The carpenter couldn't get here until after 10 a.m. to start work because he had to go to the post office.
Although this tiny little town of Le Grand Bourg has one restaurant (pizza), one church, one tiny grocery store and nothing else, it has 2!! hair dressers.
A friend, Clare, in the next town of Benevent has a B&B and one day last week 2 people showed up at the door with 2 donkeys for the night.
The one day that I was scheduled to travel back to Ireland, there was a one day rail strike.
That makes 4 out of 4 times I had train trouble. One trip there was an hour and a half delay because of a fallen tree on the tracks.
The trunk of a car is called "the car boot". They have car boot sales. Like tag sales to us.
To sleep late is to have a "lie in".
more later
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Saturday, May 24, 2014
SUSIE THE MILLINER
Famous little lady
A couple of days after arriving, I noticed these wooden, round, bowl-like things in the stairway. I asked Susie what they were. That question opened up a huge repertoire of her past as a famous Milliner just outside London. She started making hats at her home which came about from taking apart a hat of her own that needed fixing. Throughout her years of designing and making hats, she owned the label SUSY KRAKOWSKY where she sold hats in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan and New York. At one time she employed over 20 people working for her and opened a shop showcasing her hats and purses. This all came about without any desire to become a famous person in the fashion industry. After working too many hours and being inundated with too many orders, she decided to sell her business and move on to reclaim her life as she knew it a few short years previous.
Her maiden name was Krakowsky from her Jewish, Polish Father who was a Physician in London after escaping Poland during WWII. Her mum was from Manchester, England where Susie was born and resided, married and had 2 children. Her decision to move to France came after living in Morocco for 6 years, 4 with Todd and wanted again to leave him and start over. Todd, after loosing his business and lots of money in England, lost all desire to do anything in his life and as Susie puts it "follows her wherever she goes" because she supports him. This July he will turn 65 and will just now be eligible for a small pension payment. Susie lived at her new home in Le Grand Bourg for 2 years before Todd came where they remain for the past 2 years together (sort of). She refers to herself as "Susie" rather than "Susy" now after her Milliner shop sold.
A couple of days after arriving, I noticed these wooden, round, bowl-like things in the stairway. I asked Susie what they were. That question opened up a huge repertoire of her past as a famous Milliner just outside London. She started making hats at her home which came about from taking apart a hat of her own that needed fixing. Throughout her years of designing and making hats, she owned the label SUSY KRAKOWSKY where she sold hats in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan and New York. At one time she employed over 20 people working for her and opened a shop showcasing her hats and purses. This all came about without any desire to become a famous person in the fashion industry. After working too many hours and being inundated with too many orders, she decided to sell her business and move on to reclaim her life as she knew it a few short years previous.
Her maiden name was Krakowsky from her Jewish, Polish Father who was a Physician in London after escaping Poland during WWII. Her mum was from Manchester, England where Susie was born and resided, married and had 2 children. Her decision to move to France came after living in Morocco for 6 years, 4 with Todd and wanted again to leave him and start over. Todd, after loosing his business and lots of money in England, lost all desire to do anything in his life and as Susie puts it "follows her wherever she goes" because she supports him. This July he will turn 65 and will just now be eligible for a small pension payment. Susie lived at her new home in Le Grand Bourg for 2 years before Todd came where they remain for the past 2 years together (sort of). She refers to herself as "Susie" rather than "Susy" now after her Milliner shop sold.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Meeting Susie and Le Grand Bourg
ARRIVING IN LAMOGES
I arrived in Limoges station at 11:00p.m., an hour late because of train problems. Todd, Susie's husband met me and we went outside where Susie was in the car waiting. Susie is going to be 64 this Sunday 05-25. She is petite with long naturally graying hair that fits her face and personality perfectly. She was easy to talk to which we did a lot of during the whole hour ride to Le Grand Bourg where she lived.
Her house in right on the main street in town where many of the houses are attached, looking like they all are one. There is an iron gate where you enter before going up the semi-circle spiral stairs to the front door. Her house is on 3 floors with 2 living rooms, a kitchen and a dining room that Todd uses as an office because that's where the printer is. But Todd doesn't work. And hasn't for about 12 years. The second floor is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms; one with a shower and sink and the other with a bathtub and a toilet. The one with the bathtub is quite large as it was a bedroom at one time. The third floor is my apartment. It's very big and has a kitchen and a bathroom. I really, really like it here.
