our pub.

G’day, gnomepreacher friends.

It was a good day in Ireland. We woke up (after a good 12 hours of sleep – take that, jet lag!) to the sun shining. We ate breakfast in our apartment, Emma came over from her apartment, and then we booked it for the train station. We headed on the DART train twenty five minutes to the seaside village of Howth. From what we have heard, Howth is the place where Dubliners go to escape the city. Today, we were those people.

Howth had this great little market – this super yummy little market – where we spent a bit of time and euros. We bought delicious fresh bread (oh, how I love that Europeans love bread!), scones (for only one euro a piece!), and lunch. (Lamb burgers with cheese, bacon, and pear/date chutney? Quite possibly the most delicious thing I’ve had in a while. That is what Emma and I had; Matt and Mama Leanne opted for the fish and chips food truck option.) I also bought a polka dotted bowl. (Bowls are my thing that I buy when I travel. Check.)

We walked along the break water, soaking in the accordion player, the darling children with Irish accents, and began to freeze as the wind picked up. We also posed for senior photos, the Howth marina in the background. After a train ride back to Dublin, we spent a little siesta time in the apartment. Emma and I just walked to the grocery store for cheese, wine, and grapes. (All very necessary. I know you agree.) It’s dinner time now; Matt is on grilled cheese duty with the fresh, delicious bread we bought at the market and the cheese we picked up at the store. After that? Maybe a pub for a drink. Or maybe bed. That sounds good too.

Train station waiting.

Howth.

Howth marina.

Senior portraits.

We joined the people along this sidewalk for lunch.

Fish and chips truck.

Lamb burger deliciousness.

Eating lunches across the sidewalk.

Back to Dublin along the River Liffey.

Afternoon scone and latte.

See? Grapes (in the bowl I bought today) and wine. We’re European now.