Tea with The Lord Mayor...

The Lord Mayor invited all the leaders involved with my volunteering group Let's Walk & Talk through the Dublin City Council for morning tea.  Pictured are all the leaders that could make it.  The Lord Mayor holds office for 1 year, is elected by Dublin City Council members and presides over council meetings.  She does not deal with policies, but rather makes appearances throughout the year and is on the go typically 18 hours a day.  The gold chain around her neck is called the Great Chain and was made in 1698.  She wears this for all formal functions.  It was very kind of her to invite our group to the Mansion House (where every Lord Mayor of Dublin has resided since 1715).

After The Lord Mayor excused herself for her next function, Greg, one of the other leaders, took me on an unofficial tour of the "public" rooms of the mansion.  This is the Oak Room (the top picture is blurry b/c we weren't suppose to be in there and I was rushed out!).  Hanging on the walls are all the coat of arms for each Lord Mayor in Dublin's history.  I found the O'Connor coat of arms (County Sligo) that I grew up knowing on my way out...next to it is what I think represents the Sullivan side of the family from County Kerry (I could be wrong though...it has happened before).

In the formal dining room... This is a Waterford Crystal Vase.

Of course a bar with all the Irish beers on tap was built into the entrance hall of the Mansion House...The difference is, it's Irish!

Some American History intermingled with Irish History.  Apparently the Choctaw Nation from Oklahoma (forcibly removed from Mississippi, apparently) came to aid the Irish during the great potato famine and received a plaque on the wall of the Mansion House in their honor.

Chris' Blossom...

My mom requested that I post a picture of Chris' Orchid blossom when it opened up...here it is!

The garden that keeps on growing...

I will be transplanting my last thing this weekend...it's my rocket (arugula).  It's growing quickly and I'm SOOOOOOO excited for it's harvest!  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

My beets are coming up...they have been outside the whole time, enduring the mighty wind and rain...they are always wet and cold, but they seem to love it!

So I cheated a little and bought a basil plant...Mmmmmm, Basil!

The blue bean has really taken off...I'm afraid I'm going to run out of pole!  He's already up to the 4th rung, quickly making his way up to the fifth (out of 6).  The green guy (the pictures are backwards) is getting up there too, but going at a more steady pace.

I got very worried about my tomato plants last week.  I put them out, all day for two days when the wind finally settled down and it was sunny.  After that I noticed some of their leaves were starting to turn whitish/yellow and curl up to die.  I snipped off a couple leaves and took them to the nursery for a diagnosis...sun scorch!  Apparently I have to be more mindful of direct sunlight all the way up here in Ireland as they can't handle too much of it.  He accused me of watering the leaves in the middle of the sunny day...I was immediately offended (though it was probably true...did I learn nothing from mother?).  I have been more cautious about putting them out again...and how I water them.

Chris' Garden is going to town (that one was for you mom and dad).  This little Bonsai needs a trim and the orchid is on the verge of blooming...any day now!

Walking from here to Monkstown...

So I decided to walk along the Strand from Ballsbridge to Salthill/Monkstown.  It took me 90 minutes, but was extremely beautiful the whole way...here's what I saw:

The park in Blackrock...have I mentioned how much I like the brilliant green here in Ireland?

At Seapoint the birds were soaking up the sun!

Salthill/Monkstown...I didn't realize until today that during high tide this is the place for swimming...in the frigid sea...wet suit optional!

Walking around Monkstown...I ate at this cute cafe for lunch, I think it was called The Tea Room (delicious Caprese Salad with real mozzarella and the worst cucumber, apple, mint juice ever)!

Everything is smaller in Europe...

There was a sailboat race off Dun Laoghaire harbor.  It was pretty cool the watch...I could get used to living by the sea!

The day Dizzle came to town...

Everyone had a good time when Dizzle came to visit.  We took him around our neighborhood digs...got him a proper Irish breakfast...walked by the Strand (a must) and of course, to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and complimentary pint!