I arrived late Saturday night on the 17th of May. The following day Susie said to take it easy, no work, just do whatever I wanted. So I walked the whole town. Took me all but 15 minutes. There was no one around. Everything was closed and very quiet. So I went to the river where there's a park and walking trails.
PONGO
Susie has a dog. She is a rescue dog from when Susie lived in Morocco for six years. Susie found poor Pongo as a pup of 5 weeks having no hair at all due to a skin disease called scabies. Susie rescued Pongo, brought her to a vet and 2 shots later, Pongo was on her way to good health and being doted on by her new mum. Susie's English so she is "MUM". Pongo's breed is unsure, looking somewhat like a Corgy/Pomeranian mix with golden, red hair. She carries around a rock most of the time in her mouth, begging you to throw another. When you do throw a new stone, no matter where it lands or whether she sees where it lands, she will scour the whole area where she thinks it landed and always come up with the stone you threw. Her smell is unbelievable. She is absolutely obsessed with rocks. And she will never give one up to you. You always have to throw a new one. She even carries one in her mouth on walks.
Being a lover of animals (unfortunate, homeless mostly), at one time Susie had 12 dogs and 40 cats, all vetted and well taken care of. Most of them lived outside on the roof tops of one of the neighbors. When Susie went outside to feed them, the cats would all come jumping down on top of and all around their savior. She was covered in cats.
When one wants to travel to another country, you must obtain a passport for each animal. That gets expensive when they must have appropriate shots and get a clean bill of health by a vet and passport stamped stating so. Susie did this for all these animals when she made the decision to move to France. After getting all her pets a passport, the woman who was buying her house in Morocco said she'd very much like to keep all these pets and possibly find good homes when she could. This woman had just sold a home in Greece with a similar house full of rescued animals and having to leave all of them to its' new owner, was duplicating her lifestyle now in Morocco. Knowing they would all be taken care of, Susie decided to go to France with her dear Pongo and wrapped up in blankets like a human baby was her very sick cat, Ted. He had an infection that the vet in Morocco could not help but Susie could not leave him and thought she could help him best by her side in France. Ted was so sick, he didn't move a bit at the airport security and was not discovered. Together they arrived at their new home in Le Grand Bourg, a three story, 100 or so year old stone house in the center of town. Unfortunately poor, sick Ted died and is buried under a rose bush in the front of their new home. Before agreeing to buy this house, she had made a ridiculous offer that was previously rejected. But 10 months after making the offer, received a letter accepting her low-balled offer. So the decision to move to France was made and off she went. After moving in, Susie went to an animal shelter "just to look", came home with 2 abandoned kittens which were bottle fed and ready for a new home. The male was named "Colen" after Collen Ferril because he was a ferule cat. His sister, Hilda was hit and killed in the road and is buried in the back of the house under a rose bush. Susie then acquired "Tripod" a three-legged cat who leg got bitten off by some family dog while in a frisky game of play. The family vetted Tripod and Susie took her so as not to cause the family dog any distress as the dog was noticeably upset at what he did to poor Tripod. So now we have a family of 4 in a newly decorated 3 story home in the heart of a once bustling but now sleepy town of Le Grand Bourg.
When Susie first noticed this house for sale, she did a quick look-see but did not inspect all there was being offered. After her offer was accepted and she arrived at the house to sign the papers, she discovered behind one closed door 2 rooms that had previously been the business of a town butcher. So there remained a walk-in cooler and 2 rooms. When asked about this little area attached to her just purchased house, she was told it was included in the sale. This was the birth of "Time for Tea" her little English tea shop. The walk-in cooler was transformed into a lavatory. Previous to this, Susie had never baked a single cake, scone or bakery product.
I arrived in Limoges station at 11:00p.m., an hour late because of train problems. Todd, Susie's husband met me and we went outside where Susie was in the car waiting. Susie is going to be 64 this Sunday 05-25. She is petite with long naturally graying hair that fits her face and personality perfectly. She was easy to talk to which we did a lot of during the whole hour ride to Le Grand Bourg where she lived.
