"She Was Alright When She Left Here"

I remember learning when we lived in Belfast that the Titanic had been built in Belfast Harbor.  And I remember thinking, "that is some kinda claim to fame"--and yet, no one was really shouting it from the rooftops.  No museum centered around it, no major attempts to draw attention to this huge part of one of the most fascinating world historical events in the last 100 years....  And then I got it--if you talk to enough people who are from Belfast, there's a little saying about the Titanic that goes, "Well, she was alright when she left here!"  

It's always seemed that Belfast wanted just a little bit of distance between its name and the disaster, which makes enough sense.  But shipbuilding is a huge part of Belfast's history and to not recognize and give it the respect that the Titanic undertaking alone deserves is....well, not giving a complete story, in my opinion.  For that reason, I was really glad when I heard the Titanic Belfast Museum was opening in time for the 100th-year anniversary of the Titanic and we booked for tickets to go on Saturday.  Really glad we did--it's very, very well done.  It was great to be in the city center of Belfast and have the kids down there.  Incidentally, had to stop in at Avoca--again--for lunch.  Mm.  And then got a snazzy night out with Al and Suz, just the four of us for dinner.  Here's some pics from our day...

 Before we headed down to the city center, I was so so thrilled to get to snag an hour and a cuppa with my friend, Lucia, who used to be my manager at the now-defunct Craftworks.  Craftworks was a fabulous retail shop in the center of Belfast, which was full of the most gorgeous art and craft from all over the north and south of Ireland.  It was such a special place--in addition to being a beautiful store in itself, it was a real lifeline for me because working there gave me a purpose and a community of my own in a foreign land.  Lucia always made me feel welcome and we had a lot of good laughs with our friend, Michelle, another American girlfriend whose husband was in the same program for PT as Dean.  Michelle, if you are reading this, we said at least four times how much we wished you were sitting right there with us!  Lucia is an amazing woman of strength and grace and Irish wit--she is a wife, mother, nurse, artist (among others)--and I have a huge amount of respect for her....

   

 Alright then, finally got down to the city center--kiddos in front of the magnificent city landmark, Belfast City Hall.

 Well, you don't think I could really go to Avoca for lunch and not post a food pic?  This is their charcuterie and cheese board--a thing of beauty worth beholding and savoring!

 If you have never been to Ireland or Northern Ireland, odds are you have never had wheaten bread.  It is a very dense, very grainy, very stick-to-your-bones bread--and smeared with fresh butter?  LIP-SMACKING.

 Done with lunch, onto the museum.  Very, very impressive building.

Standing in front of the last photo that was taken of the Titanic before it left its last port...

 A good quote makes me all tingly inside....

 Loved seeing Truman get interested.  Fabulous videos and learning centers for all ages.

 The staterooms section was so fascinating for me.  This room would've been for the wealthiest of the wealthy--very luxurious because there were electric lights.

 Second class stateroom--bunks, wash sink, much smaller.  there was also a third class room which was half the size of this one--very small.  Very sobering imagining the families that would've made themselves at home and unpacked their things in rooms just like these....

 Jack?  Ohh, Jack??  It's Rose calling....where are you, Jack??

 Kids with one of the big yellow H & W (Harland & Wolff) shipbuilding cranes in the background of Belfast Harbor.  They are major Belfast landmarks.  There are two named, "Samson" and "Goliath."

 Just get a hold of this couple!!  SMASHING.  Had such a great meal together at a restaurant which was much cooler than I am, called, "Made in Belfast."

Ahhhhh, memories--which, except for my hernia flaring up in the middle of dinner, are all very soothing and pleasant!;-/

This Hurts....

I can't figure this out, but more and more, if I vacate my usual life and take a trip somewhere on vacation, I just get utterly depressed to see it come to an end and have the regularity return.  We aren't coming home just yet, but we're ending the Belfast portion of our trip tomorrow....and all day today, I've felt something akin to a clamp around my heart that gets tighter with each passing hour....

