When Irish Eyes are Smiling

Last week I had the pleasure and privilege of traveling to Cork Ireland on the company's dime!  It was great - both the at-work time where I spent my days training the Cork office on our new products and the out-of-work time where I got to explore the city and countryside.  It was a blessed hiatus from my normal responsibilities as wife and mom and truly a grace-filled time for me.

Here's my vehicle and my favorite scene from my commute to work.  The bike wasn't as nice as my ride at home, but the scenery was sure amazing!

I'm grateful that I didn't try driving - biking on the left-hand side of the road was hard enough!

Cork from the top of my hotel

The canal in front of the hotel

Self-portrait

A pint, a good book, and a band coming on stage.  This is an a-ok way to spend the evening!

Admittedly, there were many rainy nights, but even those were pretty

The bike ride out to Blarney Castle was plenty hard, but the views were worth it.  How do they make stone fences anyway?!?

Blarney Castle - built in 1480

Clearly I've grown unaccustomed to the sunlight - it made me all squinty!

The Blarney Stone is right there at the tippy top above the windows

Inside the castle

Kissing the Blarney Stone.  Are you impressed by my newfound eloquence?

The Fern Gardens at Blarney Castle were so cool

On Saturday I rode my bike out to Cobh, the last port that the Titanic left from

A girl, her bike, and a whole lotta wind

Just pretend this is the Titanic :)

A soggy ride back, but still a nice Saturday afternoon

My Sunday ride down the Lee Road - so beautiful!

Rain and wheat fields in my view as I shelter under a tree for the shower

I rode the train out to Midleton to tour the Jameson Distillery

Jamie at Jameson!

They don't give these to just anybody - I had to *earn* this certificate!

My last evening in Ireland - I took the bus to Kinsale

Kinsale was so very beautiful - it was the perfect end to my trip

Along the Scilly Walk at Kinsale

The end of a wonderful trip - thanks, Ireland!

Matching Scarheads

Ben and Mandy have each had a tough couple of weeks. Mandy tousled with an unknown assailant in the night and ended up with a headwound and sprained paw. Ben tousled with a framed picture of himself and ended up with a three-stitcher right between the eyes.

We are flummoxed as to why he and WanYing were lying on their backs in the front hall and how a framed picture of Ben became dislodged from the wall and landed squarely between Ben's eyes, but mercifully the wound was held together with super deluxe super glue from the instacare clinic instead of actual stitches.

Incredibly, these were the first emergency stitches/super glue applications ever for the Morningstar family!

Both patients are healing nicely and Ben is looking forward to dressing like Harry Potter every Halloween without needing to draw a scar on his forehead!

Equestrian Sasha

This summer I sprang for a sweet Groupon for horseback riding lessons for Sash.  Given the combination of her love for all things fuzzy and the importance of horses in Kazakh culture, I figured this was a slam dunk.  I was not disappointed. 

Here's Sasha's narration of her last lesson with Miss Baylee and Simon the Pony:

Thank you for letting me get him out

I'm taking him out of the fence to the fence where we brush him and comb him on his tail and his hair

He's hard to pull

I'm brushing him.  I like brushing him and combing him with his hair and his tail.

I'm trying to get the rocks and the stuff out of his foot

Thanks for helping me figure out which way he's going from you straight to you and so I went to the left and the right.

Thanks for letting me take him around and it's so fun when you help me take his leash and I like to turn him and turn him each way.

Thanks for letting me ride him by myself and I like telling him which way to go.

And I went to the left and right and then straight

I walked him around

I look happy on the horse by myself

I like hugging him to make him goodbye and it's so fun to hug him and I love him so much and I like riding him and he says "brrrr" and he's so comfy and fuzzy.