Her house in right on the main street in town where many of the houses are attached, looking like they all are one. There is an iron gate where you enter before going up the semi-circle spiral stairs to the front door. Her house is on 3 floors with 2 living rooms, a kitchen and a dining room that Todd uses as an office because that's where the printer is. But Todd doesn't work. And hasn't for about 12 years. The second floor is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms; one with a shower and sink and the other with a bathtub and a toilet. The one with the bathtub is quite large as it was a bedroom at one time. The third floor is my apartment. It's very big and has a kitchen and a bathroom. I really, really like it here.
I arrived late Saturday night on the 17th of May. The following day Susie said to take it easy, no work, just do whatever I wanted. So I walked the whole town. Took me all but 15 minutes. There was no one around. Everything was closed and very quiet. So I went to the river where there's a park and walking trails.
PONGO
Susie has a dog. She is a rescue dog from when Susie lived in Morocco for six years. Susie found poor Pongo as a pup of 5 weeks having no hair at all due to a skin disease called scabies. Susie rescued Pongo, brought her to a vet and 2 shots later, Pongo was on her way to good health and being doted on by her new mum. Susie's English so she is "MUM". Pongo's breed is unsure, looking somewhat like a Corgy/Pomeranian mix with golden, red hair. She carries around a rock most of the time in her mouth, begging you to throw another. When you do throw a new stone, no matter where it lands or whether she sees where it lands, she will scour the whole area where she thinks it landed and always come up with the stone you threw. Her smell is unbelievable. She is absolutely obsessed with rocks. And she will never give one up to you. You always have to throw a new one. She even carries one in her mouth on walks.
Being a lover of animals (unfortunate, homeless mostly), at one time Susie had 12 dogs and 40 cats, all vetted and well taken care of. Most of them lived outside on the roof tops of one of the neighbors. When Susie went outside to feed them, the cats would all come jumping down on top of and all around their savior. She was covered in cats.
When one wants to travel to another country, you must obtain a passport for each animal. That gets expensive when they must have appropriate shots and get a clean bill of health by a vet and passport stamped stating so. Susie did this for all these animals when she made the decision to move to France. After getting all her pets a passport, the woman who was buying her house in Morocco said she'd very much like to keep all these pets and possibly find good homes when she could. This woman had just sold a home in Greece with a similar house full of rescued animals and having to leave all of them to its' new owner, was duplicating her lifestyle now in Morocco. Knowing they would all be taken care of, Susie decided to go to France with her dear Pongo and wrapped up in blankets like a human baby was her very sick cat, Ted. He had an infection that the vet in Morocco could not help but Susie could not leave him and thought she could help him best by her side in France. Ted was so sick, he didn't move a bit at the airport security and was not discovered. Together they arrived at their new home in Le Grand Bourg, a three story, 100 or so year old stone house in the center of town. Unfortunately poor, sick Ted died and is buried under a rose bush in the front of their new home. Before agreeing to buy this house, she had made a ridiculous offer that was previously rejected. But 10 months after making the offer, received a letter accepting her low-balled offer. So the decision to move to France was made and off she went. After moving in, Susie went to an animal shelter "just to look", came home with 2 abandoned kittens which were bottle fed and ready for a new home. The male was named "Colen" after Collen Ferril because he was a ferule cat. His sister, Hilda was hit and killed in the road and is buried in the back of the house under a rose bush. Susie then acquired "Tripod" a three-legged cat who leg got bitten off by some family dog while in a frisky game of play. The family vetted Tripod and Susie took her so as not to cause the family dog any distress as the dog was noticeably upset at what he did to poor Tripod. So now we have a family of 4 in a newly decorated 3 story home in the heart of a once bustling but now sleepy town of Le Grand Bourg.
When Susie first noticed this house for sale, she did a quick look-see but did not inspect all there was being offered. After her offer was accepted and she arrived at the house to sign the papers, she discovered behind one closed door 2 rooms that had previously been the business of a town butcher. So there remained a walk-in cooler and 2 rooms. When asked about this little area attached to her just purchased house, she was told it was included in the sale. This was the birth of "Time for Tea" her little English tea shop. The walk-in cooler was transformed into a lavatory. Previous to this, Susie had never baked a single cake, scone or bakery product.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Destination FRANCE
Going to La Rochelle, FRANCE
After getting confirmation from my new host Susie, that I could indeed come and stay with her in Le Grand Bourg, France until my new host will take me as scheduled in Athy, Ireland, I spent many hours online trying to find transportation from Athy to Le Grand Bourg. It all had to line up timing wise using planes, trains and busses hence the lengthy time on the computer. I found that flying from Dublin into La Rochelle, France and then taking a train to Limoges was the best way to go. Susie would then pick me up from the Limoges train station at around 10 p.m. and drive the hour trip to Le Grand Bourg.
