Madog Wells Day 1

We woke up this morning, some of us rather late. But it was good to be here and know that I did not have to drive if I didn't want to. Of course I also knew that I needed to. So we had planned to maybe do a little journey back to Welshpool. We would be needing more groceries. We ate breakfast, showered and got dressed. Then of course Michael and Ann came over. Wow! I love them. They are so friendly and nice. Michael spent most of the morning showing me stuff. We talked about places to go and what we could find. He showed me maps and information. We talked about Wales and NE. He wanted to know about all sorts of things. He kept apologizing for taking all of our time and talking so much. But I loved speaking with him. Finally he said, there is something I want to show you. He said, he could take one or two of us and if we liked it we could take the rest later. So he went to have a cup of coffee and a few minutes later he was back.

Zeb and I got into his car and we started to drive down the oh so narrow roads. I asked him about them. He told me that the locals knew where the 'pullovers' are. I don't believe that is what he called them. Seems more like 'laybacks' but I am not sure I am remembering correctly. He said that when they meet someone, they know who is closer to one of these places to back up. This did not make me feel more confident about driving. The place he took us was not very far, mostly I believe it was just around the corner and the top of the hill. But with so many curves and twists it is really hard to keep track of where you actually are, or which way is north. Then he stopped on one of these laybacks. He said you can stop here. I am looking around wondering what he was trying to show us. But then he backed up and said, “I know the farmer who owns this land and he doesn't mind if I pull in here.” So he turned in to what seemed to be a grassy field. He stopped a little ways in. Then we got out and walked to the top of the hill. All I can say is oh my gosh was it beautiful. It was like the top of the world. You could see forever in every direction.

Well, actually you could not see forever, as it was slightly cloudy. Michael pointed us in one direction and told us this was the highest point. He also said that in that direction we could see a black hill. It is called Rodney's Pillar. This was an extinct volcano, and is the highest point between here and the Ural Mountains in Russia. But we couldn't see it due to the clouds. So while we stood there admiring the view we talked about sheep, and houses and him and his family. We talked about welsh, weather, and NE.

He stopped one more time before we got back to the cottage. He had us stand on this pile of road tar. (They put piles of this along the side of the road for winter. No way they could get a grader through here. So when it is icy, those that live here, or drive here can shovel a little of this out to help with the ice.) But we stood up on this pile and looked down into the valley and could see his place, Madog Wells. When we got back to Madog Wells, Michael once again had 'one more thing to show us.' It ended up being 5 or more things. He has a yellow ball out by the road. It is a model of the sun. Then the correct distance he has Mercury, Venus, and so on. Now I knew that he loved astronomy just like me. So I told him about my 8 in Dob. He grinned like a little boy and had one more thing to show me. I followed him into a little shed and up a couple of stairs to where he had his 16 inch Dob. It was beautiful. The roof on this little building rolls open when he wants to look at the stars. So of course we talked about this a bit.

Then he had one more thing to show me. This was a rec room, ping pong, pool, darts. There were also records, one 17 year old ran up the hill and set the Madog Wells record. There is another record for a man/boy he jumped the canal.

Between Michael and Ann, we spent most of the day at home at Madog Wells, which is exactly what we wanted to do. They have paths out in the property, bridges and benches. Wild flowers are growing everywhere, oh so many different kinds and colors.

We finally did end up going back into Welshpool to the grocery store. He had shown us to the one they liked better and given us a map to follow. There is also a little museum there next to the store. We got our groceries, but the museum was already closed before we got there. We will likely try to go there a different day this week. I made it back to our cottage with little trouble. Zeb has been acting as my guide and the GPS master.

After we got back the kids and I went out to wander the paths around the cottage. We have been taking pictures of so many things. Beautiful is not nearly a good enough word to describe it.

Fun Fact: Hedgerows. All of the people's properties are separated by this growing fences. When standing up on high ground it is just lovely to see.

Fun Fact: Wales is number 1 in the world for sheep shearing. (and hedgerow cutting) Though now they have machines that do that job.

