Happy September! We waited all year for summer, and it’s finally arrived. It’s so wonderful to see the sunshine and blue skies after such a lousy year. I don’t ever remember such a bad summer since we moved to Ireland in 1991.
September is usually a month of sunrises and sunsets, hopefully this year will be the same.
It’s been a busy week, when is it ever not? I managed to get a bit of time exploring and away from the computer, it always does my head good to do that. I revisited Troll Wood in Leitrim, it’s very close to Parkes Castle, it’s changed a lot since I first visited it around ten years ago. The makeshift bridges have gone, and so have the signs to beware of the trolls, but there’s now a car park and a picnic bench, and a lot of signs of fairies. I’ll write a dedicated blog post to it soon.
I also revisited Manorhamilton Farmers Market, what a transformation since I was last there. There’s now a table and chairs that are undercover, so you can sit and have a chat, and there are new stalls; one where you can get coffee and tea, plus a no waste stall, selling loose foods and eco-friendly products. I bought possibly the nicest brownie that I have ever had, made by Meenymore Cottage Industries, it was unreal! I also managed to buy a marrow, they are fierce hard to find, and I love it in onion sauce. Lovely Lisa from Leitrim Hill Creamery gave me some of her goat’s milk cheese fudge, its gorgeous! It was a really lovely morning.
Still speaking of markets, Achonry Farmers Market celebrated four years yesterday, so they had a birthday party. It was buzzing and a great morning, I just paid a flying visit, and another creature had the same idea. A juvenile rook came along for the day, at one point he was on my head! It turned out he was hand raised by a lady who lived locally, and they were reunited later that day – well done Ollie who managed to catch him safely! I got my hand painted by a lovely lad; he was so kind getting water for the rook – even if it did steal his paintbrush. Thanks to lovely Sian for the photos.
Achonry Farmers Market started during Covid, it was certainly a positive thing in those dark days where we weren’t allowed to travel anywhere, and we didn’t get to meet anyone. I’ve met so many more people since I’ve been visiting the market most Saturdays, it’s one of my happy places, and there’s always someone to have a chat with. The market has gone from strength to strength, the volunteers got together and built huts for the stallholders, there’s also a roof on the market, and it’s a massive transformation in such a short time. Well done to them all.
After the market I visited the lovely Teresa in Cawley’s, she’s one of the nicest people I know, and we had a lovely chat – and I had chocolate cake and coffee, thank you Teresa! She wouldn’t let me take a pic for social media, but I want to tell you about the fantastic food they do there. The family treated me to afternoon tea a few years ago and it was amazing! If you love afternoon tea you have to go, just make sure to book in advance.
The podcast with Marleen from Angel and Gift World has been listened to lots of times. I love doing these, and when I get someone as easy to talk to as Marleen it makes it even better. You can read the blog here.
This week I got an email from someone who I’d helped a lot earlier this year, I hadn’t thought anything more about it to be honest, but there was a lot of time spent researching and answering emails (for free). Anyway, to cut a long story short their product is now ready, and they invited me to buy it. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
On the other hand, I sent a friend a painting as a gift, and she sent me some money. It wasn’t expected at all, but it reminded me that there are such kind people out there. The money is going to the book fund. I wouldn’t have realised how expensive it is to publish a book, especially one full of photos. Both Louise and I agree that we want it to be the best quality that it can be, so we aren’t going down the Amazon route. If you know of any good book printers in Ireland, drop me a message.
I think that’s my week in a nutshell. I hope that you are all keeping well and that you get to enjoy some sunshine.
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