And I have to emphatically state that I love the life I've been given--feel so thankful and blessed.  I think getting a glimpse of simplicity--without household responsibilities, scheduled kids' events, making do with only a few clothes in the closet, having more time to just see and hear and feel each other as a family--and then to return home, where it becomes harder to do these things...just feels like a drag. It reminds me of how we were created to be very simply-made people--men and women, in the garden, filled completely with God, enjoying His creation to the full. I feel like vacations give me the tiniest glimpse of that--TINIEST--and only on those trips where I let myself truly rest and recharge.

We are leaving Belfast tomorrow and all I've been able to do for an hour is lie in this bed and gaze out this window to the Belfast Lough and find myself coming up very short of feeling capable of packing.

My kids are downstairs eating a dinner of Marks & Spencer prawns (shrimp) and McVitie's caramel digestive biscuits (cookies) while they watch some version of Ice Age on television and again, I find myself coming up quite short of actually caring.

I think one of the hardest things about leaving is the physical separation I feel approaching with our friends, the Bennetts.  What a rare thing in life to have a friend situation where Dean and I both find ourselves caring very much for both Al and Suzanne and now all our children know and love each other and have laughed and chased and played and just gotten on famously for the past five days....  And now for everyone to have gotten to know each other and tasted the sweetness, but to know it's temporal and tomorrow it will change, inevitably, and we will be apart again--most likely for a long time....  Ouch.  The heart clamp tightens.

I've actually had to remind myself that our life is in Knoxville--that God has very specifically placed us there.  That even if we up and moved here, which we won't, it would be the same here, eventually--household responsibilities, children getting on each other's nerves, children getting on my nerves, children involved in activities that need to be constantly reigned in and re-evaluated, marital scuffs, stresses at work, etc.  All the hateful little thorns that seek to prick and entangle.  Moving here = not an option = looking for a way to release the clamp and coming up empty-handed....

I just heard the boys talking in their room over an hour after they went to bed and I went in all stern-ish, "I shouldn't be hearing any talking in here at all!"  And Walker says, "We're just talking about our sadness."  I asked, "Sadness about leaving?"  He said, "Yeah.  Are we ever gonna see our friends again??"  ((gulp)) "Of course you will...."  And then, "When?  Like in 10 years??"  Arghhhh, why oh why are there oceans between friends?  Why are air fares so expensive?  Why is this freaking clamp on my heart about to cut off my blood supply??

((exhaling))  ((tears))  ((exhaling))  ((tears))  

BBQ, Golf & Girly

Just to be clear, if your Northern Irish friends invite you over for BBQ, what they really mean is a "cookout."  Having been oh-so-graciously invited back to the Bennetts for "BBQ," along with two other families we know, the Shearers and the Cookes, we seized the good weather by the horns and indulged in Suzanne's hospitality for the second time in a week.  

Al grilled a feast of meats and Suz fixed some delectable salads and just made the whole thing really special.  We ate, drank, laughed, watched the boys play "football" for almost three hours, were initiated into Ethiopian coffee protocol by Al, and discussed, among other topics, what BBQ means in the southeastern quadrant of the US.  Here, the grill itself is referred to as "a BBQ," whereas back home, BBQ is actually a specific food.  Minor details, really, and always fun to translate these kinds of things with each other.  We also tried to convey to our friends, the Shearers, who have quite a strong affinity for all things "Disney," and who have been to Orlando more times than I have, that there really is more to America than Disney and that they should mosey on up to Knoxville one of these days.  I'm not sure they were convinced, but ah, well--it was worth a shot.  

And just to make sure we were covering all that Northern Ireland has to offer, Dean and I each took a guys/girls day and savored some gender-specific luxuries.  Thanks to a connection Al and Suz have with a friend, Dean and Al arrived in the northeast corner of the country on Thursday morning on the greens of The Royal Portrush Golf Club, one of the top 10 golf courses in the world, and one of the most challenging.  This was a dream come true for Dean and both the guys were boyish with the anticipation of it.  The girls took Friday and did a late breakfast/shopping/afternoon tea day, which never fails to be the cure for what ails me.  Ahhhh.....

