Sub zero temperatures

This morning we woke up to see that the lake is beginning to freeze over. It is extremely cold and no breeze at all so if this continues tonight we may see it closed over tomorrow. I think we could call it a white Christmas although officially snow must fall on the day to call it "white."
The sun is shining but making no impact whatsoever.
You may just be able to notice where the apple tree fell over in the orchard. Dad cut it up for burning.

On Sunday there was a nice covering of snow around. As we arrived early to have a short choir practice for the carol service, dad had time to take some photos.

Getting ready for Christmas.

Last week we spent two nights in Belfast. Robert had some work to do at a house on the Ormeau Road so we decided to go up and stay for a short break. We stayed in the Days Hotel just off Great Victoria St. There was a lovely festive atmosphere around the City Hall with the continental market there.
Robert was also getting some wood sorted out - we spent a while cutting up old boards etc. and then went up to Fivemiletown and brought home a load of burned roof timbers from there. Heidi likes to be in the middle of the action. Actually an apple tree fell over in the garden a couple of weeks ago. There was no storm but it looks as if the root system was rotting and it simply fell.
I couldn't believe it when Barry came over to tell us. I accused him of swinging on it!
We have our stove lit every evening and as it is closed in we can burn any sort of wood and no worries about sparks coming out. It gives very good heat.

I have my baby tree in the washroom window and the big tree in the sun room.
The weather was a little more festive yesterday as we had a little sprinkling of snow - just enough to whiten the ground. There are heavy falls of snow in south-east England and, of course, traffic is at a standstill.
Kyra is very happy at the possibility of more snow!

Water, water everywhere!

We have had so much rain here that there are floods everywhere causing a lot of problems.
As you can see, the pier has almost disappeared from view - in fact, Scott's pier is under water now.

The water is so far up on the slipway that it has joined forces with the water on the other side so the trees there are on an island.
Here is a view of where Scott's pier should be.
At Keri and Paul's cottage at Geaglum it is a disaster - well almost.
You can see how far the water had reached yesterday - it is already up around the sandbags so another couple of inches and it will be in through the doorway. Ray and Robert put up some defences but there's not a lot you can do. The underfloor heating would not take kindly to the water.



If you look at the Herald on-line you will see more about the floods around Enniskillen. The Roads Service had to raise the way into Erneside as it was under water too.

New church hall

Our new church hall is coming on nicely over the last few weeks.
I am keeping a pictorial record of the progress on computer.


This photo was taken on the day the Sunday School children, rector, churchwardens and I helped to dig the first sods on the site.

We had an information evening for the parishioners back in May to explain the plans etc.
On that occasion the plans were on display for all to peruse and the financial implications were outlined.
Ronnie, David and your dad are members of the sub-committee.





Now the builders are ready to put on the roof trusses so it is beginning to take good shape.
The front section has two toilet areas and a store.



We look forward to having the new facilities in the near future.
It will be used for e.g. vestry meetings, Mothers' Union, Sunday School and any other small gathering.

Bluegrass Omagh

Time again for the Annual Bluegrass Festival at Omagh.
On Sunday we went down to the sessions in the park from about 2 p.m. onwards and then Dad, Rita and I had booked for the evening gospel concert.
Unfortunately it was drizzling all day so it was muddy underfoot and raincoats and umbrellas were the order of the day.

Here are the "boys" outside the log cabin.

There were two groups on stage for the gospel concert - first the Malpass brothers whom we had seen there before, a couple of years back. They come from Goldsboro, North Carolina.

From left to right, Dad Chris, brothers Taylor & Chris Malpass and Clyde Mattocks

The Malpass group was excellent - they do some Hank Williams stuff and close harmony gospel.
With hairstyles like those they must do Elvis tributes as well.

.The Kenny & Amanda Smith band

The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band is also from North Carolina. They play a lot of good bluegrass but their material tends to be more contemporary in style. They were very good too but I preferred the Malpass Bros.
I'm still hoping that Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver will come back to this event sometime.

