Happy Sunday. It’s been the loveliest week. A week of mostly beautiful weather; bright sunrises and misty mornings. I love mornings like that, it’s been cold, but the joy of warming up after exploring is wonderful.
The Irish Hot Air Ballooning Championships took place in Lough Key Forest Park. Due to weather conditions they didn’t manage to fly every day, but the two days that I saw them fly were incredible. I’ve never seen hot air balloons close up, and there’s something very calming and mesmerising about them, as they glide through the air, the only sound is the occasional flame from the burner system, it reminded me of someone breathing.
I’ve written about my visit to Lough Key on Monday morning here. I also got to see the balloons again on Wednesday morning. We had an event at work and I left home early in the hope that I’d see the balloons. As I was driving down the N4 I saw one, so I went to Doon Shore, and I was so glad that I did. The weather was amazing! So atmospheric!
There were only a few people there, and a couple of boats out on the lake, which added to the atmosphere, and gave me some nice photos. When the balloons had flown over I spotted a photographer that I follow on Instagram. I went over and introduced myself – very unusual for me to do that! But I’m delighted that I did, Cathy is a very talented photographer, and I was delighted to meet her in person. You can follow her on Instagram here.
I was delighted to see my hot air balloon video on two TV channels. It was on Virgin Media News on Monday, and the RTE Today Show on Friday, I think that’s cool.
After all the balloon excitement, it was lovely to see some of my work colleagues again at our Pink Coffee Morning, in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland. It was very moving listening to the stories of the people who have been affected by cancer. They spoke so honestly and openly, and they are such brave people. We also heard from the manager of the Sligo Cancer Support Centre, who do incredible work. You can find them here. I did think about hosting a coffee morning to try to raise some funds for them, but my confidence has gone, and I don’t think I’m able to put myself out there at the moment. Maybe if someone might like to team up with me I might try. Or maybe it’s something for further down the line.
On Thursday we took a spin into town as there was a free health check. It was meant to be blood pressure, cholesterol and a heart check, but after queuing for almost an hour and a half they only took our blood pressure, because we’d had our cholesterol tested within the last 6 months. I really wish they’d have mentioned that when we were queuing. Anyway, it’s done and dusted now.
Yesterday I took a spin up to the Sathya Sai Sanctuary Trust for Nature. I’ve adopted Humphrey the donkey from them, and I was hoping to meet him. He had other ideas though and it didn’t happen. Today (Sunday) 28th of Sept. is the last chance to visit the donkeys this year. They are open from 10am – 4pm, and you can find out more about the centre here.
That’s been my week at a glance. I hope you’ve all had a good week, and thank you for reading.
Magnumlady Blog 
Leave a comment