Flying into La Rochelle afforded me with the ariel view of this beautiful coastal city on the Atlantic. I got to see miles and miles of beautiful, unpopulated beaches and left me with the idea that I might want to come back this way on my way back to Athy, Ireland and spend a day or two here instead of rushing back to Athy and the B&B.
Stepping off the plane at the tiny airport in La Rochelle was like stepping into a little piece of heaven. The sky was crystal clear blue and it was WARM. So different from the dark, gray and cold of Ireland that I had just left 2 hours ago.
At the bus stop to go to the bus station to take me to the train station in downtown La Rochelle, I met a lone traveler like myself, Caroline from Ireland who was traveling to France on a much needed week-long vacation. We exchanged travel stories and a light lunch at a cafe' across from the train station. She was my age and needed to take a break from her life of caring non-stop for her elderly parents; one with dementia. I know we will remain email pals with lots of traveling stories to exchange.
Waiting for the bus in town at the bus station gave me a glimpse at what I could do if I was able to return here for a day or two. There were lovely city bikes to rent of which I saw many on the streets going along as casually as the cars were. Definitely a bike-friendly city. In the middle of the square was a carrousel. Besides a few horses as is on most carrousels, were more unusual sitting apparatuses such as carriages and carts, all very colorfully decorated. This is a town I could be happy to just sit and watch the people go by. It reminded me a lot of Italy with its' open squares of people walking and shops under archways and apartments above. But my visit to La Rochelle was short as I was leaving soon on my way to LIMOGES!
After getting confirmation from my new host Susie, that I could indeed come and stay with her in Le Grand Bourg, France until my new host will take me as scheduled in Athy, Ireland, I spent many hours online trying to find transportation from Athy to Le Grand Bourg. It all had to line up timing wise using planes, trains and busses hence the lengthy time on the computer. I found that flying from Dublin into La Rochelle, France and then taking a train to Limoges was the best way to go. Susie would then pick me up from the Limoges train station at around 10 p.m. and drive the hour trip to Le Grand Bourg.
Flying into La Rochelle afforded me with the ariel view of this beautiful coastal city on the Atlantic. I got to see miles and miles of beautiful, unpopulated beaches and left me with the idea that I might want to come back this way on my way back to Athy, Ireland and spend a day or two here instead of rushing back to Athy and the B&B.
Stepping off the plane at the tiny airport in La Rochelle was like stepping into a little piece of heaven. The sky was crystal clear blue and it was WARM. So different from the dark, gray and cold of Ireland that I had just left 2 hours ago.
At the bus stop to go to the bus station to take me to the train station in downtown La Rochelle, I met a lone traveler like myself, Caroline from Ireland who was traveling to France on a much needed week-long vacation. We exchanged travel stories and a light lunch at a cafe' across from the train station. She was my age and needed to take a break from her life of caring non-stop for her elderly parents; one with dementia. I know we will remain email pals with lots of traveling stories to exchange.
Waiting for the bus in town at the bus station gave me a glimpse at what I could do if I was able to return here for a day or two. There were lovely city bikes to rent of which I saw many on the streets going along as casually as the cars were. Definitely a bike-friendly city. In the middle of the square was a carrousel. Besides a few horses as is on most carrousels, were more unusual sitting apparatuses such as carriages and carts, all very colorfully decorated. This is a town I could be happy to just sit and watch the people go by. It reminded me a lot of Italy with its' open squares of people walking and shops under archways and apartments above. But my visit to La Rochelle was short as I was leaving soon on my way to LIMOGES!
Sunday, May 18, 2014
KINSALE
The Desperate escape from Dunmanway
Without the internet at Sally's place, I needed to go to town and find WIFI somewhere. Sally knew I was thinking about leaving so took me into Bantry on market day (Friday) where there was a cafe' called Organico that had WIFI. I went online just long enough to see if there was a bus out of Dunmanway the following day. There was one at 9:45 and one at 11:45. I told Sally I needed a ride into town the next day to get on either busses. Much to my dismay, because I could not bear another day at her house, she decided on the latter time. All I wanted was to get out of Dunmanway. I didn't care where the bus went. It was going to Cork, a quite large city where I would just get a hotel for a night next door to the bus station and rethink this whole "work for room and board" thing.
