Is é seo a rachaidh mé le haghaidh ainmniú dó.

The beautiful weather we had at the end of last week and over the weekend has left us.  Though sometimes we are blessed with the beautiful Irish sunlight, we’ve had quite a bit of rain lately.  Which of course makes it difficult for some people to work, like Jon, since most of his jobs are outside.  Technically, I should be inside working right now, I have loads of cleaning to do, but my iPod died and that told me it was time for a break.  Hopefully it charges quickly, otherwise I’ll make the mistake of picking up The Time Traveler’s Wife, and then it’ll be 9 PM and the sun will just be starting to fall.  (Yes, the sun stays up really late here, and is up super early too!)

I do have some bad news, and some good news, to relay though.  First with the good (albeit slightly frustrating): I found my camera charger!! I was looking for my contacts, since one of the boxes had disappeared, and despite the fact that Jon and I each searched that backpack thoroughly and separately, I found it tucked in a little pocket in a bigger pocket I had searched dozens of times before.  I guess its better than finding it after I get home, or worse, after I’ve searched eBay for a replacement and hit “Confirm Order”.  Alas, I’ll just have my own pictures from Ireland, and only have to steal Germany and a little bit of the Czech Republic from Jon!

Now for the bad news.  Lucky died.  I don’t know how, and for all I can tell, the drake we thought was the root of the problem wasn’t anywhere near him, because he was happily on the outside of the vegetable patch, and Lucky and his two moms were on the inside.  Yesterday our host stopped by to bring us some essentials (you know, butter, bread, meat, etc.) and it slipped her mind that we needed milk.  No problem, The Meetings, a pub down the road, started selling milk in their Off-License (it’s what the Irish refer to as their liquor store).  Jon and I had planned on having dinner there at some point during our stay, so we thought we’d kill two birds with one stone and spend part of our evening there, returning with milk.  Before we left, I checked to see where Lucky and his moms were, and they were happily in the house, keeping warm from the fierce wind outside.  Hindsight being what it is, I wish I had just decided to close them in there for the evening, but I felt it was too early, and that they could enjoy a swim in the stream before we put them to bed.  Bad move.

When we got back, exhausted and legs burning (the whole walk there is steep and downhill, so naturally the walk back takes a lot longer), we decided that before we got comfortable we would try to put the ducks away, since they’re the most difficult to handle at night.  We went up to the house as four ducks were walking in (the two moms, one very cross duck because she’s lost her eggs, and another) and noticed that Lucky was no where to be found.  Since the drake we thought was the problem was outside the garden, I thought “Well maybe he’s just stuck somewhere” even though deep down I knew his moms wouldn’t have just left him behind.  We turned around to try and find him, and didn’t go very far before we found him just like the others, dead with no signs of struggle, right outside of the poly tunnel.

I had to fight back tears as I handed him to Jon so he could dispose of him, while I walked up to the house to call out host with the news.  She felt terrible.  We talked on the phone for a little bit, wondering if the duck that’s been cross for days now about her eggs could be jealous or something, and she was actually the one doing it.  I guess we’ll never know, since we weren’t here.  Either way, I didn’t spend my evening waiting for friends to hop on Facebook and chat the evening away.  I had a short conversation to Jenna recalling what happened, and spent the rest of the evening reading.  I didn’t sleep well.  I don’t know exactly if it was Lucky that had me up, but it has definitely made productivity for today very difficult.

I guess that’s what I get for naming him.

N’oubliez jamais votre carte mémoire

Yep, never forget your memory card.  This is of course something we learned on day one, and I will allow myself to use the “sick card” as my excuse.  This time it was me, so at least Jon got some good pictures.  You can view them when he gets to posting them later on his blog: Falcon Punch

So, all I can do is tell you about our trip to the harbour.  First of all, street signs are hard to find in France.  They’re on the corners of the buildings.  Given how short most of the cars are, and how far up they have these signs, I’m a little disconcerted by the presumed ability for drivers to see pedestrians.  But alas, we are not driving, so we just have to watch out for the crazy drivers.  At least we found our way there.  Boy did we too.  The harbour is gorgeous.  And has quite the display of wealth too.  Family sized sailboats to huge $100 million yachts.  But what I found even more exciting was the view we got when we walked all the way out to the break water.  No beach to look through, just the wall, and then water.  Beautiful, crystal clear, blue water.  Jon also decided to scare me a little by jumping around on the big rocks that make up the wall… they’re hard to explain, so you’ll have to check out his pictures on his blog. :)

After sitting on the wall for a while, catching my breath and trying not to cough, we ventured back into the city, only to find it packed full of people.  We’re a couple weeks away from Nice’s world famous Carnival, only it seems the party has started already.  There was some sort of outdoor concert going on with some artist whom I did not recognize.  Apparently he was worth standing around for though.  We ran into a candy stand where we spent probably a little more than we should have, but I got to relive some of my nostalgia, and share it with Jon, so it was worth it.  Growing up in Spain, there was this candy shop across the street from  my friend’s house, and they always had the best gummy candies.  This table was full of those same candies!  They were delicious.

Now, other than the candy, we bought some bread, some water, and a bottle of real Fanta Orange.  But that doesn’t mean serious shopping hasn’t been on my mind since we got here.  There’s an H&M like, three blocks away from where we’re staying, the biggest Sephora I’ve ever seen in my entire life just a few blocks further, nevermind all the stores with names I don’t recognize but gorgeous fashion in the windows.  The French really do have style.  My goal is, other than buying a wallet of some sort, to ward off shopping for at least another month.  Maybe after some saving and some grand sight seeing I will reward myself with a little retail therapy.

Retail therapy?  Who am I kidding?  I’m in France, not much need for therapy!