The boys playing football with our friends' kids in the backyard--with breaks only to eat and drink, this went on for almost three hours!

Football REIGNS here and it was great to see boys 5-6 years younger than Truman "taking him to school" with their footwork!

Janet, Sandra & Suzanne--Ladies of the BBQ.

First of three in a montage:  Lesli and Suzanne attempting a photo.  No idea.

The sun was a challenge.  Lesli appears to have other challenges.

Prediciton:  I will be unappreciated for this.

The always-entertaining Mo and Janet, aka:  Mr. and Mrs. House of Mouse.

Truman and Evie.  Last time they were together, they were almost four and watched little preschool videos together.  Awww, what happened?  Big 11-year olds!

Party trick:  Al's been investing time in missions in Ethiopia the past couple of years and is the foremost Belfast authority on Ethiopian coffee--down to the roasting of cinnamon, which was added to the extremely strong coffee.  The whole process took at least 20 minutes and something like 7-8 trips in and out of the kitchen.  I must say, it was very well-received, even among those of us who don't really prefer coffee.  Bravo.

It's only a matter of time before Mamie starts flirting and playing with the dads of whichever family we happen to be around at any given moment.  This was a little game of "pretend you're gonna eat my profiterole" with Mamie and Al.

Beautiful ladies!  And of course, the moon pies.

It took some effort, but sweet picture of Suz and Evie.  And, of course, the digestives.

And so begins the "girly" day with Lesli and Suz.  FABULOUS shop called, "Avoca," in the center of Belfast.  Avoca is famous for their gorgeous woolen blankets, made in the south of Ireland in Wicklow.  Over the past 12-15 years, they have broadened their company to expand into a more extensive range of home goods, clothing, and their own brand of food items, opening locations in Dublin and in Belfast.  In the upstairs of Avoca, there is both a self-serve cafe and a LOVELY restaurant.  I was kind of having a fit over the whole thing.

Gorgeous cashmere and wool cream scarf with crocheted trim and a red wool throw with sweet little details.  Made in Ireland.

Having a tea moment in the Arthur Street cafe in Avoca.  Makes me happy just remembering it.

Some of you probably don't know this, but I have a little/large dream to open my own tearoom someday and have it be realllly GREAT.  So the whole time we were in Avoca, everywhere I looked, My eye went to things that registered on multiple levels for me--lovely just because, lovely and possibly want to purchase, lovely to taste/consume, lovely and making mental notes for the someday-tearoom, etc.  Loveliness everywhere.

Desserts, pastries, puddings, oh my!

Pouring honey on my porridge  with the tiniest little honey jug!  Comfort food, you complete me.

Mix and match china.  If I hadn't fallen prey to my practical side in deciding against fragile purchases, I could've done some real damage here.  Practicality is such a downer.

LOVED these fun patterns on new plates!

And look what was directly across the way, coming out of Avoca!  Be still my floral-printed heart!!


It's just like coming home.

My first proper afternoon tea of the trip, in the Merchant's Hotel in Belfast.  Afternoon tea just never ever ever gets old.

These are the things I love about afternoon tea:  lots of details, the rarity of it all, how it quiets me, the softness of crustless egg salad sandwiches, the radiating warmth of hot tea and honey, the process of pouring, the order of the edibles, and just having a good hour and a half to sit across from someone and really have time to see them, hear them and have them do the same for you while you cup a warm teacup in your hands and forge delights of the palate and soul.

The tearoom at The Merchant's Hotel in Belfast.  What a sumptuous, beautiful setting for our tea!  This is not an experience of the Belfast we left 12 years ago.  It has been such an awesome thing to see the growth and progress that's been made in this city in that time--to see people walk with their heads a little higher and with more confidence as a city.  It's just such a lovely, lovely place.  If you're reading this and you haven't been here yet, do put it on your list.