The Auld Lammas Fair

We went by bus to Ballycastle yesterday for the Auld lammas Fair.
It was a lovely day with just one shower when the waterproof jackets had to go on.
There was a big crowd as you can see in the photo.
These American Indians from Equador are always there selling their CDs of pan pipe music and jewellery. Sometimes they play for the crowd too although we didn't hear them play on this occasion.
There are always plenty of horses on offer. The sellers sometimes ride them to show them off to potential buyers. Many of them would be travelling people.
Of course there is the obligatory dulse and yellow man on sale too. This sign amused me. Note the use of the punctuation! Of course dad had to buy some "yella'man". It works wonders for your fillings!
This is my favourite shot of the day which shows Ballycastle beach. It looks secluded but behind me the noise is deafening - BBC radio broadcasting, line-dancers, street preachers, funfair, etc. etc.

Tall Ships Belfast

We are just back from a trip to Belfast today to see the Tall Ships. The festival runs through from today to Sunday. The weather was just perfect and we enjoyed the day. The last time we saw tall ships was with you and Jen up in Portland.


There were two of these blow-up people one at each end of the bridge.
This man reminded me of some of the strange people we saw in Edinburgh around festival time.
We went on to this ship called the Sagres. It is a Portuguese ship and is the largest one there.
It is 88.9 metres long and weighs 1950 tonnes.

The beard!

Well, here is the beard. We will have to do some trimming now and get it into shape for the "Twelfth" tomorrow! What do you think?

Scottish Highlands

We returned from our trip to the Scottish highlands last night. It was a lovely trip although the weather was not always the best. We travelled over on the Stena Line HSS ferry early on Monday and then met Dodds coach at Stranraer. We stopped off at Ayr and Perth on the journey up to our hotel at Carrbridge, near Inverness. Parts of the village were used in the filming of the "Monarch of the Glen " TV series. This interesting bridge was just across the river from the hotel.
We visited Drumnadrochit where there is a Lough Ness Centre and outside, the inevitable "monster" - albeit a plastic one! How disappointing when I expected to see the real thing!
On Wednesday we had a lovely trip on the Jacobite steam train from Inverness to Mallaig. It was a round trip of 84 miles. One particularly good part was going over the Glenfiddich viaduct.
Mallaig is a small fishing village looking out to the Hebrides.





Not far from Ben Nevis we visited the famous Commando Memorial in memory of the members of that elite regiment who died during World War 2.

Good growth

My garden is doing really well now. Keeping the rabbits at bay is the biggest struggle. They are very fond of the cauliflower plants and also the strawberries. Luckily they don't seem to like the broad beans or the potatoes. We have been using the lettuce and green onion tops already.
In this dry weather I try to give them plenty of water.

Summer at last!

We have had a few days of warm sunny weather now and it is supposed to last until midweek.
Yesterday was the pipe band contest in Enniskillen. It has been held at the Broadmeadow instead of Celtic Park for three years now. The move was mainly because of the weather making the field very soggy. I was there yesterday doing my usual job of helping with the sandwich making at the Killadeas Pipe Band catering stall.



Niall has been doing some boating too. Yesterday he went up to Enniskillen and then to Devenish where he met up with others for a barbeque. Today he went out with Paul, Chris, Maria and Lynsie and had another barbeque at Tully Castle. Hope this lasts a while!
Barry's engagement has taken place and we were over at the celebration party last night. He proposed at the top of Cole's Monument!

Belleek Flower Festival

Yesterday was a bank holiday here.
Our church choir was invited to sing choral evensong at a closing service after the flower festival being held at Belleek Parish Church. A new chancel has been built on and a most beautiful window added to celebrate the history of the pottery.
Being just on the border the people here have had difficult times so this event was very much a community effort and could raise as much as £20,000.Here you can see the window depicting many images representing the work of the pottery in Belleek. The original wall had no window in it but now it is bright and colourful with two additional small windows, one to left and right of the chancel.A commemorative basket was made by the pottery to mark this event. It is a traditional Belleek woven basket and in the base there is a picture of the new church window in porcelain. This costs £115 and for each basket sold, the church will benefit by £50. Apparently quite a few of these have been ordered by Belleek collectors in U.S.A.
By the way, it's still raining here. Can't put the umbrella or the winter woollies away yet!