Hello Ireland, Nice to Finally Meet You!
After my wonderful trip home, leaving was heartbreaking. However, I really missed the Irish chef, and I couldn't wait to spend time with him in Ireland...FINALLY! I've never visited Ireland, so I was super excited! I knew that—like England—I had a romanticized perception of Ireland. Oh, wait...Terrible travel blogger award goes to me. Did I even blog about our trip to England?!? I don't even know. Good job, Mik. Okay, I'll come back to that trip later. Let's continue with Ireland for now.
I had to remind myself that my unrealistic and idealized notions or beliefs about Ireland weren't necessarily a reality. That being said, at least of nature, what I've seen is breathtaking and IS what I believed it to be and more! The Irish Chef met me at the airport and we took a bus right into a small town in Roscommon. From there, we arrived at the cottage where we were to house and pet sit for three months. We initially took care of five dogs. Sadly, one passed away from old age. We were only meant to be here for a few months but then Covid-19 happened. Like many others, we found ourselves wondering what was going to happen. What did happen? Let's rewind to before Covid news broke.
Firstly, my partner is from Cobh, County Cork and had never been in the northwest part of the country. Imagine our surprise when we learned that all it ever does here is rain. I mean that. I've never seen so much rain in my life. I thought Victoria, BC (Canada) and Seattle, WA (USA) were bad, but this place is so much worse. Sun lovers, you've been warned. We have tried to embrace it, but it's not easy. From what the Irish chef remembers, Cobh's weather isn't like this. I regularly check the weather in Cobh, and it's not. Anyhooo, in the autumn we enjoyed the cool, countryside and our new situation. We walked and explored the rolling hills. We found met new animal neighbours. We decompressed and recovered. After living in Shanghai, I welcomed crisp after-dinner jaunts and sporadic late-evening walks where it would be pitch black but you could see the sky full of stars. I relished in the quiet. The silence. The moments of being completely alone. I was thankful for not having to speak.
After leaving my job, I felt so exhausted. While I was working in the office, I loved my job and loved working hard, but that wasn't why I was overworked: I couldn't keep fighting to prove my worth, so I didn't—not when companies like Oxford University Press were happy to hire me. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I must state that my manager in-house never made me feel this way. If anything, I think he gave me too much credit. However, with other managers, I was treated like I was a moron...I don't like to quit unless it's on my terms, but for my own mental health I allowed myself to not fight for my job, to slow down and do what I love doing: reading.
Luckily, we're staying close to Boyle which has a library AND a small used bookstore! I mentioned the AMAZING library services here in a previous post. Matthew, a librarian at Boyle's library, set up a library account for me (Thank you, Matthew!!!). It's free! I'm not even a resident here! WOOOHOOO! Book haul time!!!
The Irish Chef decided to try reading bestselling authors (James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Danielle Steel and Jack Higgins)
November rains fell into December, and the Irish Chef's friend from New Jersey visited just before Christmas. He's such a gentleman. He educated me about dating apps (I've never used one) and Nevada (I've never been). We went to Sligo on a little adventure and to do some Christmas shopping which led to book buying, of course.
Sligo: Liber book store! So pretty with the Christmas decorations in the windows!
Carrick-on-Shannon: Trinity Books, a secondhand bookshop owned by a fellow Canuck!
Inside Trinity Books
For Christmas, the Irish Chef spoiled me and got me books written by Irish writers (Yeats' mother was from Sligo which isn't far from Boyle, and Kevin Barry lives just down the road).
Gifts from the home owners!
I'm not a fan of chocolate, so this CHEESE advent calendar was perfect for me *typing while drooling*
My dad used to do the turkey at Christmas, so this was my FIRST attempt on my own!
After Christmas, I realized that I wanted to get my reviews about books out to a broader audience, so I reached out to an online review site. The organization, sabotagereviews.com, focuses on reviewing content published by small and indie publishers. I now write reviews for them, and it's been a fantastic experience so far! My editor is awesome and is phenomenal about giving constructive feedback. Many thanks to him and the Irish Chef for supporting me in this new writing journey! My first review of Dana Diehl's amazing short story collection Our Dreams Might Align is posted here: http://sabotagereviews.com/2020/04/16/our-dreams-might-align-by-dena-diehl/. My second review (An Inheritance by Diane Simmons, ©2020 by V. Press: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52043083-an-inheritance?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=c3mSgDXY0J&rank=3) is in a queue waiting to go live, and I'm currently writing a review for Elleke Boehmer's collection To the Volcano and Other Stories (©2019 by Myriad Editions) as its been Longlisted for Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2020. Super exciting stuff for this halfie!!!
It's been incredible getting to spend these past few months reading and writing. In a quiet, atmospheric location. It's easy to snuggle up and read and also feel inspired to write.
It's been incredible getting to spend these past few months reading and writing. In a quiet, atmospheric location. It's easy to snuggle up and read and also feel inspired to write.
In addition to the dogs, we care for various Fallabellas (mini horses). We named these two Lord Diddle-me-More (Left. He's a stallion, so I'll give you three guesses why) and Tina (Right. She's the mare and we named her Tina because...that hair!)
Early morning frost in the winter
Spooky woods
This guy lives down the road. He didn't seem too happy though. Probably sick of all the rain.
This journey was meant to be the beginning of a new life in Ireland, but since the Irish government changed laws for common law couples while we were in Spain, we're no longer eligible. Regardless, I've been enjoying my time in Ireland! To be honest, I need a sunnier spot if I were to ever live here forever. But for this trip, Roscommon has been incredible!
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