Dean and Al at Royal Portrush--livin the DREAM.  And may I say how thrilled I was to see that they actually took pictures of the experience?!  Well done, men.

Yet another amazing day, weather-wise for this experience.  So thankful to God!  Makes my heart glad to see Dean getting to do something so exciting for him.  Thanks a million to Al and Suz's friend, Fraz, for taking them out!

One of the markers at this particular hole.  Again, so jazzed that Dean actually took pics.

The real deal.

 

And on Friday night, gathering in our living room to watch the opening ceremonies in London on tv was pretty special.  The first Olympics that it's seemed the whole family's been interested and invested.  Truman begged to stay up until the cauldron lighting at the end, but we'd had such a run of late nights that we asked him to go onto bed once the countries started coming through.  I wasn't even sure I'd be able to stay up, but when I saw that I was going to make it, I went in and woke Truman up at 12:15 to come back out and watch the cauldron lighting.  He was so glad!  As obsessed as Truman is with fireworks, I'm really glad I did--that finale was AMAZING!

Gracious People, Gorgeous Coastline

So, yesterday, I introduced you to the Sherlocks.  Today, you will meet the Beggs family!

When Dean and I plopped ourselves onto Northern Irish soil in June of 1998, we spent our first couple of nights in the university's dorm rooms.  They didn't have any double rooms available, so they gave us two single rooms on a hall with a community bathroom.  Wow, thanks.  We ended up dragging the mattress from one room to the floor of the other, just so we could sleep in the same room, having just arrived in a foreign country and having no clue how things worked or any idea where we would permanently live.  To add further tragedy to this story, I didn't even have a hair dryer that worked in those bizarre UK electrical outlets--imagine the horror!

Well, I got my jet-lagged self straight on a bus that first morning and found my way to a little shopping mall where I found a hair dryer and then, miraculously, got back to our minuscule dorm room.  It took half the day, but I emerged victorious and with better hair.  Priorities.  The wonderful thing about that awful dorm room was that we were beyond motivated to find a place to live.  I can't remember following up on more than two ads before we found our little "semi-detached" home (what we call a "duplex" in the US) on the Belfast Road in Carrickfergus--a ten minute drive to the university with easy access to public transportation and--what do you know--directly across the street from a KFC, which the Northern Irish people refer to as "the Kentucky."  I think we went in there once during the year we lived there.  If KFC in the US is sub-par, you can imagine what the Euro-version is like....

The landlady of this precious first home ended up being pretty precious herself.  Carol Del Castillo was the first arm of Northern Irish hospitality ever extended to us and we are still grateful to her and her husband, Pepe, for taking us as renters and trusting us with their property.  In addition, Carol introduced us to her parents, John and Pat Beggs, who own and work a significant sheep and cattle farm in the country near where we lived.  Just so happened I had a weak spot for sheep--still do--and once I found out we had a direct connection to sheep, it took no time at all for us to show up knocking on the Beggs' door.

Picture several hundred acres of farmland that stretches right down to Belfast Lough, massive barns and outbuildings, a long fenced drive that leads up to the house, a salt-of-the-earth livestock farmer who is quick with a joke and always has a smile...and inside, a true lady who "bakes on Mondays," tends an epic rose garden, serves lunch for her husband and son and anyone else who happens to work at the farm that day, and brings out her silver tray and teacups for us every single time we visit...and there you have John and Pat Beggs.  And we just couldn't ever stay away from their charms and their gracious hearts for very long.

Any time we had visitors, we would call down for a visit and most all of them would end up saying it was the highlight of the trip.  Pat would bring out her tray every time and John would tell his stories and we would laugh and tell each other our news.  We got to see baby lambs and baby calves and breathe in "the farm."  One April, Dean even had the pleasure (?) of helping a mother sheep deliver her lamb.

