Greetings from Ireland in August

Friday 5th August ‘11

Good day all, family and friends.

I had no complaints about the fact that I did not write last week so I presume that it is fine to skip a week or so sometimes!
Weather is typical Irish- thick cloud cover, no sun and if the sun tries to break through, the clouds get together as one army and confuse the issue in minutes. It is not cold but neither are we perspiring at present. When I say it is not cold – that is now if you lived in Ireland for longer than 5 years- that is how long it takes you to acclimatise 100%- and feel extremely hot when the barometer reads 16° C !
It is still beautiful, does not matter what the weather is like- the flowers are at the height of their blooming period, the leaves has still got some lustre left in them and the baby birds are now all changing into their proper colouring. The red robins are getting their distinctive red chests and the Lady wagtails are slowly but surely turning into white and black. A new pair of swallows built a nest in the donkey house - laid 3 eggs and mother swallow is sitting now in her 5th day. Hope they make it- 17-18 day for them to hatch and then 3 weeks to fledge the nest, which will be early September- they then still have to get strong and built up body fat for the long journey which lies ahead! We hope they will make it.
Our visiting cats are getting cheekier by the day and night. The black cat surely belongs to people as he does not run away any-more and come now even early in the morning for his saucer of milk! The 2 grey striped cats ? brothers come alternatively- we distinguish between them as the one has a pitch black tail and the other one not! They are much wilder and are continuously on the alert with ears pulled flat against their heads until they start eating and are sure we will not interfere or there is no other cat in the vicinity.
We also have night visitors as we observe the paths in the grass in the lower field- we did not cut the big field this year as before only left a pathway for us to walk which Barry cut every now and again in order for to walk freely. We have also found animal dropping on the lawn ? hedgehog or something else, not sure . It would have been very lovely to have one of those mini night cameras connected to the computer similar to the ones used in Spring Watch or nature programs BUT that does not fall within our budget and we will in the mean time just wonder!
It is holiday month in Ireland and many people have left looking for sunshine others are touring the island- for eg. Bianca and family –thank you for the lovely photos we are so privileged to share. Marthie has also spent a week at the coast !We are waiting for those photos!
I have also unscheduled holidays for which I am very thankful- the last 3 weeks took everything out of me- Nursing 28 post operative patients nearly every night -4 times a week, just 2 nurses and sometimes a helper but that was only once! Patients coming back from theatre at 9.30 in the evening!
It is early morning before you get a chance to write your report and the Harley group of patients think they have booked into a 5* hotel and demands a service that you just cannot provide with limited staff! You try to please as much as you can but many a time you have to disappoint the patients – which results in complaints! Well Nine – yes I do work very hard and sometimes the stress gets you a bit under but you keep going- I do not know how long I will be able to keep it up but with the Lord’s helping Hand I hope to make it to retirement age. The Emergency department is up and running and they have a Sudanese Dr working there full time (8am-6pm)- and we have quite a variety of patients that have been admitted since it opened.
The patients get the best of care -immediate scans- X Rays and cardiac assessments- as they need it and so far so good. The high care unit will open next week when they start with the bigger operations like knee and hip replacements.
Our very 1st patient from the ED dept was a young man who was involved in a brawl and presented a bashed in face- The Maxillae surgeon drove from Dublin to assess the patient We observed him overnight and the surgeon booked him in for surgery on his next list 2 days later he received pins and plates and his orbital cavity was restructured and his cheekbone is now of steel! He recovered very well and looked very good when he was discharged!
The rest were all geriatric patients with swollen legs and infected bunions-boring but on high doses of IV antibiotics they keep you very busy!
We are all now in our ‘scrubs’ and look all the same- must say it does look nice!
Did I not say I am on holiday?
Well Barry and I spent most of the last 2 days in the vegetable garden picking and freezing what I can – where the produce came to an end Barry dug the patch up and we have already planted some more Broccoli and Brussels sprouts – it is wonderful to sit down at your evening meal and the only thing on the plate which does not come out of our garden is the protein portion.
The weekend brings us to Sunday when our own minister will be on 2 weeks holiday and his father will have the honour of preaching to Corboy and Mullingar parishes.
I played the organ last Sunday in spite of the fact that I was in the middle of a 6 night stint. It will be my privilege to choose the Hymns and Psalms for Sunday and believe me it will be full of Praise!
Our grandson Lukas is on the run and his parents have their hands full! He went visiting with his mother to her friend’s child play group and he could not keep up with the rest of the children crawling and holding on and decided that it is a good time to make the move and did it in a run, not even a walk!
Now he can walk and talk and can eat biltong with 6 teeth!
Saturday 6th
I was rudely interrupted yesterday when Barry woke up out his afternoon snooze and my concentration had to shift .
I nearly sat down at ½ 11 last night in excitement to tell the story.
Barry wanted to check if he locked the work shop before we went to bed- we are not usually up so late but I have not seen the Western yet and it started only after 9.30 – he switched on the outside light and as is his habit, he checked the garden and there in front of him he saw the owners of the droppings- mother fox and her young! They were a bit surprised by the light stood still for a moment and ran off!
I won the contest as I said that it looks more like a dog than that of a cat- as a cat is very tidy and will never do her/his business on the grass – not heard of-but the argument was –if it a wild cat – it might. I am so happy that the puzzle is solved and we saw the little ones . Now we also understand the area in the bottom field where the grass was totally flattened and trampled on – she must have been lying down there to feed the young ones!
It is another day – bleak, wet and cool!
There are a few Birthdays that I missed Gerlof on the 1st as well as Renate (Mendel my brother’s youngest daughter ,now not a youngster anymore)-Paul will you forward our best wishes. Nicole in Randburg? Enjoy your Matric dance & Happy Birthday to you all! Patrick in Cork also had his birthday yesterday! Already father of 2! Hope you all had great days!
Time for choosing the Hymns and a bit of practise.
We read about the murder of a Reitz farmer- Uitenweerde- Haya as I wrote in my note to you the safety of those on farms are of great concern to us and we pray that they Attie & Hester as well as Jaco and Stenelle are always safety conscious.
I greet ye all from a wet Cranleymore where the days are much shorter and the nights a great deal longer!
Take care
Barry & Christina