A quiet Sunday....

Since the 39+ beds will be stripped in a few hours and the washers and dryers running full steam ahead, I have come to the basement early on Sunday to do up my little bit of laundry and sit in the library to check Facebook. The server is so intermittent in the flat. It kicks me off every 20 minutes or so and then isn’t available for an hour….goofy but works fine in the basement library!!  And what better place to be than in a room surrounded by shelves and shelves of books…and stacks and stacks in the floor. Kind of reminds me of home!

Later....

Worship at 11 am at Newcastle Baptist. On the way we passed Newcastle Centre where a crowd had assembled. When we got closer, I saw that there was a group of men in formal military attire with flags of various armed forces. Dozens of people had gathered around them and across the street.  Many were wearing the small paper poppy lapel flowers.  Veterans Day, once called Armistice Day, is observed here and probably in all the countries of the allies.

We arrived at the church and parked on the street rather than in the small carpark. We had come early for that reason! As we walked in, Bebe spoke to a young gal verifying the time of worship. She confirmed it was 11 and said she was going down to the ‘remembrance’ and would be back. The service actually didn't begin until about 11:15 to allow those at the remembrance to slip in.   The service was good, worship songs reminded me of melodies connected to the Crusades (middle ages, not Billy Graham). I wasn’t familiar with the lyrics. Prayers of thanksgiving were offered for those who gave their lives in WWI, WWII and Afghanistan.  The young pastor preached an excellent sermon on Mark 5. After the dismissal for worship, a few left and the remainder adjusted for the communion service. The pastor read from Isaiah…portions of four different “songs” of Isaiah. None of the “bread and wine” passages were read. However, it was meaningful.

We were happy to have Cynthia Swavey, recently retired Murlough House manager, share the pew with us! She is just back from a 6 week or so visit to all of her family spread across Canada and the west and Midwest US.  She was happy to be back where there is moisture and mountains. It was too dry and too flat for her in some places!! We chatted a bit and confirmed our luncheon date for tomorrow. We asked her about a place mentioned in the announcements, Mulberry Tree, a restaurant in Seaforde. She thought it was probably open so that was our plan for lunch. They were not open so we returned to Dundrum and had lunch at a small café, The Blue Bay. I had a “Veggie Fry” which was breakfast with mushrooms and tomatoes in addition to sausage and egg and wheaten bread toast and soda bread and potato bread.  Don’t you wish I’d taken a picture of all that bread? Sorry…forgot but it was all yummy!

Bridge to Keel Point...about 1 mile from
Murlough House. Tide is in. (Google photo)

(I had a bit of a scrape parking the car which I will not elaborate on. Just know that the man I hit was surprised that I got out of the car to see about him instead of driving off.  I’ll have some ‘splaining to do tomorrow!!)

Back at Murlough House to say farewell to the Bangor Grammar School group. The drains did not function this morning either. He wasn’t able to contact anyone….ooops!!  I had hoped to walk down the Murlough Lane and take some photos of the bay but it’s overcast and cloudy so that will have to happen on another day.

Google photo of Royal Mail...

Bits and Pieces:

The red vehicle is called the Patmobile. This comes from a children’s animated tv show about Postman Pat who drives a
small red Royal Mail car. I guess his mail truck is called a Patmobile.

Murlough House's Patmobile!

Deirdre and the security officer at County Down Museum both said that their teachers in primary school had taught the geography of County Down saying it was like eggs in a basket. Now picture eggs in a basket…not a flat place in the pile, is there? I’d say that’s a good description!

There is a huge abandoned mansion just off the road bDundrum and Clough. It’s high on the hill and the roof is missing. There is a sign at the road that says, “for sale….once in a lifetime opportunity.” It is said that the mansion has 365 windows….one for each day of the year. I don’t know who owned it but wouldn’t it take a couple of fortunes to restore it?