I'm Home At Last

Hello Everyone, I'm back at last.  It has been a very long break and boy have I missed it and all of you!!  I have been reading a few blogs here and there on Bloglovin but rarely having the chance to comment.  I'm so glad that I'm finally back.

The Hubby got me a Coolpix L810 camera for my birthday and I've been snapping at every opportunity. Unfortunately it then took me ages to figure out how to put it on the computer and be able to upload to the blog, so that has held up my return slightly.

I can't say that so far it has been a restful summer, more stressful and only now are things beginning to settle down.  There has been a lot of sitting in hospitals and doctors surgeries waiting for test results or consultations with both my mother and son.  Thankfully my mother, after a lot of sleepless nights worrying, is finally getting back on her feet and looking more like her old self.  I can't say "old self" around her at the moment because she is turning 70 this year.  She says that 70 is the age that you officially become an "old person", so she has decided that she will be 69 for the rest of her life and next week we will be celebrating her second 69th birthday!!

My son too is slowly getting better and we seem to be getting his seizures under control.  it has been so hard on him as he struggled to accept that his epilepsy had returned.  As normally what happens with absence seizures, his mood swings were always fierce and unexpected.  As he is such a gentle child this was not in his nature and he would often end a temper tantrum by crying out of pure frustration.  It would be very hard for an adult to deal with this, but patrick is only 9.  How hard is it for him?  We talk about it often and he can now recognize the seizures when they happen so now he can tell me about how it feels and we can record it all for the doctors.  He says that it feels like being underwater, sound is warped and all is dark like he closed his eyes.  Fortunately his medication seams to be at a good level and the seizures are rarer now.  Fingers crossed!!

Anyway on the chirpier side of things, our holidays have not been as busy as I would have hoped.  We may have had three weeks of beautiful weather but my kids absolutely hated it!  How could you hate hot weather??  I just don't understand it.  So while they hid inside, I sat in the garden quietly stitching and finding a little peace in all the stress. I found that it gave me the time to switch off my brain and just concentrate on the slow in and around movement of my hook and yarn.  I have lots of crafty bits to show you in the next few weeks and hopefully a great Ta-Dah moment with the campervan blanket.

Anyway to the picture above.  In the evenings of those very hot days we would go swimming down at the lake.  This was one of the spots that we visited, Saints Island.  There was something about the place that made me feel a little uneasy, I don't know why.  

Maybe it was all the great big High Crosses everywhere and the long shadow that they cast!!

Another thing that we did to hide from the heat was to take refuge in the dappled light of the forest.  I may not be the biggest fan of nettles but look how pretty they are flowering on the forest floor.

As we cycled along we could not believe the height of the grass along the stream.  It just goes to show what proper summer weather can do for growth.  This time last year this stretch of path was totally under water.

Molly just dove into the river the second that she saw it so that she could cool down.  It was really hard to get her out again and she yapped like mad when we tried to go!!

For our holidays we went toured the south coast, county Cork.  It is such an amazing place, like stepping back in time to before the rest of the country was ruined during the boom time.  Our first stop was Fota Wildlife park.  We loved it so much.  We could get quite close to the animals and there were plenty just wandering around the paths like Maras, Wallabies, Peacocks to name but a few.

  I just had to show you this picture.  Hear no evil, Speak no evil.  Just missing one more!!

As we toured we saw some very pretty little villages.  The old telephone box below even had an old wind-up telephone on display inside.  The kids were fascinated by this.  They've never even seen a phone with a dial on it before!

We also visited the home place of the great Michael Collins, the man who is responsible for our freedom today.  But still today people in this country will debate this fiercely.   But he was still loved by everyone then and now.

I'm just after realising what a very long post that I'm after writing.  if you're still with me, thanks for popping back and sorry for going on a bit.  I just had so much to catch up on.  I hope to be back in the next few days with a crafty post.  Promise I won't make it as long!!

Glad to be back,
Rosie xx