So our first real day at Triscle Tower was lovely. It was May 31st and we woke up around 8am to work at 9am (but really started around 9:30 since we were a little jet-laggin'). We spent our morning pulling weeds in the polytunnel, which is absolutely incredible! There are tons of different plants- fruits, veggies, herbs and edible flowers: strawberries, lettuce, asparagus, bok choy, the famous cherry tree of our dreams!, spinach, st. john's wart- which is apparently banned here (lame! but awesome they grow it anyway), calendula, a peach tree...and oh my the list goes on! We did tons of weeding and it was really rewarding to see how clear and beautiful the paths and beds were. I learned-after getting stung about 3 times- to watch out for stinging nettles! They are a really useful herb that grows like a weed but sting when you touch them! OH! and we also learned that ground limestone levels out the acidity of the soil which we found to be exciting information! There are also a massive amount of slugs that unfortunately need to go, or else there wouldn't be any plants left-so we got used to throwing slugs in the bucket of soapy water. We hung out with Christine a little while weeding and got the chance to become personally acquainted a bit. She is an amazingly sweet lady with the most charming laugh! There aren't many people that compete with the volume of my boisterous laughter but she is close! Mimi and I shared our dreams with her and explained why we were drawn to the farm life. It was really nice to share with someone that has a similar perspective.
After that we ate some lunch and went along with Christine to County Clare's capital- the famous Ennis- or Inis in Gaelic- all the street signs have the first line in traditional Gaelic and the second line is English. Our first stop was Dunnes which we were surprised to see had food, clothing and home merchandise...until Christine reminded us that Walmart has all the same things..HA! But it looked much fancier and high class than Walmart! The entrance of the town Ennis is apparently through this store Dunnes! It spits you out right onto a tiny sidewalk lined with small shops and markets. It was a modest city but bumpin' none the less!
Our first stop was the crystal shop (which reminds me of how when I told Christine we brought stones to Ireland she CRACKED UP! which made us crack up of course! she found it so funny because Ireland is filled to the brim with rocks. Perhaps I should have said crystals haha) and it had some really sweet stuff. Mimi got Merlinite and I picked Pietersite, both I haven't seen in my regular shops in Philadelphia. We also got some classic postcards and a disposable camera! We wandered into the pet shop-which there were a few of, and there were tons of candy shops! The majority of the little kids-which were infatuated by us- were eating candy and lollypops. We also noticed that all the cool guy teenagers had the same hair style of the front gelled to the side and the back spiked up. We thought it hilarious that the international stores we saw were Claire's, Gamestop and Subway. So random! So after our 2 hours walking around the city we began to start seeing the same people which was quite cute and quaint. We met Christine at the car and went to Lidl, which is a German grocery store-we are told not very popular with the people in Germany but quite useful to Germans in Ireland! On the way home Christine drove on the extra tiny scenic roads and even stopped at a beautiful lake that reflected the greenery brilliantly!
We got back to the house and were invited to play a board game at 8:30, which we were very excited about. We went into the conservatory and were offered a drink. I chose their own peach wine and Mimi the traditional Beamish stout which is similar to Guinness. There were both awesome! We played the game Die Seefahrer von Catan, which is called the Settlers of Catan in English. It was probably the most entertaining board game I've ever played. It was like a German version Monopoly but instead of money there were resources. It was really intricate at times and challenging in a fun way. We finally finished around 1am! I was only 1 point away from winning but Mimi (traitor!) gave Stiofan a card he needed to win! They were surprised at my luck and said it was a close call and that I would have been the first beginner to beat them! They were also surprised by Mimi's ability to kill mitches with her mind! Mitches are worse than mosquito apparently- super tiny and millions of them at night.
All in all it was an amazing day and night and we look forward to many many more!
hiphiphorray!
-chelsey
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