Travel day:

 We woke up ready to continue our journey. Most everything had been packed the night before so we were mostly ready. The main thing was to find breakfast before James was there to pick us up and take us to the ferry. One our way through the lobby we asked the man working the desk this morning...another new man...He suggested that we would be able to find someplace open on Grafton street. I thought I knew which one it was. But when he said that McDonald's was on that street, I knew that I had the right one. We headed over there. Most of the shops and restaurants were not open. We saw that some would be opening at 7:00. But we didn't want to wait. So we did actually end up eating at McDonald's. Hehe.. This of course would not have been my first choice. Though you have to go with what is open. “Toasties” Not sure if we really have these things in America. But I do know for certain we do not have them in McDonalds. Sort of a pita bread used to make a kind of grilled cheese and ham sandwich. It was pretty yummy.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to do the final pack and went downstairs to wait for the taxi. But he was late for some reason. So the hotel manager called him asking if he was near. I do not know what happened, but it was not James who picked us up. He must have sent someone else our way. And we were really late. In fact we did not make it to the ferry in time. So we had a lovely 5 hour wait for the next ferry. Trust me, there is not much going on in the Irish Ferry terminal. Our biggest worry was that our rental car would not be there when we finally got to the other side. I tried to contact them, but neither the internet (no way to email them) nor the telephone (try calling one foreign from a different foreign country using money and phones that are not your native items). Also the car rental guy informed me later that the number they give you on the receipt would have done no good as it wouldn't have gotten to him anyhow.

On the Ferry:

I imagined a ferry. HA! Now who is to say that any of us are thinking of the same thing. But either way this was not what I was expecting. I was thinking largish flat boat thing that cars and people rode over the water on... Rails, seats outside, sort of thing. No way, it was much more closely related to a cruise ship. This thing was huge, and though it did take cars across the sea, I never saw them. They were loaded underneath, or would you call that below deck? When we walked onto this ship, the deck was fully inside, filled with tables. There were restaurants, a bar, and even a shop. Yes, need a bottle of wine or a Irish t-shirt? Maybe a box of candy or a tourist nik nak? No worries buy it on the ferry. The ride over took about 2 ½ hours. It was comfortable and quiet. Ella did talk me into going on top deck. Wow, it was windy and a bit cold up there.

When we landed it was time to figure out first where our checked bags were, and then if we still had a rental car and where we could pick it up. The luggage was easy. But guess what, we did not have to even show our passports. We expected to get a stamp saying that we had traveled to the UK, but we did not. I found that somewhat strange.

Then we continued to walk, and what do you know, the Eurocar kiosk was right there. We walked straight over and told him who we were. We all had a laugh about missing the ferry and wondering if we had a car or not. This man gave us directions (verbally) of how to get to Welshpool. Actually he gave us a list of town names, I believe 5 of them. Not road or street names, no directions, just the towns we needed to head for. We believed that we would have a GPS so did not worry too much.

We got our stuff in the car. I sat on the wrong side and got ready to drive. Breath, this is going to be scary. I got out of the parking lot. Whew! First round about.. Holy Cow! I have no idea what I am doing. I got off when I wasn't supposed to and I am driving away from my barely remembered verbal directions. No where to turn around. Residential area. Five minutes and we are already lost. Oh, GPS? No sorry it appeared that we did not have one. Yes, we are in Wales and we are going to die in a car accident or at the very least have to sleep in the car.

I do not know what I did. But I accidentally went into a parking lot. Then had to go through another round about. I turned several times. Actually I had wanted to go right once, but decided I couldn't because crossing the stream of traffic and trying to stay on the wrong side of the road was way too scary for me. I wanted to cry. But I just turned left. And sometime after this drove right up to the road with the sign directing me to the first town on my list. Miracle #1 of the night.

Now we are on the freeway, or whatever they call that type of road. I am driving and we are heading in the right direction. But it wasn't until now that I questioned the man's directions. Did we have to turn to get to the next town on the list? Did we drive straight through these towns? Breath, breath again. Just keep going.

Next town. Round abouts. Streets so narrow I wondered if one car should be driving on them let alone the oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road. Keep breathing, keep driving. More round abouts. Drive. Another town. My stress level is still on maximum. Ten million things that could go wrong and they are all going through my mind. Hills, curves, up and down mountains and all driving on the wrong side of the road, no shoulders, and lots of British people wondering what is wrong with this woman driving. More round abouts. We are finally getting a handle on these things. Or at least we are marking of the towns on the list.

