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Days 196-199, 25-28 December 2014, 3 miles or so from Enniscorthy... en route to Kiltealy, near the Kiltrea Potteries... Roughly. We headed from Dublin to Enniscorthy on Christmas Eve - thoroughly overexcited - off on a new adventure - the south-east is a new part of Ireland for us and the 2 hour train ride highlighted some lovely coastal scenery before heading into the rich stony hues of the inland country side. With our backpacks covered in country patches and a big bunch of Christmas flowers we were certainly easy for our housesit owners to spot at the station - we felt like we were coming home for Christmas. We've done the sums and figured out that if we normally average a couple of animals per housesit - this one is equivalent to about 15 housesits in one go - 12 cats (not all at once/not all indoors), 7 dogs (one is a puppy - Peanut the Jack Russell), lots of chickens and 3 goats (George, Mildred and pygmy Reggie). At last count no partridges, in pear trees or otherwise. Dogs thought it was Christmas with new people to play with (and of course, they were right). We had a grand Christmas Day and learned the ropes - light the wood fires, feed the cats in the garage, take the dogs for a frolic up the field and sometimes down to the river, feed the dogs, I do the chickens (steal the eggs - even get a warm one sometimes!), James feeds the goats, restock the firewood, check the two fires and sit down for brekkie. We've seen some glorious sunrises and sets, painted like fire across the sky. We'll need to see some more though because my camera wasn't nailed to my hand at the time. This morning, Sunday 28th, was our first frost and the dogs were bouncing about like lambs over the crispy grass. Little Peanut walks in our boot steps and sticks to the path we blaze through the grass as her tender and very short little undercarriage has been scratched a bit by running after the bigger little dogs. With snow disrupting life in the UK and the French Alps finally getting their ration of snow, we've checked the weather and we have a sprinkle forecast for our area in about a week's time... so that was as good excuse as any to hit the grocery store for a big shop. We are in clover in this part of Ireland - an Aldi and a Lidl next door to each other... Get this, bargain of all time - ripe, sweet pineapples for 10 cents each (A$0.15). Snuffled one up last night just because we could. Glorious. We explored Enniscorthy yesterday - took a drive up Vinegar Hill - site of historic loss by the Irish and had a look at Enniscorthy Castle. Today we are using our wood stove in the kitchen to roast a turkey. In the mornings we roam about the property in our wellies (gumboots) looking quite the part. Other big news? I've had a secret in my secret pocket since September - James's mum Joan is arriving tomorrow, all the way from Australia, to join us for his 50th birthday. When I say secret, quite a lot of people knew... just not James - so it was a great surprise on Christmas morning when he read the news in his Christmas card from his mum. Which of course means, mere days after taking the train from Dublin, we're heading back up - in the car this time, to collect her from the airport - another huge adventure. Planning lots of day trips including the Waterford Crystal Visitors' centre... been waiting for Waterford for over 2 years! Today's picture? James and Peanut... She was feeling the cold.
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