I was sad to leave poor, ailing Sally with all her animals but I knew I had no choice. So I spent a night in Cork which was a lovely city on a river, set up much like Dublin. In fact it reminded me a lot of Dublin. I checked in to one of the last rooms available in a hotel nearest to the bus station. After I got online to start corresponding with job prospects, I started running a bath. In a very short time on the computer I was about to go and check the water in the bathroom when I looked over to see that I had flooded half the hotel room with an overflowing bath. And it was all very, very hot water. I didn't call anyone for fear they may not have another room I could move to so I just used any and all towels to mop it up and wring them out. I couldn't even wear my sneakers because the water would have seeped into them and given me wet feet. So I went barefoot on a very soggy rug.
I decided to got to Kinsale. It was a tourist town on the Southern coast and not too far from Cork. I had heard from several people how lovely it was. B&B's there were so much less costly than hotel rooms. I couldn't find any availability in the town of Kinsale itself but found one room for 3 nights a short walking distance from town. I checked in on Sunday and did some rechecking on email responses to my need to get to a new Workaway host or WWOOFer host a.s.a.p.
While waiting for responses I walked the town of Kinsale. It was a small enough town and an easy walk to check out all the little shops and cafe's. The weather wasn't the greatest so was glad to don my warm raincoat each morning. There was a small harbor with a few boats out a ways; not too near the town road because when the tide was out, the harbor itself was left quite bare with some seaweed and a few seagulls picking through whatever they could find. So it was a very shallow harbor until you went out a ways where boats could comfortably be set.
There was a place famous for fish and chips at the harbor called Dino's where at a certain time of day had a line out the door with people waiting to get fish to go. I opted to find a place with something with goat's cheese in it since I saw a few more 'healthy' places to eat offering it.
It was very relaxing to walk through the town, in and about all the shops with very few visitors. People's individual gardens were starting to come into bloom which would take off as soon as the weather changed and more sun would make the flowers bloom very soon.
I was anxious to get back to the computer which I brought with me to town. Most cafe's have free WIFI. I got a couple a new responses but nothing that felt too promising.
Lorna from the Phoenix immediately said I could come back to and stay as long as I wanted. But I knew she was getting 2 new Workaway girls the same day I had left. I didn't want to take advantage of her kindness so kept looking for B&B's and organic farms in the Kinsale area. Most wanted a babysitter in exchange for room and board. That would have been ok but no one needed someone immediately. I needed to start somewhere that week. I emailed Susie from the French bakery/tea room who had said she wanted me to come for the month of June. But I was already booked to work for Antoinette in Athy in June. I told Susie my dilemma. She immediately responded and said although she doesn't get busy until June I was welcome to come to France right away. She said she wanted to learn something about baking. She would give me my own studio apartment and could eat vegetarian meals with her each day. So I was thrilled to get on the computer to plan my next journey............TO FRANCE!!!
Without the internet at Sally's place, I needed to go to town and find WIFI somewhere. Sally knew I was thinking about leaving so took me into Bantry on market day (Friday) where there was a cafe' called Organico that had WIFI. I went online just long enough to see if there was a bus out of Dunmanway the following day. There was one at 9:45 and one at 11:45. I told Sally I needed a ride into town the next day to get on either busses. Much to my dismay, because I could not bear another day at her house, she decided on the latter time. All I wanted was to get out of Dunmanway. I didn't care where the bus went. It was going to Cork, a quite large city where I would just get a hotel for a night next door to the bus station and rethink this whole "work for room and board" thing.
I was sad to leave poor, ailing Sally with all her animals but I knew I had no choice. So I spent a night in Cork which was a lovely city on a river, set up much like Dublin. In fact it reminded me a lot of Dublin. I checked in to one of the last rooms available in a hotel nearest to the bus station. After I got online to start corresponding with job prospects, I started running a bath. In a very short time on the computer I was about to go and check the water in the bathroom when I looked over to see that I had flooded half the hotel room with an overflowing bath. And it was all very, very hot water. I didn't call anyone for fear they may not have another room I could move to so I just used any and all towels to mop it up and wring them out. I couldn't even wear my sneakers because the water would have seeped into them and given me wet feet. So I went barefoot on a very soggy rug.