It is getting later, and I want to find the cottage. But it is 8ish and we haven't eaten, and there won't be any food for breakfast. So we have to go into town and find a grocery store before we can go to the cottage. Mostly I want to jump out of the car and hide under the table.

Miracle #2: We get to Welshpool. Try one way streets with round abouts while driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car. Miracle #3: We are still alive. We find the grocery store. Good thing I used google maps to explore this town from the comfort of my living room in Worms. I would not have known that Stanbury was a grocery store otherwise. No parking lot. No parking on the street. Tons of people driving around. Drive down and around. Round about, one way, round about. Parallel park with a huge car on the wrong side? No way. Woo. Not beautiful, but I did it.

Even shopping in a different country is hard. Food should be food, but it isn't exactly. Well, I guess any of it would be food. But things are wrong and funny looking. Who can tell which brand you should buy? Shopping achieved. Back in the car. Oh please don't let us die.

Funny thing, Angie presses a button trying to get the AC on, and the Sat Nav turns on. WHAT? We had one the whole time? So we sit there and try to put the cottage information into it. But here is the kicker... The people we are renting the cottage from have already told me that Sat Nav's do not get you to their place. But there neighbors. She also told me it was hard to turn around there. I did not comprehend the meaning of that, not just yet. But she had given us a map so I figured when we got close we would just use her map.

Start driving. Oh, gosh, I just need a glass of wine or something. This whole day has been a killer. But I am nearly finished. We start going. The GPS gives us directions, I follow. Turn? What? This is so not a road. Lol... I had thought the normal roads were narrow. No I am sure two cars cannot meet on this road, even though the lines seem to claim otherwise. Lucky for me not so many cars, maybe one? I can't clearly remember.

After several more turns, (understand we curving and going up and down hills and winding around this whole time, so when I saw turn I mean there is a choice of direction) I turn on a road. It is getting dark, and in the dark I am sure it is a dirt cattle road, similar to minimum maintenance roads. But this is where the GPS wants us to go. And Zeb says the printed map also agrees. I keep driving a couple of forks. I barely think my car fits on this road, no way to meet anyone else, EVER! Then the sat nav says were are there. But there is nothing. No way to turn around, I can only keep going. Zeb tells me where to turn. House.. stop... we have to ask for help. We have no idea where we are.

I get out and walk to the door. I am so done with driving. I knock, a lady comes to the door. She asks, “Are you Lisa?” I nearly cry. We are here? HOW? ! Miracle #4

We pull in the rest of the way and park. She takes us into the cottage and shows us around. No more driving. I will never drive again. That road will … how to meet other cars? No.. I am staying here forever! It is of course late so she doesn't talk long, but says they will come over in the morning with maps and suggestions of things to do.

British stoves – not like ours – our frozen pizza hard to bake. We finally had supper at about 10. I love my kids. Bed. Sleep. Relax.

Day 2: Ireland

Christ Church Cathedral:

We started off the day walking all the way back to Dublina. Not really for Dublina, but we had bought the tickets for Christ Church Cathedral while at Dublina, they were connected by this really awesome bridge. In fact had we not been so totally exhausted, we would had explored the church yesterday. But I knew that we would get more out of it if we waited.


So walking, again, no street signs. But this time we know where we are going. We make it there with no problems. We had already taken pictures of the outside of the Cathedral yesterday, we we headed inside.


This cathedral was setup in much the same way as the one from yesterday. It was smaller. Which is almost a laugh when you consider the size. Behind the main sanctuary there are several smaller 'chapel' areas. Words are hard to describe things. I know that I am supposed to be a writer. But it is easier to feel these places. Windows, stone, carvings, two story high organ, Mmm, just wow. Then we went downstairs into the basement, or crypt. These places are so old it is hard for me to comprehend it.


The inner geek in me, found the burial place of Henry Mathias of the H.M.S. Enterprise a very happy thing. A mixing of time long ago, with my visions of the future.