There is simply no way we could ever even think about being in Belfast and not making the trip out to the Beggs'!  And because their farm is directly in our path as we head out of town to travel up the Antrim coast, it was and still is always a part of our day on the coast (which we have also traveled countless times with anyone who ever came to visit).  The Glens of Antrim are simply one of God's greatest creations and we are overwhelmed with gratitude that we had a sunny day to see them yesterday--rarest of rare in a land known for it's rain and gray and mildness.  Truly a gift that will stay with me for a while to come....

Please take a moment and attempt to grasp the beauty of this hair.  This is little Olivia, who belongs to Ian (pictured) and his lovely wife, Sharon.  Ian is Carol's brother/John and Pat's son.  Olivia is three and it took me about three seconds to become obsessed with her hair and three more seconds to realize she was actually the inspiration for Pixar's new princess.

Could you not just eat her up?!

We'd been there less than ten minutes when I looked behind us to see Pat's tray on the table!!  Ahhhhh, heaven.  And here she comes now, bringing hot tea!

Pat is a legend in my mind's eye.  All the goodies pictured are homemade, by her hands.  And this happens WEEKLY.  The round oaty ones dusted in sugar have always been my favorites!

Tea or coffee for the adults, juice in colorful plastic cups for the children.  One of the most gracious hostesses I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Truman with Taxco, their very strong and energetic, but friendly Rottweiler.

John and Pat have several stuffed taxidermy specimens displayed around their house.  Somehow I have never noticed this fox, which sits on this chair behind their front door and looks startlingly REAL when your eye just happens to rest on it!

Pat standing in her newly-remodeled kitchen!  It's beautiful!  So thrilled for you, Pat!

John and Pat--dear, dear people!

Mamie and Olivia--I can't even handle the sweetness.

Going to see the new baby calves in the barn...Mamie and Daniel, Ian and Sharon's oldest, holding hands!!

As luck would have it, two baby calves were born the night before we came for our visit!  Not even a full day old....

 In one of the barns--the cows in the open area are all pregnant, nearing their due dates, so they are staying in the barn for now.

Hello, little one.

These barn pics are so delicious to me.  So proud of Mamie for not being afraid of the cows and just getting right in there and living in the moment!

Golden.

Thank you, Sharon, for this wonderful family photo!

 This man is a true delight.

 Very thankful to Ian for the suggestion of hosing off my boots before we got back in the car!

Gosh, I love this view.

So long, dear Beggs.  We will continue to hold you closely!

Heading up the coast and anticipating the vistas--oh, how I love this drive!

Stopping for lunch at a tearoom in Glenarm and having a little impromptu afternoon tea!

Tea--with--jam--and--bread, with jam, with jam, with jam...and...bread!!

 Spontaneous pull-over for a little sheep interaction.  Oh, how I wish they would come closer!

Can we be friends?

God's country.  Are you bored yet?  

What I would give to be able to sink my fingers into your wool, little lamb!!

Walking the long path to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.  Some of the most breathtaking scenery I've ever beheld in my life.  Truman could've just stayed in this spot for a while--he kept saying, "this is just awesome."

Some things can only be explained as "miraculous grandeur, courtesy of God."

 The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.  It's a must-do!

 Don't look down, Walker-boo!

Getting over to the other side of the rope bridge has its rewards.

Truman has fond memories of being here when he was 6.  He feels very at home as he reclines on a nice little tuft of grass, as you can plainly see.

So thankful for a total stranger who can take a decent photo!  Treasure!

 Looking back at the Glens of Antrim from the vistas at the rope bridge.  If you think the photo is nice, you really should view it in person someday.

And then it was on to the other big coastal attraction, the Giant's Causeway--a truly amazing natural rock formation.  The boys were in heaven.

After trying to coax the boys away from their climbing to come over for a picture and conveying frustration, on my part, over it having taken so long for that to happen, Truman replied, "I can't help it.  I have mountain goat instincts."  Huh...this explains so much.

I love this picture, but it also makes me laugh.  Somewhere Mamie has picked up this cocking her head to one side in pictures.  Gosh, I love her.