Waiting for the DART to take us to the Guinness Storehouse Tour...just smokin my french bean!

Chris and I snuck behind the waterfall...

The Gravity Bar where we received our complimentary pint of Guinness.  Tasty!  And yes dad...Gravity is up!

It's nice to see other couples are like Chris and I when it comes to pictures...posing...

Girl's, well, day really...

My two friends, Katie, and I got together for lunch, movie and some of our favorite...grocery shopping!  We ate at this cool place called Yo Sushi! You could order from the menu or take stuff "off the belt."  They had a conveyor belt of the fresh food the chef was preparing (mostly cold items).  You paid according to what color the plate was.  We had bottomless Miso Soup!  It was awesome!

At the movies...

I was a bit nervous introducing my two friends, as sometimes different groups of friends don't always get along, but they got along wonderfully!  YEAH!  There will be many Girl's Nights to come!!!!

Chris' Garden...

I didn't want Chris to feel left out of the gardening posts, so I thought I would feature his garden...Pictured is the Phalaenopsis Orchid I gave him for Christmas.  It had beautiful white blooms with purple streaks up till last week when the last blooms of the season fell off.  As you can see, it is growing some very healthy buds to replace them!  Below is the newest addition, Chris' Bonsai tree.  We aren't sure if I watered it too much (without telling Chris), but I hope not.  It's very cute and we hope it feels welcomed!

Bean & Butterhead transplants...

I think my bean plants are ready for transplant...I re-used my laundry soap buckets (they use individual pouches over here) for the bean pots.  I hope they are big enough for the roots, otherwise another transplant will be in order later in the summer.  Two of my beans seem to have stopped growing, so I only did two bean transplants.  I think that will supply us with more than enough beans to eat!

Here are my beautiful butterhead lettuce sprouts...swine flu and salmonella free!  There are so many that I won't be able to use them all, so I will try to pawn them off on my friends as well.  I cut out the section that Chris adopted and separated them out into 4 quadrants of the big pot...they looked quite sad and disgruntled immediately after transplant, but they have bounced back nicely and are looking great!

My newly updated garden.  There are only two more things to transplant (chives & rocket (arugula in the states)), but those have a bit to go.  They are both starting to pop out to see the world though!  As far as getting the garden outside...it's not so much that they aren't ready, it's that I don't like all the wind and rain, so I'm still opening the doors for a few hours each day, but I'm not ready to let them outside full time quite yet!

Your man...

Over here in Ireland they have very distinct phrases that Chris and I are constantly schooled on.  One that we've tried desperately to work into our everyday conversation is "your man."  Now, your man isn't usually in reference to Chris, who would be considered "my man."  Over here it is in reference to anyone or thing that would be of any mutual knowing to you and the person you are talking to.  Man, woman, dog, even a band or sports team.  As an example; "I was walking on O'Connell and saw your man across the street" (in reference to a co-worker or friend)...or "I was watching the tele and saw your man last night" (in reference to your football (soccer) team or music group).  It's very fun for Chris and I to try to work Irish phrases into casual conversation...sometimes one of us does it successfully and it takes a few seconds for the other to pick up on it...but mostly it involves lots of laughing!

May Day...

While lunching with Chris today, I was telling him about how I was going to make May Day baskets for his team and leave them on their desks, but ran out of time.  His reaction was, "What's a May Day basket?"  Really, am I the only one who grew up with this tradition?  I explained that in my neighborhood, every May Day my mom and I would gather clear, plastic cups, colored cling film (as they call it over here) and individually wrapped candies.  We put a few pieces of the candies in the cups, covered it with cling film then took them around to the neighbor's houses...or other friends.  That was usually my job.  I would put the cup on the porch or in front of the door, ring the doorbell and run to hide.  I would watch the person find their treasure from my hiding place.  If they came to the door quicker than I could hide, they could run after me...if they caught me they kissed me (on the cheek).  Chris had never heard of this...am I the only one?  Give me a shout out if you grew up with a tradition like this for May Day!!!!!!!!