Hi everyone,
back from my holidays. We had a great week and we were very lucky with the weather. We had sunshine all week.
We spent a day at Fota Wildlife Park, saw some fabulous gardens, visited Bantry House (what we call a big house and you'd call a stately home), did some pony trekking, spent a day at the beach, did a cable car ride to Dursey Island etc. etc. We had a great week. We mostly ate out which was expensive but I'd budgeted for it. It was just easier than trying to cook at home and cater for very different diets and preferences. For example, Dad is a meat and two veg. man. DSis is a vegetarian but also has dietary intolerances to gluten and dairy. West Cork was really busy and it was hard to get seating in restaurants unless you'd booked in advance. On our last night we'd booked a table in a fancy hotel restaurant but then we got stuck on Dursey Island, waiting in a queue for the cable car to get back to the mainland (the cable car only took six people at a time). So we had to cancel our booking and settle for a different restaurant. Except everywhere was booked up, so we ended up in a very mediocre restaurant which was our fourth or fifth choice. Still, we saved ourselves a few € because it was cheaper than the fancy hotel. The scenery was just incredible and we were constantly exclaiming, "Wow", or, "Isn't that a fabulous view". If I can remember how to access my Skype account, I might put up a few landscape photos. Just two or three though. I won't inflict them all on you 
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Dad called us into the kitchen one day and we were amazed to see a wild deer in the garden of our holiday home! Shortly afterwards, the deer was joined by two others including a fawn. We were joking that we shouldn't have bothered paying into Fota Wildlife Park - we should have just stayed at home.
DD got a bit upset towards the end of the week. She's back to school on Monday and is heading into her final year at school, so she'll be sitting state exams in June 2022. Her teachers are obviously in 'Back to School' mode because she's been getting messages all week via the school app. Nothing sinister or anything, just teachers putting them into online groups and advising them to get exam papers - that sort of thing. But she told me she's dreading going back because it's going to be such a pressurized year. She's not even back yet and she's feeling anxious and stressed about it all 
. I let her talk and cry it all out and suggested she see her counsellor (the one she saw after the separation) and talk to her and ask for some tips for dealing with school/exam related anxiety and stress. She seemed happy to do that and I think she felt better just getting it all out in the open. It's hard being a Mammy sometimes - none of this is in the baby books!
I'd better go unpack. Tomorrow I've to collect the cats and do a supermarket shop and get all my holiday washing done. I'll try to catch up on your news at some stage.
Happier did you watch the All Ireland semi-final? We caught some of it on the radio and we saw the second half in a pub where we'd stopped off for dinner on our way home. It was an incredible match and both teams put up a great fight.