This weekend has been incredibly long considering that it was only two days! Though if you count the last half of Friday then it is actually two and a half. Friday evening I gave into my food obsession and celebrated Pi approximation day (22/7) with approximations of pie! There was more reason for overeating with friends though - for this weekend I have a guest from Germany staying with me so I must do my best to show her a good time. So after making lots of delicious food that was much appreciated by everyone (though I swear I'm still full), Saturday was spent on Lough Corrib.
We drove out to a friend's place and hopped in a row boat (because he lives on the lake you see and they have that sort of thing, three of them in fact) and off we went out into the lake, which is full of little islands. We took the dog with us and he kept trying to snap and the water splashing up from the oars. Apparently the cat doesn't mind being in the boat either so we were going to take him but then some dogs came running down the road and the cat freaked out and ran away. Of course in it's efforts to get away fast it clawed me to bits and managed to rip a hole in my t-shirt! I really like that t-shirt too. So no cat, just the dog, that had to do us. Did I mention that the sun finally came back out? Sort of that is. It's not hidden by rain, but the sky is not overly blue. Mostly cloudy.
So I think we must have been on the lake for near three hours, and I had a go at rowing! It was great, but I have big blisters on my hands and my muscles are sore! Not just my arms, even my calf muscles and everywhere. We decided to stop on a little island.
It was heavily inhabited by bugs. Loads of little flying insects. Luckily not midges or other things that bite and itch. Although later I was told that the lake is actually full of nasty things like leeches. Luckily I didn't know that before I was walking around in it. The island was very small so it was easy to walk all over it and take lot's of pictures. There were a couple of blue damselflies but they did not want to stay still for the camera, and there was one large dragonfly.
The dog has this weird thing about playing catch - he likes to play with rocks. He goes of and picks up a big rock in his mouth and brings it over to you, then you have to throw it and while he goes after it I think it is unlikely that the rock he picks up is the same one. He doesn't much like the water either so you can't throw the rock or stick very far, otherwise he just stands there in the water looking out to where it landed, looking so sad and pathetic!
The row back was just as much fun as the way there, I don't think I'm very good at it and we were not rowing anywhere near evenly so we went in zig-zags. We tried to see who could row hardest but that ended with my oar popping off of it's metal holder-thingy and me going flying backward with the momentum of it and dropping the oar in the water. It was OK though, it's not like we were going fast enough to lose it! There were so many bugs flying around that at one point somebody realised there were bugs in my hair, and not only were there flies of some sort in my hair (caddisflies I think), but they were mating! I let a photo be taken before freaking out and insisting that all bugs be removed from me. A spider fell on my leg at one point too but I did very well in not jumping or yelling, I just flicked it off, no shrieking at all!
So of course after such a long day a very early night was required, so that today we had some energy left to go to the beach! Of course the brief stint of sunshine had disappeared, but that didn't stop us. It was humid but foggy and when we arrived at Fanore there were loads of people swimming but you could only see about 100 metres into the water. We went for a walk up the beach, which was covered in washed up jellyfish.
The water was cold but not so bad, what was worse was all the jellyfish. It was OK at first but then there were more and more jellyfish; the purple ones are harmless but the brown ones nasty, and I saw two in the water. Every time something touched me I thought I would get stung so I did not stay in long. Now at the end of a long day it is time for a movie, finally getting around to watching Tomorrow When the War Began. It is of course already not as good as the book and it has just begun. That's OK though I have popcorn.
We drove out to a friend's place and hopped in a row boat (because he lives on the lake you see and they have that sort of thing, three of them in fact) and off we went out into the lake, which is full of little islands. We took the dog with us and he kept trying to snap and the water splashing up from the oars. Apparently the cat doesn't mind being in the boat either so we were going to take him but then some dogs came running down the road and the cat freaked out and ran away. Of course in it's efforts to get away fast it clawed me to bits and managed to rip a hole in my t-shirt! I really like that t-shirt too. So no cat, just the dog, that had to do us. Did I mention that the sun finally came back out? Sort of that is. It's not hidden by rain, but the sky is not overly blue. Mostly cloudy.
So I think we must have been on the lake for near three hours, and I had a go at rowing! It was great, but I have big blisters on my hands and my muscles are sore! Not just my arms, even my calf muscles and everywhere. We decided to stop on a little island.
It was heavily inhabited by bugs. Loads of little flying insects. Luckily not midges or other things that bite and itch. Although later I was told that the lake is actually full of nasty things like leeches. Luckily I didn't know that before I was walking around in it. The island was very small so it was easy to walk all over it and take lot's of pictures. There were a couple of blue damselflies but they did not want to stay still for the camera, and there was one large dragonfly.
The dog has this weird thing about playing catch - he likes to play with rocks. He goes of and picks up a big rock in his mouth and brings it over to you, then you have to throw it and while he goes after it I think it is unlikely that the rock he picks up is the same one. He doesn't much like the water either so you can't throw the rock or stick very far, otherwise he just stands there in the water looking out to where it landed, looking so sad and pathetic!
The row back was just as much fun as the way there, I don't think I'm very good at it and we were not rowing anywhere near evenly so we went in zig-zags. We tried to see who could row hardest but that ended with my oar popping off of it's metal holder-thingy and me going flying backward with the momentum of it and dropping the oar in the water. It was OK though, it's not like we were going fast enough to lose it! There were so many bugs flying around that at one point somebody realised there were bugs in my hair, and not only were there flies of some sort in my hair (caddisflies I think), but they were mating! I let a photo be taken before freaking out and insisting that all bugs be removed from me. A spider fell on my leg at one point too but I did very well in not jumping or yelling, I just flicked it off, no shrieking at all!
So of course after such a long day a very early night was required, so that today we had some energy left to go to the beach! Of course the brief stint of sunshine had disappeared, but that didn't stop us. It was humid but foggy and when we arrived at Fanore there were loads of people swimming but you could only see about 100 metres into the water. We went for a walk up the beach, which was covered in washed up jellyfish.
The water was cold but not so bad, what was worse was all the jellyfish. It was OK at first but then there were more and more jellyfish; the purple ones are harmless but the brown ones nasty, and I saw two in the water. Every time something touched me I thought I would get stung so I did not stay in long. Now at the end of a long day it is time for a movie, finally getting around to watching Tomorrow When the War Began. It is of course already not as good as the book and it has just begun. That's OK though I have popcorn.
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