Beside Still Waters

 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

Psalms 23:1-2

 

 

The Lost Sheep

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:3-7

 

Going For A Drive

Around Thanksgiving weekend we went for a small trip to the west coast of Ireland.  During that trip we drove along the Burren.  Below are some of the pictures we took on our drive.  We had little time especially since our little Tater-Tot started to catch a virus that day.

The one time being stuck behind a tractor is not so bad.

 

 

The picture below is of a Stone Cross.

 

 

 

Below is Leamaneh Castle dates back to 1490 and is the home of the infamous Maire Rua

In Enlgish her name was Mary O'Brien (Little Mary).  I looked up information on her and it wasn't pleasant.  Not something I want to read again.

Click here for a story about Red Mary

 

 

 

 

 

Another tractor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is remains of old Irish home and the picture above is the walking trail to go see it.

 

 

 

The two pictures below are remains of an old church.

 

 

 

 

And finally what we had been waiting to see!

 

We kept waiting for a leprechaun or a hobbit to come out of this hole but nothing ever happened.

 

For more information on the Burren click here

 and here

Irish Ornaments

Here are some new Christmas ornaments we found here in Ireland.  We are looking forward to starting a new tradition when we go back home by decorating a tree with all Irish ornaments.

Tradition

A couple of weeks ago I began writing my Christmas food list.  I realized just how fast the season was approaching and knew that I needed to be ready.  I went to our local Tesco store (which is as close to a Wal-mart or Target that you can get) and discovered the majority of what was on my ingredient list was non-existent.  I left the store a bit irritated as well as whiny.  Soon after getting home I looked up the items very quickly to see if I could have them shipped.  I did find most of what I needed and excitedly made the order.  To my surprise I discovered the cost of the items!  Wow, what a jump from our American prices.  I decided for the sake of Christmas I would order anyhow.  It would be completely worth it since we are so far away from our family and friends.  But then, I began the process of on-line checkout and much to my amazement some of the items had to be taken off because they were not allowed to be sold to our area.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse I found out that shipping the items would cost as much as the order itself.  At that point I really began to inwardly sulk and just about give up on our traditional Christmas. 

For a couple days I just didn't know what I would do.  While sitting in our family room
The Fiddler on the Roof came to mind.  I then realized how whiny I was being and what I could do different.  So this year we will be celebrating our Christmas with a traditional Irish theme and a few other places of Europe in the mix.  I plan on posting as much as I can about it as I go along.  I hope you will join me on our journey to a new Christmas celebration.  And who knows, may be some of it will become a new TRADITION!

Click here for The Fiddler on the Roof song TRADITION

Below are some of our family's traditional foods that we make at Christmas time.
(these were the foods we could not make since the ingredients were unavailable or extremely expensive)

• Posole'
• Chile' Rellenos
• Green Chile Corn Casserole
• Tamale's
• Pumpkin Pie (yes I even eat this at Christmas)
• Fudge (I have recently found a new recipe with ingredients in Ireland)
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter cookies with Hershey Kisses
• One food that I miss but have never ventured to make is my Grandmother's Empanadas.  I told myself last year that I would make them "Next year" but at the I didn't realize I would be residing in Ireland.

Items not found in Ireland are:
Hominy,  Red Chile, Green Chile, Masa, Canned Pumpkin, Corn Tortillas, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Squares, and Hershey Kisses

I also thought that I could not find marshmallow cream.  While at Tesco yesterday they had it in the baking section and it is in a clear container called Cake Topping.  They use it as a topping for desserts but not for cooking. 

Some of the things we miss about New Mexico the most (besides family and friends) are:

• Chile Ristras
• The Mountains
• Luminarias
• Christmas lights on cars
• The adobe home in the desert with Christmas lights and a sprinkle of snow
• Snow

No Worries

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the blog.  The Christmas season has taken all of our free time as well as having sick children. Kids are getting to feel better and I am in great hopes to blog soon.  Don't give up on me, I'll be back soon.  :0)

Thanksgiving in Ireland

Thanksgiving in Ireland is going to be a bit different.  Since it is an American holiday my husband will not have traditional Thursday and Friday off of work.  In fact today is the day of and he is at work right now.  We have decided to move our celebration to Saturday instead which seems to be the norm in America for those that do work on the Holiday.
I thought for this post I would try to go over a few things.  I have had several people ask me a few questions about the holiday and so I thought I might go over a few things.

