Banquets and Birthdays

Tuesday, Nov 15

Deirdre checked with Alan Dumigan about the speaker for the One2Four. I had thought it would be nice to have something on the table that went along with the topic. However, the topic of rescue didn’t bring any thoughts to mind. But the topic of the Mournes brought to mind the song that I had just found….and that is so familiar to everyone here….it’s a ballad….When the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea. I google’d that and also a picture of the Mournes and ran them off. Alan asked if I could make an RSVP card so that we have an idea how many will be coming in December. One2Four will be held at Murlough House then. That will be easier for the staff….no more transporting! …and hopefully more convenient for the attendees as it will be in Dundrum, not six miles out in the countryside.

Bebe went to the Kairos prayer meeting. Joan, Sarah, Deirdre and I met at the end of the hall for our staff prayer time. When Bebe returned with Little Suzy, Deirdre and I took off for Newcastle for groceries at Lydl’s. I popped into the Wool Shop for a certain color of yarn and found that she has the ribbon “yarn” that I have been looking for! And in the exact color combo. I bought up one spool. Then back to Lydl’s to help Deirdre finish up. I saw Denise, the lady from South Africa who cut my hair so we had a nice visit.

Back at Murlough House I peeled nearly ten pounds of carrots. Bebe peeled the parsnips; then I ran all of it through the food processor.  I ‘brushed’ the mushrooms and sliced them. Jen was cutting fruit for the salad. All of a sudden she let out a little squeal….cleaning the grapes, she found an intruder! Yep, a garden snail nestled in the cluster of grapes!

Lots of spuds to peel

Potatoes in top

Ready to cut and boil

The machine peels but Deirdre mashes
by hand....every day...lots of spuds!

There are potatoes with every meal and sometimes two. It’s not unusual to have mashed and roasted. All those potatoes for all these people means a lot of peeling. There is a big ugly machine in the prep kitchen that does just that. You drop ten or fifteen potatoes in the top and it loudly tumbles them around rubbing off the skins and then you open the door and out drop the “peeled” potatoes. What a wonderful invention!

Jen had come for a knitting lesson which we did earlier. Deirdre said she had to “pay for my time” so she was helping us with the prep work. She is a lefty and learned the basics of knitting very quickly. She’s started a scarf in a variegated pink/red yarn. It’s working up very nicely.

Joan had good news! Her daughter has won the Home Ec award for Northern Ireland in school. She has been invited to London to receive her award from Princess Anne. The school “forgot” to notify her so she’s had very short notice. She will wear her school uniform and will travel with a teacher so they don’t have all that preparation to do. Joan was somewhat disappointed that there was no notice because she and her husband would have taken the day off to accompany her. They were not invited to the ceremony but would have enjoyed taking their daughter around London.

Deirdre said she would make flapjacks for the tea tomorrow. Bebe and I found that amusing and wondered why she would serve flapjacks with tea. After some conversation, we learned that here flapjacks are not pancakes. They are an oatmeal traybake (as in you bake them in a pan and cut into squares to put on a tray). I looked at the recipe and said, “I could probably do that.” My next job was to make flapjacks. Of course I had to quadruple the recipe. It was in ounces so that was a different way of measuring ingredients….on a scale. They turned out nicely.

Our day ended at the end of the hall with lots of conversation and giggles. We were tired so most everything was funny. I finished up a scarf. Then I made two of the ribbon yarn necklaces. This yarn is especially nice because it has some metallic thread in it so there is a nice glitz to the necklace.  Bebe is reading a ten pound tome….probably not that heavy…about the history of Ireland. She interjects bits into the conversation from time to time. Deirdre and I read Facebook and share posts. It was midnight before we went upstairs.

 Wednesday, Nov 16

Even though much was done yesterday, there was still a lot of preparation for lunch. The casseroles were ready for the oven, the pies/tarts made, the Pavlovas ready to be frosted, the flapjacks ready to box up.  There were still the potatoes to cook, the peas to cook, the carrots and parsnips to cook, the Fifteens to make, more fruit to cut…. And then all the serving utensils to pack. The morning was a flurry of busyness and then we packed up things in 2 cars and headed for the Oasis.

Des, Irene and Cynthia had set up the tables, put out the glasses, cutlery, napkins and vases of lovely flowers. We unpacked all the food…casseroles, potatoes, veggies, desserts, a gluten free dessert, and the extra goodies for tea.

I put out the copies of the song about the Mournes and the RSVP cards for the December meeting. I greeted a few people at the door as they arrived. At 12:50 there were six or eight people. By 1 pm, there were 45 plus the staff. They all seemed to swarm in at the same time.

Pavlova...a meringue delight!

Apple Pie/Tarts

Lunch was very good. When they came through the line for dessert, I was surprised that they took some of everything….pie, Pavlova, whipped cream, custard sauce and fruit salad. The Irish love their sweets about as much as potatoes!

The speaker was from Mourne Rescue. He told about the basics of rescue. The Mournes cover 25 square miles. That’s a lot of territory with only volunteers and some come from as far as Londonderry. It’s no wonder it can take 5 hours to mobilize a search party. He had some great pictures and gave a very interesting program.

After the program, tea was served. We had flapjacks and fifteens on small plates for each table. Because there are some with dietary needs, there were Gluten free cookies.  Bebe reminded them of the Wednesday Bible study and the activities after. I showed them the necklace we will make at the December craft day. That generated a lot of interest!