Dublin Castle:

After the cathedral we went to Dublin Castle. This was a very interesting place as well. We had learned some about Dublin Castle at the Dublina museum the day before. The tower is the only part of the old castle. The rest has been build at different times. This building is still used today. We got to explore the state rooms. All very beautiful and fancy. Here again, the rooms are huge, the ceilings are 20-25 feet high. I love old buildings. I love the woodwork, the details, the feel of these places. And I could have stayed here for a very long time, just being in this place. But sadly we only have a short time and so many things to do and see. We did got to the little museum that was attacked to the Castle. We also explored the gardens and watched the birds fly.


The National Gallery:

After a short stop at our hotel, just for drinks and a tiny bit of rest we were ready to continue. This afternoon we headed over to the National Gallery of Ireland. This was only a block from our hotel. Actually there were three museums just a block from our hotel, and Trinity College was just across the street. But there was no way we would be able to get to all of the places that we wanted to go. So we had chosen the National Gallery. Time for some art. :) Of course we were not able to take pictures in the gallery. But we loved looking at all of the paintings. This was not nearly as large as the art museum we had gone to in KC a couple of years ago. But it was really nice.


They also had a special exhibit of several of Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches. These are really liked, as did the kids.


Before we left we walked through the gift shop. Zeb picked out one of his favorite prints. You know he enjoyed the gallery.


Trinity College:

We then hurried to Trinity College. I wanted to see the Book of Kells. We got there just as the last tour was leaving. In fact we had missed the first few minutes of the tour. But that was fine. Trinity College was amazing. I am so glad that we paid to go on the tour. The guide was very interesting and told us so many facts.


The Book of Kells was beautiful. Sadly it was very crowded around the book. I would have enjoyed just being in there by myself. Then there was the long library. Mmm.. Look at this library. I am sure no one would believe this, but I could live in this library. I could just stay there forever and be very happy.


By now of course it was getting rather late. We headed back towards the hotel. We decided to have supper in a pub. Tomorrow we would be heading for Wales.

Day 1 Ireland:

We landed in Dublin at 5:30 am. The airport was of course not very busy. But we still had no idea of where we were going. We made our way down and through the airport. We got our passports stamped and picked up our bags. We were on our way.

Now the problem with flying in over night and arriving at 5:30 in the morning is first, we would not be able to check in to our hotel until that afternoon and second, there just isn't much open. Also would we have wanted to carry all of our bags on a tour?

We had made arrangements with the hotel, they were going to hold our bags until we could get into our room. Which was awesome. Of course we still had time to burn.

But I am getting ahead of myself. We are still at the airport. We stepped outside expecting to grab a bus or ride to the hotel. But a taxi driver (van) called out to us and we chose to ride with him. On the ride over, “James” was very friendly and gave us lots of information. He even answered some of our questions about the ferry we would be taking on Friday to get to the UK. When he dropped us off he gave us his card and told us to call him to take us to the ferry on Friday.

Next big adventure: Our hotel

We step inside and the man at the desk was very nice. He was very sorry he couldn't get us into our room right away. But he took all of our bags and got us set up at a table in the bar. We sat there wishing we could sleep and waiting for things to open. When it was nearly time for us to walk over to our first site, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the guy at the desk gave us directions and we had our map.. Now worries, right?

The directions had been, “Turn left at the fifth street, walk until Christ Church. Then left again.” I didn't worry too much, we had a map with street names, plus I had been looking at google maps for months.

Well, we started walking. Tons of people, construction, interesting things to see. It was a couple of blocks before we realized that there were no street signs. The map was useless. Memorizing the names of the streets to walk down, not helpful. And wait, how many blocks had we walked? We hadn't bothered to count.

But one more chance, “Turn left at the entrance of Trinity College.” So we turned on the next block. It had to be right. We walked and walked. Once in a while there was a street sign. Then there were signs for Dublin Castle. But matching this data to what was on the map seemed wrong and difficult. We may have walked in a circle or through a portal. None of the roads were straight.

We persevered. We found ourselves on the south side of the Cathedral. It had to be the right place, you could tell just by looking at it. But we should have come from the north side. Yes we went the scenic route.

So we walked through the garden. We took some pictures as we went. All the way around the building. And after that we were still 15 minutes early. The opening time was different than it had stated on-line. They were having chapel. We waited outside planning our walk back to the hotel and trying to figure out our mistake so we would be able to avoid it in the future.

