Aughnacloy and family

Of course, the main reason the Thompson clan went to Ireland was for the girls to see where Nanny was born, grew up and to meet their Irish family!

Some of the branches of the Hamilton family!

But to backtrack just a bit, when we left Cushendun last Saturday we travelled along the coast again, stopping to say a fond farewell to the wonderful glens of Antrim...



When we reached the outskirts of Belfast, we stopped at Carrickfergus Castle so the girls could see a castle fully restored instead of the ruins (as lovely as they are) that we had seen before. Of course, the trio were most interested in those things that kids like...

 The latrine chutes visible on the outer walls, the replica of one of the ENORMOUS dogs (now extinct apparently) that used to live at the castle and fight alongside the soldiers....

   

...and playing with the huge chess game on the top floor of the castle.

After a quick lunch at a pub beside the castle we followed our GPS lady to Ebor Drive - this is the street where mom lived until she moved to Canada at age 12. The row houses are still there, though looking more tired than when the Hamiltons and their various relatives and friends resided there.
 

Mom in front of 33 Ebor Drive.

 

Talking about what has changed in the 60+ years since the Hamiltons lived here.



The back lane that ran between the rowhouses.



Mom and dad strolling along.

Then we left Belfast and the coast and moved inland to Aughnacloy in county Tyrone. Outside this village is Glack, the family farm where my grandfather's family lived (now sold and belonging to others) and my mom was born. Though my grandfather moved his family to Belfast for work (and because my grandmother liked it there), they returned every summer and my mom has many memories of school vacations spent at Glack (more on that in a later post).

Growing up, the name Aughnacloy always seemed magical to me - some mysterious irish place full of wonder and mystery. When I visited there 13 years ago with my parents and sister, the village lived up to my vision in many ways - I felt comforted to return this summer and see it looking so much the same.

As an aside - on the last day in Cushendun on the beach, the wind blew some grains of sand into my camera lens and it stopped functionning. All photos from this post on are from Kim's camera, with an occasional one from Bryanna's. As such, I don't have some of the shots I might otherwise have taken.  Thanks goodness for Kim's super camera and artist's eye - apologies to her if some shots would have been edited prior to posting! Also, few shots of Kim now as she is usually taking the photos!

On Aughnacloy's main street.

We arrived in Aughnacloy on Saturday evening in time to settle in to our B&B and grab dinner in town. The next day we took it easy (simple to do since it was Sunday and not much was open!) and then headed to my mother's cousin's home just around the corner for a BBQ. Our irish cousins had set a feast fit for a king and it was wonderful to hear the irish lilts in the voices and to see mom's smile as she enjoyed being with her family again.   

Cousin Jack and Mom

 

The men's group. Edward, dad, Jack, Graham.




Cousin Jack, the kids, and Bart the donkey.

 

Mom, Lynn, Margaret (her house) and the spread!

 

Wendy and Lianne - same generation cousins.

 

The youngest generation of cousins.



Mom, Margaret and Connie - cousins and friends.

The photo at the top shows all who were at the BBQ on Sunday. More on the family and the farm still to come.

Our Cushendun Home

We said farewell to our Cushendun home last Saturday and headed back down the coast to Aughnacloy. But for the friends out there who love to know all the details, here are some shots of the inside of our seaside home and farewell shots on the seawall...*sigh*



The living room overlooking Cushendun bay, the village and the sea.



 The kitchen and dining side of the room.



  The girls' bedroom on the main level (K&D's room was on that level too) and the stairs to the next. I took the stair shot looking down but the stairs went up to the bedroom level.  

 The yellow room upstairs (with ensuite) was mine and the purple room was mom and dad's.

 

The view from the master suite - dad loved his coffee out on the balcony.

 

Our family (minus D unfortunately who had already left).

The Cushendun week was really all that a family vacation should be. A beautiful (exquisite really) location, lovely home, freedom for the children, history and hiking and family. Of course nothing can be absolutely perfect - there were a few spats among the cousins but those blew over quickly and some tense moments related to driving and navigating our way around unfamiliar roads (oh those city roundabouts!) vanished once we arrived at the destination.

From my vantage point back in Canada, faced with laundry and cooking and responsibility, I feel that I could easily return to Cushendun and not miss this "real" world at all. I cannot wait to return...

Posts on our Augnacloy week to follow!

Derry, sister jaunt, and Cushendun

We are leaving Ireland tomorrow (*sigh*) and I am still trying to catch up on blogging! At our final B&B we have internet in our rooms with a fantastic signal - figures!

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A week ago today we headed off for a day in Derry. Strangely enough, 13 years ago when we were visiting the same city I had taken a picture of my parents in front of one of the gates to the city (the only completely walled city left in Ireland). My friend Anne Marie saw that photo and thought she recognized the place - hey! she said, my cousin has a pub right through that gate. So we thought it would be fun to visit that very pub on our trip this time!

Here is dad in front of the gate!



 And here is Anne Marie's cousin's pub!

