Lists: Loves and Misses

I'm sleeping well (except one incident with sleep walking--haven't done that since I was a kid!) and I'm on local time, but I'm a bit draggy today.  Just a quick post before I start putting up more stuff 'bout Ireland.

Ten things I love about being home:

*Friends are a local phone call or a short drive away!

*Yay kitties!

*Yay dogs!

*The garden--she is blooming!  And I can weed!

*I'm totally motivated about cleaning house.  Weird, but I'll take it.

*Dinner and a movie every night (we often watch videos during dinner)

*My very own laundry room with my very own soaps!

*I can turn around without bumping an elbow in my shower and there's two shower heads.  Ahhhhh ...

*I can meet with  my writer's groups again.

*I can cook my own meals!

Ten things I miss:

*My DH

*Being with my whole family every day

*Stone circles and dolmens (and speculating about bored gaelics with too many rocks about)

*Having a pint with my DH and kids

*Listening to local wisdom, especially when it's unwise

*Good bacon (and black and white pudding, and irish sausage)

*Castles

*Lamb as a regular option on restaurant menus

*No dishes or dusting

*Chasing unfamiliar birds with my camera

Twelve Great Moments:

*Castle bedroom antics (and other antics but I won't use up the whole list for that)

*Seeing the Cliffs of Moher from the sea

*DH's expressions while having a pint at The Crow's Nest

*Running around Cahir Castle until after closing (oops)

*Roaming Ashford Castle grounds, especially the gardens

*Being terrified of the roads to Moll's Gap--and then not terrified after the sun came out

*Sunning (and getting sunburned) on the black rocks on Inisheer

*Rock shop shopping spree

*Distracting Irish wolfhounds from their mission

*Dunmore cave--the creepy learning where people met their fate at the hands of Vikings

*Watching falconry students walk their hawks

*Pony trek around Inisheer (I sure loved that island)

Five great meals:

*Dinner at Markree

*Dinner at Davenport Hotel in Dublin

*Lunch where I had that amazing thick slab of cod--hopefully I'll remember where soon

*Dessert/coffee at Moll's Gap

*Breakfast just about every south coast B&B

Honorable mention to the Rogue Brewery Pub at the Portland Airport -- you guys always rock and I couldn't resist giving a nod even though that wasn't in Ireland