So now I am in 'Lyser Land', a small farm-in-the-making owned and (partly run) by a certain Eileen Thomas. Morning at the hostel was early - I woke up with the sun at some absurd hour, like 6am. The three other people in the room were asleep, so I did my best to be quiet as I retrieved my clothing and other things from my bags, for my shower. Figured it might be the last decent shower in quite some time, so I was careful to wash well. Shower had interesting quirk in that you pressed a knob down to turn it on, and it turned off after 10 seconds or so. Very troublesome, but probably saved on water lots.
Breakfast was sad - it was complimentary with room, but it only consisted of toast and corn flakes. I had two slices of toast, with butter and strawberry jam, and then a slice of bread with butter and blackberry. Lots of younger (highschool age? Middleschool age?) folks running around.
Went back upstairs, and emailed people on the computer while Edelweiss took a shower. She checked her mail and did a few things, then I took over again. We then went out hunting for various needs, such as towels.
Shopping was successful, and we returned at 10:30 or so. We packed up quickly, and barely made it on time to the 11am Galway bus.
Bus ride was a test of will versus jetlag. Very hard to stay away while sleepy, in a comfortable chair, and with little else to do. I read a book, and concentrated on not sleeping. Very rough. Edelweiss apparently got a bit car-sick, though I did not know it at the time.
We arrived at Loughrea (pronounced lock-ree), and were met by Eileen and her dog (Rocky). We loaded all our stuff into her jeep, and I sat next to Rocky in the back, piled in with all of the luggage. We went shopping for animal food and people food and hardware, and then got some waste-fruit from one of Eileen's friends.
Rocky is a very friendly collie, and loves playing fetch/intercept. We found this out with a little tiger toy at Eileen's friend's place, and throughout most of the day thereafter, Rocky kept bugging us to play fetch with a deflated soccer ball, a plastic bucket lid, or whatever else was at hand. I like him, though he's a bit irrepressible. Overly focused on getting us to play fetch with him, too.
Eileen is a nice lady. She struck both of us as being a little off, but she's a very friendly, caring eccentric. She apparently bought a run-down farm here in the middle of nowhere, and has since been renovating it to be workable. Looking at her pictures, she apparently has made amazing progress over the last few years.
Living conditions aren't amazing, and sometimes a bit inhospitable. Edelweiss and I are living outside in a 'bender'. This is a tent of sorts made by bent hazel branchs woven (or in our case tied) together. This is covered, and in Eileen case she takes broken-down tents and uses the poles for poly-tunnels and the fabric to make the bender waterproof and nice. Inside is a bed, which is mostly comfortable due to me being tired. We also set up a smaller separate tent to stow our luggage within.
Other residents of the farm include two donkeys, a flock of teenaged ducks, and two cats. This is in addition to Eileen and Rocky, plus now Edelweiss and myself.
For dinner we had pasta, a tomato and other thing soup, and some greens. A few of the greens had incredibly strong flavors, which was quite a shock. Like rochet, for instance. meal was otherwise quite good.
This is going to be interesting.
-- Wilford
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