Feb. 7

Feb. 7

I hope you all enjoyed the sunrise pictures. But it did not begin to predict what the rest of the day would bring. I know I said I wouldn’t complain about the weather – and I’m not – I’m just merely reporting it.

No, we didn’t have blizzard conditions. But the cold, wind and sleet were amazing. We battened down the hatches around 5 pm. I ended up putting pieces of paper in the cracks around our backdoor as so much cold air was pouring in. Even placed a piece of cotton in the keyhole as when I walked by you could feel it blow on you. That’s how strong the wind was. Someone told us today that it was the coldest they ever remember (this was a woman around my age) -- minus 10 C in places. I didn’t even bother to take pictures of all the snow on the mountains. It has now become too routine.

Eventually, Tom and I moved up to the loft area as the ceilings are low (in our living area the ceilings are quite high which is where all the heat was going). We pulled out an electric heater (I know it is against the rules, but we were cold. I think our blood had thinned out from all the previously warm, spring days.)

The students were all getting ready to go off for their first long weekend. Destinations include Paris, London, and Amsterdam. Tom and I picked this weekend to “mind the home front.” But with everyone leaving, we had thought of going to Northern Ireland. We have since scaled back our plans to two nights in Sligo, so we can have a more relaxed time and get ready for our longer trip to Italy in a few weeks.

A couple students knocked on our door – thus destroying all my neatly placed papers in the cracks! They thought an animal was in their fireplace. Since I’m an expert on fireplace chaos (we once had a pigeon come down ours), I decided to take advantage of the opportunity for a good scream if there happened to be such a creature. As I’m walking over, they describe the sound as something like a kazoo!!! When I get there, I immediately hear it and jump back – realizing it is just the wind whistling through the wood boards placed in front of the fireplace. Haley eventually took the poker and moved the boards – she was the brave one – and we confirmed that nothing living was hiding behind those boards. So, while the boards keep heat from escaping, they can bring about musical sounds as well. Tom strolled in after the problem had been solved, but in time for the good laugh.

Back we run to the cottage and up to the loft (stopping only to once again stuff the cracks of the door—I have a special technique that I can teach at next year’s Ireland orientation). Watching snow, sleet, and ice building up on the sky window. This time we bring a bottle of wine with us. We will make an adventure of this, treating ourselves to leftover hot soup – eaten in the loft! Another knock on the door – and more students!! We invite them up to the loft to warm up only with the promise of secrecy. They are looking for us to be their backup plan to catch the bus if their ride doesn’t appear. We, of course, agree to be ready for a call at 7:15 am. Thank goodness, that call did not come. But we were awake and ready!

Tullycross seems very quiet and lonely today without any students. I’m hoping everyone made their connections and flights (haven’t heard the contrary). I’ll be ready to hear all their stories and see their pictures when they return on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Today, it is actually fairly mild by comparison. Went outside to go to the store. It was raining, so went back in to put on our coats. But when we left about 60 seconds later, it had already stopped!! We just laugh.

Tom just read me a statistic about Ireland. 80% of Ireland’s peat has been destroyed in the last 90 years. (That from a book published in 2002)

We will be off to Sligo tomorrow and Saturday. So, I’ll spare you from any weather bulletins until after that J