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral:

Wow! There are hardly word to describe it. Any church or building I have been inside before seemed tiny. And not just tiny as in size. But that is the easiest part to explain. The main sanctuary

was just so large, wide and tall. The ceiling had to be 30 feet above. And yes, this is a church, but imagine...castle.

We walked all around, exploring the Cathedral.  It was beautiful.  We did some rubbings, and read all about the building.  We looked at stained glass windows and just enjoyed being there.

When we were finished we walked back to the hotel, This time, taking the route that we should have taken to get here.  This took us past three places that were on our ToDo list.  As we walked we just enjoyed this new place.  We looked out for things we might like to do or see later.

We stopped to get something to eat at a little shop, tea and pastries.  Very yummy.

We then walked back to Dublina.  This was a museum mostly about Vikings in Dublin.  We weren't able to take pictures in here.  But it was very interesting to read about the history of Dublin.  By the time we were finished with the museum we were ready for a rest..so tired..  Lack of sleep and walking great distances does that.

And we had no trouble finding our way back to the hotel, even with the lack of street signs.  This is much better.  Way less stress then the walk to St. Patrick's had been.

We got into our hotel room.  It was cool.  We really had two rooms.  They were joined by a spiral stair case.  Time for a little nap.  How long had we been awake?  hehe.. Well, it was afternoon, on the 25, and the last time I got out of bed, it had been early morning on the 24.  Tired.  Later we found some supper, then back to bed and a real nights sleep so we would be ready for morning.

Planning, Plotting, and ...

I have been wanting to go on a trip to Wales for a very long time, at least several years.  In fact I had planned on going in 2013, then when that wasn't going to work, 2014.  But that didn't work either.  So when I decided that we would actually be able to do it this year, I was quite excited.

I started going through all of the files and links I had saved from the last time I had planned this trip.  I tried to figure out when would be the best time to go and how long it would take to get our passports and what we needed to do to get our passports.

So many things had to be decided.  Where would we stay?  What did we want to do or see?  How long could we be gone?  But finally we just took a jump.  We ended up talking to a travel agent.  I had not really considered this much.  But as I was going to need an international driver's licence and they were the only place I could get one from, I figured what could it hurt.

We sat down and talked to Leslie for quite a while.  She was very helpful and not at all pushy.  I like that in a person.  Then of course I went home, and spent a couple of days just thinking about the stuff that she had said.  It turns out that we did go back to Leslie.  She got us our plane tickets.  We talked to her about the hotels and cottages.  But they do not do the self-catering cottages.  This is something I thought we needed.  We needed to be able to save on the eating out all of the time as well as having a place to do laundry.  I felt that we would be more comfortable in a home-like surrounding rather than a hotel for 2-3 weeks.

So I did lots of searching for a cottage.  I found one that I that would be great for us.  Madog Wells.  I contacted them and got it set up for the dates that we needed.  Now all we needed what a hotel in Dublin.  We went back in and talked to Leslie about that.  She did some searching, but hotels outside of the USA are interesting.  Normally it is rather hard to find a place for more than 2 people.  And I was looking for a room for 5.  Leslie was having a hard time with it.  She suggested that we look for something similar to the cottage arrangement.  We went home and did just that.  In the end we set up our own hotels in Dublin as well.

One of the most interesting things about the early planning and set up, we dealing with the passports.  Just getting all of the papers signed and ready was a task.  Jonathan had to sign things for the girls giving me permission to take them out of the country.  Then we realized that Zeb and I had my parents' address on our driver's licence.  They wouldn't let us get passports with the wrong address.  So we had to get new licences.  More waiting...  Finally those came in and it was time to go in to the passport office.

It is lucky that Leslie had told me that I would have to write a check at the passport office.  I hardly every use checks.  But that is how they do it.  Of course the funny thing is that I didn't have to write ONE check.  Each of the passports had to have its own check attached to it, and then there was another check for the Hall county office.  FIVE checks.  I was sweating it... Luckily I had five checks left... not a single more.  Or I would have had to come back another day to finish this job, something that should have been easy.

