6th September, Happy Birthday To Meeee.

That day has come round again. A year ago it was my 60th and I had a surprise visit from my daughter and young son Ben at a meal in Suffolk before heading off to Milan for a few days. The photo on the right is of that occasion. It was quite wonderful and I remember saying if you could bottle the feeling I had with all 3 of my children together, you'd make a fortune. Before all that, Jim's son Russell and his fiancee Caz were married!

Saturday 5th September

This year ,of course, is a much more low key affair. We had decided to use a voucher we had won a year ago to go and see dolphins in the Shannon Estuary. We spoke to the boatman yesterday and he said the trip was on and to be there at 2pm. So up we got this morning and headed into Gort for some petrol and a quick bit of food before we headed to the coast. A message came on my phone. The trip was cancelled due to high winds in the estuary. Tomorrow (today now) is destined to be even worse. The best laid plans and all that.

It also happened to be the Scarriff Show today, which we had intended to attend until the trip came up. So it was off there instead. As we arrived, after a rather circuitous route to Scarriff, the heavens opened. Luckily, it was a pretty quick shower. Scarriff has quite a few horse events and we watched some of them in the various rings first. I was fascinated by the 'sidesaddle' class. There were only 3 contestants and they were very good. I didn't know people still rode sidesaddle. Here is one of the three little ladies.



We then watched the dog show for some time. We saw those fun events 'the dog with the waggiest tail' and 'the dog who can perform the best trick', plus 'the dog I would like to take home with me'. Great fun and we got chatting to a lady who herself is sometimes a judge. She had a cute Cavalier King Charles spaniel, a rescue dog called Hobo. He won the dog with the waggiest tail and was reserve in the 'one I'd like to take home'.

This lovely spaniel didn't want to 'stand' in the best show dog fashion!

I loved the fact that the ring for these events was full of a motley collection of ill behaved dogs. Buster would have fitted in a treat. Talking of Buster, we feel we are on 'respite care' without him. We don't have to worry about putting all the food away, running the gauntlet of doggy love when we first get up and trying to keep him from eating the cats. The cats are having a marvellous time sitting on our laps and loving the peace and quiet. In spite of all that, I do miss him. Rather like I miss a bad tooth!!

Back to the show. People nowadays don't wear the green wellies that country folk used to parade about in. Now they come in all colours and designs:

Can you see the little puppy at the side of her right boot? Here's a better look.
How cute is that?
The smart looking chap with the red tie is the local TD. (Member of Parliament) for the Fianna Fail party and he went round glad handing everyone. Here he is frightening a small child. His name is Timmy Doolin and Jim and I always used to burst into song when we saw his posters. 'Hang down your head, Timmy - Doolin'. You need to be very old to remember the song Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley. My sister had the single.


One last dog:

This chap's dressed for the cold weather. His scarf will be in support of one of the 'hurling' teams. He looks fed up.

Next we headed inside to the crafts area. We admired the 'decorated eggs':

I loved the sheep egg in the trailer at the back and the rock singer. Neither won a prize.

While inside, the fancy dress took place in rather a haphazard fashion.

The trouble with fancy dress today is that none of them make their costumes, they're all bought. It's just not the same.

This little princess was so thrilled to have won:

Here she is with her cup.
Her sibling sucked her dummy like the Simpsons' baby! She came second. We thought she was a he, but on looking at the shoes, decided it was a she.

The vegetable section was quite small. Jim and I thought that this onion grower went a bit over the top with the decoration!!


We stayed until gone 4pm, I had a crepe with maple syrup (not the real stuff) then we wandered back to the car and headed home. Jim finished the bathroom floor tiling and I went to sleep!

We're probably going to head off to The Burren tomorrow as we haven't been there for ages. We also have a ticket for the 'Alwee Cave', which we've never visited before, so we may go caving too. Then it'll be a roast dinner in the evening followed by a bread and butter pudding. Delicious.

I hope you're all enjoying your weekends too.