recovering from the wedding

May 12. 2014

This week has been
chaotic. The wedding party continued most of Saturday night with music and dancing.
I got up at 5am when it was still very dark to make sure the rimpoche was
picked up for his trip to the airport. There was no sound from anyone at this
time but soon campers emerged and drifted towards the polyhouse for breakfast.
Someone estimated that about 120 people had stayed the night but luckily there
was enough food for all.

Some hardy souls even
had a swim in the dam but I was most amused to find the polyhouse looking like
a hospital ward with beds made up on top of the straw bale seats in rows down
both sides. By the time I had milked the goats every one was up and partying
again. There was a band with a banjo and guitars to provide music and it was
well after lunch before the guests started to drift off home.

By this stage Pip’s sister,
mother and I had been washing glasses and dishes for hours. The washing work
continued all week and the search began for missing items we needed for the
farm work. Where on earth have all my milk jugs gone? Why would anyone
disappear litre milk jugs? We use them all the time in the dairy so I decided
to replace them. So far I have shopped at four towns with out finding a single
suitable jug. I did manage to find replacements for kitchen items that Bo was missing,
though.

Al and Pip arrived
home at the weekend and have been over to collect their dog, gift plants and as
much else as they could stuff into their car. Edd has managed to sell some of
the straw bales to a neighbour and we are now trying to remember exactly what
we were doing before wedding plans took over our lives. Luckily it is dry and
sunny today so I have started working in the garden. I have removed and stored
the tomato nets and poles and even planted one of the trees we have been
growing on in pots.

The vegetables I
planted a few weeks ago are ready to start eating so we have a new supply of
lettuces, rocket and parsley. There is plenty more to go in so I started today
with some garlic. We are still getting plenty of milk but we are hoping that
the pregnant goats will start to dry off soon. The mating is just about
finished for the goats but some of the sheep are heavily pregnant. Today I have
ordered an alpaca as a herd guard. All going well, Zulu warrior will arrive on
Friday. Edd is trying to fix some fences. The two heifers we reared last year
are a complete nuisance and go through all the fences. I had hoped they would
be sold by now but we still have not put up the stockyards.

The ride on mower has
broken down so we have an emerging problem there too. We need to get it fixed
before the grass grows too tall to be mowed. Each year I reduce the mown area
by adding stock and fences. Bo’s pony kept the old drive under control and the
chickens in the new yard do the front area. A fence under the oak and olive
trees would reduce the work there too. This year we have grown enough olives to
make it worth while preserving them. I found a fairly simple process that is
working well, which is rather exciting. I like the idea of eating our own
cheese, bread and olives.

The long dark evens
are enlivened by the winter bike races that have started with three very wet
days in Ireland. Yesterday we watched the Eurovision song contest being won by
Austria. Their contestant was a trans-sexual with a beard. I could not work out
at first why she was so acceptable to watch and did not challenge my
expectations. This morning the penny dropped. She looked just like all the images
we have been surrounded with all our lives of Jesus. Even the long plain
coloured dress and thick flowing hair were just right. I wonder if it was
intentional.