Question 1- Do the Irish observe Thanksgiving and are they aware of it?  For some it seems obvious that they would not celebrate but some have never really put thought into it.  No, they do not observe it since it is all about America, Pilgrims, Native Americans, the Mayflower and such.  They do however know about the holiday.  Every Irish person I have spoke with on the topic has known about it. 

Question 2- Can you get a Turkey in Ireland?  Yes, it turns out it is an extremely popular food for Christmas.  We have been told that the Irish really look forward to their Christmas turkey.  We have been seeing many bins full of turkeys since early November.

Question 3- Does Ireland have other Thanksgiving type foods available?  Yes and no.  I went the other night with list in hand to find all that I needed for our celebration day.  When shopping I could not find any canned pumpkin, canned yams, or marshmallow cream.  Once we had trouble finding these items we went in search of help.  The person we asked for help gave us a very strange look when we said canned pumpkin.  They do not carry those or yams.  They have to be specially ordered.  That was such a strange concept to my mind.  What is even stranger, to me, is that the Irish do not eat pumpkin pie or candied yams.   (I have so much to learn)  They do however eat cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, stuffing, some type of vegetable and, of course, potatoes.  (there is many other items they traditionally eat but I will get back to those on a future post)

Our plan for food will be
Turkey, cranberry, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, some appetizers, cheesecake, cherry pie and thanks to our wonderful pastor and his wife we will get to make a pumpkin pie!  While visiting with them in their home, they being Americans, had some canned pumpkin.  They very graciously offered us a can.  I can't express to you just how much I appreciated that.  I wanted to attack them with a hug and a kiss but instead very discreetly took the can and held onto it with a smile on my face.  (our God is such a merciful and gracious God.  Even my want for pumpkin pie matters to Him)

So, other than missing some of our family and friends we are looking forward to having a wonderful celebration.

Burning Peat

With the weather getting much cooler and the damp feeling in the air, we decided to start up the fireplace. 
Here in Ireland the thing to burn is not wood but instead peat.  It turned out to be a beautiful thing and we loved the smell (which wasn't much) as well as the warmth.  One thing that was quite different was that there was no crackle sound.  I did miss that sound.  It took us a little while to learn how to burn it but before we knew it we had it figured out.  At first we burned them the way you do wood when you stack them up into a pyramid shape and then discovered that was not necessary.  If you lay the peat blocks flat with a little space in between each one they burn quite well. 

What is peat?  It is an accumulation of partially decayed vegitation.  Yes that's right, it's dirt.  (with some other things in the mix) 

While looking online for some information I found this web page with information about Ireland's Peat Bogs. 

Click here for an informational video. 

The Wonderful Barn

Every weekend on our way to church we get a small distant glimpse of the Wonderful Barn. 

Many years ago I was watching a TV show about interesting man-made structures.  The Wonderful Barn was among them.  I remember thinking, "Wow I would really like to see that one day."  It never occurred to me that we would actually get the opportunity to do so.  Once we decided to try to get to it we didn't really know how we would do so.  After a little bit of driving around we found it!  And to our delight we were actually able to walk right up to it.  There is a wonderful walking trail going directly to it. 

 

We had to park along side a road and then walk through the some trees.

 

 

 

 

Our first view coming up to it.

 

 

Some Gardens we passed along the way.

 

 

We also passed this old fence.

 

 Tatar-Tot was super excited to come around the corner and see this. 

 

 

The information I have found on this barn is that it was made in 1743.  It was built by a widow by the name of Catherine Connolly.   It is believed to of been built in order to provide employment for the poor since it was built in the years immediately following the famine.  It's use was to store grain. 

The intent was to keep the grain from the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles who would come down from the Wicklow hills to steal and forage for food.

It is seven stories and has 94 steps on the exterior of it. 

In addition to the Barn there was two smaller structures which were used as dovecotes. 

Dovecotes are a structure intended to house pigeons and doves.  My understanding is that those birds were used for food.

 

Below is the home that was attached to the barn.  I sure wish we could have went inside and looked around.

 

 

I will never forget this barn.  The property it sits on is serene and the barn itself is quite whimsical.  The story of Alice in Wonderland kept coming to mind as I looked at the triangular shaped holes and cylindrical shape.   

 

 

 

Below is one of the Dovecotes.

                                               

 

 

 

During our walk we saw several people walking with their dogs.  Tatar-Tot even tried chasing some down.  We did call out to her and tell her to leave them be.