Avid Reader

Since March 9th, I have read The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, Jackie, Ethel, Joan by Randy Taraborelli, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Barbara Leaming and I am currently reading Mary Boleyn by Alison Weir.

I love to read especially if the stories are based in real historical events. Since I read The Johnstown Flood I am now interested in making a trip out to Johnstown to see the history in person. I love everything "Kennedy" and if it is English Medieval  History, I am so there!

My head cold is still driving me a bit nuts however it is improving. I will be the first to admit I am a terrible patient. I spent one day at home and considered taking a second day off from work but made the decision to go to work instead.  There is always so much to do and I have patients on my caseload who depend on me being there. I had to prepare four patients for discharge this week and in turn received four new admissions. In addition to my patients, I assign all new patients who are admitted to all the counselors in keeping stable patient to counselor ratio. I am also training a newly hired counselor this week to replace Sarah who left last month to start a private practice. Jennifer is leaving next week to work in another UHS facility in Brookhaven doing Intensive Outpatient therefore another new counselor will also need to be trained.

I signed up for an online class in Irish History at Trinity College in Dublin,  (Apparently, I cannot get enough of school.) I visited Trinity College when we where in Ireland last year. It is a truly beautiful school so when I saw they had a class online for Irish History, I could not resist. It is an accelerated six week course which is find with me as I spent most of my time in college taking accelerated classes that spending an entire fifteen week (regular) semester would appear way too long.

Did I mention I am tired of this cold and even more tired of eating soup? Three days of soup is even too much for this soup loving human.

Time to get back to my book so I can keep Amazon in business with the number of books I purchase for myself, and my son Joe.

A Week in the Life

I have thrown myself into "everything" Irish this past week. Researching. Planning. Booking. Recognizing a dream come true. I have been to many places, seen many things, had different experiences but this trip will be special because after two decades of researching my family, I am going to walk the places they walked, see the sights, they seen, I hope to uncover more details about their lives. I recently discovered my Gallagher clan is from the parish of Adara. I always knew they were from Donegal but I never knew the exact village.

Reservations are made. I wanted to stay in three distinct locations, Dublin (Urban Life), Donegal (Royal Life) and County Mayo (Rural Life). That being said, we will fly into Dublin and spend the first two nights in the Temple Bar section of the city. My goals are to visit Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral and National Irish Museum. I look forward to the cobblestone streets and the artsy culture.

Next it is off to Donegal. As per my grandson's request, we will stay in a castle. 2014 is the year my eldest grandchild turns 13 years old so he will come with us. My goal is to bring each grandchild to Ireland in and around their 13th birthday. Memory Making.

While in Donegal, we plan to visit the towns of Adara (Gallagher Clan), Letterkenny (McCafferty/McCaffery Clan), the cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. We will spend Easter weekend at the castle, the most relaxed and expensive journey of our trip.

After Easter weekend, we will drive down to County Mayo, I wanted to experience the rural side of Irish life, so I rented a cottage. on the border of County Mayo and Sligo.

The grounds surrounding the cottage are filled with sheep.

I did not want to stay in the crowded town of Ballina and the tiny town of Killala did not offer much in the way of lodging, so I picked this area to stay. However, the goal is to explore Ballina (Boland, Doherty Clan) and the village of Killala (Boland, Doherty Clan). The plan is to experience the coastal and rural parts of County Mayo. Where the hills and mountains meet the sea.

The last night we will spend in Dublin since that is where we will fly home. In the coming months, I will research specific areas to visit in and around the three locations in which we will stay.

Other News:

I tried out a new recipe for authentic bread pudding. Here are the results.

 

As it baked in the oven, the aroma filled the house. I made a sauce to go over the pudding. Yummy! I will bring a tray to my son this weekend along with a chocolate truffle babka.

 

Nikolas on Halloween night with his goodies.

 

 

 

These boots were made for walking.

 

 

 

Hanging with my long time friend, Regina. We know each other since a teenager.

 

 

 

Carmel to die for pudding.

 

 

 

Look who came to visit outside our bedroom window.

 

 

 

She made me this.

 

 

 

Flowers are forever on my table.