I decided to got to Kinsale. It was a tourist town on the Southern coast and not too far from Cork. I had heard from several people how lovely it was. B&B's there were so much less costly than hotel rooms. I couldn't find any availability in the town of Kinsale itself but found one room for 3 nights a short walking distance from town. I checked in on Sunday and did some rechecking on email responses to my need to get to a new Workaway host or WWOOFer host a.s.a.p.
While waiting for responses I walked the town of Kinsale. It was a small enough town and an easy walk to check out all the little shops and cafe's. The weather wasn't the greatest so was glad to don my warm raincoat each morning. There was a small harbor with a few boats out a ways; not too near the town road because when the tide was out, the harbor itself was left quite bare with some seaweed and a few seagulls picking through whatever they could find. So it was a very shallow harbor until you went out a ways where boats could comfortably be set.
There was a place famous for fish and chips at the harbor called Dino's where at a certain time of day had a line out the door with people waiting to get fish to go. I opted to find a place with something with goat's cheese in it since I saw a few more 'healthy' places to eat offering it.
It was very relaxing to walk through the town, in and about all the shops with very few visitors. People's individual gardens were starting to come into bloom which would take off as soon as the weather changed and more sun would make the flowers bloom very soon.
I was anxious to get back to the computer which I brought with me to town. Most cafe's have free WIFI. I got a couple a new responses but nothing that felt too promising.
Lorna from the Phoenix immediately said I could come back to and stay as long as I wanted. But I knew she was getting 2 new Workaway girls the same day I had left. I didn't want to take advantage of her kindness so kept looking for B&B's and organic farms in the Kinsale area. Most wanted a babysitter in exchange for room and board. That would have been ok but no one needed someone immediately. I needed to start somewhere that week. I emailed Susie from the French bakery/tea room who had said she wanted me to come for the month of June. But I was already booked to work for Antoinette in Athy in June. I told Susie my dilemma. She immediately responded and said although she doesn't get busy until June I was welcome to come to France right away. She said she wanted to learn something about baking. She would give me my own studio apartment and could eat vegetarian meals with her each day. So I was thrilled to get on the computer to plan my next journey............TO FRANCE!!!
Sunday, May 11, 2014
DUNMANWAY
Sally's Place
My next assignment was to be at Sally's Place in Dunmanway. Her place is way out on a one-lane country road where grass still grows in the middle of the tire tracks. It is not a place you can easily walk out of and go to town. The town that they call a village is very nice. And the bus runs through it going somewhere every day. It seems that everyone knows everyone. And the Main St.'s buildings are colorfully painted every color on the pastel palette.
When I rode from Dunmanway out to Sally's place, I saw some very nice, beautiful homes surrounded by pastures and cows and sheep. Then we came upon Sally's place. I wanted to run. But I thought all positive thoughts about the possibility of it being pleasant inside. Then I went in. OMG! It was completely (by my standards which are not especially prejudicially high) unlivable. It was really by Sally's choice that she live this way. It was full of clutter and junk and empty containers that she 'might' need someday to put something in. There was not one square inch of space on any of the counters to prepare food. The small table was of course full of stuff. It smelled very strong of wet dog and barn.
The floor was large 2'x2' slate or rock filled in with concrete. But then there were the dogs! They all were amazing and I felt it a little difficult leaving them. They all lived in the kitchen amongst the clutter and filth. they were not allowed in any other room. Sally was extremely strict with all of them but very, very kind and gentle.
Sally showed me to my room upstairs. It was very difficult getting my 2 bags up those narrow, steep and of course full of clutter stairs. But I did only to find another room of clutter before getting to my tiny but livable room at the end of the house. And it was COLD. So I was very relieved when Sally said I had an electric blanket on my twin bed and if I wanted could keep it on all night. It was specifically made with 'all night' settings. When I went through the living room and saw the wood stove, I asked if I could start a fire. She said 'no' because she only had enough wood for 2 more nights.
DOGS
Sweet Pea Mastive weighing about 250 lbs. A true 'gentle giant'
Tuti Looks like a pit bull. Lots of personality and is ALWAYS on the lookout for something to
eat.
Pippa Wippet Sweet as could be. Loved watching her run
Corky Mix of many. Looked like a Scotty/Westie. Orange colored. If I could have taken any dog
home in my suitcase, it would have been him. He was the only male by the way.
