Papa vs. Baa, Baa Black Sheep

"Papa hit a Sheep. Boom. Now Papa has a boo-boo elbow"
That is the toddler version of Randy's bike accident last Thursday. Travel about two miles from our house out west and you get into Ireland's wild country where the sheep and the cows run free. The pastures are filled with baby lambs this time of year and they are very skittery on the open road. One decided to jump in front of Randy last minute, causing him to "yard-sale" over the handle bars landing him in the county hosipital for 4 days with a broken elbow and collar bone, not to mention road rashes. Thanks to Ireland's social medical system, he is walking away from major surgery (plates and srews were involved) paying only a 17 Euro pharmacy fee. After traveling and hour each way to visit him, we are happy to have him home safe and in recovery.



Randy on the Orthopedic medical ward at County Mayo General Hospital.

Brian Polke's Best Boy

Brian Polk owns the store/pub across the street from the Art Center. His family has owned Polkes since the mid 1850's. I have yet to meet such a kind hearted soul as I have in Brian. He has taken a shining to Soren and calls him his "Best Boy" offering him a banana with every visit. On our rare night's out Randy and I will walk through the store to the pub in the back, order our drinks to be added to our tab. We just paid off our tab with sadness to be leaving behind such a gem in our little town.

The Fabulous Baker Boys and Super Cool Sarah

One of our many blessing's here has been a fellow artist and his family, the Bakers. They arrived about 2 weeks after us, coming from Maine. The kicker is that they have two boys, Finn who is 5 and Corin who is the same age as Soren. Yes - we laugh all the time about how similar their names are. Soren and Corin are in the play school together and have weekly playdates. They have been wonderful to us, looking after Soren at times that Randy and I have gotten stuck in the muck on some rural road, picking up Soren from school, etc. Sarah has been my date a couple of nights at the Parish Hall on Monday night's for Bingo and just a dear soul. David is an amazing painter and he has been doing some paintings of Soren and I. Here he is working in his studio on one such painting. We will miss them dearly.

















One of the

A visit from Wendy

A friend of mine, Wendy, whom I have known since I was 5 years old came to visit. Soren loved having her here, as she has a very infectious laugh that had him in stitches all day long. As sad as we were to see her leave, Soren was thrilled that he got to send her off on the train from Ballina. The train conductor himself even gave Soren a private tour of the engine while Soren directed.