Wet greetings from Cranleymore

Monday 2 July ’12 Good day to all family and friends, I am late but have good reason for it as I worked from Thursday night to Sunday night and woke up about an hour and half ago. The weather consists of relentless rain, rain and a little more rain. We are literally floating. The wettest June since recordings started. July started in unison with June and it has only one focus point and that is to make Ireland wetter every day. I do not mind so much but Barry gets very depressed if he cannot go outside and do what he wants to. At least we do not have to water the garden. For the famers it is a devastating state of affairs as the grass is too wet to cut for silage and the wheat cannot be cut for the same reason- very sad situation. The swallow babies are 2 weeks old tomorrow but will surely not fledge until the sun comes out. We are the proud observers of a pr of doves- they call to each other and come and eat the wheat on the grass that the other birds throw out of the feeder The other animal are growing well the foxes are in excellent condition and Blackie thinks he owns us allow Barry near him but runs when I come too near, sleeps in the shed and travels miles in between meals! Hundreds of birds avail of the large feeder in the back garden and we enjoy the singing in the hedge. As I have been sleeping most of last week I am behind on news and political development except for the fact that the Min for Social Welfare said that PRSI might increase as there is not enough money to pay the unemployed. How ironic that those who work has to suffer to accommodate a Social Welfare system that favours those who do not work. Instead of cutting some the allowances given to people that earn more than €100,000 for children, school books , school shoes ,1st Community etc and every weekend they have jumping castles in their back gardens at my expense. The grass has taken over as there are just not enough dry moments to venture in with the lawn mower. We are looking at tennis and the rain has reached there as well. Some bad tempered player with surname that you cannot pronounce is playing, having terrible tantrums. The referee has been very patient, I would have given him a warning. Youzhny who knows from where!(Russia) As I have not much news I will let you go and do your work and close with Birthdays. 5th July Haya, 6th Hester, many happy returns! I missed church and always feel half deprived of soul food-but I just cannot make it and will miss it again next weekend as I am working all next weekend again. Congratulations to those who passed their exams and all those that are now on holidays- enjoy. To Jeanne who worked her 1st day in BFN doing her articles we want to say Well done! She made a decision and moved back to SA and we wish her everything of the very best. Here is my last contribution: Irish Brack ( something like a date loaf but not , ? fruit cake but not, it is mainly eaten here with tea as a snack) {Blackie just arrived sopping wet from the rain- and in need of sustenance- lovely to hear Barry talk to the cat! I was called outside to assess the cat as he has lost a lot of weight and looks wasted- might have to get worm powder from the vet- and put it over his food –but .....} 2 measures ( you can decide what size- cups, mugs or 250gram but 2 of whatever measure you decide on) [2 coffee mugs as a measure fill a large bread tin] All bran- high bulk or flakes Brown sugar (I only use one measure of sugar) Sultanas (you can use any other fruit mix) Milk Leave the above ingredients with the milk covering it over night. Next morning work 2 measures of self raising flour through the mix and bake in a pre heated oven of 180° for 1 hour or as long as needed –test with cooking needle – Leave to cool and enjoy with tea-as is or with a scrape of butter. I do not bake but for the 1st time in my life I can proudly say that any-one can bake this as I did so now 2x very successfully! Hope you enjoy! To those who are not well- we hope that recovery is near, those who are travelling please take care and those who stay behind remember that safety is essential. Time flies and Gerlof’s countdown has begun! Very busy time ahead! Rainy regards from a very wet Cranleymore Barry and Christina