Of course now all we had to do was wait.  Plane tickets, housing, car rental, passports.  Mostly we were ready.

Planning a trip right at the end of school is sort of a crazy thing to do when you are a teacher.  So many things to do.  I felt very busy the last few weeks before our trip.  Much job related stress, even to the point of finding out I may not have a job when we get back from the vacation.  But there is nothing I can do about it, the tickets are non-refundable.  Even if I wanted to try and save the money in case I didn't have a job, I couldn't.  So we were going, and I was just going to try and not stress about it.  (of course I knew that had I knew about the possible lack of job, I wouldn't have planned the trip at all...timing is very important in life.)

Doing wash, setting clothes in bags.  What are we forgetting?  What will we need?

Are we ready for this?  I can't believe I am taking my kids out of the country and a two week long vacation when life is getting so unstable.  Breathe.  It is going to be amazing.

Who wins the game?

Imagine that there is a football game scheduled for this evening.  Both teams have been working hard.  There have been long practices and drills.  All of the players are ready for the game.

We all understand that going into a game, one team is going to win.  The other is going to lose.  This does not stop us from wanting to watch the game.  It does not stop the players from wanting to do their best.  That is what GAME is.

But lets say that a parent or two who support Team A just don't want to see their team lose.  So, it being a home game, they rig the scoreboard so that it will never register a point for Team B.  This is a great idea, right?  This way Team A cannot lose.

Now a parent from Team B also does not want to see his team lose.  So he decides to let all of the air out of the ball.  This way, Team A cannot win.

Both teams go out on the field.  They stand there as the clock ticks.. game time is running down.  But they can't play.  Eventually, the game is over.  The players of both teams are still standing out on the field just looking around.  The crowd looks at the scoreboard:

0 TO 0

Cheering and clapping, the people sitting on Team A's side of the field are happy.  "Team B didn't win!"

Also cheering and clapping, those sitting on Team B's side look at the scoreboard.  "YAY!  Team A didn't win!"

Everyone has failed to realize that though the other team did not win, their own team has also failed to win.  But even worse than that, there was no game.  The players did not play.  No good came of this at all.  Even when MY team loses the game, I have enjoyed it.  I saw some good plays, maybe bad ones too.  One of the players may have even had an excellent game even if his team lost.  But not here at this game.  Everyone who walks away is a loser.


As I was watching the Hugo's last night, the whole thing just made me sad.  So many things about it (and not just the award ceremony, but most everything about this year) has been hard for me to take in.  When I woke up this morning I was still thinking about it as you might be able to tell from my football analogy.  My brain was trying to make sense of it all while I slept.  Sadly it came up with a no win situation.

I watched the No Awards being called out.  And people were cheering for that, really?  YAY!  We all lost?
I have loved science fiction and fantasy my whole life.  I have bookshelves filled with books.  I do not pick a book because the author is on Team A or Team B.  Sometimes I do pick a book because of the author.  Oh, this person wrote a new book?  I loved the last one I read by them.   But never because the author is on the RIGHT Team.

Last night tears filled my eyes as I knew that I HAD LOST!  It was me, it was you, it was him and her,
WE ALL LOST THE GAME LAST NIGHT!

First Day of School

Today is Zeb and Ella's first day of school.  Melinda and I still have about 10 days to go.

First days (and last days) are nearly always emotional days.  There are so many emotions built into them; excitement, fear, dread, longing.  This year Zeb is a junior and Ella a sophomore.  So you would not think that this would be "ONE" of those 1st days, at least not for a mom.  But this one seems to have been the hardest one yet.  I know, I am still in the midst of it and it might not feel as hard in a month or two.

This is the first day of school, that Zeb is driving to school on his own.  Funny how now taking that four year old to preschool all of those years ago doesn't seem to hard.  That day the worst that could have happened is he missed me, he fell and scratched his knee, or some kid wouldn't share a toy.  This year my anxiety is along the lines of ditches, trains, cars, even deer. Followed by hospitals or worse.

Did they make it to school?  Were they on time?  What about the half hour drive home when we used to talk about their day?

I know it is crazy, but I feel as if I should get in the car and follow them just to make sure they get there safely.  I don't and won't.  But believe me, I want to.