 It must have been hilarious to see our group of eight troop in, climb the stairs to the second level and plop ourselves down at all the tables, prepared to have a nice lunch after our long drive. Then Gemma came upstairs and kindly told us they only serve drinks - no food. hee hee  We chatted, explained who we are, she gave us some direction to another place to eat and we were on our way again.

After we did find a bite to eat, we took a tour of Derry's walls (and had a bit of political commentary thrown in to the mix). Strolling along, we watched another dark tower of clouds move in over us and add a little rain to the atmosphere. Still an interesting excursion for everyone.

Walking the walls of Doire.

The Wee Church of Derry (Church of Ireland).

Miz C on the old walls.

The next day, Damian was flying to London and then home (a week before the rest of us). Kim and I drove him down the coast to the Belafast airport. The coastal route was so gorgeous that after saying a sad good bye to D we decided to return to Cushendun that way, passing through all the sea villages that border the glens of Antrim. In the village of Glenarm we happened upon signs pointing us to Glenarm Castle's walled gardens and tearoom. We stopped there and were delighted we did - it was a definite highlight of our week and allowed for some great sister time...

I love these gardens.

Viewing the gardens from the top of "the mount."



At the top of the mount....an interesting hill in the middle of the manicured gardens - left wild but with a mown pathway circling to the top.



Yum - our delicious tea. Kim had broccoli soup fresh from the castle's vegetable garden.

 

What are these? There were huge bushes full of these blossoms with a delicious, sweet scent but we could not find a sign telling us their name.

When we returned to Cushendun, we found mom and dad and the girls had had a nice relaxing day too and also been out to tea. The weather was back to irish sunshine and warmth again so we found the girls at the village playground and headed to the beach to enjoy some last moments in our favourite place.



Beside the playground in Cushendun.

Check out this video clip of Cass on the fun playground euipment...



Being silly on the beach.

 

Playing with friend, Scottie.

Relaxed and rejuvenated.

  The next day would see us depart for Aughnacloy and our mother and nanny's family!

Whiskey, castle drama and peace

(We lost internet again, so another LONGdelay in posting. Grabbing a few minutes this afternoon to do more catch-up.)

I'm trying to catch up a bit here so am rolling 3 days into one post...I am writing about July 4-6 while surrounded by the activities of The Twelfth in Northern Ireland - many places closed today while large parades and bands and activities occur in many cities and towns.

But back to last week...Monday was rainy in the morning so we headed to Bushmills for a tour of their famous whiskey distillery. Kim and I enjoyed a hot toddy at the end while the other adults tasted various brands of straight whiskey - yowza! Kim and I asked for the hot toddy recipe, we were so enthralled. The younger crew just liked watching the bottling and boxing of this famous product!

The rain seemed to pass and we headed back along the coast road to Dunluce Castle, one of my favourite places from my last trip 13 years ago... I was excited to visit again with all our girls. Beautiful and dramatic atop the cliffs, we enjoyed exploring and imagining life here hundreds of years ago. The girls and I could see how C.S. Lewis could have been inspired by this awesome site to create the castle Cair Paravel in his Narnia series.



The terrific trio channeling their 18th century ancestors. Photo courtesy of talented b-i-l Damian Steel.

 

The family.  ;-) (Thanks to Kim's fancy timer.)



Courtesy Damian Steel.



Lianne fascinated by the history. Courtesy of  Damian.



Courtesy of my dear sister and her super camera.

The sun had been shining on us during our trip back in time, but dark black clouds moved in overhead in the brief moments that it took us to climb down the hill to see the sea entrance below the castle. Though we headed back up the steep flight of stone steps as quickly as possible, we were caught in a DELUGE - . it was warm though, and not much to do about it, so we just trudged to the top and took shelter in the tearoom. (Damian and Kim ran ahead and snapped photos of our approach across the car lot - helpless with laughter.)

Courtesy of Kim Thompson-Steel!



Thanks to b-i-l Damian Steel!

The next day was a quiet one in Cushendun - the trio played on the beach and we all relaxed. Late in the afternoon we headed to Cushendall - just a hop, skip and a jump along the road.  We followed our noses and some rather unclear signage to the Layd Church ruins. Another unexpected discovery - an absolutely idyllic and peaceful site in a tiny, grassy valley above the sea. The church dates back hundreds of years but has some very recent gravestones around it as well...obviously still an important church to families in the area.

Fun at the beach. See Uncle D against the fence?

 

Hanging out in front of Cushendall's oldest tower.



Climbing the steps to the Layd Church ruins.



Dad in Layd Church,




Running through the Layd Church churchyard.

A third relaxing day and K & D headed out on their own for as we watched the trio. Not much watching necessary as they were so happy to adventure out anywhere in the village. That evening was absolutely gorgeous and after a fantastic meal at Harry's Restaurant in Cushendall, we all walked up the hills behind our apartment - the views are extraordinary.


Girls with friend, Miriam.



Looking up the glen.



The hill lane above our home



Dad.

Looking over Cushendun bay from above our house.

Looking back at the photos from just a few days ago, the loveliness of it remains clear - I hope to return here many times! And if I win the lottery one day, I have found the international destination for my second home. ;-)

Next post will be Londonderry and a connection to our friends, the Devines!