Lassie Border Collie mix. Need I say more? Loved to run. Always on the lookout for some
sheep to herd.
Upon arriving I was assigned 2 baby lambs just 1 week old to bottle feed. One was all black and the other was black and white. I had to split a bottle a sheep milk (powdered) between them every 3 hours. The last feeding was about 10 at night so by 7 in the morning they were really hungry. They got to know my voice and acted quite tame after a few days. Then Sally told me that the male will end up in her freezer in a few weeks and she didn't know who she'd give the female to. Sally already had 2 chest freezers FULL of meat she had as pets once and killed for food. I did not eat any meat while there. Sally made it very clear that she felt people who ate meat but would oppose killing an animal prior to eating it as hypocrites. I guess she considered me one because I said I could not kill an animal and then eat it. She is a true farmer at heart. We had many heart to heart discussions on this matter.
Sally rescued many animals in her 38 years in Dunmanway. All of her dogs are rescued from an unfortunate previous life which she has seemingly been successful at turning around. I give her a lot of credit to live this lifestyle at the age of 62. And she does it alone. She has one daughter and two sons. Her daughter lives quite close with her husband and 2 and 4 yr. old boys. They are all beautiful people. They (all 4 of them) live in an old "2up, 2 down" concrete cottage with no clutter and the wood stove is going constantly. The 2 boys are adorable. They have a boxer who I also fell in love with. Olivia is her daughter's name and Carl is her husband who is a full time chef in a nearby town.
One of Sally's sons (Sam) lives about 20 minutes away on the side of a mountain in a rented wooden house (rare). There is no town name associated with that area. It is just referred to as "Cold Mountain". Anything posted to the people who live in that area is simply put "Cold Mountain" as its' address.
Her other son Aron lives with his partner and their 2 yr. old son Cullen in the Mayo district very north of Sally. So they don't see each other very often. They have a second child on the way. Most people as I see it don't get married because the government will give more money to a single mom than a married mom. Similar to Italy, many people live on government money. Sally collects money each month called "The Widows Pension" because her husband has been gone now for 10 years. She also collects money because she has had cancer. And she collects money for her injured shoulder. She also earns money for the dogs she grooms and boards. She boards cats too at 7Euro/night.
I don't know how many ducks and geese Sally has. From memory I'm guessing 5 female ducks and 1 drake (male duck), 5 or 6 baby ducks, 4 geese; One which would always hiss at me when I came near.
And chickens. She had chickens many which did not give too many eggs and would end up in the soup pot shortly. While in Bantry on market day, Sally bought 4 new chickens, for fun she says. They were not prolific egg layers but the farmer did not have the hens she wanted and she did not want to go home empty handed. They cost 15 Euro each. For fun. We had to clean out a very old and unused coop which was falling apart for the new hens to go in when we got home.
And she just last week got a pet ferret. (rescued)
And she said she had rats....outside..
And she has an indoor cat and 2 ferule cats that she feeds inside the bathroom where she leaves the window open all the time for them. Freezing cold bathroom.
I could easily feel sorry for Sally and in leaving her before my time was up but I know she puts a lot of strain on herself by having too much stuff and too many animals to take care of. I do miss the dogs and lambs. How I wish I could have helped her clean the place up and make it better. But she did not want that.
My next assignment was to be at Sally's Place in Dunmanway. Her place is way out on a one-lane country road where grass still grows in the middle of the tire tracks. It is not a place you can easily walk out of and go to town. The town that they call a village is very nice. And the bus runs through it going somewhere every day. It seems that everyone knows everyone. And the Main St.'s buildings are colorfully painted every color on the pastel palette.
When I rode from Dunmanway out to Sally's place, I saw some very nice, beautiful homes surrounded by pastures and cows and sheep. Then we came upon Sally's place. I wanted to run. But I thought all positive thoughts about the possibility of it being pleasant inside. Then I went in. OMG! It was completely (by my standards which are not especially prejudicially high) unlivable. It was really by Sally's choice that she live this way. It was full of clutter and junk and empty containers that she 'might' need someday to put something in. There was not one square inch of space on any of the counters to prepare food. The small table was of course full of stuff. It smelled very strong of wet dog and barn.