We sent some of the dirty dishes back to Murlough House for Deloris, the industrial dishwasher. Some were washed by hand at the Oasis. There were boxes to pack up to return all of the pots and pans back to Murlough House.

It was a long day and we just went to the end of the hall to sit for a bit before we began the ‘put away’ work.  A bit revived, we all trooped back into the kitchen and finished up. By “all”, I mean Bebe, Deirdre and me. We did get John B. to carry in some of the things.

At 7 pm, Jen came to pick up Deirdre and me to go to the Craft Class at the Presbyterian Church in Newcastle. We met a gal from California named Gigi. We had a good time and made some Christmas ornaments. We were home by ten pm, chatted with Bebe for a while and off to bed just after midnight.

Thursday

I thought I was up early at 8:15 but Deirdre was already in the kitchen. The Murlough Trust people are coming today. There are some sixty National Trust properties in Northern Ireland. I’m not sure what this committee does but all the major Trust properties have one. They gathered in the common room for their meetings and in the dining room for lunch.

They began arriving at 9 a.m. I greeted most of them at the front door, a few before they rang the bell. I could see them pull up in the parking lot. We served tea with Deirdre’s scones at 11. I set the table for lunch with table cover, flowers and cutlery, glasses and napkins.

Since I can’t get the acid reflux meds OTC, I asked Joan to make me an appointment with a doctor so he can write a prescription. They have national health coverage here so I don’t know what he/she will charge me. I have the appointment for tomorrow (Friday).

The Murlough House (not the same as Murlough Trust) director/advisor, Keiron, arrived with the fliers that needed to be mailed out last week. I was released from kitchen duty by Deirdre to get those in the envelopes and to the post office.  After some confusion about the “compliments notes”, I got the sixty fliers stuffed into the envelopes.  At 12:30 Bebe and Deirdre served the lunch of chili over rice, broccoli and jelly roll. By the time I had the envelopes stuffed and postage affixed, Bebe and Deirdre were ready to eat.  Joan said she would take the fliers to the post office when she left work at 2:30 so I joined the others.  Before I got out of the office, Sarah gave me another job. She wants me and Bebe to take the fliers to all the businesses in town and ask them to post them. I think that would be a great opportunity for the House Manager to get to know the townspeople but I will do what was requested. I think she believes they will be more receptive to us because of our accent. Hmmm…..

Joan told us about her daughter’s visit to London. She wasn’t too impressed with the meal…venison! She said it was all very posh! The princess did have a conversation with her beyond the presentation. A very big day for an 18 year old gal!

A short break after lunch and then finish the cleanup. Tea was served at 3 pm.  Deirdre and I served that. Bebe was in a meeting with Richard from Kairos. The Murlough Trust people told me a bit about their work and about the National Trust system and the 60 other properties around Northern Ireland. I asked if there was a map or brochure of these locations and Barbara who seemed to be the overall director promised to bring me more information.

Deirdre went in the office to do some paperwork and I went in to take a break. John Moxen was in (he’s on sabbatical but has an aviary so comes out to feed his birds) and had a friend, Ken Nelson, with him. Ken is the pastor of Castlewellan Presbyterian. He told me about a program there and asked if I would visit. I plan to do that next week. Deirdre brought in a nice tray of tea, Fifteens and biscuits.  (The tray includes a pot of tea, sugar and milk. Sometimes there’s also a pot of hot water for instant coffee or to dilute your tea if needed.)

As the Murlough Trust people were touring the building with Sarah, I began clearing some dishes….there was the tea tray from the office, a tea tray from Bebe and Richard, and dessert plates, cups and teapot from the meeting.  Tea generates a lot of washing up! I carried it all to the kitchen but didn’t do the washup. Returning three milk jugs to the fridge, 3 sugar bowls to their proper place, 3 empty (or nearly so) pots of tea and 3 similar pots of water with all the mugs, spoons and side plates was a bit of a task.

The three of us were going to Jen’s for a party for Cynthia’s birthday. Bebe and Deirdre needed to get a card and gift….I had made a gift and last night at the craft class, I made a card. After a trip to the Newcastle Hallmark store and health food store, we returned to Dundrum to Jen and Richie’s townhouse. Ewelina had prepared carrot/coriander soup. Yummy!!  Jen had tuna salad sandwiches, a veggie tray with hummus, a fruit tray, a strawberry-rhubarb cream pie!!!, and orange blueberry bread. Kasha brought chocolate chip muffins.  It was wonderful! There was gluten free shortbread for Cynthia too… A smorgasbord of flavours!

Pat & Cynthia with the scarves!!

We had a lovely evening. Richie has been ill so it was good to see him! I think there were ten of us. Cynthia brought Martin and Kasha, a Polish couple, and their 3 month old baby, Matthew. A sweet sweet smiley baby!! Ewelina is also Polish so all of these are Cynthia’s Polish family! And when we got back…the dishes were all done. Thanks to Richard!

Back at Murlough House the three of us chatted for a while…until we realized it was nearly 1 am…so it was off to bed! We are night owls!!  Ministry this week has been in serving and in listening. Everyone has a story.

I did write this after I went upstairs so my beddy bye time was after 2...then I to come downstairs in the morning to transfer it from Word to blogspot and load the pictures which take 2-3 minutes each. Hope you enjoy my efforts....