The floor was large 2'x2' slate or rock filled in with concrete. But then there were the dogs! They all were amazing and I felt it a little difficult leaving them. They all lived in the kitchen amongst the clutter and filth. they were not allowed in any other room. Sally was extremely strict with all of them but very, very kind and gentle.
Sally showed me to my room upstairs. It was very difficult getting my 2 bags up those narrow, steep and of course full of clutter stairs. But I did only to find another room of clutter before getting to my tiny but livable room at the end of the house. And it was COLD. So I was very relieved when Sally said I had an electric blanket on my twin bed and if I wanted could keep it on all night. It was specifically made with 'all night' settings. When I went through the living room and saw the wood stove, I asked if I could start a fire. She said 'no' because she only had enough wood for 2 more nights.
DOGS
Sweet Pea Mastive weighing about 250 lbs. A true 'gentle giant'
Tuti Looks like a pit bull. Lots of personality and is ALWAYS on the lookout for something to
eat.
Pippa Wippet Sweet as could be. Loved watching her run
Corky Mix of many. Looked like a Scotty/Westie. Orange colored. If I could have taken any dog
home in my suitcase, it would have been him. He was the only male by the way.
Lassie Border Collie mix. Need I say more? Loved to run. Always on the lookout for some
sheep to herd.
Upon arriving I was assigned 2 baby lambs just 1 week old to bottle feed. One was all black and the other was black and white. I had to split a bottle a sheep milk (powdered) between them every 3 hours. The last feeding was about 10 at night so by 7 in the morning they were really hungry. They got to know my voice and acted quite tame after a few days. Then Sally told me that the male will end up in her freezer in a few weeks and she didn't know who she'd give the female to. Sally already had 2 chest freezers FULL of meat she had as pets once and killed for food. I did not eat any meat while there. Sally made it very clear that she felt people who ate meat but would oppose killing an animal prior to eating it as hypocrites. I guess she considered me one because I said I could not kill an animal and then eat it. She is a true farmer at heart. We had many heart to heart discussions on this matter.
Sally rescued many animals in her 38 years in Dunmanway. All of her dogs are rescued from an unfortunate previous life which she has seemingly been successful at turning around. I give her a lot of credit to live this lifestyle at the age of 62. And she does it alone. She has one daughter and two sons. Her daughter lives quite close with her husband and 2 and 4 yr. old boys. They are all beautiful people. They (all 4 of them) live in an old "2up, 2 down" concrete cottage with no clutter and the wood stove is going constantly. The 2 boys are adorable. They have a boxer who I also fell in love with. Olivia is her daughter's name and Carl is her husband who is a full time chef in a nearby town.
One of Sally's sons (Sam) lives about 20 minutes away on the side of a mountain in a rented wooden house (rare). There is no town name associated with that area. It is just referred to as "Cold Mountain". Anything posted to the people who live in that area is simply put "Cold Mountain" as its' address.
Her other son Aron lives with his partner and their 2 yr. old son Cullen in the Mayo district very north of Sally. So they don't see each other very often. They have a second child on the way. Most people as I see it don't get married because the government will give more money to a single mom than a married mom. Similar to Italy, many people live on government money. Sally collects money each month called "The Widows Pension" because her husband has been gone now for 10 years. She also collects money because she has had cancer. And she collects money for her injured shoulder. She also earns money for the dogs she grooms and boards. She boards cats too at 7Euro/night.
I don't know how many ducks and geese Sally has. From memory I'm guessing 5 female ducks and 1 drake (male duck), 5 or 6 baby ducks, 4 geese; One which would always hiss at me when I came near.
And chickens. She had chickens many which did not give too many eggs and would end up in the soup pot shortly. While in Bantry on market day, Sally bought 4 new chickens, for fun she says. They were not prolific egg layers but the farmer did not have the hens she wanted and she did not want to go home empty handed. They cost 15 Euro each. For fun. We had to clean out a very old and unused coop which was falling apart for the new hens to go in when we got home.
And she just last week got a pet ferret. (rescued)
And she said she had rats....outside..
And she has an indoor cat and 2 ferule cats that she feeds inside the bathroom where she leaves the window open all the time for them. Freezing cold bathroom.
I could easily feel sorry for Sally and in leaving her before my time was up but I know she puts a lot of strain on herself by having too much stuff and too many animals to take care of. I do miss the dogs and lambs. How I wish I could have helped her clean the place up and make it better. But she did not want that.
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